HomeMy WebLinkAboutMinutes - 19950614APPROVED 8/22/95
MINUTES
ORANGE COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS
BUDGET WORK SESSION
JUNE 14, 1995
The Orange County Board of Commissioners met in Regular Session
on June 14, 1995 for the purpose of holding a budget work session at
7:30 p.m. at the Homestead Community Center in Chapel Hill, North
Carolina.
COUNTY COMMISSIONERS PRESENT: Moses Carey, Jr., Chair, and
Commissioners
Willhoit
Stephen Halkiotis, Alice Gordon, Bill Crowther and Don
COUNTY STAFF PRESENT: County Manager John M. Link, Jr., Assistant
County Managers Rod Visser and Albert Kittrell and Deputy Clerk to the
Board Kathy Baker (other staff members are identified below where
appropriate) .
The meeting was called to order by Chair Carey who welcomed all
in attendance. He suggested that only those items in the County
department budgets which are exceptions be discussed and encouraged
the discussion of all items of concern so that the staff could prepare
several scenarios for the June 19th meeting.
Commissioner Gordon commented that the number of students per
classroom for Chapel Hill-Carrboro is 24-25 in grades K through 5 and
25-27 in grades 6 through 8. The Orange County system has 18-22
students in grades K-3 and 24 students in grades 4 through 8. In
thinking about the equity issue, she mentioned that the recurring
capital figure is 1.5 million dollars. If this amount were divided on
a per pupil basis, the Chapel Hill-Carrboro District would receive
$874,500 and the Orange County District would receive $625,000. The
equity adjustment on recurring capital would increase Chapel Hill's
portion by $124,500 and decrease Orange County's portion by that same
amount. Another way to make an equity adjustment would be if
Countywide taxes were raised an additional 1.3 cents, $360,794 would
be generated for Chapel Hill-Carrboro and $258,000 for Orange County.
Commissioner Gordon suggested that the County make an equity
adjustment in the recurring capital budget to distribute these funds
on a per pupil basis.
John Link responded to the following list of questions submitted
by Commissioner Halkiotis.
• The Professional Contract Services increase from $163,000 to
$187,000 was related to the procedure used to pay County employees
for Holidays and overtime work. Most of these funds are related to
the Sheriff's Deputies, EMS and Public Works employees. This item
should actually be identified as Holiday Pay.
• The Temporary Personnel account decrease from $1.2 million to
$890,000 is a result of the change in how the Long Term Care
Program is administered in the Department of Social Services. The
billing is now being handled by the providers directly with
Medicaid.
• It might be possible to achieve substantial savings by going with
one insurance carrier, however, many variables must be factored
into the final decision. Staff could reexamine this issue during
the next year. The County Commissioners Association is pursuing a
self-funded insurance pool intended to provide savings to
participating counties. Staff will also stay abreast of
developments regarding the Association's self-insurance program.
Current insurance plans have shown estimates of no more than a 50
increase for the coming year which is the lowest increase in the
last 6 years. Staff will find out how Wake County and Cary are
progressing with their self-funded programs. Also, information
will be solicited regarding which other North Carolina Counties
reimburse employees who waive health insurance coverage.
• County employees attend conferences directly related to their jobs,
and, there are two basic kinds of conferences. The first type is
specific to a task that the employee is required to perform. (For
example, a Tax Assessor's Workshop at the Institute of Government.)
The other type of conferences are usually hosted by state or
national associations. Staff has reviewed the travel expenditure
over the last 5 years. The overall County travel budget has
increased approximately to each year. In response to the question
about compensatory time for weekend travel, Commissioner Halkiotis
suggested that a policy be instituted so that no overtime would be
allowed for weekend travel to conferences. Compensatory time could
be allowed in situations where employees are required to attend
conferences over weekends.
• The next item of discussion was telephone and voice mail cost.
Voice mail is a part of the overall phone cost and is not a
separate charge. Most of the telephone budget is charged back to
each department for their portion of the system. The County has
recently completed paying the last installment of the lease-
purchase agreement for the phone system.
• Postage is a significant expense. A sizable amount is generated in
the tax assessor's and revenue collector's offices. The change in
the way taxes for motor vehicles are billed has doubled the number
of bills mailed. The Department of Social Services is also
required to send out many monthly mailings. A $5,000 reduction in
postage has been accomplished by the Department on Aging by having
the Senior Times distributed as a supplement to the newspaper. The
Personnel Department has eliminated some of the mailings to the
applicants pool.
• The charge back system is used for telephones, postage, copiers,
motor pool and central stores. It was suggested that staff
continue to consolidate the notifications and mailings to
Commissioners as well as others in the County.
• Funding for Professional Dues was discussed. It was mentioned that
the Triangle J Council of Government has reduced its dues and has
instituted a policy of allocating each jurisdiction a number of
free staff hours. This is intended to be an incentive to encourage
cities, towns and counties to use the services offered by the
C.O.G. The overall issue of membership in organizations was
discussed. Memberships are either individualized membership in the
name of the Department Head or are corporate membership in the name
of Orange County.
• The type of expenses and per unit cost for certain items in the
office supplies category was discussed.
• The budget category entitled "Board and Provisions" includes
purchases related to inmates in the County Jail. Approximately
$800,000 is generated and returned to the County by the Sheriff's
Department in the jail operation. The "Board and Provision"
account showing $180,000 appears in the budget to track what is
being spent on food.
• Elaine Homes, Personnel Director, explained the impact of cost of
living, merit adjustment and longevity on employees in the $35,000
to $45,000 salary range and compared that impact to the employee
earning $22,000 to $28,000. The complete explanation is in the
Permanent Agenda File in the Clerk's Office.
Chair Carey asked for an explanation of why the account earmarked
for foster care had increased so dramatically. Marti Pryor-Cook
indicated that the State raised the rate of pay for Foster Parents.
Commissioner Willhoit asked that staff report on what Orange
County is doing to manage the possibility of rabies being present in
the County. He also asked for estimates of the percentage of dogs and
cats being licensed and vaccinated? He asked staff to report on
whether they have adequate funds to aggressively pursue solutions to
these health concerns.
Dan Reimer, Health Director, reported that the County has hosted
three rabies clinics at which over 500 dogs were vaccinated The
license applications are being handled quarterly which enables the
Animal Control Office to incorporate the rabies certificates received
from private veterinarians. John Link mentioned that the actual
license tag is no longer being issued to the citizen.
Chair Carey mentioned that he felt the Board of Commissioners
needed to be sure that the Arts Commission received a clear message
regarding what they had been created to do and how the Commissioners
expected that charge to be carried out. The Arts Commission is not a
department of County government, but, rather a function that needs to
be accomplished. Approximately 10 to 15 hours of staff support is
being provided by Myra Austin, Special Population Supervisor, as well
as 15 hours of clerical support.
Chair Carey asked for clarification regarding funding for the
Carrboro Library. This is a tremendous service to the Town of
Carrboro, however, the amount of funds being requested at this time is
beyond what the Board of Commissioners agreed to commit to during last
year's budget process. Several budget request scenarios were
presented to the County, the minimum of which was $80,000. The
Managers Recommended Budget suggests $40,000. He mentioned that the
Chapel Hill Library could consider appointing a representative of
Orange County to their Library Board.
Commissioner Crowther mentioned that the Carrboro library will
eventually become a branch within the County Library System. He
suggested that the $40,000 be approved as well as $20,000 from the
current year budget and $5,000 in unused capital funds, for a total
of $65,000. He also suggested pursuing increased revenue from fees in
lieu of recreational set-asides. Bob Jones indicated that each lot in
a subdivision requires 1/35th of an acre be set-aside. The value of
that property is what the payment-in-lieu is based upon.
Commissioner Willhoit spoke in support of increasing Chapel Hill
Library's request by an additional $15,000 for this year.
Commissioner Crowther moved that Carrboro Library receive an
additional appropriation of $5,000 and that the Chapel Hill Library
receive an additional $18,000, seconded by Commissioner Gordon.
VOTE: UNANIMOUS
John Link mentioned that payment-in-lieu is one of the fees that
will be reviewed prior to the next budget process.
There being no further business, the meeting was adjourned. The
next Board of Commissioners budget work session will be held on June
19, 1995 at 7:30 p.m. at the Homestead Community Center, Homestead
Road, Chapel Hill, NC.
Moses Carey, Jr., Chair
Kathy Baker, Deputy Clerk