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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMinutes - 19980610APPROVED 11/17/98 ORANGE COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS BUDGET WORK SESSION WEDNESDAY, JUNE 10, 1998 4:00 P. M. The Orange County Board of Commissioners met in regular session on Wednesday, June 10, 1998 at 4:00 p.m. in the Southern Human Services Center, Chapel Hill, North Carolina. The purpose of this meeting was to hold a work session on the County Manager's 1998-99 recommended budget. COUNTY COMMISSIONERS PRESENT: Chair Margaret W. Brown, and Commissioners Moses Carey, Jr., William L. Crowther, Alice M. Gordon and Stephen H. Halkiotis. COUNTY STAFF PRESENT: County Manager John M. Link, Jr., Assistant County Managers Rod Visser and Albert Kittrell and Clerk to the Board Beverly A. Blythe (All other staff members will be identified appropriately below) NOTE: ALL DOCUMENTS REFERRED TO IN THESE MINUTES ARE IN THE PERMANENT AGENDA FILE IN THE CLERK'S OFFICE. ALL RECORDINGS OF THE MEETING WILL BE KEPT FOR 5 YEARS. CONTINUATION OF THE REVIEW OF COUNTY DEPARTMENT BUDGET REQUESTS Tax Assessor John Smith explained that one of their initiatives is to annually send out listing forms to all property owners explaining the necessity of listing taxable personal property, new construction, partial construction, renovation and upfit. He would like to use outsourcing for this initiative. Commissioner Gordon asked if everyone would complete this form and John Smith said that it would be completed unless they did not have personal property. If nothing changes, the taxpayer does not need to return the form. Commissioner Crowther asked what would be taxable personal property and John Smith made reference to the list on the form which is in the permanent agenda file in the Clerk's Office. Chair Margaret Brown said that she would be interested in having on this form how the County spends their tax dollars. Commissioner Halkiotis asked if John Smith was familiar with what Durham County did last year in hiring a firm to come in and check for property that is not listed. John Smith said that they do that inhouse. They have discovered approximately $10 million in property value that produces an additional $85,000 in tax revenue and they do not plan to outsource this process. He has a three person team that focuses on this effort. He doubts that we have the capacity for discoveries as Durham has. Commissioner Gordon asked about the form and John Smith said that it would be laser printed and returned by those who have experienced a change during the year. He would be glad to include additional information on this form. Commissioner Halkiotis asked about site visits and John Smith indicated that eleven staff members accomplish all the work in this department. Tax Collector Tax Collector Ginger Rolfe explained her budget including justification for the new position she is requesting. She said that they have a lot of issues driving this request. One is the collection of motor vehicle tax which is quite extensive because of its complexity. They send out 82,000 bills for motor vehicles. It is a complex law and people have a lot of questions. Commissioner Halkiotis asked why this law is so complicated to carry out. Ms. Rolfe said that it is related to the fact that North Carolina has always had a listing system which was done on an honor system. In 1993 it changed so that more revenue is being collected. Ms. Rolfe said that this year we have initiated a reminder notice procedure and a lot of people have indicated that they never received their notice which was a postcard. Commissioner Gordon asked about tracking the cost savings if they change the procedure for mailing the vehicle tax bill. She feels we need to track personnel costs. Ginger Rolfe told about the new position she is requesting. She explained that she has revenue technicians who are spending time at the counter instead of doing what they are supposed to be doing. She needs one person to stay at the counter at all times - a collection clerk. On page 5-12 of the 1998-99 budget document, the expected outcome from adding this collection clerk is shown as well as the revenue it will generate. Communitv Planning John Link stated that the new position for erosion control is not included in this budget. Interim Planning Director Gene Bell presented an overview of his budget. He said that their overall budget request compared to last year reflects a small increase. Chair Margaret Brown asked about the new erosion control officer and the classification. Gene Bell said that this classification would be a higher level than those who work in that department at the present time except for Warren Faircloth. Chair Margaret Brown would like to see this position in the budget. Commissioner Gordon made reference to page 6-5 in the budget document and asked about the impact analysis and Gene Bell said that this is the one that has not been done yet. Commissioner Gordon asked about page 6-3 and the outcomes for the advisory boards on land use issues in the County. She asked if he has staff to do that and Gene Bell said that they are approaching that level with a temporary position to help with several projects. Commissioner Carey asked about the cost of $72,000 for Shaping Orange County's Future and the County cost. Budget Director Donna Dean said that the County's final appropriation for this upcoming year for this project is $39,414. This is shown on pages 11-18 of the budget document. Economic Development John Link said that the budget stayed at the same level. He distributed a summary of this budget. Economic Development Director Greg Payne said that they are advertising for an Assistant at this time. Regarding the Arts Commission which has been in the EDC office for one year he said that this position has grown from 10 hours to 20 hours and Jim White has devoted more than 20 hours to this position. The grant program is successful in helping artists and art organizations throughout the County. A lot of the grants go into the schools for cultural enrichment. Chair Margaret Brown asked Greg Payne if he has developed a strategy for getting grants for various County programs and departments. He said that he will seek expert advice on this and hopes to be able to help not only County departments but also the nonprofits in their efforts. Social Services Social Services Director Marti Pryor-Cook summarized her budget. They have several initiatives identified in her budget. Her overall increase is 4.4%. She expanded on the Work First plan and that initiative. This revenue will come from savings they have realized from their public assistance program as a result of a reduction in their case load because people are going to work. She talked about the CHIPS/Medicaid program which is effective Oct. 1. They have estimated a total of 500 children eligible for that program. That money is in their Medicaid budget. She talked about the outreach for that program and the procedure they plan to have in place. Chair Margaret Brown asked about tracking the recipients of the TANF program. Marti Pryor-Cook said that they have money in the budget to accomplish this by outsourcing with a nonprofit. They have 500 adults who receive TANF funds which is the program covered by Welfare Reform. Since 1995, they have assisted over 250 participants to go from welfare to work. Commissioner Carey asked about daycare funds. Marti Pryor-Cook said that they anticipate receiving $3.3 million in subsidies for childcare from the state next year which includes $800,000 from Smark Start. Chair Margaret Brown asked about the funding and how they ended up with a waiting list of 236 children. Marti Pryor-Cook explained that they have had far more people go to work and the majority of these need childcare. Also, they have low income families who are eligible for subsidy. The need has grown. Daycare costs are so expensive that a working family has to have a salary above low income in order to afford to pay for daycare. Quality care is more expensive. Commissioner Gordon made reference to the mobility manager and said that the Triangle Transit Authority has funded afull-time position to help the three counties, starting with Orange County. Also, NCDOT is piloting a program to provide cars to Work First participants. Marti Pryor-Cook explained the rationale for her request for two new positions. EMS EMS Director Nick Waters made reference to page 8-13 of the budget document and explained the rationale for his request for two new positions. These two new positions will provide for increased coverage and increased staff rotation. They will assure a high quality of patient care by having additional paramedics assigned to areas of high call volume in peak load times. He said that with better saturation of medics, the distance traveled to acute life-threatening situations will be reduced. Arriving and assessing patients quicker means ambulance and other resource responses can be controlled. Revenue for EMS fees is anticipated to be $500,000 for FY 1998/99. SHERIFF Sheriff Pendergrass said that they now have fifteen (15) positions funded by the COPS funding. One of these will expire June 30, 1998 and moved to a County funded position if a confirmation grant is not received. They do have enough money coming in for the 2-1/2 positions for domestic violence coordinators through June 30, 1998. He has received verbal notice of a grant award for the upcoming fiscal year. The County's match for this grant is $24,000, and the grant amount is approximately $57,000. However, when these funds phase out and if these positions are to be continued, they will need to be County funded. Department of Human Rights and Relations Interim Director Melvin Oliver gave the rationale for his new position. These are listed on page 7-58 of the budget document. Health Health Director Rosemary Summers presented information on her budget. She has consolidated two community-based efforts into a community education initiative. This will increase the health educational efforts from every division in the Health Department, and will add a new division to the Health Department. This item was continued to the June 16th meeting. ADJOURNMENT Chair Brown adjourned the meeting at 7:00 p.m. The next budget work session will be held on June 16 at 4:00 p.m. at the Southern Human Services Center, Chapel Hill, North Carolina. Margaret W. Brown, Chair Beverly A. Blythe, Clerk