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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMinutes 04-08-2010 APPROVED 5/6/2010 MINUTES ORANGE COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS BUDGET WORK SESSION April 8, 2010 7:00 p.m. The Orange County Board of Commissioners met for a budget work session on Thursday, April 8, 2010 at 7:00 p.m. at the Link Government Services Center in Hillsborough, N.C. COUNTY COMMISSIONERS PRESENT: Chair Valerie P. Foushee, and Commissioners Alice Gordon, Pam Hemminger, Barry Jacobs, Mike Nelson, Bernadette Pelissier, and Steve Yuhasz COUNTY COMMISSIONERS ABSENT: COUNTY ATTORNEYS PRESENT: John Roberts COUNTY STAFF PRESENT: County Manager Frank Clifton, Assistant Manager Willie Best and Gwen Harvey and Clerk to the Board Donna S. Baker (All other staff members will be identified appropriately below) Manager's Introductory Comments Frank Clifton said that the Finance staff, Sheriff's Department, Social Services, and Child Support have been going through historical documents and they have determined that the County has not filed for as much Medicaid reimbursements as it should have. Financial Services Director Clarence Grier said that this reimbursement is approximately $450,000 and there is an additional 66% reimbursement for recapturing a position for child support. Frank Clifton said that this will be approximately $500,000 of additional federal reimbursement for past services. The reimbursement will be for this fiscal year. He said that Clarence Grier and his Finance staff have been diligent in "turning over every stone" to look for any additional funds. Frank Clifton said that he has asked departments to cut an additional 15% from their submitted budgets for Fiscal Year 2010-11. He said that services will be reduced. Many eliminated positions will be of a permanent nature. He said that sales tax numbers are very bleak, so the County's revenues will be down significantly. Frank Clifton said that there are discussions about whether the County should stay in the transit business. Staff has been initiating discussions with Triangle Transit. This analysis will not be completed by budget time, but they will bring it forward as soon as it is completed. Commissioner Gordon arrived at 7:09PM. 1. Proposed Guidelines for Funding Outside Agencies, FY 2010-11 Frank Clifton said that he wants to talk to the Board tonight about outside agency funding and some proposed changes. There was a handout for this, which showed the relationships that Orange County has with the various outside agencies. Assistant County Manager Gwen Harvey said that this is an evolving process that is different from the prior two fiscal years. She said that this time they are looking at a broader view of these agencies and the departments. The prior two fiscal years were incorporated into the agenda abstract to reflect the incremental changes under the previous Manager, Laura Blackmon. This fiscal year there is a broader view of the outside agencies as they relate to the partnership with the existing County operating departments. Gwen Harvey said that the Human Services Advisory Committee (HSAC) has been tasked to review outside agencies in the past. Gwen Harvey noted there have been many resignations from HSAC so that of the 21 member board, only two are active members. One of the recommendations of the Manager is to consider, instead of having the HSAC do the review, to use the mandated boards and commissions to look at these outside agencies. This process began to evolve in January. The outside agency applications were due in February. She pointed out page 3 of the agenda abstract and the process. The process unfolding for FY 2010-11 includes the following characteristics: 1) HSAC members have reviewed and provided advisory feedback to the Assistant County Manager and Financial Services on only a small subset of community-based organizations, such as the Orange-Durham County Chapter of the American Red Cross. 2) County operating departments in conjunction with their BOCC-appointed community advisors have reviewed and provided their advisory feedback to the Assistant County Manager and Financial Services on those outside agencies within their normal realm of involvement or affiliation. This has included the Animal Services Department/Animal Services Advisory Board; Department of Social Services/Social Services Board; Department on Aging/Aging Advisory Board; Health Department/Board of Health; Environment and Resource Conservation Department Recreation and Parks/Recreation and Parks Advisory Council; Orange-Person- Chatham (OPC) Local Management Entity/OPC Board. 3) The County Manager will assess all professional staff and volunteer board findings and incorporate proposals and conclusions, and specific funding allocations, within the recommended budget to be presented to the BOCC in May. 4) Additionally, in the interest of increased public accountability and operational transparency, the County Attorney's Office has worked with County Management and Financial Services to review and recommend revisions in the annual performance agreement template for outside agencies, and periodic performance and financial reporting, to be made effective in the upcoming fiscal year. Attachment A provides sample copies. 5) Fifty-six agencies have applied for FY 2010-11 funding. Attachment B provides agency requested and approved appropriations for FY 2009-10 and 2010-11. 6) A survey of processes employed by neighboring jurisdictions has been conducted. Those results are summarized for background information in Attachment C. She said that part of preparing for this particular stage was her meeting with representatives of the informal leadership of what is called the Third Sector Alliance, which is bringing together all of the non-profits who are residents and would serve Orange County, to begin talking about how they can work more effectively together and how they can be a stronger, clearer voice about what is happening in the social sphere of Orange County. This leadership includes Susan Worley with Volunteers for Youth and Frances Henderson with the Dispute Settlement Center. She said that staff wants to hear the Board's concerns and questions at this stage in the development. Frank Clifton said that the Board of County Commissioners will receive a summary of what was requested, a summary of staff recommendations, and then his recommendation. He said that if the County fills all of these outside requests, then it would be a penny on the tax rate. Commissioner Yuhasz said that last year the outside agency budget was adopted with an across the board decrease. He did not like this and suggested that it not be done this way this year because some of those agencies specifically serve only Orange County and are funded only by Orange County. This decrease was a greater impact on these agencies than other agencies that have much broader funding sources. Frank Clifton said that he has provided where these agencies are funded from — whether from Orange County or from outside of the County. He said that he will not submit an across the board decrease. However, some will not get funded at all. Commissioner Pelissier said that she would like to look at the bigger picture and what the County's purpose is in funding non-profits. She would like to have the conversation about what kind of non-profits Orange County wants to fund. Commissioner Gordon agreed with Commissioner Pelissier about looking at the County's rationale for funding outside agencies. She made reference to Attachment C on page 29 and funding eligibility. She suggested looking at Durham and Wake Counties' eligibility and review processes. Frank Clifton said that Orange County's criteria for funding outside agencies have been minimal and more criteria need to be developed for this process. Commissioner Gordon would like to actively consider the criteria that Wake and Durham Counties are using for processing outside agency funding. Commissioner Pelissier agreed that the request should be less than 50% of an agency's funding. She said that if Orange County gave 49% of an agency's funding and Chapel Hill gave 21%, then that agency should not be a non-profit. She would like to include the Towns in this process also. Frank Clifton said that they could add that an agency's funding needs to be less than 50% funded by all local governments. Commissioner Jacobs said that, before he discusses Wake and Durham Counties, he would like to discuss the rationale for why funds cannot be matched. Also, regarding the listing of all of the agencies, he would like to see them grouped by the type of agency. Commissioner Jacobs said that these are agencies that are dedicated to helping people and to bettering the community. He thinks that there is a reciprocal respect and it makes it difficult to reduce the funding because everyone is trying to do good for the people in Orange County and is trying to help other people do some good. Frank Clifton said that he will try and find the rationale for Wake and Durham Counties about matching funds. He said that there can be several agencies that are pursuing the same mission and this causes duplication of services. He hopes that this process will encourage collaboration between non-profits and fewer ones with better services. Commissioner Yuhasz made reference to the 50% limit and said that Wake and Durham Counties have larger business communities and a lot of these types of organizations are not available in Orange County. He would like to look at where the non-profit is serving before making a blanket prohibition. Commissioner Gordon said that her suggestion is to just look at these guidelines as a starting point. She would like to discuss this further, perhaps in the fall when we have more time. Frank Clifton said that most of the agencies that Orange County funds use the money for staffing costs. He said that there needs to be an obligation for a 501(c)3 that the public should support it. Each of these agencies should be raising money out in the community. Commissioner Nelson said that he wants to protect those organizations that serve people, provide food, help with mental health services, etc. He would have a hard time voting for a budget that had money for historic preservation and cut money for mental health programs. Chair Foushee said that the core mission of Orange County is that we are a service organization and they need to be attuned to human needs. He said the safety net programs are the ones they need to look at first. She said that the process for outside agencies needs to take place before the fall. She said that before the Board receives a recommendation from the Manager, the Board of County Commissioners needs to discuss this. Commissioner Pelissier made reference to the performance agreement in the packet and said that she likes this template. Also, she said that in the application process, she did not see that the agencies have to say exactly what they are providing to Orange County residents and she would like to have that included. Gwen Harvey made reference to page 23, Attachment A, Exhibit B, and the Scope of Services and said that there is a certification page that is designed to force the agency to certify how the money will be spent for Orange County residents. She said that they could reinforce this idea that this section is solely for Orange County residents. Commissioner Gordon suggested putting explicitly on the application, "outcomes that benefit the residents of Orange County." Commissioner Hemminger asked if there was anything that suggests doing background checks for employees of these non-profits that work with children. Annette Moore said that they could add this to agreement for those agencies that work with children. This can be done through the Sheriff's Department. Commissioner Jacobs suggested also requiring background checks on staff that work in agencies that work with senior citizens in Adult Day Health programs. Commissioner Yuhasz agreed with Commissioner Nelson about focusing on those agencies that help people. Frank Clifton said that the Board could pick a number and have staff work toward those funding requests tonight as a cap. Gwen Harvey said that last year the appropriation was $1,043,742 for 43 agencies. This was on page 28. This year, there is an additional $370,000 requested. Commissioner Yuhasz suggested spending no more than the proportion of locally- generated funds this year that was spent last year. He does not want it related to the general fund, but only locally-generated funds. Commissioner Gordon asked what one cent on the tax rate is and it was answered $1.5 million. Commissioner Yuhasz said that he does not want to see any aspect of the budget grow or decline disproportionately from one year to the next. Commissioner Jacobs said that at one point the Manager was talking about separating Parks and Recreation and having recreation become a function of a non-profit. He asked if this was still being considered. Frank Clifton said that the County is basically in the parks business, but ended up with some recreation programming, and he is looking at contracting recreation programming out to non-profits such as the YMCA, etc. Frank Clifton asked about meeting to discuss agency criteria and Chair Foushee said that this should probably be included in a work session for discussion. 2. FY 2010-11 Projected Budget Funding Issues Clarence Grier said that in February when the Board had its first budget work session, some things have changed to Orange County's detriment. He said that departments have cut budgets 15%. It was originally thought that the County was only down about $5 million, but now it is $13.9 million. Preliminary reports indicate property tax revenues year-to-date are ahead of the prior years' collection rates. Of the $122.3 million budgeted for real property taxes, the Tax Administration Office has collected about 100.5% of total budget or$123 million as of March 31, 2010, an increase of $5.6 million over the previous fiscal year. The vehicle taxes are right at budget at this time. Regarding the sales tax, for the last 5-6 months they were hearing that the County would get Article 33 sales tax of $2.6 million, and it did not. He said that local revenues are down due to slow reimbursement. Frank Clifton said that all of the programs the County operates with Medicaid are paid in arrears, so there is a cash flow issue here. Clarence Grier said that the departments have been fiscally frugal this year and the County will be fine at the end of this year, but he is worried about next year. Total projected revenues are expected to be $174.2 million. Preliminary departmental requests for FY 2010-11 total $187.6 million. Thus, we have a $13.4 million difference between requests and estimated revenues. This is an increase of $7.7 million over our previous projection. It is stressed that this gap is prior to the County manager doing a formal review of each department's proposal and developing the Manager's recommended budget. Frank Clifton said that these numbers would change as he goes through the budget, because these numbers are based on current budget requests. He said that the County has several reserved funds throughout the County and these will be part of the budget solution, unless they are mandated by statute. He said that the departments have done well so far, and now there needs to be a discussion with the schools. A motion was made by Commissioner Hemminger, seconded by Commissioner Jacobs to adjourn the meeting at 8:39 PM. Valerie Foushee, Chair Donna S. Baker, CMC Clerk to the Board