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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMinutes - 20030619APPROVED 1 011 12 0 0 3 MINUTES ORANGE COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS BUDGET WORK SESSION June 19, 2003 The Orange County Board of Commissioners met for a budget work session on Thursday, June 19, 2003 at 7:30 p.m. at the Government Services Center in Hillsborough, North Carolina. COUNTY COMMISSIONERS PRESENT: Chair Margaret Brown and Commissioners, Moses Carey, Jr., Alice M. Gordon, Stephen Halkiotis and Barry Jacobs COUNTY ATTORNEYS PRESENT: COUNTY STAFF PRESENT: County Manager John M. Link, Jr., Assistant County Managers Rod Visser and Gwen Harvey and Clerk to the Board Donna S. Baker (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. Chair Review of Schedule and Topics Chair Brown said that the CIP projects could be deferred until Monday evening. John Link said that since some of the County Commissioners have ideas about how to address the budget situation, the recommendation is to take Commissioner Jacobs' proposal at the beginning or look at the potential cuts that he cited. Commissioner Gordon asked for three minutes to review the supplemental information which had just been districbuted. 2. County Operating Budget Matters a) Review Menu of Possible Modification to the FY 2003-04 Manager's Recommended Budget, including additional revenues. Jahn Link said that Orange County is to receive $367,000 from the State from the tax relief bill regarding Medicaid. This is on the blue sheet. Budget Director Donna Dean made reference to column D, which includes the reserve fund established for the Piedmont Wildlife Center. As the Board works through the changes, she will add to the spreadsheet and will tally the tax rate. Chair Brown asked about the outside consulting assistance for the school merger study and John Link said that it will have to be added. John Link said that on the merger issue, they will need some outside support, not necessarily a consultant, to help them collect information on the process that other counties went through {i.e., how did other counties chose one superintendent, financial information, impact on the tax rate and district tax, etc.). He said that $6,000 is an estimate for this outside help. Commissioner Carey asked about the Board of County Commissioners contingency fund and how much was in that and Donna Dean said $50,000. He suggested using this as source to pay for this outside support on the merger report. b) BOCC deliberations on outstanding budget decision points; BOCC considers "Resolution of Intent" with major decision points: 1. New Positions 2. School Current Expenses 3. Employee Compensation 4. "Mark up, Mark down list" {e.g. Piedmont Wildlife Service) c) Decision Points -Tax rates, including Fire Districts and CHCCS Special District Tax Donna Dean said that the bright yellow sheet has decision points and position priorities The Board addressed the new positions. Social Services Income Maintenance Caseworker II: the Board agreed to add this one. Parks and Recreation - 4 positions Commissioner Gordon said that Durham County was going to fund 1-'! positions and asked if there was any more information on this. Director of Parks and Recreation Lori Taft said that it has not came before Durham's board yet. The recommendation is for 1-'/ positions. Commissioner Halkiotis asked about the equipment and vehicles needed for these parks and recreation positions. Donna Dean said that Durham County would share half of all positions and equipment for Little River Regional Park. Commissioner Gordon suggested approving these positions and putting number 4 in a reserve status. She said that we were supposed to match with Durham. Commissioner Jacobs said that the Durham County Manager recommended 1-'! positions and our Manager recommended two positions. He is proposing that there be one full-time Technician II for current parks and the six-month Technician II for Little River. Commissioner Gordon pointed out that Commissioner Jacobs is not proposing the top priority positions according to the staff recommendation. She verified that Commissioner Jacobs was proposing positions #2 and #3. Commissioner Carey asked how much this saves and Commissioner Jacobs said $66,000. John Link asked Lori Taft if she understood the proposal and she said that it would not save them $66,000. It would then require contractual monies and temporary personnel. John Link said that they could work on this. Lori Taft said that this would not allow the park to be staffed. John Link said that it is important for Orange County to put money dawn to go to Durham to match. He strongly urged the Board to keep the equipment in for Little River Park in its entirety The equipment is $52,000 and half of it would come from Durham County. The Board agreed with Commissioner Jacobs' proposal by consensus, including the equipment Commissioner Halkiotis said that the school system owns a wood chipper. He suggested leasing the school's wood chipper. There should be collaboration. John Link said that Commissioner Jacobs' proposal will require some cuts in capital, and this may be one of them. Chair Brown said to hold it in there just to make sure a chipper is available. Plans Examiner: Commissioner Jacobs said that it is supposed to pay far itself and he does not have a strong feeling about this. The Board agreed to this position. Library: Commissioner Gordon suggested starting the Northern Human Services Center in reserve and to keep Carrboro's library an hold until we know what they are going to be doing. Commissioner Halkiotis said that he was confused about the school system and the operation at McDougle and the Carrboro Library. He would like to have Library Director Brenda Stephens come and explain to the County Commissioners what is going on. John Link said that is why money is in reserve until they work through all of these issues. John Link said that the budget for the Northern Human Services Center was to begin in October, and if it is begun in January, then there will be savings to work on this one. Information Technology: Commissioner Jacobs said that his suggestion was based on the fact that we are going to have to pay far help desk services no matter what, so we might as well hire someone right away. The Business Analyst can start in January and then next fiscal year we can hire the web developer. Commissioner Halkiotis agreed with delaying the Business Analyst until January The Support Analyst will start right away. Chair Brown said that she would like to see the Business Analyst come on as soon as possible She asked about the difference between starting it in October as opposed to January and Assistant County Manager Rod Visser said $16,000. Commissioners Carey and Halkiotis would prefer to start the Business Analyst position in January. The Board agreed to start the Business Analyst in January, the Support Analyst in October, and the Web Developer next year. Decision Point #2: Change Status afTlme-Limited Position to Permanent John Link pointed out the recommendation for Decision Point 2, which is to change the status of the time-limited position to permanent far the Senior Public Health Educator and to fund it with the Social Services Safety Net. The Board agreed to this. Decision Point #3: Emergency Medical Services Transportation Commissioner Gordon asked about the cost to implement this. Rod Visser said that it would be substantially more expensive next year 2004-05, because there would be full-time permanent positions. The estimated cast is $200-300,000 more than this year once there is full staffing. For 2003-04, the relative cost is only $5-10,000 more. The main reason is that temporary staff would deliver a substantial portion of the services. John Link said that they are also anticipating the revenue to go up, so the net increase may not be $300,000, but will probably be less. The budgeted EMS revenue for 2003-2004 is $1,050,000. Far the current fiscal year, the budget was $800,000. One of the reasons is the proposed change in the fee schedule. Commissioner Halkiotis asked about contributing to the rescue squad right now. EMS Director Nick Waters said that their budget is $750,000, but the budget request was $900,000. He said that what the County is putting in to these positions, they are going to be getting back from revenues. He said that this was important to point out. Chair Brown asked about the fees and what would happen if someone calls 911 and it is determined that there really is not an emergency and they are not transported. Nick Waters said that this would be free unless there is some treatment, then there is a treat and release fee, which is $100 or $150, depending on the treatment. All patient assessments are free; there is only a charge for treatment. The Board agreed on Decision Point #3, as follows: - Confirm the Board's June 16 decision to implement the Manager's Recommended Service Delivery Change for Emergency Medical Services Transportation including specific action to: - Authorize the creation of 8 new full-time equivalent positions effective June 30, 2003 to complete Phase 1 of the service delivery change for Emergency Medical Services Transportation -Authorize the creation of 1 new full-time equivalent position effective October 1, 2003 as Phase 2 of the service delivery change for Emergency Medical Services Transportation. -Authorize the creation of 9 new full-time equivalent positions effective January 1, 2004 as Phase 3 of the service delivery change for Emergency Medical Services Transportation. Commissioner Jacobs° Budget Proposal: Commissioner Jacobs said that the items with an asterisk are also reflected in appendix G. He worked with Donna Dean and Elaine Holmes and Jahn Link and the proposals are generally acceptable. Chair Brown asked about prioritization. John Link said that his priorities are on the screen. He recommended $100,000 coming out of the emergency generators, $50,000 out of the general equipment, $25,000 out of Recreation and Parks, $25,000 out of Information and Technology, $50,000 out of Lake Michael, and $50,000 out of the roofing projects. He thinks this is doable. Chair Brown suggested putting Lake Michael as a challenge grant to Mebane instead of just giving them money. Commissioner Gordon agreed with the challenge grant idea. Discussion ensued on where the money for Lake Michael would be taken from Rod Visser said that they can keep track of this and they can remove it from the CIP if the Board desires. Chair Brown said that she is not in favor of dropping this. She would like to have a decision to do it based on an agreement with Mebane. She does not want to dismiss it. Commissioner Halkiotis asked if we were replacing over a quarter of a million dollars in Sheriff's vehicles every year and Jahn Link said yes, except for last year because of the cutbacks. He said that this should be highlighted so people do not get confused. Commissioner Halkiotis asked about rebuilding existing ambulances and Nick waters said that they have been re-built and they are 10 years old and these are proposed new ones. Commissioner Halkiotis asked about the emergency generators and locations for them and if there is any kind of matching grant from homeland security funds. Rod Visser said that they have a grant application far about $500,000. Commissioner Halkiotis verified that there wauld be generators placed at twa schools in the County -one in Hillsborough and one in Chapel Hill for use in the designated emergency shelters. Nick Waters said that the new initiative is to get more community support and to partner with churches, etc. far the shelters. Commissioner Halkiotis said that the County government should be taking the lead on shelters before everyone starts opening up shelters in their backyard. Chair Brown verified that the County would not sanction shelters in churches and there would be no public money involved. Commissioner Gordon said that she was not ready to address the capital issues, but only the operating at this time, since only the operating expenses were on the agenda for this evening. Decision #4: School Current Expense Commissioner Gordon said that we cut a lot of schaol recurring capital last year. Commissioner Halkiotis said that he is not supportive of these cuts and we should ask the school systems what their recurring expenses are. There are so many things that are mandated and the Orange County School system's budget is over $300,000 for mandated items. He would urge the Board to look at this because last year they cut recurring capital. It takes years to recoup. He would like to find out exactly how the school systems are using recurring capital. Chair Brown asked how much each school system got in past years. Donna Dean said that in 2001-2002 both systems got $2.2 million - $870,000 to OCS and $1.3 million to CHCCS. This year, it went down to $1.8 million -CHCCS got $1.1 million and OCS got $700,000. Next year, it is proposed to go up from $1.8 to $1.9 million. Again, CHCCS will get about $1.2 million and OCS will get about $700,000. Commissioner Carey said that John Link said that he could cut a certain amount and he would support cuts in the County and the schools, but not to the extent that Commissioner Jacobs has proposed. Commissioner Jacobs said that his proposal is to cut the Manager's recommended tax increase by 1.5 cents (Manager's was 3 cents for increase in taxes}. He thinks that we ought to share the pain and the tax increase should be as low as possible. Chair Brown said that she agrees with Commissioner Halkiotis about not cutting funds to where the infrastructure is undermined. Discussion ensued about the Manager's recommended budget cuts Commissioner Gordon does not want to cut capital tonight. Commissioner Carey suggested cutting only $25,000 from IT replacement instead of $100,000 as proposed by Commissioner Jacobs. This would leave Commissioner Jacobs' cuts at $390,000. Commissioner Halkiotis said that once you embark on this Information Technology line you have to keep it up and you have to support it. John Link asked about the exact reductions in the general categories. The reductions are as follows: Emergency generators - $90,000 Equipment and Vehicles - $225,000 Information Technology - $25,000 Lake Michael - $50,000 John Link said that we are going to have to address the ambulances and the Sheriff's vehicles eventually. Commissioner Gordon said that she would only be in favor of $300,000 in cuts, considering the items which would be cut. The remaining County Commissioners agreed with $390,000 in cuts. Commissioner Carey made reference to Commissioner Jacobs' proposal of cutting schools current capital of $342,000. He does not want to cut it this much, but he agrees with cutting it $275,000. Commissioner Halkiotis will only cut $150,000. Chair Brown agreed with $342,000. Commissioner Gordon agreed with $150,000. Commissioner Jacobs said that the minimum should be $195,000. Chair Brown said that she would go down to $150,000. The school capital will be cut only $ ~ 50, Q00. Commissioner Jacobs said that there is $170,000 left in the Social Services Safety Net, and the proposal is to add $200,000 to it. He thinks $70,000 could be cut and there would still be $300,000 in the end. Commissioner Halkiatis asked if there might be any sneak attacks from the State about social services. John Link made reference to the study of the structure of Health Departments and deferred to Health Director Rosie Summers. Rosie Summers said that she met with State lawmakers about this bill and it does have house support, but there is no funding attached to the bill right now. Social Services Director Nancy Coston said that they know that there is a possible $12,000 cut. She actually thinks that the State got us two years ago and thus may not cut much more this year. The good news is that they budgeted at the same level as last year. The Board agreed with the $70, 000 reduction in the Social Safety Net. Commissioner Jacobs made reference to the Affordable Housing Trust Fund reconciliation (aqua sheet}. There is $148,000 left, and he was proposing giving the $34,000 to Orange Community Housing and Land Trust out of the trust fund, and then cutting $13,000. There would still be $100,000 left in the trust fund. The Board agreed to this, Delay Initiatives Proposed by Commissioner Jacobs: Commissioner Jacobs pointed out the delay of the Green Tract payment. Jahn Link said that this accentuates the need far the solid waste fee in March. The Board agreed with all of the delay initiatives, except the Ptans Examiner. Assume Revenues Proposed by Commissioner Jacobs: The Board agreed to this. Commissioner Carey did state his objection to the $20,000 from Piedmont Wildlife Center. Commissioner Halkiotis asked if the wildlife were being taken care of. Dr. Bobby Schopler said that the APS is hiring a Wildlife Manager. Commissioner Carey said that though he objects, he understands that we should ga ahead and put this money in reserve. At this time, there was afive-minute break. Donna Dean said that from the actions taken tonight, there has been a net cut of $1.5 million, which is a tax rate equivalent of 1.6 cents. This would take the tax rate to 84.4 cents. Commissioner Jacobs asked if this includes Medicaid and Donna Dean said yes. Without the Medicaid reimbursement, it is 1.23 cents. Commissioner Jacobs suggested putting some of the cut funds into Lands Legacy - at least $50,000. Decision Point #5: Employee Compensation Chair Brown said that she would like to initiate Phase 2 of the Employee Compensation and Pay Plan. John Link said that if the Board could move Phase 2 from April 2004 to November or January, it would make a big difference to employees. Personnel Director Elaine Holmes said that this would bring forth 2.5 °~ for employees and would impact over 400 employees and would address the compression issue. Discussion ensued on the amount to use for the Employee Compensation and Pay Plan. Commissioner Carey would like for the Board of County Commissioners to reduce the Manager's recommended level for the district tax for CHCCS and to add to the per pupil allocation to replace the funding that is reduced from the district tax so that both systems would get more money, which would prevent the district tax from further increasing the gap. This would also provide mare money for the Orange County School system. Commissioner Halkiotis agreed that Phase 2 of the plan should be sped up. He said that some people disagreed with the housing wage issue, but the Sheriff requires his employees to live in Orange County. It is expensive to live in Orange County, and he supports the housing wage. Commissioner Carey said that to move it up a couple of months would send a message to the employees. Commissioner Gordon said that almost all the people that came to the public hearing wanted to fully fund the schools' requests. She suggested that the Board should do something more for the schools and should allocate additional funds for school needs. Commissioner Carey said that he is not suggesting reducing the funding for the CHCCS. He asked for a figure if the district tax was reduced from 20 cents to 19.2 cents. Commissioner Gordon said that if we do this it raises the County tax rate. John Link suggested funding Lands Legacy out of the School Park Reserve Fund. The $123,000 from Medicaid reimbursement could address moving up Phase 2 to January 19t". The Board agreed to moving up Phase 2. Commissioner Jacobs said that he does not want to raise the district tax either Commissioner Halkiotis said that the Manager recommended to increase the district tax by .8 cents and to use it for opening up Rashkis Elementary. He said that you need to give the school system a heads up if the process is going to be changed and the district tax is not going to be increased to provide for start up costs. He supports the Manager's recommendation for the .8 cents if it is used specifically far the start up costs for Rashkis Elementary. John Link said that the start up costs is estimated to be $1.4 million. The extra .8 cents provides about $500,000 and the other $900,000 has to be absorbed elsewhere. He said that he assumes that all positions that CHCCS has requested are effective in the fall and he asked if all of these positions have to be brought on in the beginning. Commissioner Halkiotis said that you want to have all on board when a school opens up. Commissioner Gordon said that we should hold the CHCCS harmless. She thinks that the increase in the district tax should be kept. Also, we are trying to reduce the countywide tax rate, and this would raise it. Commissioner Carey said that what he is proposing would still give CHCCS $500,000, it would just take the money from the district tax and put it in the ad valorem tax. Commissioner Halkiotis, Chair Brown, and Commissioner Gordon, all agreed to keep the Manager's recommendation of an increase in the district tax of .8 cents. Commissioner Carey and Commissioner Jacobs were opposed. Donna Dean clarified that this makes the increase 1.23 cents, without the Medicaid piece Commissioner Halkiotis asked how much money the unfilled positions put back into the reserve fund and Donna Dean said $740,000. He asked about any other opportunities for revenues or money saved. Chair Brown suggested finishing up the fee schedules. Commissioner Jacobs said that the Board did not decide anything specific on the Lands Legacy amount. Commissioner Halkiotis asked the Manager to bring forth recommendations for this. Donna Dean said that, to date, there is a reduction of the Manager's recommended budget of 1.48 cents. This would take the tax rate from the recommended 86 cents to 84.52 cents. Decision Point #6: Fee Schedule Changes Rod Visser pointed out the changes in fees for Recreation and Parks, EMS, and the reduction of the construction and demolition fees of three dollars. One of the reasons for this reduction is that Orange County has one of the highest tip fees in the state, and the fear is that people will go elsewhere to dispose of C&D waste. Chair Brown asked how much more money would be generated if the tip fee was kept the same at $41 and Rod Visser said for each dollar, it is about $20,000 in revenue. Chair Brown said that she is not going to vote for this and she wants to keep it the same. Commissioner Gordon agreed with Chair Brown. Commissioner Halkiotis said that this is serious and if there is a philosophy behind this, it needs to be stated clearly. He would say no to this now and he wants more information. Commissioner Carey is in favor of reducing the fee to $38. Rod Visser said that there is no requirement that the fee needs to be changed right now. It could be brought back in the fall. Commissioner Halkiotis would like the whole story. The Board agreed to leave the C&D fee at $47. Commissioner Jacobs asked about the recreation fees and the 90-minute cutoff on ballgames and where they got that number. John Link said that the best thing would be not to change the fee right now because he does not have the answer. Donna Dean said that they will be working with Recreation and Parks to look at their other fees in the fall and this could be part of that. John Link recommended that the Board act on the EMS fees and leave the rest the same until the fall. Commissioner Halkiotis does nat agree with the $10 an hour charge for the picnic facility at Efland-Cheeks. Commissioner Jacobs said that we would work with people that are not able to pay the Recreation and Parks fees. John Link said that all decisions have been made for the Resolution of Intent on the operating budget except for the per pupil allocation. Remaining CountylSchaols CIP Decisions (Additional background materials to be provided at work session) Chair Brown and Commissioner Jacobs will support the Manager's recommended per pupil allocation. Commissioner Gordon wants to support a $4.71 increase in the allocation. Commissioner Carey agreed with the Manager's recommendation. Commissioner Halkiotis said that it does not make sense because you are taking recurring capital from the schools and now you want to throw them some crumbs. Commissioner Gordon said that she would be willing to do $8.44. Commissioner Halkiotis asked how to fund this and Commissioner Gordon said that you would not reduce the tax rate as much. John Link said that you are saving 1.5 cents an the increase, based on keeping the school funding as recommended. Commissioner Halkiotis agreed with Commissioner Cordon's proposal. The Board decided, by a vote of 3-2 {Commissioner Halkiotis and Commissioner Gordan) to approve the Manager's recommended per pupil allocation of $2,566 and to increase the CHCCS district tax by .8 cents. Commissioner Halkiotis and Commissioner Gordon agreed with the increase in the district tax but wanted the per pupil increase to be greater. A motion was made by Commissioner Carey, seconded by Commissioner Halkiotis to adjourn the meeting at 10:15 p.m. VOTE: UNANIMOUS Rod Visser asked about the fire departments and if the Board wanted to go with the tax rates in the Manager's budget. The Board agreed. Commissioner Jacobs said that there should be some strategic planning with the fire districts. Margaret Brown, Chair Donna S. Baker Clerk to the Board