Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAboutMinutes - 20070614APPROVED 9/6/2007 MINUTES ORANGE COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS BUDGET WORK SESSION June 14, 2007 7:30 p.m. The Orange County Board of Commissioners met for a Budget Work Session on Thursday, June 14, 2007 at 7:30 p.m. at the Southern Human Services Center in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. COUNTY COMMISSIONERS PRESENT: Chair Moses Carey, Jr., and Commissioners Valerie P. Foushee, Alice Gordon, Barry Jacobs and Mike Nelson COUNTY COMMISSIONERS ABSENT: COUNTY ATTORNEYS PRESENT: Geoffrey Gledhill COUNTY STAFF PRESENT: County Manager Laura Blackmon and Assistant County Managers Willie Best and Gwen Harvey, and Clerk to the Board Donna Baker (All other staff members will be identified appropriately below}. 1. Openina Comments Chair Carey asked if there was any additional information from staff and Laura Blackmon said na, but it will be provided tamarraw. 2. Review Recommended Fee Changes Animal Services Chair Carey asked the staff if there was a basic approach to the fees, and if the changes made were designed to recoup costs. Laura Blackmon said that most changes are to recoup costs. The intent of increasing the fees for animal services is to provide an incentive to citizens who own animals to have their pets spayed or neutered. She suggested discussing these changes by exception. Chair Carey asked about the changes to animal services and if the Animal Services Advisory Board reviewed these. Laura Blackmon said that the advisory board has discussed this, and the changes are based on a study done this past year. The study was on basic fees and fines of other areas. Animal Services Director Bob Marotto said that the results of the study of the fees were brought to the advisory board for discussion, and all of the recommendations have been approved by the ASAB. He said that one of the more exciting proposals forthcoming from the ASAB and staff is to create a spaylneuter fund. The idea is to increase the fee for registration for intact animals, but not do so for sterilized animals. This is referred to as differential licensing. The proposed increase would be from $10 to $30 for intact animals and the $20 differential would ga into the spay/neuter fund that can be used to promote spaying and neutering throughout Orange County. Commissioner Gordon arrived at 7:44 PM. Bob Marotto said that the fine increases are specific to the civil penalties required of someone who has not complied with a particular ordinance. In addition, there are some select fee increases for shelter operation -boarding, quarantining animals, rabies shots to animals staying at the shelter, etc. The low-cost vaccination clinic fee will not be increased. Commissioner Jacobs asked about the increase for shelter redemption fees and Bab Marotto said that this is charged to someone who recovers their animal from the shelter. The first time a person recovers an animal it is $10; the second time it is $25, going up to $100. The ASAB recommended that the first recovery remain at $10, but the subsequent recoveries would be greater. Commissioner Jacobs recommended that if this fee schedule is posted, that there be an explanation of what the four steps mean. He said that he does not have a problem with raising the fines, but before it is done, he would like to have an amnesty for the public and advertise this aggressively. He suggested phasing this after a public education campaign. Bob Marotto said that Commissioner Jacobs asked last year about amnesty and the ASAB discussed this. This discussion has not reached a conclusion. He distributed a summary of same of the discussion. He said that there is a sense that a positive approach is preferred. He said that he wants to work on this positive outreach. Commissioner Jacobs suggested that one of the tax bill inserts might include why the fees are going up and that the County will work with people, but this is the goal. Health Department Commissioner Jacobs made reference to page 11 and "Full Sample Suite." Tom Konsler said that this is a more extensive sample offered, and after July 1, 2008 it will be required by the State for every drinking water well that is drilled. The full sample suite costs the County $55. Tom Konsler answered several clarifying questions about what the fees included. Commissioner Gordon asked when the rules would be finalized by the State. Tom Konsler said that they are in the rough draft stage now for bath sets of rules -well construction and water sampling. Commissioner Gordon asked when the new rules would go into effect, because that would determine when the county would have to hire the new staff members proposed to implement the regulations. Tom Konsler said the requirements would go into effect July 1, 2008, but the Health Department wanted to fill the proposed positions before that date. Chair Carey suggested that when the fees are implemented, it should be clear to the public that the well permit fee includes the test. Chair Carey made reference to the dental fees and asked if these were services that had not been provided before. Wayne Sherman said that these are all new services provided by the dental program. Recreation and Parks Laura Blackmon said that there are new fees dealing with facilities. Chair Carey asked if a whole park could be reserved and Recreation and Parks Director Lori Taft said yes, and it is a common thing in the industry. Chair Carey asked and Lori Taft said that renting out the whole park would not be exclusive use. Commissioner Gordon said that if someone rents the whole park for $250, then they would not expect other people to be there. Chair Carey asked about the expectation for $250. Lori Taft said that the majority of these events are open to the public (i.e., a tent revival at Fairview). There was an event at Little River where a corporation rented the whole park, but the public could still come in and use the trails. Commissioner Jacobs said that he is not sure he is comfortable having a religious revival on County property. He thinks that different facilities should have different limitations. He is not comfortable with this as proposed. Chair Carey said that it is entirely reasonable to have policies and fees for facility use, but he wants to think about the whole park. Laura Blackmon said that she does not see closing a park for aone-use event. Chair Carey asked staff to bring back policies for the County Commissioners to review. Commissioner Gordan said that she did not know we allowed the taking over of a public park. She said that $250 is not nearly enough. She also suggested giving County residents priority. Commissioner Jacobs asked if the fee for the whole park was based on the cost of service. Lori Taft said na, but it is a ballpark fee and it was an attempt not to go too high. She said that the staff could bring the policies along with this fee back in the fall. Commissioner Jacobs asked about group camping and Lori Taft said that at Little River Park, there is only group camping. There is a policy developed for this, and the group is defined as anywhere from six to 30 individuals. The group also has to be recognized as a group. There is a caretaker resident that will assist the County with this. Commissioner Jacobs suggested putting in parenthesis, "Little River Park only". Commissioner Jacobs asked about fees for picnic shelters and how the amount was determined. He asked if the $20 was for the staff effort, or if they just wanted to charge a fee. Lori Taft said that there is staff effort involved. She said that the staff did a comparison with other jurisdictions and the fees went by the size of the picnic shelter. There are costs associated with staff registering, doing signage, clean up, etc. Laura Blackmon said that charging a fee provides an incentive for people to show up. Commissioner Jacobs said that he could see this for larger parks, but not the smaller, such as Efland-Cheeks and Fairview. He suggested differentiating between facilities. He also suggested requiring a deposit, which would provide an incentive for the group to show. Lori Taft said that there is also a list of groups for which the fees are waived. Commissioner Foushee asked how the list relates to a policy because you cannot discriminate. Lori Taft said that they are working with a policy now as well as the meeting room policy. Solid Waste There is a proposed Increase in the 3-R fee. Chair Carey asked if this was increased this last year and Solid Waste Director Gayle Wilson said that only the basic category was increased. Commissioner Jacobs asked why the fees were being increased. Gayle Wilson said that a couple of the categories are way out of balance and the increases would bring them in line. The plan is to move towards full funding because the ability of the landfill to subsidize recycling will be significantly diminished over the next three or four years. There have also been service increases. This coming year will be the first full year of mixed paper curbside pickup. The landfill will be subsidizing over $400,000, even with the implementation of the fees. Department on Aging Laura Blackmon said that now that the Seymour Center is open, the Department on Aging is proposing a fee structure and specific operation hours far the center. This can be considered as part of the budget, as an agenda item in a regular meeting, or after the budget in the fall. Chair Carey said that he and the Vice-Chair will review this at agenda review and decide when to consider these fees. Commissioner Jacobs asked about the Board of Elections fee and said that the filing fees for State and county offices are mandated and the other fees have not changed since 1980. He asked if the County was recovering any costs and Barry Garner said that all filing fees go into the County general fund. Commissioner Jacobs said that he cannot imagine that there is only $5.00 worth of effort that goes into processing someone's application to run for an office. Barry Garner said that each government sets its own fees, except the county and State offices, it is 1 °~ of salary. 3. Review County Department Budgets, By Exception Laura Blackmon pointed out the tab for Departmental Operating Budgets in the budget document. Board of Commissioners Commissioner Jacobs made reference to page 3-24 and the decrease in Personnel Services for the reassignment of the Communications Specialist to Staff Attorney. He asked about deducting the $351,000 from the $413,000 and if this is how much money would be moved. Budget Director Donna Coffey said that this also includes budgeting 96% of salaries and moving the Communications Specialist. Also included in Personnel Services are temporary personnel, benefits, etc. Commissioner Jacobs verified that the reserve of $50,000 that was set aside last year goes back into the general fund. Commissioner Gordon asked about the dollar amounts for the lapsed salaries. Donna Coffey said that this information will be coming to the County Commissioners tomorrow. Animal Services Chair Carey made reference to page 3-17 and the measures and number of cruelty complaints. He asked how the staff accounts for this decrease, because everything else is going up. Animal Services Director Bob Marotto said that the estimate for 2006-07 indicates that they expect to reach a higher level of complaints based on experience. There is a lot of neglect. He said that next year is an average of the preceding years. Central Services Commissioner Gordan asked how those services that are for all departments were budgeted. Donna Coffey said items that are paid far all departments are allocated to departments by indirect casts. Commissioner Jacobs asked about phone services and if there was a place where this was listed in the budget. Pam Janes said that there is an expense line item where the entire amount is listed. There is also acontra-amount, which should be the amount that is charged back to the departments. Discussion ensued about telephone costs. Cooperative Extension Commissioner Jacobs made reference to pages 3-34 and said that the County has a program that trains mothers on breastfeeding and he asked where this was. Cooperative Extension Director Fletcher Barber said that the travel is in the budget under Personnel. Commissioner Jacobs asked if the County was still in a position of replacing federal funds for this program and Fletcher Barber said yes. Orange County is one of the few in the state that still has this program. Courts Commissioner Jacobs asked about the $9,000 in Personnel Services and Donna Coffey said that it is for the Jury Commission. Laura Blackmon said that this has not increased since 2005-06. EMS Commissioner Jacobs asked about the personnel costs increasing so much and Kent McKenzie said that one reason is loss of grant revenue used to offset a portion of the salaries. Commissioner Gordon made reference to page 3-50 and said that the 2006-07 12- Month Estimate was $250,922 and the 2007-08 Manager Recommended was $342,958. Donna Coffey said that there have been vacancies in administration for most of the year. Housing and Community Development Commissioner Jacobs made reference to page 3-93 and asked why Operations was $0. Housing and Community Development Director Tara Fikes said that this is because of the amount of funds available in the Section 8 program far administration, it will only cover personnel, so the Operations would be covered by the HOME program and CDBG funds. Chair Carey asked about the request for the implementation funds far the ten-year plan to reduce homelessness in the Housing budget and Tara Fikes said that this is in the non- departmental budget. Information Technology Commissioner Jacobs asked about the imaging discussion and Chief Information Officer Todd Jones said that this would be handled in capital requests for specific departments. Commissioner Jacobs said that the Clerk to the Board also had a request and Todd Jones said that they have been meeting with a vendor and this will be handled in the fall. Chair Carey asked about the ruggedized laptops and Todd Jones said that laptops have been deployed in the Inspections Department; they are in the process of deploying the Sheriff's Office, the Tax Assessor's Office, and EMS. He said that they are 213 of the way through the program. Public Works Commissioner Jacobs asked about the strategic plan for custodial services and haw this is working. Public Works Director Wilbert McAdoo said that this is not being implemented except adding the staff at the Seymour Center. Commissioner Jacobs asked Laura Blackmon to bring back to the County Commissioners the projections of the strategic plans for Public Works and Parks and Recreation, not necessarily in the budget process. Laura Blackmon said that once they do the ten-year capital plan in the fall, they will also do projections on staff and operations. She said that the County will need more people as new facilities are opened. Commissioner Jacobs said that if the County Commissioners are going to adjust the budget process to communicate with the schools, then they will also have to communicate the County's costs early on. Recreation and Parks Commissioner Jacobs made reference to the increased casts in electricity for lights. He asked if anyone tried to do any solar gathering of energy to burn the lights. Lori Taft said that the only example in place currently is at Little River Park in the restrooms. There are solar tubes that bring light in and there is a sensor on the switch. There is no solar gathering of energy at this time. Commissioner Jacobs asked the staff to do some research on alternatives to using gas- powered vehicles and consumer electricity. Rents and Insurance Commissioner Gordon asked haw much of this was for the Gateway Center and Pam Jones said that about half is for Gateway. The rent is $300,520. Chair Carey asked why this was listed as a department by itself. Donna Coffey said that it is not really a department, but it is part of the Purchasing Department. Commissioner Jacobs made reference to page 3-151 and that the Builder's Supply lease expires at the end of September. He asked if there would be a proposal about this. Laura Blackmon said that the staff discussed this today. 4. Sanitation Transition Laura Blackmon pointed out this information on page 3-191. Solid Waste Director Gayle Wilson said that this is about the issue of reorganization of the Sanitation Division from Public Works to the Solid Waste Department. This is the fifth budget year that this has been discussed. This reorganization will allow consolidation of solid waste services into a single entity. The current split now is confusing to the public and the Solid Waste office gets dozens of phone calls regarding solid waste centers and issuing of permits, etc. Over time, Sanitation has been working closely with the Solid Waste Department. The employees have been somewhat up in the air, and he thinks that many of them would like some closure. It would allow some increased efficiencies in sharing equipment and the site. It will also allow for integration of education, outreach, and advertising services. There are also benefits to Public Works such as office and parking space, less demand on the maintenance department, relief in clerical and administrative work, etc. There are some costs associated with this transfer such as temporary rental space for employees, indirect costs, and a surcharge for fuel in Chapel Hill that does not exist in Hillsborough. He thinks that the benefits will outweigh the costs. Commissioner Jacobs verified that the only cost for space is $6,900 for staff. Commissioner Jacobs said that part of the discussion has been waiting for the Solid Waste Operations Center to open. Gayle Wilson said that the actual savings of waiting would be minimal, and the staff would like to proceed. Commissioner Jacobs made reference to page 3-191 and eliminating lunchtime closures at the convenience centers. He said that this is another example of where the public could be informed of what is going on. He said that if the County relies an media to report the positive things that it does, it mayor may not get reported. He wants to promote this and that the 3-R fee is increasing. 6. Reserve for Planning Initiatives This item was addressed in Appendix f-1. Commissioner Gordon asked Laura Blackmon what she thought was more important in these initiatives. Laura Blackmon said that some of these are already in progress such as the Comprehensive Plan update, Efland-Sewer Expansion Master Plan, and HillsboroughlOrange County Strategic Growth Plan. Planning Director Craig Benedict said that the Comprehensive Plan is a priority and phase 1 of the Hillsborough/Orange County Strategic Growth Plan has just been completed. On February 20t", the County Commissioners agreed to move into phase 2 by approving a Resolution of Agreement with Hillsborough to put together an interlocal agreement to proceed with joint land use plans, etc. There is an ongoing task farce for the Efland Sewer Expansion Master Plan. The Efland-Mebane Small Area Plan was approved in June 2006, and another task force was formed for the implementation phase. One of the recommendations is to prepare Efland for water and sewer systems. Regarding the Transportation Improvement Plan Project with the bike and map plans, there is a $50,000 outlay, which is reimbursed through DOT. Regarding the Clean Water Education Partnership, Orange County has cooperated with other local governments in the Upper Neuse River basin for advertising in support of Orange County's effort in this area. Craig Benedict said that some things are not being recommended for funding this year: Metropolitan Planning Organization, Park Master Plan Payment-In-Lieu Analysis {waiting for completion of the park element of the comprehensive plan}, and Upper New Hope Arm of Jordan Lake. Commissioner Jacobs made reference to the Orange-Alamance Water System Infrastructure Consultant and said that before the County enters into anything with Orange- Alamance, there have to be some agreements about where this is going. He thinks that there should be a framework. Commissioner Jacobs made reference to the telecommunications study and Donna Coffey said that it has funding for this year and it is in non-departmental. Commissioner Jacobs said that this is confusing and they need to group things that are continuations. Commissioner Jacobs said that he would like the Manager to give a report explaining what happened with the Efland federal grant money for the water and sewer extension. Laura Blackmon said that it was in the Manager's Memo and Chair Carey suggested putting it at the end of the agenda as an information item for June 26tH 6. Review of Potential Budget Modifications Laura Blackman said that the Board asked her to come up with items to cut from the budget. She said that she does not recommend any of these cuts but they are for the Board's consideration. She is requesting that the County Commissioners not do any last minute cuts on June 26th, but discuss any possible cuts before then. She said that the budget is pretty bare banes and most departments tried to do a continuation budget. Chair Carey suggested deferring questions until the next meeting. Commissioner Gordon made reference to #17: Impact Fee reimbursement -defer payment of one half of the impact fee reimbursements. Laura Blackmon said that this is for affordable housing. Commissioner Gordon asked about meeting support supplies and if this is just food. Donna Coffey said that 99% of this is food. Commissioner Jacobs asked about #20 and how solid this projection is. Donna Coffey said that it is a very solid number. 7. Adjourn A motion was made by Commissioner Jacobs, seconded by Commissioner to adjourn the meeting at 9:55 PM. Moses Carey, Jr., Chair Donna S. Baker, CMC Clerk to the Board