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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMinutes 05-11-2017 1 APPROVED 6/6/2017 MINUTES BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS BUDGET PUBLIC HEARING May 11, 2017 7:00 p.m. The Orange County Board of Commissioners met for a work session on Thursday, May 11, 2017 at the Whitted Building in Hillsborough, N.C. COUNTY COMMISSIONERS PRESENT: Chair Dorosin and Commissioners Mia Burroughs, Mark Dorosin, Barry Jacobs, Earl McKee, Mark Marcoplos and Renee Price COUNTY COMMISSIONERS ABSENT: Commissioner Penny Rich COUNTY ATTORNEYS PRESENT: COUNTY STAFF PRESENT: County Manager Bonnie Hammersley, Deputy County Manager Travis Myren and Deputy Clerk to the Board David Hunt (All other staff members will be identified appropriately below) Chair Dorosin called the meeting to order at 7:00 p.m. 1. Opening Remarks PUBLIC CHARGE Chair Dorosin dispensed with the reading of the Public Charge. 2. Presentation of County Manager's Recommended FY 2017-18 Budget Bonnie Hammersley made the following PowerPoint presentation: FY2017-18 COUNTY MANAGER RECOMMENDED BUDGET FY17-18 Recommended Budget • Expenditures — Revenues -Tax Rate • Assumptions • Initiatives • School Funding • Outside Agencies • Fire Districts 2017 Tax Year Revaluation ■ The revaluation resulted in a 6.5% increase in real property value, increasing the property tax base by over$1 billion to $16.8 billion. ■ Since the County's overall tax base increased, the County's revenue neutral rate decreases from 87.80 cents per$100 of value to 83.77 cents per$100 of value. Budgeted Expenditures and Revenues (graph) Budget Assumptions ■ Revenue Neutral Rate = .8377 2 ■ Tax Growth* = 1.2% ■ Sales Tax Growth = 4% ■ General Fund Reserve = 17% Budget Request Complication (chart) Initiatives ■ Increase funding Orange Connect Scholarship Program ■ Increase per pupil funding for CHCCS and OCS ■ Compensation package for County employees ■ Paid Parental Leave for County Employees ■ Increase funding for Orange Public Transit ■ Implement collaborative initiative for Housing Rehab ■ Planning funds for Economic Summit and a Local Festival ■ Advance the Criminal Justice Resource Office to County Department status Education (chart) Education: Recommended School Funding (chart) Education: Durham Technical Community College (chart) Functional Leadership Teams o Community Services ■ Additional Positions— 11 FTE (Fees/Article 43/Program Revenue ■ Community Centers agreements with Neighborhood Associations. ■ Increase Solid Waste Program Fee $21 to $128 per year ■ Implement a Mattress Collection Program o General Government ■ Board of Elections will conduct three (3) elections o Human Services ■ Additional Positions—7.0 FTE (2nd Family Foundation/State/GF) ■ Behavioral Health Assessment Study ■ Family Success Alliance (FSA) o Public Safety ■ Additional Positions—2.5 FTE (ABC /MOE) o Support Services ■ Website Redesign will improve operation Orange County Employee Compensation (chart) Outside Agencies (chart) Outside Agencies (chart) Fire District (chart) FY2017-22 Capital Investment Plan FY2017-18 ➢ Detention Facility—$622,114 ➢ Environment &Ag Center—$3.4 million ➢ Solid Waste—$990,268 3 ➢ Sportsplex—$465,000 ➢ Community Centers—$75,000 ➢ Economic Development—$2.3 million ➢ EMS Substation Co-location — $845,000 ➢ Facility Accessibility & Security—$30,000 ➢ Rural Broadband —$500,000 ➢ School Capital Improvements—$7.8 million ➢ Blackwood Farm Park— $100,000 ➢ Fairview Park—$50,000 ➢ Hollow Rock Nature Park—$10,000 ➢ Park Renovation & Repairs —$191,000 ➢ Soccer Center Phase II — $300,000 ➢ BOCC Initiatives - $50,000 ➢ Fiber Connections—$1.2M ➢ Infrastructure—$700,000 ➢ ITGC Initiatives— $510,000 ➢ Mobile Radios —$920,000 ➢ Facility Enhancements—$450,000 ➢ HVAC Projects—$122,000 ➢ SHSC Renovation— $4.0M ➢ Roofing and Facade—$102,444 Budget Timeline Date County Manager presents FY17-18 Recommended Budget May 29, 2017 Budget Public Hearings Budget and Capital Investment Plan (CIP) May 11 and May 16 Budget Work Session Schedule Capital Investment Plan (CIP) Prioritization May 9 Schools and Outside Agencies May 25 Fire Districts, Public safety, Support Services and Gen. Gov. June 8 Human Services and Community Services June 13 Budget Amendments and Resolution of Intent to Adopt June 15 BOCC Regular Meeting FY2017-18 Operating and CIP Budget Adoption June 20 Budget Documentation Availability ■ Clerk to Board of Commissioners ■ County Finance & Administrative Services Office ■ Orange County Library ■ Chapel Hill Public Library ✓ Carrboro/McDougle Branch Library ■ Orange County Website - http://orangecountync.gov Target of 1.2% for outside agencies. A copy of the County Manager' Recommended FY 2017-18 Budget can be found at the following website: http://www.orangecountync.gov/departments/county budgets.php Chair Dorosin asked if the Board had any questions. Chair Dorosin asked if the Manager could briefly describe the parental leave benefits. 4 Bonnie Hammersley said this benefit includes a 6-week paid leave for birth, adoption, or guardianship of a child. She said this is both maternal and paternal leave. She said if the Board accepts this provision, the benefit would go into effect on July 1, 2017. She said this benefit is similar to a number of other municipalities in the Triangle Region. Chair Dorosin referred to the ADM portion of Recommended Budget Education slide, and asked if the "out of district number" referred to students who live in the Chapel Hill Carrboro City Schools (CHCCS) district who attend other school districts, or vice versa. Commissioner Burroughs said this number refers to the children of faculty and staff who attend the district due to their parent being employed by the district. Chair Dorosin asked if the number of charter school students refers to student who live in the CHCCS district, but attend charter schools. He asked if the total number for CHCCS (12,160) and Orange County Schools (8,072) represents the actual students attending the schools. Paul Laughton, Finance and Administrative Services, said the ADM is a planning number that is given each year in March. He said this number comes from the State's Department of Public Instruction. He said this number has been used consistently for many years. Chair Dorosin clarified that the total number does not include out of district students, as those students pay to attend the schools. Bonnie Hammersley said that is correct. Chair Dorosin clarified that the charter school students are included, as the County does pay for those students. Commissioner Burroughs said yes. Chair Dorosin referred to the General Government slide, where it says "the Board of Elections will conduct three elections", and asked if the third election could be identified. Paul Laughton said there is a scheduled run off, and all three elections are budgeted for. Chair Dorosin referred to the Outside Agencies slide, and clarified that no outside agency gets 100% of its requested funding. Bonnie Hammersley said no agency gets 100% of its requested increase. She said there are two outside agencies that did not request an increase, but rather the same funding as previously received, of which each agency received 100%. Chair Dorosin clarified that the Manager's recommendation for fire districts is to increase the rate in all districts that have requested an increase. Bonnie Hammersley said yes. Commissioner Price referred to the slide about the ADM, and the tuition paid by out of district students. She asked if these monies appear in the County or the Schools' budgets. Bonnie Hammersley said it does not go through the County budget. She said the Schools collect the fees. 3. Public Comment Susan Romaine said she is the Chair of the steering committee for the Orange County Living Wage (OCLW). She said she is pleased to report that OCLW has used the Orange County funding to grow its mission. She said OCLW has certified 118 living wage employers in Orange County, who pay their employees at least$13.15 per hour. She said these businesses employ over 7000 workers. She said OCLW organizes "buycots", supporting the patronage of four living wage employers: Mystery Brewing, Gray Squirrel, Coastal Federal Credit Union, and Rise Biscuits and Donuts. She reviewed other highlights of the past year. She thanked the Board of County Commissioners (BOCC) for its ongoing support. Katie Bauman said she is the Director of Behavioral Insights. She said larger numbers of children are exposed to domestic violence in Orange County, and it is important to work with both the children and their parents. She said Behavioral Insights will be administering the 5 Strong Fathers Program, which is a strengths based intervention program for fathers overcoming cycles of family violence. She said Behavioral Insights also provides partner abuse intervention, anger management classes, and pretrial sentencing plans. She said these programs equip participants with skills, and offer alternatives to jail time. She thanked the BOCC for its support. Elvira Mebane said she is the President of United Voices of Efland Cheeks, and thanked the Manager and the BOCC for their support. She asked if recommended funds for part time positions could be transferred to their personnel line items, so as to create a more effective and efficient use of the funds. She thanked the Manager, and asked the BOCC to approve the recommended budget. Cordelia Heaney said she is the Executive Director of the Compass Center for Women and Families, which empowers clients to navigate challenging times in their lives. She said the Center promotes social justice and gender equity through a unique array of services: workshops, teen pregnancy prevention education, community education, domestic violence court advocacy, 24 hour domestic violence hot line, etc. She said the Center serves about 5000 people annually, and thanked the BOCC for its support. She reviewed several highlights of the past year, and plans for the upcoming year. She said there is great need for the Center's services, especially pertaining to domestic violence services. Brenda McCall said she is a volunteer with Project Engage, which serves seniors and those with disabilities. She said a huge need of this population is flexible, assisted, on-demand transportation. She said medical services are increasingly de-centralized, making transportation more difficult and outside of the regular Orange Public Transit (OPT) routes. She asked the BOCC to please fund on demand transportation services. Sophie Suberan thanked the BOCC for its efforts for the community. She said she is here to speak about funds allotted for School Resource Officers. She encouraged the BOCC to consider using these funds for restorative justice purposes, rather than School Resource Officers. She said this would employ the same type of people, but shift the paradigm approach. She said this line of thinking relates to House Bill 280, and could offer partnership opportunities to bring the restorative justice process into the schools. Chris Walker said he is a veteran teacher in OCS, and has four children who have attended the schools. He thanked the BOCC for increasing the supplements this past year, and asked that the full budget be approved. He said the financial changes made by the BOCC and OCS last year allowed many people to reinvest and live in Orange County. He said he hopes this will continue. Laura Streifeld said she is the Executive Director of Preserve Rural Orange, and read the following comments: In considering the budget, Preserve Rural Orange requests County Community Relations, Planning, IT and Legal Department resources dedicated to making public information more available and accessible to citizens promptly and proactively, including the following: 1. Planning Department Postings of public documents regarding projects of interest including communications and submissions from all County departments, as they are written and submitted, searchable by key word and date. 2. Audio recordings of Board of Adjustment meetings and hearings posted online and publicly accessible immediately after each meeting. 3. Video recordings of each BOA meeting (as at BOCC meetings), with searchable agendas. 4. BOA meetings to take place one month following a BOA meeting or hearing, in order to improve minutes. 6 5. Recurring public informational meetings between County Planning staff, elected officials and citizens to establish items of interest and exchange updated information. Amanda Elcholm said she is an Orange County resident, who lives within 500 feet of The Barn of Chapel Hill. She said a permit was issued for this venue to hold twelve weddings, and the surrounding residents were not able to provide input. She said the most recent wedding prompted calls to the police due to the noise level. She requested that funds be allocated to promote prompt and complete communication to residents, so that similar scenarios do not arise. Commissioner McKee said he thought there were audio recording of BOA meetings, and asked if the Manager would follow up on this information. Bonnie Hammersley said she would find out that information. Commissioner Price asked if the Manager could clarify the funding requests made by Elvira Mebane on behalf of the community centers. Bonnie Hammersley said the Community Centers made these requests through the outside agency process. She said funds have been allotted for temporary County employees to work at the Community Centers. She said in her last conversation with Voices United, it was proposed that the County provide the funds and let the Community Center hire its own employee. She said this is a good proposal, and other community centers are being asked about following suit. She said the Community Center Coordinator position was vacant, and in seeking a replacement it was determined that it may be better to take the funds intended for the one position, and divide it in thirds allowing each Center to hire its own employee. She said this will come back as an amendment to the recommended budget Commissioner Price said Chris Walker is the OCS teacher of the year. Commissioner Marcoplos referred to the comments about school resource officers (SROs), and said it would be helpful to know how much money was budgeted for SROs this past year. Bonnie Hammersley said she would get this information to the Board. 4. Adjournment A motion was made by Commissioner Burroughs, seconded by Commissioner McKee to adjourn the public hearing at 7:55 p.m. VOTE: UNANIMOUS Mark Dorosin, Chair David Hunt Deputy Clerk to the Board