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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMinutes - 20080617 APPROVED 10/7/2008 ORANGE COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS BUDGET WORK SESSION Tuesday, June 17, 2008 7:30 pm The Orange County Board of Commissioners met for a Budget Work Session on Tuesday, June 17, 2008 at 7:30 p.m. at the Southern Human Services Center in Chapel Hill, N.C. COUNTY COMMISSIONERS PRESENT: Chair Barry Jacobs and Commissioners Moses Carey, Jr., Valerie Foushee, Alice M. Gordon, and Mike Nelson COUNTY COMMISSIONERS ABSENT: COUNTY ATTORNEY PRESENT: Geof Gledhill COUNTY STAFF PRESENT: County Manager Laura Blackmon, Assistant County Managers Willie Best and Gwen Harvey, and Deputy Clerk to the Board David Hunt (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 Jacobs said that there would be no public comment period tonight because this meeting is only addressing budget matters in a work session manner. He said that in the last budget work session, there were questions about two outside agencies that the Board had funded previously. He assumes that the staff has discussed with the two non-profits what the issues are. One is Club Nova and one is KidsCope, and last year with the mental health reform, both entities came to the Board and asked for help in the transition. The Board had some impressions that might not have been consistent with the impressions that the two organizations had regarding the funding process and whether it was one-time or ongoing. This is why the two entities were invited to come to the meeting. 1. Discussion of Outstanding Budget Matters from Previous FY 2008-09 Budget Work Sessions a. Club Nova Assistant County Manager Gwen Harvey invited Karen Dunn to join her at the table. Gwen Harvey said that she had been in communication with Karen Dunn regarding the outside agency application process, and there was a misunderstanding relating to the process. Ms. Dunn did not understand that there was to be a formal outside agency application process for the service side of Club Nova, so she submitted two separate applications— one for$7,000, which was reviewed and recommended, and one for$75,000 for the service side of Club Nova. This was the application that caused the most concern. Karen Dunn said that she thought the human services process was separate from the outside agency process. The $75,000 was what they received last year and the year before. Gwen Harvey clarified that last year the money was done through a budget amendment. Chair Jacobs asked if one of the reasons Club Nova asked for the money was because there was a change in the way the State was reimbursing. Karen Dunn said that there are perpetual changes in how the State funds. Commissioner Carey asked what the money is going to be used for. He also asked about the supplemental grant and if anyone talked about it being one-time funding. Karen Dunn said that last year when it was presented to the County Commissioners, this question came up. She said that it takes large public and private support to operate Club Nova, and with all of the changes going on in mental health it is necessary to continue to receive the funding. She said that the County Commissioners were clear that they wanted Club Nova to try and make up the funding without the supplement from the County. Commissioner Carey said that he remembers making the comment that if the Board makes the commitment, the need will not go away. Karen Dunn said that they try and do fundraising. She said that one of the things Club Nova uses County funding for is transportation. Chair Jacobs asked about Club Nova's total budget and Karen Dunn said $750,000. b. KidsCope Gwen Harvey introduced Linda Foxworth. She said that the question the Board had in regards to the funding amount requested by the agency for 2008-09 was what made up the difference between the previous fiscal year, which was $114,200. Chair Jacobs said that there were two questions. One was the difference and the other was the same question about whether the Board said that this was a one-time appropriation or a continuing contribution. Gwen Harvey said that, historically, KidsCope has been a part of the outside agency process with funding of about $89,000. This past fiscal year, the Board granted a supplemental appropriation of$50,000, which bumped the appropriation up to $139,000. The request for 2008-09 was $114,200. Linda Foxworth said that this represents the lease/rent that the Orange County Schools had KidsCope pay for occupancy. She said that last year KidsCope had a $221,000 deficit and then OCS started charging rent. This year, this request was put into the ongoing application. The $89,000 converts to the $114,200 because of the rent. c. Other Commissioner Foushee said that the Board needs to be clear with outside agencies and perhaps a letter should go out to insure that the outside agency funding process is understood. Commissioner Carey agreed. Chair Jacobs suggested that the Board needs to make clear to the Human Services Advisory Commission that the County Commissioners appreciate their work on this and that all funding is subject to availability of funds. He suggested sending a letter to the HSAC on behalf of the Board of Commissioners. 2. Budget Decision Items— Mark-Up and Mark-Down Items Chair Jacobs suggested that before the County Commissioners get into specifics, that they should state their areas of agreement so that there are some basic premises. As an example, four members wanted to keep the tax rate under$1.00. All agreed about this. He has also heard several Commissioners say that they did not want to see school funding go over % of the budget and Commissioner Carey agreed. Commissioner Carey said that he remembers saying that when cuts are made in the County budget, that the schools make proportional cuts. • Commissioner Nelson said that it does not look like the legislature will fund a salary increase over 3% for teachers' salaries. He does not feel comfortable cutting the schools' budgets because of how hard they worked at keeping their budgets lean this year. Commissioner Foushee said that she is only comfortable reducing to the amount that it appears that the State is going to recommend in terms of teachers' salaries. Commissioner Gordon said that she does not want to cut the schools except to make the salaries increase 3% instead of the larger increase we had budgeted . Beyond that, she would not want to cut more. Commissioner Carey said that he does not want to cut schools or the County, but to get the tax rate below a dollar, there will need to be deeper cuts than just the salary increases. He said that the County will need to cut services and someone will suffer and he does not enjoy cutting schools. Commissioner Foushee said that she shares this sentiment but categorically she is only comfortable with cutting the salary increases as far as the State is. She said that she thinks the Board needs to decide how willing it is to go beyond appropriating 50% or more of the County's budget to schools. She is not comfortable with this either. The target to this point has been 48.1% and last year the County exceeded this. If there is going to be discussion about equity, it has to be about equity throughout the County. She thinks that the County departments have gone above and beyond by offering programs that can be cut. She wants to take this into consideration. Commissioner Carey agreed with Commissioner Foushee. Chair Jacobs said that the County Commissioners are all in agreement not to cut schools and that they appreciate the schools' funding process this year. He said that he thinks the County government has offered up a lot of cuts and while many advocate for schools, County staff does not advocate for itself. If the County Commissioners just cut the $660,000 for teacher salaries, then $4 million will be cut from the County budget. He said that he is interested in seeing cuts above $660,000 from the schools. The County needs to cut $4.96 million from the budget. Commissioner Gordon suggested going through the cuts as a group. Chair Jacobs said that no one disagreed in cutting the $660,000 to match the change in the teacher salary increase that is mandated by the State. This is the first cut. Chair Jacobs said that the Board has already decided to cap contributions at the current level to outside agencies and not to add new agencies this year. Commissioner Carey said that with Club Nova, the County would need to add $68,000 more to meet the request. Donna Coffey said that the total amount to keep all outside agencies at the current level, exclusive of those with one-time funding this year, would be $361,000. Commissioner Carey made reference to the $100,000 for the STEP program and said that it is a great program, and the objective is to expand the program to serve a multi-County area. He would like to see if other counties are willing to contribute to this. He also understands that Representative lnsko has introduced a bill to provide $200,000 for the expansion of the STEP program and $100,000 for the expansion of the OASIS program. If that money is approved, then the STEP program will not need the County's money to expand services to other counties that other counties should be contributing to. He has a question about whether this should be included as a recommended funding category. Chair Jacobs said that staff has included this as a new non-departmental entity that was newly requesting funding that the Board voted not to fund. He went through the cuts that the Board had made so far in Alternative Scenarios for Possible Modifications to the FY 2008-09 Recommended Budget. Item 1-m, Eliminate funding for UNC Psychiatric Care - $100,000; and item 4-p, Maintain current year funding level for contributions to outside agencies- $246,629. Donna Coffey said that Family Counseling Service no longer exists, and that was $3,500. Orange Enterprises requested $10,000 less. The total for these cuts was $361,000. a. Staffing Decisions i. Transition of Long-Term Temporary Employees to Permanent Status Laura Blackmon said that the staff gave the County Commissioners these items at their places tonight. This item is addressed on Appendix C-2. Commissioner Gordon made reference to the Value Engineer position on the first page. This is a contracted position and she does not consider this the same as the other temporary positions. She would like to leave it on as a contract rather than an FTE. She also made reference to Animal Services and one-time startup costs for a temporary employee. She asked why there were one-time startup costs for someone that is already temporary and has been around for awhile. Animal Services Director Bob Morotto said that the one-time startup costs for the Animal Care Technician are for pre-exposure vaccinations. If the position is going to be filled permanently, it must be filled through a hiring process. Chair Jacobs said that he thought the whole point was to pay someone who is currently employed as a temporary and give them permanent status. Laura Blackmon said that part of the issue is that, even though these are temporary employees, it is a huge turnover and they want to get a permanent employee. Chair Jacobs said that one of the Board's discomforts with this particular page is that positions that the Board of County Commissioners have not approved are being embedded in departments. He said that this position should be struck out and should be applied for as a new position. Bob Marotto said that the department has relied upon a temporary line item to provide the minimum staffing in this area that is required to provide the service. The department needs to have a staffing complement to provide this service. Laura Blackmon asked Human Resources Director Michael McGinnis if the County would have to advertise for these positions. Michael McGinnis said that for a new FTE position, the County would advertise. Laura Blackmon said that her intent was to take a temporary position that has existed long-term, and to make it a permanent position— not for the benefit of the person currently serving, but as a position. Commissioner Carey said that he was approaching this as a fairness issue with the temporary to permanent status. Commissioner Nelson said that part of this is a fairness issue, but the other side is that the Board of County Commissioners decided not to fund certain positions and temporary monies were used. This is not good government or good practice. Commissioner Carey said that these offsetting revenues are currently in the budget and Donna Coffey said that they are mainly reductions in the temporary line items. Bob Marotto said that he does not believe that any of the temporary positions were created without Board oversight and approval. He said that with the transition of the operation of the shelter from APS to County administration there were decisions made that the way in which to achieve a minimally acceptable level of staffing was to have a complement of FTE combined with a large temporary budget that was literally $80-90,000. Laura Blackmon said that when she came to the County there were huge amounts of money budgeted for temporary positions, and she does not think that this is the way the County should work. She wants the temporary hiring to be centralized so that there is consistency in how the funds are used. Chair Jacobs suggested that the Board accept this at face value with the understanding that as they get more of a historical perspective on these positions, that this position can be funded as part of the transition from one mode of service to another and that it reflects some change in the way in which business has been done. He said that it would be useful to list whether these positions are vacant or not. Commissioner Nelson made reference to the Sustainability Coordinator on page 1 that is listed to begin January 1, 2009. He asked if this position exists now. Laura Blackmon said that this was set up from the Energy Efficiency initiative. The goal is to make this and the Value Engineering position into FTE positions. Commissioner Gordon said that one of the reasons she thought they were converting temporary to permanent positions was the fairness issue. She would like to take care of that situation. However, she said that some of the positions are not that different from the new requested positions. There are elements here that she did not realize. The way the Manager is implementing the conversion from temporary to permanent positions, and cutting the temporary position funding, has some unknown elements. Therefore, she said that she is not ready to create 12 new FTEs. Chair Jacobs verified that Commissioner Gordon wants to leave some of these as temporary positions, along with the relevant funding, and revisit whether or not these positions should be made permanent positions. Commissioner Foushee said that she does not want to do this. She said that she thought that the Board agreed in principle that it was time to move forward. She said that what has been presented to the Board is the opportunity to do this. She wants to vote it up or down and move forward. Human Resources has advised that if these positions become FTEs, moving from the temporary category, there will have to be recruitment. She said that no one ever said that the people serving in these positions now will be the persons who will serve eventually. The Board needs to decide whether or not to move forward. A motion was made by Commissioner Foushee, seconded by Commissioner Carey to accept the proposal that has been presented for these positions, at the cost $138,989. Chair Jacobs asked about the Value Engineer and Commissioner Foushee said to leave it as it is in the proposal. Commissioner Nelson said that he would vote against the motion only because of the Value Engineer issue. Also, he thinks that the Sustainability Coordinator should be a new position. Commissioner Foushee accepted the friendly amendment regarding these two positions. Commissioner Carey did not second the friendly amendment. VOTE (original motion): Ayes, 3; Nays, 2 (Commissioner Gordon and Commissioner Nelson) ii. Manager Recommendations for New Staff and/or Changes to Existing Staff for FY 2008-09 This information was in Appendix C-1. Donna Coffey made reference to the Parks Conservation Technician I position, and said that the salary is $48,811. This was discussed at the work session, and this change was not made on the appendix. Laura Blackmon went through the different categories: Category 1 was Facilities, Category 2 is difference in funding FTEs, Category 3 is General Fund Support and an increase in FTE, Category 4 is New Positions to Improve Service Delivery, and Category 5 is Non- General Fund Service Delivery (Solid Waste, Emergency Services). Category 1: Chair Jacobs said that for the new positions for opening new facilities, he thinks that it is reasonable to provide one of the two positions requested for each facility and to go with the one that costs less. This would include Veterinary Health Care Technician, Parks Conservation Technician I, and Building Maintenance Technician. Category 2: Chair Jacobs said that presumably these are positions that had funding through a grant. Laura Blackmon said that the Health position was funded in the past with grants and this proposal is to fund it through the General Fund. Commissioner Carey asked about the Senior Health Educator/Volunteer Coordinator for CERT position and how many additional volunteers this position was responsible for. Health Director Rosemary Summers said that last year there were 207 and this year there were 40 new volunteers. In addition, the CERT program has already trained four community groups and has four more on the schedule for the summer. Commissioner Carey said that the County would be making a big mistake if this program were cut because it is the group that would step up in an emergency. Chair Jacobs asked Rosemary Summers which position she would choose to cut—this one or the Community Disease Health Care Provider and Rosemary Summers said that she could not make that decision. The Community Disease Specialist will be working with immigrant populations and this position has already been retooled so that it will meet the core function. From a legal standpoint, the Health Department is required to provide Communicable Disease Services. • Category 3: Commissioner Gordon said that the Dental Hygienist is fine because the increase is covered with offsetting revenues. Regarding the Land Use/Transportation Planner, she does not know what will be done with this extra time. Commissioner Nelson said to cut both of these positions. Category 4: Chair Jacobs pointed out that there are 14.5 positions in this category. Chair Jacobs asked about the three positions related to immigrant issues and Rosemary Summers said that there is partial revenue for the Family Nurse Practitioner and for the Administrative Assistant but not for the Communicable Disease Nurse. Commissioner Nelson said that the Family Nurse Practitioner II, Administrative Assistant I and Dental Hygienist are fine with him because they have significant offsetting revenue. The Social Services Day Care Social Worker also has offsetting revenue and he is also fine with this one. There are six FTEs under the Sheriff's Department with $100,000 in offsetting revenue from grants for two positions. He is fine with the two positions, but he thinks that the rest of them should be cut. Commissioner Foushee agreed with Commissioner Nelson, but she did advocate for the new Assistant Fire Marshal because the new facilities that the County is adding is too much for one Fire Marshal. Commissioner Carey said that he does have a concern with cutting four positions out of the Sheriff's six positions since the County has not added positions in the Sheriff's Department in many years and the demand for services has gone up considerably in recent years. He said that it appears that the County is gravitating toward adding positions that only have offsetting revenue, and that is a pattern that is not sustainable since the County is a service-oriented organization. He would rather provide people than additional vehicles. Commissioner Foushee suggested also looking at the overtime budget and a way to offset some of this with what is proposed in overtime. The proposed increase in overtime is almost 50% over the current fiscal year. Sheriff Pendergrass said that he has not requested any positions since 1996 and he absolutely has to have more personnel out in the field to protect individuals and property. He asked for ten positions because he needs ten positions. He has never come before the Board to ask for anything that was not needed. He said that everyone is stretched. He has to have these positions. He said that he did not spend any overtime last year. He distributed a handout to this effect. He said that last year he asked the Board to approve an overtime budget of $130,000 and the Board approved it. In that overtime budget, there was also offsetting revenue of$30,000 for Chapel Hill events at UNC. The department only spent $11,863 in overtime. Regarding Temporary costs, $77,295 was gained and the budget was $280,000. He does not know how to do it any better than he is doing it right now. Commissioner Foushee agreed with the Sheriff. Category 5: Commissioner Gordon said that the Emergency Services position is greatly needed with the addressing process. This also has offsetting revenue. She said that the Solid Waste position is not an urgent position and she is not in favor of it. Chair Jacobs went back to the beginning and listed the changes. Category 1 — one person spoke about adding one position in each of the three areas to address new facilities— Veterinary Health Care Technician, Parks Conservation Technician I, and the Building Maintenance Technician. Commissioner Gordon said that unless the Board does not fund a substantial number of these new positions, it will be very difficult to get the tax rate under $1. Commissioner Nelson agreed with Commissioner Gordon and said that he did not want to approve positions without offsetting revenues, but he agrees that it is not sustainable. However, he agrees with points made about opening new facilities. Regarding parks, he asked what the two positions were for. Laura Blackmon said that they were for West Ten and Northern. Commissioner Nelson asked about delaying opening of the parks and how much it would save. Parks and Recreation Director Lori Taft said that with the reduction of one of the positions, she could not open West Ten. She will have to come back with a figure on the savings if parks were delayed. Certain services would still have to be performed at the facilities such as mowing grass, etc. She said that the grass is still not strong at West Ten. Commissioner Nelson said that if West Ten were delayed, then there would be advantages such as stronger grass for the soccer fields. Commissioner Nelson said that this is hard, but in order to get under a dollar, the parks and positions may have to be delayed. He suggested tentatively eliminating the positions, tentatively delaying the opening of West Ten Soccer Complex, and asking Lori Taft to come back with more information. Chair Jacobs said that he would like to know more about Northern Park since it is a community park and has been a long time coming. Laura Blackmon said that there is not a week to come back. She made reference to Appendix 8A and said that the County had committed $5,467 between operating and staffing costs. Some of the operating costs may still be there because of maintenance. At Northern there is $163,544 scheduled for October. Lori Taft said that Northern is on schedule for October, but the fields would not be playable because the grass has not grown in. Commissioner Gordon said that a lot of the work has to do with mowing, etc., and she asked how much it would be to just use the picnic shelter and similar facilities. Chair Jacobs said that the County Commissioners are not going to be able to work this out tonight, and he suggested that staff bring information back on the 24th Laura Blackmon said that between the staffing, operating costs, and capital, there is $469,000. She suggested that the Board agree to a percentage of that and let staff figure out how to work it out. Commissioner Carey said that the Board should decide how much it wants to save on this category and then ask staff to delay some of the positions that would add up to that amount. Chair Jacobs said that if staff can work this out while the meeting is going on, that is fine. Otherwise, staff should come back on the 24th. These two positions are off the table for now. Commissioner Carey said that he was suggesting figuring out how much to save on all of these positions. He said that he has heard two proposals—to cut one position out of each of the three departments or to cut both positions in parks. These are incompatible with each other. Chair Jacobs said that he is okay with cutting the parks positions, but the animal services position is needed, because the animal shelter has to be opened. Regarding Building Maintenance, it is unavoidable that someone will have to take care of the new buildings. Motion for Category 1: A motion was made by Commissioner Foushee, seconded by Commissioner Nelson to remove the two positions for Parks and Recreation; to accept the Veterinary Health Care Technician; and to accept the Building Maintenance Technician effect January 1, 2009. VOTE: Ayes, 4; Nay, 1 (Commissioner Carey) Motion for Category 2: A motion was made by Commissioner Foushee, seconded by Commissioner Carey to accept the change in funding for the Housing and Community Development Director. VOTE: UNANIMOUS Motion for Category 3: A motion was made by Commissioner Gordon, seconded by Commissioner Foushee to accept the Dental Hygienists. VOTE: UNANIMOUS Motion for Category 4: A motion was made by Commissioner Nelson, seconded by Commissioner Foushee to accept the Family Nurse Practitioner II, the Administrative Assistant I, the Dental Hygienist, and the Day Care Social Worker. VOTE: UNANIMOUS A motion was made by Commissioner Carey, seconded by Commissioner Gordon to approve the Senior Health Educator/Volunteer Coordinator for CERT and four Sheriff's Deputies in Category 2. VOTE: Ayes, 2; Nays, 3 (Commissioner Foushee, Commissioner Nelson, Commissioner Jacobs) A motion was made by Chair Jacobs, seconded by Commissioner Foushee to approve four Sheriff's Deputies. VOTE: Ayes, 4; No, 1 (Commissioner Nelson-he only wants three) A motion was made by Commissioner Foushee, seconded by Chair Jacobs to approve the Assistant Fire Marshal. Chair Jacobs said that he is only voting for this because he respects Commissioner Foushee's expertise and also because he assumes that there will be a comprehensive study of Fire and Emergency Services. There will be a strategic plan that relates to the way in which the County provides Emergency Services. VOTE: Ayes, 4; No, 1 (Commissioner Nelson) Motion for Category 5: A motion was made by Commissioner Gordon, seconded by Commissioner Foushee to approve the Emergency Services position. VOTE: UNANIMOUS iii. Vacant Positions This information was in Appendix E-2, goldenrod sheet. Commissioner Carey asked about Aging and OPT and if these were the positions that the department has been using to hire temporary employees. Commissioner Gordon said that the Board talked about allowing OPT to use retirees and transfering this amount of money and not having the FTEs anymore. A motion was made by Commissioner Gordon to vacate position 998 and 659 and transfer the funds to temporary employee funding for the Department on Aging. Discussion ensued about the correct amounts for these positions. Chair Jacobs suggested that staff get these amounts straight and let the Board keep going. Chair Jacobs said that many positions are already in the selection process: Animal Services/Animal Care Technician-949 Child Support/Office Assistant 11-415 County Manager/Staff Attorney-108 Emergency Services/EMS Assistant Supervisor-496 Health/Senior Public Health Educator-327 Health/Environmental Health Specialist-364 Health/Public Health Nurse 11-939 Housing and Community Development/Housing Program Coordinator-1026 Public Works/Automotive Mechanic-538 Planning and Inspections/Planner 11-216 Public Works/Custodian-818 Social Services/Income Maintenance Caseworker 11-278 Solid Waste Management/Convenience Center Operator-599 Solid Waste Management/Recycling Materials Handler-866 and 978 Solid Waste Management/Recycling Program Supervisor-847 Chair Jacobs suggested a hiring freeze and moving temporary to permanent and putting them in a freeze also if not filled. Also, the temporary positions could be moved to permanent and advertised. Commissioner Nelson said that he is not opposed to the hiring freeze, but he wonders if it would be for all vacant positions. Chair Jacobs said that with Emergency Services, there are some positions that are budgeted like the telecommunicators and there are overtime and temporary funds. Without changing the FTE, the money could be taken from the FTE and assume that it would cover the overtime and temporary. If someone is hired, it would eliminate the overtime and temporary and would be funded through the position. Commissioner Carey said that he is having trouble figuring out how much this process will save because it is difficult to track. This has been done before with a hiring freeze for three months. Chair Jacobs said that whether there is a freeze or not, for the Solid Waste Management there is a lot of money for vacant positions. This will not affect the General Fund. The total of the vacant positions is almost $2.2 million. He asked if$400,000 was a reasonable target to achieve savings through a hiring freeze. Donna Coffey said that this is probably a reasonable amount. Another consideration is that the County has only budgeted 96% of salaries this year. The savings would not be nearly as much as in the past. Laura Blackmon said that historically the Board has not added positions over the years but more programs and they are staffing at minimal levels now. To not fill vacant positions for six months would be very difficult. Commissioner Carey said that three months is reasonable, and even with that, the Board should give the Manager authority to fill critical service-level positions. A motion was made by Commissioner Carey, seconded by Commissioner Foushee to institute a three-month hiring freeze and give the Manager the authority to adjust this on a case- by-case basis for critical needs (i.e., public safety positions). This includes all positions. Chair Jacobs suggested that the Manager come back with more detail on June 24th There were three parts to the motion. A three-month freeze subject to the Manager's recommendation for positions with critical need, the Manager will come back and tell the Board which positions may be eliminated and also which positions should go forward. VOTE: UNANIMOUS Chair Jacobs said that he would like another word for OPT's positions because it is not really temporary time being used. A motion was made by Commissioner Gordon, seconded by Commissioner Foushee that the temporary fund for Aging to OPT be reinstated so that approximately $40,397 would be moved to the temporary account. Commissioner Carey agreed that if it is going into the department as a temporary fund, it should be called something else such as Flex Fund, so that it is distinguishable. Commissioner Gordon agreed with changing the name of the fund. Laura Blackmon said that she would look at this. Donna Coffey said that this would be a net savings of$26,986 by eliminating the positions and moving the money to the Flex Fund. VOTE: UNANIMOUS b. County Employees Pay and Compensation Decisions Laura Blackmon made reference to the handout last week for overtime—Appendix E-4 (light blue). Commissioner Foushee asked that the Board look at how overtime funds are appropriated historically and find a way to compensate for monies that are not used. This would be for the Sheriff's Department, Emergency Services, and any other that are similar. Laura Blackmon said that the new Emergency Services Director is looking at overtime hours and trying to figure out a way to reduce those. Appendix E-6 was the Cost-of-Living (COLA) and In-Range Cost Worksheet. Laura Blackmon said that the Archer study may show that some salaries are way out of range for the market. She would like to do some adjustments mid-year for those that are way out of range (10% or higher out of the market). A motion was made by Commissioner Gordon, seconded by Commissioner Carey to reduce the COLA from 2.5% to 2.0%, which would save $200,000. VOTE: UNANIMOUS A motion was made by Commissioner Carey, seconded by Commissioner Foushee to reduce In-Range increases from 1%-3% to 1%-2%, which saves $25,500. VOTE: UNANIMOUS Commissioner Foushee said that, with the Archer study, when a pay and classification study is done, there is a psychological expectation that something will happen. She thinks that the amount of money that is being put into reserve to address any recommendations that may come forward is too much. She does not think that the County can afford it. She thinks that people need money now and the COLA and In-Range adjustment provides some relief from the economic situation as it is. She said that this is something that the majority of employees are not going to realize in this budget year. Recommendations that are going to be made will come in late summer or early fall, and any adjustment will be made in the next budget. Commissioner Carey added that if$225,000 is going to be cut from the budget that $100,000 should be put back into the COLA. A motion was made by Commissioner Carey, seconded by Commissioner Foushee to remove the $225,000 budgeted for equity retention and raise the COLA from 2.0% to 2.25%, thereby saving $125,000. Commissioner Nelson said that he understands the sentiments, but he has seen the effects of not dealing with compression, and he cannot cut money out. He did not want to reduce the COLA at all because he wants to protect the existing employees. Commissioner Foushee agreed with him and said that she is not suggesting that the County not implement recommendations, but that it delays putting money into a reserve to address the recommendations prior to 2009-2010. VOTE: UNANIMOUS c. Alternative Scenarios For Possible Modifications to the FY 2008-09 Recommended Budget Donna Coffey said that the County Commissioners have reduced the General Fund budget by $2.774 million so far, which is a reduction of 2.2 cents. This includes the $660,000 for the teacher salaries. Chair Jacobs said that% of the cuts are coming from the County so far. Chair Jacobs suggested renovating the Link Center over two fiscal years instead of one. There is $1,000,000 in pay-as-you-go and $600,000 could be put in this year. Commissioner Nelson suggested delaying it and Chair Jacobs said that the meeting room is needed and the renovation of the offices could be put off. Commissioner Gordon said that she would like to delay it and Commissioner Foushee agreed. Laura Blackmon said that if it were to be paid over two years, the project would be started toward the end of this fiscal year and be finished next fiscal year so that it spans two years. She does not think that it would make sense to only do a quarter of the building and then delay the other three-quarters because it would cost more. A motion was made by Commissioner Gordon, seconded by Commissioner Foushee to delay the renovation of the Link Center. VOTE: Ayes, 4; No, 1 (Commissioner Jacobs) Chair Jacobs suggested different timing on the Justice Facility/Office Building/ Library/ Hillsborough Commons. Purchasing and Central Services Director Pam Jones said that the Justice Facility has a rolling transition and part of it comes due at the end of this year, and part of it comes due three or four months later. The projection on the Office Building and the Library is May 2009. Hillsborough Commons has a three-month upfit time. There would be six months of operating costs for Hillsborough Commons because of upfront sustainable design features. Chair Jacobs suggested moving the Office Building and the Library to next fiscal year and Pam Jones suggested keeping in one month because of substantial completion. This savings would equal $105,000. On the Justice Facility, it could be delayed two months to save $38,000. For Hillsborough Commons, it could be funded for six months, which would save $492,000. The total saved is $635,494. Commissioner Gordon asked for a sheet with Hillsborough Commons that shows the capital costs. It was pointed out that the offsetting revenues would also have to be reduced in this scenario, so the net reduction is $389,000. A motion was made by Chair Jacobs, seconded by Commissioner Nelson to defer installation of central permitting until the next fiscal year, which is $325,000. VOTE: UNANIMOUS A motion was made by Chair Jacobs, seconded by Commissioner Carey to defer the Small Business Pool, which is $75,000. Commissioner Nelson said that he would vote against this because this is a good program for economic development. Chair Jacobs said that if the first $75,000 were expended, then he would be receptive to staff coming back to put more money in as the year goes on. Since it has never been touched, that is why he recommends deferring it. The motion is with the understanding that it could be revisited within this fiscal year. VOTE: Ayes, 4; No, 1 (Commissioner Nelson) A motion was made by Chair Jacobs, seconded by Commissioner Foushee to leave the Urgent Home Repair at the current level of$50,000 (savings of$50,000). VOTE: UNANIMOUS A motion was made by Chair Jacobs, seconded by Commissioner Carey to reduce by a third the County subsidy for the Efland sewer for a savings of$40,000. VOTE: UNANIMOUS A motion was made by Chair Jacobs, seconded by Commissioner Foushee to save $25,000 in the following way: There is $20,000 budgeted for a study of water and sewer in the Eno EDD pending an agreement with Durham. He suggested adding $5,000 to that as opposed to $30,000, because by the time there is an agreement with Durham and then there is advertisement for the study and the study gets underway, it would not be done this fiscal year. VOTE: UNANIMOUS Chair Jacobs said that the County match for Health 4 Kids has already been eliminated of$11,000 and it has not been reported. A motion was made by Chair Jacobs, seconded by Commissioner Gordon to eliminate the County match of$11,000 for Health 4 Kids. Rosemary Summers said that this program was funded by Smart Start and was reduced in half. Rather than asking for additional funds, it was decided to close the program. VOTE: UNANIMOUS Commissioner Carey asked about the status of the savings. Donna Coffey said that the General Fund has been reduced by $4,689,000, which is the equivalent of 3.7 cents on the tax rate. This would put the tax rate at 100.1. A motion was made by Chair Jacobs, seconded by Commissioner Nelson to leave the drug testing program unchanged, which would save $7,000. VOTE: UNANIMOUS A motion was made by Chair Jacobs, seconded by Commissioner Nelson to use County facilities for employee appreciation events for a savings of$10,000. Chair Jacobs pointed out that the Central Orange Senior Center will be open this fiscal year and will seat more than 200 people. He would like to take advantage of this. VOTE: UNANIMOUS A motion as made by Chair Jacobs, seconded by Commissioner Foushee to have in- house training for Inspectors for a savings of$4,000. VOTE: UNANIMOUS Commissioner Nelson said that when the tax rate was discussed a week ago, he said that he would go as high as 97.75 and he did not want to go over$1. He never committed to stopping at 99 cents on the tax rate. Donna Coffey said that the reductions are $4,710,000, which is equivalent to 3.7 cents. Commissioner Gordon said that the Manager was planning to appropriate $2 million in fund balance to cover the costs of operating capital (purchasing vehicles, equipment, etc.). She asked where this stood. Chair Jacobs said that there was discussion about eliminating equipment rather than personnel. He made reference to hybrid SUVs that cost $48,000. Chair Jacobs said that if the Board was going to leave Club Nova whole from last year, $68,000 would need to be added. A motion was made by Commissioner Nelson, seconded by Commissioner Foushee to add $68,000 for Club Nova funding. VOTE: UNANIMOUS Chair Jacobs said that there is $145,000 in the Social Safety Net and there was a proposal to add another$150,000 to that. Commissioner Foushee said that the $68,000 should be funded from elsewhere because the Social Safety Net should not be touched. A motion was made by Chair Jacobs, seconded by Commissioner Carey to put in $25,000 for the County Attorney search, and $15,000 for the County Commissioners' Contingency. VOTE: Ayes, 4; No, 1 (Commissioner Gordon) Commissioner Gordon said that she would like to avoid taking money out of fund balance if possible. Commissioner Nelson made reference to the Alternative Scenarios for Possible Modifications to the FY 2008-09 Recommended Budget, and said that he supports eliminating 1-a, 1-b, 1-e, and 1-h. He asked about 1-j and if Sunday is the least used day for Convenience Centers. Laura Blackmon said that it is only open half a day and the County also has to pay additional money for truck pickups on Sundays. Solid Waste Director Gayle Wilson said that this was proposed because the convenience centers are only open four hours on Sunday and there would be less impact on the public. A motion was made by Commissioner Nelson, seconded by Commissioner Gordon to eliminate items 1-a (Human Rights and Relations- Delay implementing new Teen Girl Mentoring Program), 1-b ( Planning- eliminate non-essential memberships for Clean Water Education Partnership and Cape Fear River Association), 1-e ( Parks and Recreation-Continue annual Jazz Festival with reduced county support) , and 1-h ( ERCD-reduce Triangle Land Conservancy allocation from $25,000 to $20,000). Chair Jacobs asked about the Triangle Land Conservancy allocation for 1-h. Environment and Resource Conservation Director Dave Stancil said that historically the County has provided funding to TLC dating back to the late 1980's for the New Hope Corridor work. This funding goes towards projects that TLC works on in Orange County. Sometimes it is matching funds that enable the County to acquire properties from TLC. Chair Jacobs asked if taking $5,000 out would adversely affect the relationship or the function and David Stancil said no. Commissioner Carey asked if the towns had budgeted for the Greene Tract for this year and Laura Blackmon said that she was told that they were budgeted. VOTE: UNANIMOUS Chair Jacobs said that he also wanted to find out if Hillsborough was going to budget for Lake Orange upgrades and whether Orange County was supposed to provide matching funds. Donna Coffey said that she received an email from the Engineer this week and the Town has approved $25,000 for this and the total project cost is $80,000. This will be brought back in the fall in the CIP. A motion was made by Commissioner Nelson, seconded by Commissioner Gordon to eliminate items 2-a ( Human Rights and Relations—Combine Annual Community Dinner with HRC Kick-Off) , 2-b ( County Manager—implement electronic process for in house agenda review), 2-c ( County-wide downsize the number of small per-person printers and move to model that creates printer pods by depts./divisions), and 2-e ( county wide —where appropriate — have field workers begin workday from home instead of requiring them to report to office before going into field). VOTE: UNANIMOUS Commissioner Nelson asked about the $13,018 Upper Neuse River Basin dues. Commissioner Carey said that the monies are used for the staff person associated with implementation of this program. Discussion ensued on the advantages of participating in this program. Chair Jacobs said that he would rather have a presentation on this before cutting it because it is a regional planning organization. Commissioner Carey said that it would not be wise to pull out of this. A presentation was made last year. Commissioner Nelson asked about the Research Triangle Regional Partnership of $18,000. Chair Jacobs said that it was recommended for$18,000, but when the Board approved Outside Agencies, it was decided to partially fund it for$10,000. A motion was made by Commissioner Nelson, seconded by Chair Jacobs to cut the Research Triangle Regional Partnership funding. VOTE: Ayes, 4; No, 1 (Commissioner Carey) Commissioner Nelson asked about the Piedmont Wildlife Center and why the County gives $20,000 to it. Chair Jacobs said that it provides a service to Orange County, but the County Commissioners decided several meetings ago to freeze the funding because others were not participating in the funding and the County's share was disproportionate. A motion was made by Chair Jacobs, seconded by Commissioner Nelson to reduce travel expenses by 25%. VOTE: UNANIMOUS Chair Jacobs said that publishing the Senior Times quarterly rather than monthly would save $17,500. Commissioner Foushee said that if this is done, then others will be asked to fund this and she does not want that to happen. Chair Jacobs said that staff could not solicit funding from seniors. Commissioner Gordon said to leave it alone. Commissioner Nelson suggested directing staff to create an email newsletter for some. Commissioner Gordon said that it comes out in the newspaper. A motion was made by Chair Jacobs, seconded by Commissioner Nelson to cut the expense in half and ask staff to creatively address how to distribute the information, with the understanding that money will not be solicited from senior citizens. VOTE: Ayes, 3; Nays, 2 (Commissioner Gordon and Commissioner Carey) Donna Coffey said that the reduction is 3.7 cents and the tax rate is still at 100.1 cents. To get to a 4.9-cent tax increase, approximately $280,000 more in cuts is needed. A motion was made by Commissioner Carey, seconded by Commissioner Foushee to share cuts fairly between all of the stakeholders and apply $400,000 to reducing the schools' allocation, in addition to the $660,000 for salaries. VOTE: Ayes, 3; Nays, 2 (Commissioner Gordon and Commissioner Nelson) f. Tax Rate Decisions i. Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools Special District Tax Donna Coffey said that the recommended tax rate is 23 cents per$100. A motion was made by Commissioner Carey, seconded by Commissioner Foushee to approve the Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools Special District Tax at 23 cents per $100 valuation. VOTE: UNANIMOUS ii. Fire District Tax Rates A motion was made by Commissioner Nelson, seconded by Commissioner Gordon to approve the Fire District Tax Rates as listed. Cedar Grove 7.30 Chapel Hill 4.90 Damascus 6.00 Efland 5.225 Eno 5.70 Little River 4.60 New Hope 6.75 Orange Grove 4.20 Orange Rural 6.30 South Orange 9.50 Southern Triangle 6.00 White Cross 6.00 VOTE: UNANIMOUS iii. Ad Valorem Tax The current rate is 99.8 cents with school funding at 49.3% of the General Fund. Commissioner Nelson said that he has not decided that he is going to support this 99.8 cents tax rate. A motion was made by Commissioner Carey, seconded by Commissioner Nelson to adjourn the meeting at 11:16 pm. VOTE: UNANIMOUS Barry Jacobs, Chair Donna S. Baker, CMC Clerk to the Board