HomeMy WebLinkAboutMay_25_2010_FY_10-11_BudgetIREDELL COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS
FY 10-11 BUDGET MEETING
MAY 25, 2010
The Iredell County Board of Commissioners met in Special Session on Tuesday,
May 25, 2010, at 5:30 P.M., in the Iredell County Government Center (South Wing
Conference Room), 200 South Center Street, Statesville, NC.
Board Members Present
Chairman Marvin Norman
Vice Chairman Steve Johnson
Scott Keadle
Frank Mitchell
Ken Robertson
Staff present: County Manager Joel Mashburn, Deputy County Manager Tracy
Jackson, Finance Director Susan Blumenstein, and Clerk to the Board Jean Moore.
CALL TO ORDER by Chairman Norman
REQUEST FOR APPROVAL TO APPLY FOR A FEDERAL
EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT AGENCY (FEMA) GRANT TO PURCHASE
CARDIAC MONITORS: Deputy County Manager Tracy Jackson said FEMA was
offering grants to EMS, and the deadline to apply was May 26. He said the EMS
Director proposed to obtain 19 new cardiac monitors (training included in the costs) to
replace older units. Jackson said there would be a 20% match ($95,000) that could be
obtained from selling the older units, and this should be approximately $76,000. He said
the remaining $19,000 would come from area hospital donations.
MOTION by Commissioner Johnson to allow the staff to apply for the FEMA
grant to purchase cardiac monitors.
VOTING: Ayes - 5; Nays — 0.
MAY 20, 2010 BOARD MOTION IN REGARDS TO PARKS &
RECREATION: County Manager Mashburn said the recreation director would have
information regarding the gap between revenues/expenditures at the May 27 budget
meeting.
MITCHELL COMMUNITY COLLEGE: College representatives attending
the meeting were Board of Trustees Chairman Dr. Ralph Bentley, Dr. Doug Eason
(President), Dick Lefevre (VP -Finance), Tim Brewer (VP -Instruction), and Gary Johnson
(Director of Facilities).
Bentley said the MCC board tried to keep the FY 11 budget "sensible and
reasonable."
Eason said (1) the college recently graduated over 1000 with 90% being Iredell
County residents (2) the Rocketry Team placed 4`h in the National Rocket Competition
(3) the Carolinas Partnership earlier today recognized ten community colleges in the
Charlotte region and this included MCC (4) enrollment is up 20% and (5) summer school
is already up 15%. Eason concluded by saying the operating budget was not
commensurate with the number of college buildings, and in the future, more discussions
were needed regarding square footage costs.
Commissioner Robertson asked the state's plan on per pupil funding.
Eason said a recent update indicated the Governor, House and Senate were in
favor of full funding for enrollment growth. He said, however, the House had discovered
a $200 million discrepancy in the final budget numbers. Eason said this could be a
problem, and also there was a "management flexibility reversion" that varied from three
to eight percent. He said even if the college were fully funded, that if a state reversion of
funds were imposed, MCC would have to determine where to make the cuts. He said the
"flexibility" component allowed the college, and not the state, to make the decision on
what to cut. Eason said community colleges did not get "forward" funding. He said
once the state had approved enrollment numbers, the college was paid a year later.
Eason said the relative value of FTE (full time equivalency) was out of proportion for
community colleges, and they received $4,000 compared to universities at $13,000.
MOORESVILLE GRADED SCHOOL DISTRICT (MGSD): Attending the
meeting to discuss MGSD's proposed budget were Board of Education members Karen
Hart (Chairman) and Larry Wilson (Vice Chairman) along with Dr. Mark Edwards
(Supt.), Terri Haas (Finance Director), and Local Businessman and Education Supporter
Randy Marion.
Edwards said the following:
• MGSD was ranked #8 in the state for End of Grade Reading and Math Scores.
(Chapel Hill/Carrboro is currently # 1, but Mooresville has a good
chance of out performing this school system.)
• 2009-10 budget reductions were:
-State discretionary cuts of $832,824
•6% county cut
•13.5% state cut
-Federal stimulus money of $2,019,451.00 helped, but did not remedy all cuts.
(The unit still has one-half of the funds.)
-Overall budget reduction of 6%
• The Child Nutrition Program increased from 30.72% in 07-08 to
39.41% in 09-10. (Many other students are eligible; however, the parents
do not want to accept the meals.)
• The 2009-10 budget shortfall resulted in the elimination of 27 certified
teaching positions and 16 teacher assistants, staff development was
eliminated, there was a reduction in the summer school program as well as
the remediation program, also new and expanded/renovated schools were
constructed but no custodial employees were added (current staff was spread
around), and the class sizes increased.
• In regards to the 2010-2011 state budget:
• Discretionary reductions increase from $312,609 to $1,145,433
• Additional RIFs of 3 Elementary Asst. Principals
• RIFs of Exceptional Children's Director & Human Resources/PR Director
• The Mooresville community will be asked to help bridge the funding gap.
Businessman Randy Marion said for many years the MGSD had been used as a
selling point to attract industries to Mooresville. He requested the commissioners to
make education a top priority, and he said industry was the county's tax base.
Commissioner Mitchell asked how many students were in the system.
Edwards said 5,600, and the system would grow by 124 in FY 10-11.
Mitchell asked the number of employees.
Haas said 700+.
Commissioner Robertson asked if the increase in child nutrition was due to the
program being easier to access.
Edwards said it was due to unemployment of the parents.
Robertson asked how many teachers would be laid off in 10- 1 1.
Edwards said none, hopefully, but the central office would be affected.
Robertson asked if the teacher assistants would come back this year and whether
or not staff development would return in 10-11.
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Edwards said the only way the teacher assistants could return would be to fill
other positions, and that staff development funds were not in the 10-11 budget. Dr.
Edwards said the system had a faith -based grant for an "abbreviated" summer school
program.
Robertson asked about textbooks.
Edwards said the system was trying to use what it had. He said donations would
be sought for the basics. Also, he said the system would provide a summer tech training
program where the participants would pay a fee. He said the fees would pay for some
staff development.
Robertson asked if the system planned on any pay increases.
Edwards said no.
IREDELL-STATESVILLE SCHOOL SYSTEM: Representing the I -SS
system were Dr. David Cash (Chairman/Board of Education), Brady Johnson (Supt.), Dr.
Kenny Miller (Facilities Director), Melissa Wike (Finance Director), Dale Ellis (Human
Resources Director) and Jackie Morrison (Volunteer).
Dr. Johnson said that in 2009-10, I -SS had an 11% reduction in state funding and
a 7% cut in local funding. He also mentioned the following:
•Current average daily membership (ADM) of 21,356 is an increase of 188
students compared to the final 2009 ADM of 21,168.
• Staff reductions of 146 positions have occurred. These are broken down
as follows:
28 Teachers
4 Literacy Coaches
5 Custodians
3 Media Specialists
4 Guidance Counselors
102 Teacher Assistants
146 Total
• Central office budget cut by $389,497 or 14%.
• Administrators had a 2% salary reduction in the form of furloughs.
• Other reductions have necessitated the increase in class sizes, eliminated the
universal breakfast program, reduced transportation services, and decreased the
amount of funds for supplies/materials.
Jackie Morrison, a volunteer at Cloverleaf Elementary, expressed concern about
the loss of the teacher assistants and the effect this had on the students and teachers. She
said the classrooms with exceptional children were of special concern due to the
disruptions they sometimes caused. Morrison said in a year's time, 280 assessments had
to be accomplished on 25 students.
Commissioner Robertson asked how many exceptional children were in the
system.
Dr. Johnson said 2,600, and they ranged from severe and profound to basic
learning disabilities. He said the system had submitted a total budget request of
$33,945,250.00, or a per pupil request of $1,498.36 for 2010-11. Johnson submitted a list
with about 14 different cost saving "scenarios" that might occur in 10-11 with one being
the elimination of the middle school resource officers (SROs). He said Iredell-Statesville
was one of just a few systems in the state with SROs in the middle schools. Other
proposed cuts were:
1. Reduction of 25 teachers through attrition
2. Central office staff reductions
3. Asst. Principals (reduced employment)
4. Instruction Support reductions through attrition
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5. Contracted services reductions
6. Supplement reduction of 2%
7. Usage of local fund balance
Johnson said that as of June 30, 2010, the system would have a fund balance of
$7,315,816.00, and it was recommended that a system the size if I -SS have at least
$3,500,000.00. He said $3,815,816.00 in fund balance was available to balance the
budget, but his preference would be to use the funds to convert the classrooms into 2151
century rooms. Concluding, Dr. Johnson said a "tsunami" would hit the system in 13
months, and this would be due to the loss of stimulus funds. He said over the last three
years, state and local funding had decreased; however, federal money had increased
(Americans Recovery & Reinvestment Act). Johnson said the stimulus money was
designed to last for two years, and one half would be used this year with the remainder
being left for 10-11. He said that on June 30, 2011, the system would be out of the
federal funds, and currently, 150 people were being paid with the money.
Mashburn asked the ramifications of the Governor's proposal to allow the schools
to use lottery funds for current expense.
Dr. Johnson said I -SS did not support the concept because the lottery funds were
the only mechanism keeping the building programs going. He said the auto tech center
would not have opened without the lottery funds.
Dr. Kenny Miller said the legislature set up the lottery funding structure, and the
funds were not supposed to be used to supplant. He said that if lottery funds were ever
used to supplant or to pay the teachers, legal action had been threatened. Miller said it
was allowable to use 40% of the lottery funds to reduce class sizes, and the remaining
60% was for capital. He said a project had to be identified before the lottery funds could
be drawn down.
Commissioner Johnson said that if the lottery funds were ever allowed for current
expense, they would never go back.
Miller said growth had impacted the facilities' budget with 25% of the current
expense funding going towards maintaining and operating the buildings. He said the
1998-99 enrollment was 15,863 students with square footage of 2,175,000 compared to
21,100 students in 2009-10 and the square footage of 3,796,529. Continuing, Miller said
21,234 students were projected for next year, and there would be a square footage total of
3,946,688 to maintain. Miller said there would have to be "deferred maintenance." He
said it would be difficult to maintain the buildings due to not having enough custodial
staff and "having to do more with less." Miller said the system had a good energy
program, but it was driven by costs.
Robertson said the spreadsheet presented by Dr. Miller projected a $0.1553
projected square footage cost (parts/equipment) to maintain the buildings.
Miller said an average of 20¢ a square foot would be the optimum. He said with
newer facilities, the system shifted from boilers/chillers to heat pumps, and while there
were many advantages with heat pumps, they had filters that needed to be changed.
Miller said one person was assigned to changing all of the filters. He said the nearly 4
million square footage total equaled 2,000 homes to maintain. Dr. Miller mentioned
there was a one fourth cent sales tax option the county could consider placing on the
ballot in November.
Commissioner Johnson asked how much the quarter cent sales tax would
generate.
Mashburn said $3.8 million.
Supt. Johnson said supplements were given in an effort to retain teachers, and
locally, they received eight percent which helped I -SS to be competitive with neighboring
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counties. He said a 6.6% supplement was given to non -classified employees (custodians,
bus drivers).
Residents Rights Partv & Fund Balance: Commissioner Mitchell asked if it
would still be necessary to take $500 out of the fund balance for the Residents Rights
Party since there was the elimination of funding for Information and Referral.
Blumenstein said no. She said the process would be to net the increase of $500
against the decrease made by cutting Information & Referral's appropriation of $28,130.
She said then, the fund balance appropriation to the FY 10-11 budget would be reduced
by $27,630.
Solid Waste: Commissioner Mitchell asked about the solid waste fees.
Mashburn said the revenue met the projected needs. He said a new cell (Phase V)
was being proposed, and all of the design work would be accomplished at one time.
Blumenstein said the household waste fee was $37 a year, and there were no plans
for increases during 10-11.
Commissioner Mitchell asked about the revenue from recyclables.
Mashburn said there were recycling program costs, but at least the items were not
disposed of in the landfill.
Blumenstein said $262,000 was budgeted for revenue from recycled items.
Chairman Norman asked about the methane gas revenue.
Mashburn said it was $6,000.
Revaluation: Commissioner Mitchell asked if the county still planned on the
revaluation.
Mashburn said this would occur in 2011. He said there would be much inequity if
it didn't occur, and five years had passed since the last revaluation. Mashburn said there
had been shifts in property values, with some increasing and others decreasing. He said,
however, the decreases might not be as low as some taxpayers anticipated. Mashburn
said that in August, the board would be requested to adopt a schedule of values. He said
the approved values would be used to build the tax base as of January 1, 2011, and the tax
rate would be effective July 1, 2011.
ADJOURNMENT: The meeting adjourned at 8:30 p.m.
Approved:
Clerk to the Board