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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMay_8_2017_Budget_Session_MinutesIREDELL COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS BUDGET WORK SESSION MINUTES May 8, 2017 The Iredell County Board of Commissioners met in special session on Monday, May 8, 2017 at 5:00 PM, in the Iredell County Government Center (South Wing Conference Room), 200 South Center Street, Statesville, NC. Board Members Present Chairman James B. Mallory III Vice Chairman Tommy Bowles Gene Houpe Jeff McNeely Marvin Norman Staff present: County Manager Ron Smith, Deputy County Manager Beth Jones, Finance Director Susan Robertson, Assistant Finance Director Deb Alford, Budget Analyst Susan Cornell, Assistant to the County Manager Ben Stikeleather, and Clerk to the Board Retha Gaither. Call to Order: Chairman James Mallory called the meeting to order. Schedules/Revenues/Expenditures: Finance Director Susan Robertson explained the schedules and graphs for FY 2017-2018. The Local Government Commission requires 8% of unassigned fund balance which is basically one month's expenditures. The fund balance has been maintained to help pay for capital projects, emergencies, and for good opportunities. On June 30, 2016 the audited unassigned was $40,884,806. During this fiscal year there have been three additional appropriations which equals $41,187,422. The estimated revenues for June 30, 2017 is $259,425,592 with estimated expenditures of $250,495,509. The bottom line, unassigned balance as of June 30, 2017 is estimated to be $42,498,000. The recommended budget for FY 2018 is $195,362,595 with a fund balance of 21.75%. Commissioner Houpe asked about the $1.1 million reserved for Iredell-Statesville Schools. Robertson said it is their money that is assigned and being held in the fund balance for when they need it. It is not additional money. Robertson said the recommendation is for 28 new positions. The total funds recommended for capital outlay requests are $3,841,277. Commissioner Houpe suggested to explain fully, at the public hearing, the reason for all of the new position requests. Smith said the justification for these positions can be posted on the web site. Commissioner Houpe asked about the call volume in Environmental Health. Smith said Central Permitting is where the calls come and there has been some turn over in that department. Employee duties are being reorganized with the intent to gain more efficiencies. Commissioner McNeely asked about new versus remounts for ambulances for EMS. Deputy County Manager Beth Jones said five new employees will be the new crew with one new ambulance at Cool Spring. Other ambulances are listed in the CIP. May 8, 2017 Robertson continued explaining the capital outlay requests and pointed out that under the Health Department, the autoclave, copiers, and cisco switches will be paid for with Medicaid Maximization funds. Commissioner McNeely asked about the $100,000 grant for the Library. Smith said that is for the RFID which is a self -check-out program for the Library. Commissioner Houpe asked about progress on another entrance into the Health Department. Jones said one property owner has been contacted who is interested in selling the entire property at tax value but not just an easement. Another property owner will be contacted as soon as possible. Commissioner McNeely asked about the bicycle for EMS. Smith said it is used at functions like the balloon rally. This allows staff to maneuver through foot traffic and it is equipped with emergency supplies. Robertson continued to explain the different financial schedules. Commissioner Houpe asked about the workforce and the revenue of Building Standards, if more inspectors would increase turn -around time and revenue. Smith said this office is response based and does not feel an increase in staff would necessarily bring in more revenue. Building Standards has increased by three over the last year. Excess revenue from this department is used in other areas. Vice Chairman Bowles asked for clarification on the percentage of funding for education. Robertson said the 55% for education includes current expense, capital outlay and debt service. Robertson said the estimated property valuation total is up 3.13% with the total taxable value at $689.085.947. The recommended tax rates and valuations for FY 2018 are as follows: Iredell County 52.75¢, County -wide fire 7.0¢, E. Alexander Fire 7.0¢, Mt. Mourne Fire 6.0¢, Shepherds Fire 7.0¢, Troutman Fire 7.0¢. The estimated revenue projections for FY 2017-2018 are $195,362,595. Robertson brought attention the courts in that the County receives a facility fee when cases are finalized and there has been a steady decline. This year it is expected that the fees will be 47% less. Chairman Mallory asked if that was directly tied to both criminal and civil. Robertson said that is correct. The fee is not paid until the case is closed. When a case is continued the Public Defender will receive a fee but the facility fee isn't paid until it is closed. Vice Chairman Bowles asked what this Board could do to remedy that situation. Chairman Mallory said the District Attorney could be asked to give an aging accounts receivable approach to all the cases just hanging out there. May 8, 2017 2 Jones stated she had a conversation with the District Attorney. The County funded ADA was hired specifically to help save on jail days which is occurring and the savings can be seen. However, the DA did not have a good answer for the backlog of cases. Vice Chairman Bowles suggested to convene the task force to research this issue after the budget has been adopted. Commissioner McNeely asked for clarification on a 1/4¢ sales tax. Robertson said it is estimated at $4.8 million because it does not have to be shared with municipalities. However, this tax would have to go to referendum and be decided by the voters in a general election. Pay & Classification Study: Human Resource Director Sandra Gregory gave a brief reminder of the pay and classification study that was discussed at the Winter Retreat in February. The ultimate request is to eliminate the 88 step salary pay plan, revise the philosophy of the study purpose to make market adjustments as needed, address compression this year only through the study which is based solely on years of service with the County, eliminate the 2% salary scale adjustment, move to a performance based system by implementing 0 to a 5% merit increase based on employee evaluation scores, and establish a mid -point check-in with employees. Vice Chairman Bowles asked if this means there would be no more cost of living raises, it will only be merit. Smith said that is the recommendation. Each year cost -of -living raises are discussed and sometimes it isn't feasible for an increase across the board. Merit raises it will entice employees to perform at a high level which will help to ease compression. Many agencies are moving away from the cost of living increases. Gregory said that if an employee is eligible for a market increase it will be one -time -only and will be added to their base pay permanently. This will help at least 75% of the compression issues. Chairman Mallory asked the future process of the market comparison. Does the company continue to refresh the data or does the County have to hire them again or are there benchmarks for comparison? Gregory said that has not been determined. The company recommends a market study every two years. Re -classifications would be done in-house. Commissioner Houpe asked the downside of a cost -of -living and some merit. Gregory said the salary scale adjustment does not help compression because everyone is moving at the same time. Merit increases allow movement at different times. Improved morale with merit increases will enhance customer service and therefore make Iredell County an employer of choice. Commissioner Houpe expressed concerns to ensure fairness, that Department Directors justify merit adjustments, and to make sure employees are evaluated twice yearly instead of just once. Gregory assured the Board there are checks and balances. If there is a large change in scores for an employee, that eval is flagged for review by Human Resources. May 8, 2017 3 Commissioner McNeely asked for a ballpark figure for this company to perform the job analysis. Gregory said she does not know at this time. Chairman Mallory suggested to negotiate with the company to just review and not start from the beginning in the future. Public Safety Departments: Sheriff Darren Campbell addressed the Board and talked about the many successful programs that are being offered through the Sheriff's Department. He explained the request for the on -staff attorney would assist in obtaining search warrants, public records request, policy review, etc. Campbell believes the pay study will be beneficial in hiring and retaining employees. Commissioner Norman asked if the attorney could help with the court case load. Campbell believes case management is needed. Commissioner Houpe expressed appreciation to the Sheriff and the Department. Major Bert Connolly reiterated the importance of case management. During court they are required to transport all detainees that are on the court docket for that week with most of the cases being continued which means the detainees must be transported back to Alexander, Wilkes, and the annex. Smith explained the recommendations for Animal Services and ECOM. Jones explained the budget recommendations for Emergency 911. They are asking for a Reconsideration Grant which will pay for the MC7500 Radio consoles from this year. One requirement of the Reconsideration Grant is to spend down the fund balance to 10%. Staff feels they have been underfunded, therefore they will ask for a Reconsideration Grant this year and next year. Part of the decrease is due to Statesville and Mooresville no longer being funded to the level that they have been historically. Currently Statesville is not a back-up or secondary. Mooresville is approved to be a back-up and are applying for a secondary. Smith continued with the budget for EMS. Vice Chairman Bowles stated that the addition of a new crew and unit on the eastern side of the County will free existing crews to cover more calls in other parts of the County. Commissioner Norman expressed concerns about the changing traffic flow on Highway 150 in Mooresville. Smith said there has been a preliminary discussion about another potential base near Lake Norman Regional Hospital. Commissioner Houpe asked about Mt. Mourne VFD for a base. EMS Director Blair Richey said a base at the hospital will do a lot of good. It is important to look to Mooresville next. Vice Chairman Bowles suggested that this could be a revenue stream for Mt. Mourne. Richey said they are researching hospitaFEMS relationships in other counties. May 8, 2017 Smith continued with the budget for EMS Specialty Services and Fire Marshal. Kent Greene will be become the Emergency Management Coordinator. Commissioner Houpe asked about housing the airport fire apparatus at the new complex on Bristol Drive. Chairman Mallory and Commissioner McNeely said the City of Statesville needs to make arrangements to have it at the airport. Smith said there was a conversation with Iredell Rescue about future options. However, Chief Perry said the preference would be to have a home base at the complex on Bristol. The intent was to have the larger bay for a rescue truck. Vice Chairman Bowles agrees Bristol Drive would be a good spot for the rescue base. Smith continued with Outside Public Safety Agencies which includes rescue squads. Funding for rescue squads is based on a formula that considers square miles and population of coverage. Attention was brought to $55,000 which was a debt commitment that was waived for Iredell Rescue. This agency is operating on a shoe string and this amount would make a huge difference. The overall funding amount for Iredell Rescue's is $414,473. Iredell Rescue and North Iredell Rescue do not receive any other funding from the County. Other rescues are supplemented by the fire tax districts. Vice Chairman Bowles said that if the name of entity does not contain the word "fire" it disqualifies them for some grants. Chairman Mallory said rescue squads perform as a stand-by for all of the school athletic events. Vice Chairman Bowles said there are a couple of things on the horizon for Iredell Rescue. First, they will need a remount for a truck and two, they are being asked to operate at different locations so there will be a future request for more man -power. Commissioner McNeely questioned funding from the general fund and feels it is not sustainable. Smith said it is not sustainable but staff is looking at what is the best bang for the buck in supplementing fire and rescue services. The lack of volunteers will escalate the amount paid. The coming year will require more discussion. Vice Chairman Bowles said Iredell Rescue was told that if the County absorbs the $55,000 and finds a home for them elsewhere then the County wants the deed to their place. Chairman Mallory suggested to think toward a model where the County would buy the equipment and the squad would provide the people. Clerk of Court of Jim Mixson shared his vision for the Clerk's office in the Hall of Justice. Since the main entrance has been changed to Stockton Street, the flow of foot traffic has improved a great deal. The movement of the wall opened the security station and made a much more functional entrance than before. Carpet and flooring was already in the 16/17 budget. Mixson suggested to take one of two vaults and turn it into a file room and turn the other vault into offices which will make use of the floor space in a more functional way. Files/records have been greatly May 8, 2017 5 reduced according to retention schedules. Mixson feels space is under control for a few more years. However, the AC unit in the vault needs to be replaced with a unit on the roof. Smith said this is in the facilities improvements' budget for approximately $80,000. Smith believes this remodel is very well planned. Commissioner McNeely asked if the Clerk of Court can make any improvements to the case back -log. Mixson said the Clerk is just the record keeper, but feels a case management system would greatly improve the issues. The administrator in Civil Court schedules everything for civic court makes civil court run smooth. Criminal court is up to the District Attorney and judges. If continuances could be reduced then that would make things much better. Chairman Mallory said it would be helpful to see a breakdown of aging accounts receivable. Mixson said the DA receives an aging account report which is compiled by the ASC. Commissioner McNeely believes the Board should see this report as least once a quarter. Commissioner Houpe said the justice task force should get involved. The Board took a five minute break. Schools: Smith said there have been several meetings with both school districts. The recommendation for ISS is $1.3 million over this year in current expense and $2.1 million over in capital. This is formula based on the sales tax and portions of the ad valorem. Mooresville Graded is at a $907,000 overall increase, but their capital is increased by $965,970. MCC is an average of the other two school districts. They are seeing an overall increase of $177,085. The total increase to all schools over the current year is $3.4 million. Vice Chairman Bowles asked if this would assist with teacher pay. Smith said they are working on it. The school systems may do whatever they want with the allocation. ISS has pushed funding from current to capital which opens up $1.5 million which could be applied to supplements if they choose. The per -pupil amount will be $1,593. Commissioner Norman believes they need to work harder at staying within their budget Chairman Mallory said the County is working to become the employer of choice and asked how to do the same for teachers. It may be possible to help through the general revenues after the reval but that's two years away. There is always something else to spend money on besides teachers, counselors, principals, etc. The question is how to recruit the best teachers. This board needs to keep trying to help get the supplement back but the only way to impact and control where the money goes is the 1/4¢ sales tax solely dedicated with 50% to all teachers, principals, assist principals, etc. and then another quarter to STEM teachers and another percentage to others. This board can set perimeters to be put on the ballot. Robertson said the ballot will be specific. Commissioner Houpe said maybe there should be some type of pay differential for teachers to go to the low performing schools. May 8, 2017 Chairman Mallory said a decision should not be made until after another budget cycle to see where the numbers are. Commissioner Norman asked the County Manager to research if the Board can legally set perimeters on the ballot. Commissioner McNeely asked for specific numbers from Assistant Principals and staff down, including Mitchell. Raising taxes is undesirable but a small increase in sales tax is tangible and he would like to see teachers get their 2% back. books. Commissioner McNeely asked about the $4,600 increase in the Commissioners' budget. Smith said it is not raises but budgeted for training and fireproof cabinets for the minute Adjournment: Chairman Mallory adjourned the Board at 9:20 PM. Date Approved Retha C. Gaither, Clerk May 8, 2017