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04-25-2001 Continued Meetingn ~1 I~ 1 1 ~~~~~~~ ~~) ~~75 CONTINUED .MEETING OF THE ISLE OF WIGHT .COUNTY .BOARD OF SUPERVISORS HELD THE TWENTY-FIFTH DAY OF APRIL IN THE YEAR TWO THOUSAND AND ONE PRESENT: Henry H. Bradby, Chairman Robert C. Claud, Sr., Vice-Chairman Stan D. Clark Richard K. MacManus Phillip A. Bradshaw Also Attending:. H. Woodrow. Crook, Jr., County Attorney W. Douglas. Casket', County Administrator Donald T. Robertson, Assistant County Administrator/Director of Human Resources Carey H. Mills, Recording Secretary Chairman Bradby called the continued meeting to order at 2:00 p. m. for the purpose of conducting a budget work session. Anne F. Seward, Director. of Budget and Finance, shared with the Board an information package requested by the various Board members illustrating a $.O1 -tax increase on Machinery & Tools on the County's three mayor tax payers in the County. She referenced an effective tax rate and explained that the County currently assesses at a 100% of the equipment. She referenced also included is a sheet containing the projected fund balance for June 30,2001 and noted that this figure will be revised during the next two (2) months. She noted when she pulls out obligated projects in the Capital Budget, .$1,700,000 is left in reserves which are for projects designated for the purposes of economic development, parks and recreation and cash proffers. She provided the Board with a summary of all cash proffers by district which must be spent according to the district in which they are collected which leaves $664,858. available to the County for the coming fiscal year. She stated also contained in the package is a spreadsheet of the capital projects expenditures to date. She distributed a copy of the Page 4 expenditure summary in the amountof $5.8,199,615 which takes the recommended .cuts in the amount of $830,594.. She stated if the one-time increase of the State and Federal .grants funds are reduced out, this brings. the County to a recommended .budget of $56,090,414 which represents a 2.6% increase over the County's current budget and which still requires a tax rate increase. She presented three (3) proposals, the first column contains a half percent increase.for County departments;. the second column includes additional potential cuts the Board. could make of $719,724 which would bring the.County to a total budget of $57,479,891 and which would require a revenue adjustment of $492,000 with a two (2) cents on the real estate rate and three (3) cents on machinery and tools tax; and, the third column of additional potential cuts provides no revenue adjustment and no tax rate .increase. 1 a~t,~ ~~ .;;x:.176 Under the Capital Budget, Supervisor Claud stated the Board needs to be conservative in what it does, but he does not think the Board should stop. all projects this year with the concept in mind that next year everything will be better. He stated the Board would: be facing the same things next year as it is now, only worse. He stated the Board needs to be responsible in how it spends the funds and do what. needs to be done. Supervisor MacManus stated he believes the Board needs to continue moving forward with capital items. He stated one (1) reason the County is in somewhat of a bind now is because capital expenditures in the school system were cut out for awhile and he believes you must • always proceed with. spending some money to meet the needs of the community and he supports capital this year. He stated there is a need which must be meta Supervisor Bradshaw stated. he believes the Board must look at bare necessities. He stated from a business perspective, when. the economy is down, the first thing companies do is hold up on company expansions and the capital program is one of the first things the Board must look at. He stated the economy is-going to pick back up at some point, but the Board must be prepared for it and take action today. He stated the Board needs to take a hard look at the capital budget and decide what amount of funds can be allocated. Concerning merit and COLA increases- for -the staff, Supervisor MacManus stated he recommends this be a required part of the budget. He stated it is a part of responsible government that the Board recognizes that even though the economy is going one (1) direction, prices continue to climb and the employees must be taken care of. He recommended a COLA and. merit combination and stated staff should always be included for a merit and sometimes, if the performance is not there,. then the pay increase should not be there. He stated a three (3) percent across-the-board shows no preference for the top performer verses the lowest performer. Regarding staffing levels, Supervisor MacManus stated he is open to additional staffpositions being made, but he does not believe many could. be supported by the current levels of funding. He stated he does not see tremendous growth in the staff level. Ms. Seward stated she met with the County Administrator and Assistant County Administrator to .address areas that will potentially need to be addressed. The Code Inspector position was pushed back to a January 1st date and the Assessor's position back to an April 1st date, both positions contingent upon the realisations that the County is being told as .far as development. She noted that $7,500 in part-time funding is included under refuse collection for the Carrsville/Camptown area, but she would request feedback as to whether the Board wishes to include this. She also stated the 2 1 'i s~r.~~. ~J -.:;.~-177 .Maintenance 1 position for the Building and Grounds Department is further included. Regarding the County's fee structure, Supervisor MacManus .stated he County is charging the lowest fee in the entire State and, if increased, .this is an area that -nominal increases could be realized. Supervisor Clark . requested a copy of the report done approximately eight (8) years ago concerning what could be charged by the County for fees. Regarding. the Assessor's position and Codes Inspector position, Supervisor Claud recommended that staff develop parameters in writing that are mutually agreed upon by those involved as to theguidelnesfor adding positions. Supervisor Clark requested that staff relay to the Commissioner of Revenue that the Board desires him to show how the Assessor's position has saved the County money by April, 2003. Regarding schools, Supervisor MacManus stated he is disappointed that the Board did not receive any feedback to the letter the Board directed. the County Administrator to send to the school administration. He stated it seems like there is lack of true initiatives to find out what the cuts will be to get down to .$537,000. He stated. this intelligence would allow the Board to make better decisions. He stated he would .support the $5.37,000 at this time as this appears to be what the County can afford. Supervisor Clark stated he saw the School Superintendent today and he believes that she would be willing to address the Board because he got- the feeling that she thought the Board had requested certain information. He stated she has always been open and willing to discuss their budget requirements in general. Supervisor Bradshaw stated if the Board adopts the total amount locale funding and the State comes back and .provides the schools with additional money, i.e., teacher's salaries, the Board. will have to .accept the funds and give it to-the School Board. He stated regarding using proffers for capital, it is possible the. Board could use part of the proffers to support some of the school .requests, i.e., additional handicapped buses and repairs to the buildings. Chairman Bradby inquired if a tax increase is really necessary. Ms. Seward stated the County has been nine (9) years without a tax increase and she believes a tax increase is something the. Board needs to consider. this year. Supervisor Bradshaw inquired what the. impact would be if the County went to semi-annual collection of personal property. 3 r. gg~r. ~t1 ~N,:; ~78 Ms. Seward stated while the net result would not be significant, it would be .interest revenue of approximately $150,000. Supervisor. Claud suggested that regarding delinquent tax collection . . , .that the Treasurer speak with James Windsor, tax collection attorney, to discuss a solution to .improve the rate of collections. Supervisor Bradshaw stated he is not in favor of a tax increase. He stated he is in .favor of utilizing the money in the General Fund because this is what it is for and it is the taxpayers' :money that has already been paid. He stated there are a lot of unknowns that could positively impact this and most of these are in a positive flow as far as revenues, i.e., $300,000 in chan in ta lle i g g x co ct on, SPSA, upcoming reassessment, State funding, changing permit fees and connection fee tili i s on u t es. He stated the County would definitely be faced with increasing the rates next year because of the reassessment. Chairman Bradby called for a motion to adjourn.. Supervisor Clark moved the Board adjourn. The motion was adopted unanimously (5-0). // . Henry H. Bra by, Chairman W. Dou skey, Clerk 4