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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2002-03-18 BudgetMarch 18, 2002 (Adjourned-Afternoon Meeting) (Page 1) An adjourned meeting of the Board of Supervisors of Albemarle County, Virginia, was held on March 18, 2002, at 1:30 p.m., Room 235, County Office Building, McIntire Road, Charlottesville, Virginia. This meeting was adjourned from March 13, 2002. PRESENT: Mr. Lindsay G. Dorrier, Jr., Mr. Charles S. Martin, Mr. Walter F. Perkins, Mr. Dennis S. Rooker and Ms. Sally H. Thomas. ABSENT: Mr. David P. Bowerman. OFFICERS PRESENT: County Executive, Robert W. Tucker, Jr., County Attorney, Larry W. Davis, Assistant County Executive, Roxanne White, Assistant County Executive, Tom Foley, Budget Director, Roger Hildebeidel, and, Clerk, Ella W. Carey. Agenda Item No. 1. The meeting was called to order at 1:30 p.m., by the Chairman, Ms. Thomas. _______________ Agenda Item No. 2. Work Session: FY 2002-2003 County Operating Budget. Budget Overview of Major Issues - Robert W. Tucker, Jr. General Fund Revenues and Expenditures Mr. Tucker began by listing major sources of revenues. Real estate taxes are showing an increase of $5.6 million (10.7%) over the current year primarily due to an approximate 13 percent reassessment increase ($136.8 million in new construction value). Personal Property, including the car tax, shows an increase of $3.1 million for a total of $28.4 million, a 12.1 percent increase over the current year. This came about due to strong sales of new vehicles in late 2001, with the State reimbursement remaining at 70 percent. The local sales tax increased only 1.2 percent, with the BPOL Tax showing no increase. The hotel/motel tax was up a little over three percent, and the meals tax increased by 3.4 percent. Overall, General Fund local revenues show $108.3 million without the car tax, so the increase is 8.44 percent. State revenues from the car tax are 3.1 percent for a total of $16.8 million. Other General Fund revenues actually decreased by 1.1 percent, with categorical Federal revenues increasing 4.5 percent reflecting primarily Social Service reimbursements. Mr. Tucker said the projected revenue surplus for the current year is $1.604 million plus the $502,000 from the Fund Balance giving a total projected carry-over of $2.106 million. He used $1,061,604 of that balance for the FY 03 budget, and also recommends that $125,000 in one-time funds be given to > the School Division for the opening of Baker-Butler Elementary, leaving a projected carry-over balance of $919,396. In available revenues, there will be $850,000 in one-time funds, with recurring revenues for the Boards Reserve of $405,497, and then the School Division has established a reserve of $911,902. = Ms. Thomas said she understands the $911,902 could fund the salary increase the School Board wants, but would not fund the Baker-Butler start-up costs. They need another $400,000 for that purpose. Mr. Tucker said that is correct. Ms. Thomas said she understands the Schools might be able to find some of that money in their budget. Mr. Tucker said one problem is that until after the General Assembly Session is over, nobody knows what impact there will be on state revenues. Mr. Rooker asked Mr. Tucker how he feels about local revenues. Mr. Tucker said even if revenues do not come in as expected, there should be some end-of-the-year savings from expenditures which can be used to cover such a shortage. Mr. Tucker mentioned employee Health/Dental Benefits. He said the employers share increased = by about 27 percent. The employees share of dental benefits increased slightly. Local Governments == share of those costs increased by about $390,000. If the Board decides to increase salaries by three percent instead of the two percent originally agreed to, the increase in costs would be $226,200 of recurring funds. If the Board decided to go to 3.3 percent to meet market, the increase in costs would be $294,100. Mr. Tucker said in order to balance the budget, he has recommended increasing Development Fees by 25 percent which would get an additional $94,000. With the current year anticipated revenues of $1,186,604 for one-time costs, along with another $15,000 from new priorities, that gives $1,295,599 in additional revenues. Mr. Tucker said other potential revenue sources for the Board to consider are $35,000 from increased Parks and Recreation Fees, $75,000 from an additional $1.00 fee for a vehicle decal, and $30,500 from an increase in the E-911 surcharge. Ms. Thomas asked if the E-911 increase would pay for the 800 MHZ radio system. Mr. Tucker said no, those costs are in the CIP. At this time, the surcharge does not cover all operating costs of the ECC. A@ Those expenses are subsidized from the General Fund. Mr. Rooker asked how much of the Emergency Communication Centers operating budget is = funded from the General Fund. Mr. Foley said at this time the ECC operation is costing about $1.098 million with $835,000 for operations, $200,000 for planning and the GIS system, and $65,000 for street March 18, 2002 (Adjourned-Afternoon Meeting) (Page 2) signs. Only a transfer of $897,000 is made, so the difference being subsidized is approximately $200,000. __________ Functional Area Issues and Recommendations Mr. Tucker drew the Boards attention to the following chart as a place to begin discussions of the = proposed budget: BOARD OF SUPERVISORS FY 2003 OPERATING BUDGET = County General Fund Recurring One-Time Beginning Board Reserves 405,597 850,000 Less: County Executive Adjustments Agency Request - SHE to provide funding increase @ 2.5% 941 MACAA Teen Pregnancy Prevention Program funding 32,656 FICA for Parks & Recreation Summer P-T employees 20,000 Commonwealths Attorney - continuation of full salary for = one staff member 12,000 Commission on Children & Families 1,766 Subtotal - Subtract 67,363 -0- Plus County Executive Resource Changes Parks & Recreation Fees Increase 35,000 Net Ending Reserves 373,234 850,000 Recurring One-Time Board of Supervisors Funding Initiatives for Discussion Cost Funding Funding = Public Safety Adjusted request for Regional Jail 152,731 52,731 100,000 Adjusted request for BRJDC (Juvenile Detention Center) 26,370 Mr. Tucker said staff has made some adjustments since the proposed budget was finalized and submitted to the Board. The request from SHE was increased by $941 in order to give them a 2.5 percent increase. The MACAA Teen Pregnancy Prevention Program budget had not been fully funded, and would take an additional $32,656 to do so. Mr. Tucker said FICA was accidentally not funded for part-time employees in Parks & Recreation. It will take an additional $20,000 to fund that item. That is one of the reasons staff proposed the increase in the Parks entrance fees. For the Commonwealths Attorney, that request is for the full salary for one of = their staff members. That position had not been fully funded, so it requires an additional $12,000. Mr. Martin asked if this is the position the Board funded while one of the attorneys was on maternity leave. Mr. Tucker said no. Ms. White said it is a position which is funded by the Compensation Board, but A@ at this time the person is only working part-time, so the funding which comes from the state is being used to fund benefit costs. What was budgeted were the part-time cost instead of the amount actually received from the state, so this will increase that amount to that of a full-time salary. Mr. Tucker said after adding in funds for Children & Families, it will leave a beginning reserve for the Board to work with of $373,234 in recurring revenues. There is also a balance of $850,000 in one-time (non-recurring) revenues. He also has listed a couple of items for the Board to discuss in the way of Public Safety items, i.e., adjusting the Regional Jail budget with recurring funds tied to their baseline budget. They are requesting an additional $52,731, also another $100,000 for the reserve fund they must keep as part of the City/Albemarle/Nelson/Jail agreement. Albemarle did not provide enough funds to completely fund that item, so that amount needs to be adjusted. Ms. Thomas asked if the Board has a choice about funding this item. Mr. Tucker said no. A@ Mr. Rooker asked if comparable amounts will come from other jurisdictions. Mr. Tucker said yes, A@ all jurisdictions must do the same thing. Mr. Tucker said there is also shown a request to adjust the budget of the Blue Ridge Juvenile Detention Center by $26,370. He is not recommending that the funds be put in that item as this time because the date the center may be able to open is still not known. There is a chance the center may open in July. If that is the case and that amount is needed, it will be taken from the Boards Capital Reserve. = Mr. Dorrier asked the amount of that Capital Reserve. Mr. Tucker said it is quite a sizeable sum. When the tax rate was increased last year, it was decided that a certain amount would be set aside each year to go into the Capital Reserve. Staff wants the Reserve amount to stay as it is because there are many items coming up in the next five to ten years in the CIP where this money will be needed. He then asked Ms. White to begin the work session by discussing the Administration part of the budget. __________ Administration March 18, 2002 (Adjourned-Afternoon Meeting) (Page 3) Ms. White said the Administration part of the budget totals approximately $7,220,111. The biggest part (41%) goes to the Finance Department, with the next largest amount going to Information Technology (24%). She said there are some major issues to mention. First is the issue of meeting the service demands of a growing population, particularly urban services, without necessarily increasing administrative staff. The second major issue (which will more likely come up next year) will be completing and implementing the Countys Strategic Plan to link major Board goals with departmental objectives, budget = development and performance data. Ms. White said the third major issue will be a big project next year and that is replacing the Countys = major business process systems, i.e., Financial, Payroll, Human Resources and Purchasing in order to increase productivity and give greater access to critical data. There is no money in the proposed budget concerning this item. In April or May, staff will make a report to the Board on how some of these systems will be replaced. The next major item is improving customer service on the Internet by providing more easily accessible information and interactive opportunities to conduct County business. Finally, the new GAS-B34 accounting requirements must be implemented. Ms. White said as a result of some of those issues, staff is making a recommendation for additional funding this year for several items: Under Community Relations there is budgeted a half-time Website Content Manager and also Web Software at $21,000. Ms. Thomas asked if the software could not be drafted by present County staff. Ms. White said there is software on the shelf which is cheaper to buy and A@ which has been thoroughly developed. Ms. White said in Human Resources there is $3375 budgeted to pay fees for criminal history background checks. This is being done now, but Local Government has not been paying its share of this cost. Under Voter Registration, there is $6329 budgeted for the costs of making precinct changes. Ms. Thomas said the Registrar was present if the Board members had questions. Ms. Jackie Harris said that as a result of the 2000-01 redistricting, the State voting lines dont = necessarily coincide with the district plan of Albemarle County. In order to eliminate the eight split precincts the County presently has, the County needs to lobby the General Assembly to adopt some of the Countys = new lines, but where that is not feasible, some of the Countys lines will need to be adjusted. In addition, = some polling places will need to be changed in order for them to comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act. The amount requested will pay for labor, but primarily it is for mailing costs. Whenever a change is made in a polling place, her office must notify every registered voter by mail of that change. Mr. Dorrier asked where the new precinct will be located. Ms. White said they are actually looking at two new precincts. The 58th District took quite a bit of territory on the east side of the Ivy-Farmington area, and politically that area will not come back into the 57th District. A precinct will need to be created for the Farmington area. Mr. Martin said that will not be just a change in precinct, but it will be an additional precinct. Ms. Harris said it will be an addition. Mr. Martin said that last year a number of precincts were added. Ms. Harris said that four were added last year because of the redistricting. The County went from 22 precincts to 26, and there will be 27 next year. Mr. Dorrier asked if all of the precincts have to have the same population. Ms. Harris said no. A@ Precincts dont fall under the rules concerning population like districts do. There is a lot of leeway = concerning the creation of precincts. There are some concerns that precincts be a compact and contiguous territory, but the primary issue is finding an ADA compliant public building. Mr. Rooker asked where the Farmington precinct will be located. Ms. Harris said they looked at The Colonnades on Barracks Road since Barracks Road will most likely be the western boundary of that new precinct. There is a large portion of elderly and disabled people who do vote in that area, and The Colonnades complies with ADA rules. Ms. Thomas said there is also a request for another Assistant Registrar. Ms. Harris said this is the third year that an addition to the staff has been requested. There are some fairly significant changes about to occur in their operation basically from growth, and there are also legislative changes which have affected the office dramatically. She has one employee who does nothing but register voters at the Division of Motor Vehicles (DMV) (registering over 23,000 voters in the past two years). One employee is assigned to the Electoral Board leaving only three employees to deal with the over 53,000 voters in the County. It is a strain on the operation. Mr. Perkins asked if that person registers voters for every precinct. Ms. Harris said her office is required by law to register voters for any locality in the Commonwealth. They do not do too many national registrations, but do a lot of voter registrations for other localities. Because her office is located in the DMV building, about 50 percent of the people they register are not Albemarle County residents. Half of those registered are for the City of Charlottesville, and there are a lot registered for Fluvanna County. When the students come in each year they do registrations for localities all over the state. Mr. Rooker asked if Ms. Harris can bill those other localities for these registrations. Ms. Harris said the City of Charlottesville does fund half of one position. The person who is assigned to just register voters at DMV is funded for two and one-half days by the City. Since about 25 percent of the people registering are from Fluvanna, she would like to get them to pay a portion of the costs also. March 18, 2002 (Adjourned-Afternoon Meeting) (Page 4) Mr. Martin said when the Registrar starts thinking about making the additions, he thinks it would be nice to think about larger and fewer precincts. Ms. Harris said she has received that request from both of the political parties, as well. However, when six or more voting machines are put into a precinct, it becomes overcrowded. Mr. Martin said that except for when there is a Presidential election, no precinct is ever particularly crowded. Ms. White said there are not many changes in the Administration section. She offered to answer questions. Mr. Dorrier asked how much is allocated to the new financial management system. Ms. White said about $330,000 has been allocated to this date. Right now staff does not know how those moneys will be used. Mr. Fred Kruger is developing a plan on how to go about doing the assessment and whether a consultant will be needed. She said the $330,000 will not be a sufficient amount to fund any change. Mr. Dorrier asked if this project will be put out to competitive bidding. Ms. White said yes. Staff A@ thinks it will cost a substantial amount. Ms. Thomas said she does not think the Board will be considering a bond referendum for this item as was discussed about a year ago. Mr. Foley said that idea may come back to the Board for discussion, but not in the immediate future. There was no further discussion of the Administration category at this time. __________ Judicial Mr. Tom Foley said this category totals nearly $2.7 million, with 51.0 percent going to the Sheriffs = operation. The Clerk of the Circuit Court gets about 22.0 percent and the Commonwealths Attorney gets = 20.0 percent. In terms of major issues for this category, there are no salary increases funded for constitutional officers or their staff members because the State provided no funding for that purpose. There is also the issue of addressing the unpredictable number of transports to Court. Last year additional part- time funds were provided to the Sheriffs office for this purpose. Now with the opening of the new juvenile = detention facility, that need should drop somewhat. One big project which is not shown specifically is an imaging project for the Clerk of the Circuit Court which has been on-going for several years. Technology upgrades are another issue in the judicial section. Mr. Rooker asked why the imaging project is not shown. Mr. Foley said it is a multi-year project which is shown in the CIP. Local funds will continue to be provided to support constitutional officers and their staff as in the past. Funding has been provided for computer work stations for the General District Court, and to replace some computers in the office of the Clerk of the Circuit Court. Also, there is funding provided for the Countys share of additional space for the Juvenile & Domestic Relations Court. There is a = reduction in expenses for the Magistrates Office because of its relocation to the Regional Jail. He said the = Sheriffs budget shows an increase of about $100,000, but one-half of that is for reimbursable overtime. = Ms. Thomas said a few years ago additional funds were given to the Sheriff to help get better control during hunting season. The next year the Game Warden wanted more help so the Board put in more people on the Countys side. She asked the current thinking on that question. There is a nice = increase in support this year. Mr. Martin said that for two years the Board had received a report throughout the year. He thinks the last report the Board got was just after hunting season, and he thinks it justified the expense. He understands it frees the game wardens time in order to put out decoys, etc. which they had not had time to = do before. He remembers being pleased with the end result. __________ Mr. Rooker said he would like to go back and discuss Human Resources. He asked how the revenues and expenses for this component are allocated. How much of the expenditures belong to the Schools and how much to Local Government? Ms. White said that basically the main bulk of the Human Resources budget is in the School Division. What is shown in this budget is just General Governments = share of unemployment compensation, retirement and life insurance. Mr. Rooker asked about the salary category which shows a zero request. Ms. White said she believes that at one time the salary of the Strategic Planner was actually budgeted in this category. Then it was moved later to the County Executives budget. She said the transfer shown includes a 22.0 percent = share of local government which is transferred into the School budget. That share is based on the total number of employees and some of those funds also go to the Media Center which runs the training programs for employees. Mr. Rooker asked why the budget is accounted for in this way instead of just having it as a department budget. Mr. Tucker said although there may be one person who answers questions for local government, Local Government received benefit from all of the staff members. Mr. Martin said a lot of communities have split personnel departments, and in Albemarle, Local Government and the Schools worked really hard to combine those operations. Mr. Rooker said that makes sense, but that is not done in the way of finance operations. He wondered if there are other areas where a savings might be realized. Mr. Tucker said expenses for the County Attorneys Office are shared. There was a combined Information = Technology Office, but that has been separated again because of Instructional Technology. March 18, 2002 (Adjourned-Afternoon Meeting) (Page 5) Mr. Rooker said the Payroll function is combined in the Finance Department. Mr. Tucker said that is true, but the expense is all paid from the Finance budget. Mr. Rooker said the Board received a copy of a letter soliciting the County to participate in a VACO- sponsored health insurance program. He asked if staff is actively looking around for a new program. Ms. White said the health insurance program is out to bid, and VACO might be one of the bidders. __________ Public Safety Mr. Foley said this category totals $16.2 million. The Police Department takes up about one-half of that cost. A combination of Fire/Rescue and other public services take up about 23 percent. The Regional Jail Authority, the Emergency Communications Center and the Juvenile Detention Home are all funded under this category. He said public safety has always been a major priority item for the Board. He will give a short synopsis of the five-year trend. Public safety expenditures are up 46.5 percent or $5.1 million - Police is up 29 percent, Fire/Rescue is up 58 percent, and Other Public Safety items are up 82 percent and this includes both the Regional Jail and the Juvenile Detention Home. Mr. Rooker asked how that expense increase relates to the per capita increase in cases handled by the juvenile home. Mr. Tucker said there has not been a significant increase over the past few years for juvenile detention. For the Regional Jail, the City is seeing a more gradual increase than the County for both jail population and juvenile population. Mr. Rooker asked what accounts for the increase in expenses. Mr. Tucker said in this budget, it is Debt Service for the new facility. Mr. Martin said that next year there should be a decrease in the Sheriffs budget because travel = expenses will be less. Ms. Thomas asked if there is one new police office recommended for funding in this budget. Mr. Tucker said yes. Ms. Thomas asked if that salary has been funded with Federal funds in the past. Mr. A@ Tucker said this is a totally new officer. Ms. Thomas asked how the County will be paying for the officer who was funded with Federal money. Mr. Tucker said that salary will come from local revenues. Mr. Dorrier said he noticed that the amount of money going to Animal Control has decreased. However, he has heard that the animal wardens are overburdened and need more help. If that is true, how can this budget decrease? Mr. Foley said the decrease comes about because in the current fiscal year a new vehicle was purchased, and that will not occur again in the next fiscal year. Mr. Dorrier asked how many dog wardens are employed now. Mr. Foley said there are three. Mr. Dorrier asked if there are any plans to increase staff. Mr. Foley said no additional staff was requested. Mr. Martin said if Mr. Dorrier sees that as a need, he might request that this be looked at in the next budget cycle. The Board members get those calls a lot, and it is always said that the citizen does not get a quick enough response to a call. Mr. Dorrier said he thinks there is a need, but he does not know how urgent it is. He does know that in the southern part of the County, it is hard to get a dog warden to answer quickly. Mr. Rooker asked if that was part of the recent County survey. Mr. Tucker said he does not think any questions were asked about dogs. Ms. Thomas asked if 599 Funds decreased about $62,000. Mr. Foley said the General Assembly made some changes, but those changes are not known at this time. He said that for Public Safety, overall expenditures were up 7.5 percent or $1.1 million. Police Department expenditures were up 2.6 percent; Fire/Rescue was up 10 percent; and Other Public Safety expenditures were up 15.8 percent mainly due to the Juvenile Detention Home. Mr. Martin asked what the percentage increase would be for Other Public Safety expenditures if the opening costs of the Monticello Fire Station were removed. Mr. Foley said that almost $300,000 of the total is for that fire station. Mr. Martin said the increase to Fire/Rescue without that expense would then be only $29,000 which would be less than one percent. Mr. Foley said that last year $125,000 was funded for one- time items which are not repeated in this budget. Mr. Foley said some of the major issues for the Police Department are: meeting the increase in overall calls for service county-wide; addressing growth-related traffic problems; meeting increased demand for community crime prevention, educational programming and victim/witness services; and, implementation of technology improvements. He said some of the technology improvements will show in the Capital budget for next year such as mobile data terminal technology. There will also be an upgrade of current work stations and printers which are over six years old. Mr. Foley said some things which are funded in this budget are: one FTE Police Officer; replacement of communications equipment; reimbursable overtime; and, an increase in the Narcotics Fund. March 18, 2002 (Adjourned-Afternoon Meeting) (Page 6) Mr. Rooker asked how staff decides whether something will be a capital expenditure versus being an operational expenditure. Ms. White said any expense of over $20,000 would go into the capital budget, and it would be an item with a longer life span. She said there are some computer replacements in the CIP but that is also an on-going contribution to the CIP which buys many computers. Mr. Dorrier asked about the turnover rate of employees in the Police Department. Mr. Tucker said he does not believe it is very high. Chief Miller will be present later, and he can answer that question. The issue often is that the department is shorthanded because there are injuries, vacations, sick leave, etc. It is not necessarily due to turnover. Mr. Perkins said the Police Department has over 100 vehicles, and he guesses that all the officers have a car. He thinks the department has an extremely large accident rate. His company also furnishes driver training, and he thinks there is a relationship between trained accident prevention, and he wonders if that has been looked at. Mr. Tucker said the police officers are trained, but he does not know how often they have to go through recertification. He said the County does its own investigation after each accident to determine what caused the accident, if it is driver-created, road conditions, etc. Mr. Rooker said he thinks the statistic to look at would be the number of accidents per mile driven. He asked about insurance for liability. Mr. Tucker said the County insures all vehicles with a private insurance company. Mr. Martin asked the current ratio per capita of police officers. Mr. Foley said the goal is to have 1.5 police officers per 1000, but that goal has not yet been met. Ms. Lori Spencer said the County is 18 officers short of that goal. Mr. Martin said he is more interested in the trend. Mr. Tucker said the crime rate is also considered in the financing of this department. The crime rate has not increased significantly for Albemarle. Mr. Dorrier said the three officers in Scottsville can be included. Mr. Perkins said the more Albemarle does in the way of law enforcement, the less that is done by the State Police. Everyone agreed that is true. __________ Mr. Foley went on to discuss Fire/Rescue. He said some of the major issues for this item are: opening of the Monticello Fire/Rescue Station; maintaining support for volunteers; and, reduced City response by July 1, 2003. He said there were requests for more staff at the new station, but staff kept to what had been agreed to two years ago to open with eight career persons, and to make a strong effort to recruit volunteers. Mr. Rooker asked about thermal imaging camera technology. Mr. Carl Pumphrey said the cameras were primarily used by the military, but have now been adapted to be used in fire/rescue situations. The cameras can be taken into a fire scene to see the outline of people or find hot spots which are hidden from normal view. Mr. Foley said there is now a camera at most of the fire stations. There are questions with the rescue squads which he addressed with the Board members in an E-mail. He said that currently new operational/capital funding systems are being developed for the FY 2003-04 budget. The concept is to pick up 100 percent of the operational costs and link these to system wide standards for training and response time. It is in the early stages and it will be worked on over the next year. Capital is a big ticket item. There A@ has been a desire expressed to get replacements for fire equipment based on mileage criteria and other things into the Countys CIP. That is not the way the County has funded capital improvements. The County = has a $2.0 million fund out of which no-interest loans are made to the fire/rescue companies. The loans are paid back over a period of eight year so there is always money available with which to make new loans. Rather than utilizing those funds, there has been a desire expressed to have the fire departments become a part of the Countys normal capital improvement program. = Mr. Rooker asked where the revenues come from to pay the loans. Mr. Davis said the departments can pay back the loan from the Countys yearly contribution to the fire companies. Ms. = Thomas said each company also raises money for its operations. Mr. Foley said how they pay back the loan is not specifically tied to any particular money. Mr. Rooker asked if the fire companies generate other revenues. Mr. Carl Pumphrey said there are fire funds based on insurance premiums throughout the State which the County receives. These funds are divided equally to the seven fire departments. There are the Two-for-Life Funds based on vehicle registrations, and that money is divided equally among the three rescue squads. Mr. Davis said when the funds are borrowed it is strictly a paper transfer. If more than one piece of equipment is bought by a department in an eight-year period, payments on all agreements are combined for an additional eight-year period. He said it is rare that the volunteers actually use their own raised money to pay back those capital costs. Ms. Thomas said it has been mentioned that the individual fire companies may want to engage in long-range planning if it were rolled into the CIP. Mr. Foley said there could be some advantages to doing that. The chiefs have been talking more about long-range planning anticipating the hiring of the new director to do some of that planning. He said there are three more stations who would like to have career staff to supplement their efforts during daytime hours. March 18, 2002 (Adjourned-Afternoon Meeting) (Page 7) Mr. Dorrier asked if a fire station were given some career personnel, would any station which did not get career personnel receive any additional reimbursement? Mr. Foley said no. A@ Mr. Dorrier asked if the request for career personnel might pit one volunteer squad against another. Mr. Pumphrey said that so far that has not occurred. Mr. Tucker said that is why the County has left that type of request to the individual company. Mr. Foley said he also wanted to bring to the attention of the Board members that beginning July 1, 2003, the City will stop responding to calls outside of the immediate urban area around the City for EMS calls. The only time they will respond is to a structure fire outside of the ARD (automatic response district). That means that getting the Monticello Station up and running and thinking about other staffing needs is important. That is a major decision which will drive future decisions regarding fire and rescue services. Mr. Foley said that $293,039 is budgeted for staffing and start-up costs for the Monticello Fire/Rescue Station. There is also $19,200 budgeted for volunteer training and equipment costs (one-time costs). An enhanced system-wide volunteer recruitment effort is budgeted at $8000, and $31,307 is budgeted for a plans reviewer/inspector. This is the result of a vacancy in one of the assistant chief positions who was actually handling all of the plan reviews. Staff proposes that instead of having an administrative person do plan reviews at a higher salary, that a plan reviewer be hired instead. The total cost on the Monticello Fire Station is $415,000, but staffing had been budgeted in the current fiscal year for one-quarter of a year, and that was not spent, so that brings the cost down to $293,039. Mr. Lanny Moore, Chairman of the Chiefs & Captains Advisory Board, was present. He is also Chief of the East Rivanna Volunteer Fire Department. He said they had some other requests which were sent to the Board members by E-mail from Mr. Foley. They would like to have local matching funds for grants if they should be awarded any grants. At this time, FEMA has $360.0 million in grant money that they have asked fire companies to request. Mr. Rooker asked what kind of programs that money could be used for. Mr. Moore said it can be used for buying fire equipment, for purchasing turn-out gear, thermal imaging cameras, anything related to fire services. Mr. Rooker asked if it could be used for things that might be in the request for capital funds from the County. Mr. Moore said that last year Earlysville Fire Department put in a request for a fire truck, and that was for a matching grant. His company asked for turn-out gear and training aids to help train volunteers. A lot of County companies put in requests for grants last year, and he assumes they will be doing so again this year. Another item is an emergency vehicle mechanic and his helper. At this time, the mechanical work is done at the Countys Bus Shop. There are times when a specialized mechanic must = come in from the vendor to work on equipment, or the equipment must be taken to the vendors shop. = Mr. Rooker asked the cost of this work. Mr. Moore said it is about $85.00 an hour plus mileage. The Bus Shop charges $27.00 an hour for a mechanic. When the Bus Shop first undertook this work, the plan was to phase in a full-time specialized fire/rescue equipment mechanic. As to training, there is an on- going fire class, which is totally filled. There are four or more fire departments waiting to have some of their volunteers take the class. They can get it only through the fire/rescue system or in-house, and it has to be certified to the state before they can actually fight fires. If they have to wait six months to a year for the training, they lose interest. At this time, with the President Bushs Home Front Security scheme, they are = trying to get as many volunteers as possible. The last item is to increase operating capital, which Mr. Foley mentioned earlier. They now have funding from the County, but feel that the $40,000 for all the fire and rescue departments in the County does not meet all the costs of fuel. They were short about $10,000 last year. This year, the Advisory Board recommended that there be a request made to the County for such things as electricity, heating oil, etc. That would be about $13,000 per department. That would make the overall additional request about $143,000. A contingency fund for the additional volunteers is needed. He said that in 2003 they feel there will be more daytime calls, and the volunteer companies do not have enough volunteers to fill the need. Mr. Moore said that last year East Rivanna asked for a matching grant for AEDs (automatic = electronic defibrillators). Those grants were matched and they got two such machines. He said when the thermal imaging cameras were initially requested through the Advisory Board, there was a request for two cameras per company. That is because the first company into the building uses that camera to find the fire. OSHA requires that there be a RIT (rapid intermission team) standing outside waiting to go inside. The second request was for the second team to also have a camera so they would be able to find the firefighters inside. At this time, every fire company in the County has a camera, but Albemarle did not buy all of those cameras. Some of the fire companies bought their own cameras. He asked that there be at least two cameras in each company. He offered to answer questions. Mr. Rooker asked if there is any information on the amount of money spent for outside mechanics. Mr. Pumphrey said he does not know the cost per company, but he believes all are exceeding the amount of the maintenance money which has been set aside. If there is a major breakdown, a specialist must come in and that is costly. Ms. Thomas said the question is whether the cost to repair those major breakdowns is more than the $140,000 which has been budgeted for this purpose. Mr. Pumphrey said each year the cost varies greatly. He thinks a large portion of the money would be eaten up by the specialists. Mr. Foley said staff A@ would need to ask each station how much they actually spent. That is one of the things which is being done with the new Operating Capital Funding Policy. He disagrees somewhat with Mr. Moore. There is a good March 18, 2002 (Adjourned-Afternoon Meeting) (Page 8) process in place, and all are working together well. Right now there is a budget before the Board which does not give them all the funding they requested, but there is a good relationship to develop policies for making long-term decisions. Mr. Rooker asked for a good reason to have a full-time mechanic in the system rather than bringing in someone when necessary. Mr. Moore said the main issue revolves around down time for the equipment. Ms. Thomas said the Board would like to have more information on that subject at some point. Mr. Martin said he knows people do lose interest, and he would like more information on the training program. He understands the County is doing more, but he thinks the County needs to keep all possible volunteers. To not have those volunteers would be very expensive. Mr. Rooker asked if there is a full-time instructor for the volunteers. Mr. Foley said John OPrandy = is the training captain and can speak to that question. Mr. OPrandy said there is no full-time training = instructor. What he has been trying to do is utilize instructors on a contract basis. However, that creates a problem because a large number of people are trying to teach a lot of different classes. There is no consistency for the volunteers, and they have not been able to develop the programs needed. Mr. Rooker asked how much is spent at the present time for consultants. Mr. OPrandy said that = $20,000 was budgeted for fire and EMS instructor pay. Roughly one-half of that is for contract EMT classes. Ms. Thomas said that $10,000 is budgeted for training. Mr. OPrandy said that is specifically for the = Monticello station. That is a different situation because people will be going from a zero training level. Mr. Rooker asked if a full-time person were hired, if that $10,000 could be encompassed in that persons = salary. Mr. OPrandy said the majority of it could be. There are a number of classes which require multiple = instructors. Often, this full-time instructor will need others to help him with some of the classes that take six to eight instructors for something like a house burning, or an EMT practical evaluation. There will be times when multiple instructors will be needed, and they will have to be paid. Most of the time, a lot of the lecturing and that kind of training can be accomplished by that full-time person. __________ Mr. Foley said he would mention Public Safety Agencies. The major issue in this category is funding for the Regional Jail and Blue Ridge Juvenile Detention Center. The Jail contribution is up $69,533 or 5.2 percent over FY 02. That is less than their request for an 11.2 percent increase. The Detention = Center is funded at $725,399, an increase of $459,189. Mr. Foley said the other agencies in this category are the Emergency Communications Center (ECC), the SPCA, Offender Aid & Restoration (OAR), Community Attention and the Juvenile Assessment Center. The County was able to fund the ECC with just a little increase. A number of months ago, in conjunction with the City and the SPCA, a new formula was developed for the cost of housing an animal on a per day basis. Other counties were researched, and then staff came up with a fee that they feel is reasonable, and it is being recommended to the Board. That resulted in an increase in this budget of $40,000. It is the first half of what is proposed to be a two-year phase-in of the formula. Mr. Martin asked why the request is so much different from the formula. Mr. Hildebeidel said the request included a $50,000 contribution to the SPCAs new facility, which has been funded in the capital = budget. Mr. Foley said there is $50,000 per year in the CIP for the next five years for construction costs. If the new formula were strictly used, it would be a 300 percent increase this year. Ms. Thomas said since the County is duty bound to provide a pound, but not an SPCA, she thought the question was whether the County would pay for an SPCA. Mr. Foley said the SPCA actually provides more services than those required by law. The extra services they provide were deleted, and then the formula was based on what the County and the City would be required to provide by law. Mr. Hildebeidel said the $174,000 does include $50,000 which is a capital item. The operating request is $124,567 of which the County funded $84,000 splitting the increase over a two-year period. Mr. Foley said they were hoping for that increase all in one year, but staff has recommended that it be split over two years. Mr. Tucker said in reference to the Detention Center, staff is not requesting additional funding until it is determined when the facility will be opened. With regard to the Jail, they were given a six percent increase over the current years baseline budget. Also, they were given an increase for payment of their = Debt Service. Not provided was their full baseline request which would have required an additional $52,731. That item has been included in the General Fund items the Board may want to consider at the end of these work sessions. Another item to be discussed is $100,000 for the Jails Reserve Fund which is = a requirement, and he is recommending that it be covered by one-time revenues. Ms. Thomas said the Board does not have much choice about funding that item. She wonders how the section of the budget for the Detention Center changes if the facility does not open. Mr. Tucker said if the Center opens in July, the funds budgeted will be needed. If the facility does not open until January, there will be some savings in expenditures. Ms. Thomas said she knows there are expenses in the Sheriffs Department which will not be = necessary if the facility opens in July. She asked what amount will be needed depending on when the facility opens. Mr. Tucker said there will be a bigger savings if the facility opens in July. If it does not open, March 18, 2002 (Adjourned-Afternoon Meeting) (Page 9) the juveniles will have to be sent to some other facility in the interim. He does not have a firm number for that difference. Mr. Rooker said this item shows an increase of $459,000. He asked how much of that is in one- time expenses related to opening the new facility, and how much will be recurring costs. Mr. Tucker said a lot of that amount is for debt service, which is a recurring expense. Ms. White said the state actually provided some funds for one-time opening costs. Mr. Rooker said this new facility will cost the County more than what it had previously paid. Mr. Martin said it might cost more in this line item, but it will cost less in a lot of other ways. The transportation and time of the Sheriffs staff is the most obvious, but hopefully by having the facility closer there will be = benefits which will not show up in a line item anywhere. Mr. Rooker said even with the savings, he would expect this function to cost County government more money in the coming years. Mr. Tucker said that is mainly because it is a new facility. It is hoped that some arraignments can be done by video, so there will be some savings, but there is a huge debt service on this facility. If the County had continued to use the Shenandoah facility, it would have needed to be expanded and there would have been a debt service cost there. It was felt that building a facility here was better. Ms. Thomas asked about funding for the OAR. She asked the cost of the Criminal Justice Planner, and whether that amount was part of their request. Ms. White said it was. The OAR has been fully funded. Mr. Rooker asked if the County gets any state money for this item. Ms. White said she was going to mention the fact that funds for the Drug Court plus PAPAS funds from the state have been eliminated for OAR. That means the Drug Court Program is eliminated. Also, the Transitional Program which they used for help with employment to get inmates back into the community was eliminated as was their Volunteer Program which coordinated the volunteers who go into the Jail to work with inmates. They sustained a $200,000 shortfall in funding from the state. Ms. Thomas said there was a community meeting which focused on the Drug Court when it was found that the State would no longer fund this program. There is an effort among some of the larger employers and some generous people in the community to see if that amount can be picked up through contributions. Mr. Rooker asked how much of the Drug Court was being funded by OAR. Ms. White said that item was fully funded by the state. There was no local money involved. It has been estimated that the loss of funds for the Drug Court for Albemarle was about $20,000, and funds for the transitional and volunteer programs would be about $17,000. Ms. White mentioned Community Attention which she said includes residential services and they are now supervising the Juvenile Assessment Center. A lot of the moneys that go into providing services for both of these are Virginia Juvenile Crime Control Funds. Those funds have been cut in half. It is not known how those funds can be replaced or how to provide these services. Staff is looking at the possibility of temporarily getting the use of some Federal IV-E funds. There are substantial financial hits on both of these services. Mr. Foley said that at the next work session staff will report on the current dispatching operations which the City provides for the County. As per the Fire Services Agreement, beginning July 1, 2002, the City will no longer provide those services free of cost. Staff is waiting for the City to provide a proposal for continuing that service so it can be compared with having Albemarles dispatching done at the ECC. There = are a number of issues which must be resolved. (Note: At 3:30 p.m., the Board recessed, and reconvened at 3:41 p.m.) __________ Engineering and Public Works Mr. Foley continued by saying this item is budgeted at $3,254,711 for operations. Engineering accounts for 46 percent of that total with Public Works at 52 percent, and Water Resources at eight percent. Major issues in the budget are continuation of groundwater and drainage area studies, implementation of the Neighborhood Model through ordinance changes and development of street standards, establishment of a Central Development Services Center to help streamline services, and adequately maintaining County facilities and accommodating space needs. He said staff has mentioned previously that there is an on-going Space Needs Study trying to determine needs for the next 25 years. The findings of that study will come to the Board this summer after going through review by the Boards = Building Committee. He said the Groundwater Study - Phase II is funded at $110,000. FY 2002-03 is the year to add new projects to the CIP, so staff will be looking at placing the Groundwater Study into the CIP so there is a multi-year commitment to getting those projects done. Ms. Thomas said some citizens are asking that the Groundwater Study be completed, and that groundwater monitoring wells be drilled. Mr. Mark Graham said the wells will come after the study is completed. There is not enough data at this time to establish a groundwater situation. Ms. Thomas asked if funding for the wells is included in this budget. Mr. Graham said no. A@ Mr. Rooker asked if the $110,000 is full funding of the study. Mr. Graham said there are actually six March 18, 2002 (Adjourned-Afternoon Meeting) (Page 10) parts to the study, and this funding should be sufficient for Parts II and III. Mr. Rooker asked for staff to furnish some detail on the total plan before these work sessions are over. Mr. Foley said that is one reason staff wants to put this in the capital budget. There will then be some picture of the total project spread out over several years. Mr. Dorrier asked if the stormwater drainage project is a capital project. Mr. Foley said yes. It is A@ also a multi-year study so the County will know where to place regional facilities instead of having to deal with a lot of small, individual facilities. Mr. Foley said the last item in this category is on-going funding for Bulky Waste Amnesty Days. This is a popular program which was funded out of one-time moneys in the past. Staff now proposes that this be an on-going operating cost. Mr. Foley said other recommendations in this category are a custodian for the Department of Social Services offices on Millmont Street; the records storage warehouse lease; building repairs and maintenance which includes fixing the elevators in the County Office Building at 401 McIntire Road. He offered to answer questions. Ms. Thomas asked if the Engineering Department had requested additional inspectors. Mr. Rooker asked if the majority of inspections are done in-house. Mr. Tucker said it has been tried both ways in the past. Mr. Graham said it has been done mostly in-house. Mr. Rooker asked about inspections. Mr. Graham said in the past, they have contracted out certain inspection services. Mr. Foley said the last couple of years, some folks have been added to the CIP group. It has been discussed whether to include the cost of inspector services, rather than hiring someone and adding that to the contract. When the number of projects gets to a certain point, adding staff makes sense. Mr. Martin said the Jail, the Detention Center, and the Baker-Butler School should all be completed in the near future, with the Monticello Fire Station just beginning construction. What other big projects are anticipated? Mr. Graham said there is the major renovation of Burley Middle School, then Hollymead, and an addition for Jouett Middle School. Mr. Rooker asked about the Design Standards Manual. Mr. Graham said it is at the review stage. Ms. Thomas said since there will be fewer on-going projects in the near future, she wonders if hiring an additional engineering inspector is better than just adding that expense to a contract. Mr. Graham said it takes about a year to train a new inspector. Mr. Dorrier said he noticed that there are five and one-half full-time employees for development review. Since they interface with the Planning Department, who supervises these employees? Mr. Graham said they work under the Site Review Team. Mr. Dorrier said he often hears from citizens and developers that it is a slow-moving process. Mr. Foley said one of the things staff is trying to do is get the three departments to work together as one unit (Planning, Engineering, Zoning). That is what the Central Development Services Center is to do. It is hoped that all three departments will be able to sit together and do plan review rather than reviewing plans individually and passing the plan to the next department. This idea has been discussed for a number of years. Mr. Rooker asked if there will be dedicated full-time employees for this center. Mr. Foley said that is the plan. He said staff is looking at models used by other jurisdictions. Mr. Dorrier asked if there are employees who manage grants full-time. Mr. Graham said no. A@ Some employees manage grants, for example, the Water Resources Manager manages water resource grants, no one person is dedicated to managing grants. Mr. Rooker asked if someone is building a road which is expected to go into the public system if that inspection is entirely a VDOT function. Mr. Graham said it is a cooperative thing with VDOT. The County furnishes an inspector and VDOT goes out with the inspector. Mr. Tucker said it has been found that if the County does the inspection, the road can be moved through the process quicker than relying on the inspectors from VDOT. Mr. Graham said there is also the question of runoff from the roads, and that is not something in which VDOT is interested. __________ Human Development Ms. White said this category totals $16,900,617. Social Services totals 41 percent, CSA totals 33 percent, and then there are small amounts for various other agencies. She said this amount represents $11.5 million in General Funds, with only $5.5 million in other funds. The CSA total of 33 percent is both General Fund and state moneys. The Family Support Program is funded strictly by Federal funds. The Bright Stars Programs are shared with local and state funds. The amounts seen are somewhat different in that they include both General Fund and other moneys because of the new GAS-B34 requirements. It gives a more accurate picture of how much money is actually being spent on these programs. Ms. Thomas asked if this number includes the benefits being paid by the state. Ms. White said it does not. It would not include Food Stamps or TANF Fund payments which go directly to clients, or Medicaid. It does include all the staff and several programs, but not direct payments. March 18, 2002 (Adjourned-Afternoon Meeting) (Page 11) Ms. Thomas asked if CSA includes all the payments. Ms. White said it includes all payments to vendors who provide residential services. Mr. Martin said he thinks it is important to note the size of the two pies. The CSA portion is A@ probably growing faster than that for Social Services. He said a lot of those funds would be state funds or school funds, or state funds earmarked for schools. Those funds are in CSA now and the community has some say over the use of those funds. Previously, that was not the case. He thinks it may be growing too fast. Mr. Rooker said the services are mandated by the State. He understands the State made a change in the formula for localities. Ms. White said that proposal was not approved, there will be no change. Mr. Rooker said even though the funding has not changed, there is a significant increase in expenditures. Ms. White said it is not just the number, but it is the severity of some of the cases. When you look at the number of children going to foster care, the number of children who need extra treatment - those with emotional problems - keeps going up. It is the severity and the numbers that are driving up those costs. She said the case load in Albemarle has leveled off over the last couple of years, and there has been enough money in that line item so there was not a request to the Board for additional funds in the middle of a year. At one time, there was a request for funds three or four times a year. Mr. Rooker asked if more money should be budgeted for this item. Ms. White said the amount requested is what is projected to be spent. Mr. Martin said it would be nice to have a list of all the state-mandated programs, and how they affect the County budget. A few years ago, compulsory attendance was increased from age 16 to age 18, and he believes if that number were reduced to 16 again, it would reduce the CSA fund by a substantial amount. A lot of the kids who are taking up the very expensive spaces are kids who dont want to go to = school, but the state says they have to attend. Those kids end up in placement and the County is paying $10,000 a month, and those kids could easily be out working somewhere. Ms. Thomas said she shared Mr. Martins comments with David Blount because he is the education = person at VACO. He said he would talk to Mr. Martin about this suggestion. Mr. Martin said there are also some classifications for special education which did not exist a few years ago, which he does not believe are necessary. He doesnt know how to get a handle on it, but at =A@ some point somebody will have to do something about them. Mr. Rooker asked about the 52 percent increase in the Family Support category. Ms. White said it is purely Federal dollars, but she does not think it is accurate. Mr. Paul McWhinney, Assistant Director of Social Services, said those numbers have been revised, and the actual increase is much less, although it is still a substantial increase. Mr. Hildebeidel said part of it is what the increase is measured from. The adopted budget originally did not include enough funding for what actually happened. The FY 02 revised > figure appears to be more accurate. What staff is trying to do is budget more accurately for the funds which are not County funds. Ms. White said part of the increase was that the County received more Federal IV-E Funds than had originally been anticipated. The only thing being increased in the Family Support budget is a position which is federally funded. __________ Ms. White said some of the major issues for Social Services are: improving technology systems to collect and analyze critical data; maintaining effective communication with other County departments since they are an off-site office; providing needed services within state funding reductions over the next two years; maintaining Federal IV-E Funds for the Family Support Program; maintaining level CSA foster care caseloads despite substantial reductions in community programs which focus on prevention; and, elderly services caseloads which are increasing. Mr. Rooker said that planning departments in some localities are beginning to plan ways for dealing with the elderly population. There are a couple of communities in Florida which have developed a manual setting out items which should be included in the design of projects in order to accommodate the elderly. He thinks that would be a good idea for Albemarle to look at. Mr. Tucker said staff has begun to look at ideas for the elderly. The E-911 signs were designed to take the elderly into account. JABA is helpful in that area. They have given County staff some ideas. Ms. White said there is a need to provide housing for the elderly who have low incomes. Most of the housing developments and retirement homes built in this area are not affordable to a lot of the population. Ms. White said in Social services the only additional funding recommended is: Safe and Stable Families at $1500 - this is a match for Federal moneys which go to the Partnership for Children; one FTE Family Support Worker for the Baker-Butler Elementary School which is part of the IV-E Federal funds; and, an increased local match for CSA. __________ Ms. White said major issues in the Human Development agencies are: maintaining needed services despite substantial state funding cuts in human service programs, i.e., mental health (sustained substantial cuts); health; Commission on Children and Families (all state funding was cut which virtually eliminated that program. The Commission is also affected by the loss of the crime control funds which actually funded the criminal justice planner. Staff hopes to have some IV-E funds or some other way to March 18, 2002 (Adjourned-Afternoon Meeting) (Page 12) fund that program. Staff may need to request some additional local dollars for the Commission); Juvenile Crime Control (their funds were also cut). Ms. Thomas asked what amount of money might be requested. Ms. White said she does not have an actual figure at this time. She said Sapphira Baker has been working to find what other funds might be used for this purpose. Hopefully, there will be a number available by next Wednesday. Ms. Baker said that over $61,000 was lost for the planner. Ms. White said now that outcome measures have been adopted by the Human Service agencies, the next item is to effectively monitor and report outcome measures to the Board. Mr. Rooker asked if this is a locally-generated initiative or was it state-mandated. Ms. White said it was local and came about between the Commission and United Way. All the agencies, with the help of a consultant, developed outcome measures. They tried to link the outcome measures to some of the issues in the community which were identified by the Commission, and they tried to link some of those things to the Countys Strategic Plan. Ms. Thomas said she thinks this has been a wonderful effort. Agencies are finally = furnishing the information that is necessary to support a request. Ms. White said linking human service goals in the Countys Strategic Plan to be developed to = performance objectives, budget and program results is another issue, and, there is the 3.5 percent increase to human services agencies over the FY 2001-02 budget. She said the recommendation which came out of the Commissions Budget Review Team was for on-going funding at a 2.5 percent increase. There were = additional recommendations for some agencies. Region Ten Mental Health was given an 11.37 percent operating increase to help them with some of the State budget cuts. Ms. White said that JAUNTs baseline increase was fully funded. The only thing not funded was a = request to add another new bus route to the NGIC facility. Ms. White said the request of the AIDS/HIV Support Group was fully funded. A new program, Computers4Kids, was funded in the amount of $8000. This is a program which helps children after school, with a lot of volunteer help, to teach children how to use computers. It is a good effort, and a small amount for the County. Ms. White mentioned WorkSource Enterprises. She said the Community Assessment Program used to be at MACAA but it was not working well there, so WorkSource Enterprises volunteered to take over that program. They have been funded at $28,000 which is more than they asked for. Part of that includes money which was in the Social Services budget. Social Services was funding $8000 from their budget to the CAP Program, so that money has been put directly into this program. Mr. Rooker asked if the CAP Program gets money from several sources. Ms. White said they get money from the AIM Program (Alliance Interfaith Ministries) which is money from all of the churches. A lot of the churches wanted to help people, but they wanted to have a common clearinghouse so that someone did not go from one church to another. They donate money together to help people, and this program monitors the money. Ms. White said the United Way Childcare Program was funded for one additional scholarship. JABA was funded at 2.5 percent as were all agencies, but within that money some additional programs were funded: increased hours at the Esmont Center and the home meals program because the cost of the meals has increased. Mr. Dorrier asked about the Boys & Girls Clubs of Charlottesville/ Albemarle. He said that at one time he was associated with a mentoring movement in Richmond. It was cost effective. He found that it was a remarkably kind organization, and he noticed that staff is not recommending funding because the Club did not identify increased needs. He thinks they have concrete needs, and he wonders if the Board might have a representative of that group come and explain what they want. Ms. White said they have had a program in the City for some time now. She does not think the City is funding the program this year either because they have not been good at keeping records. The Budget Review Committee and the Commission felt they were not being effective and linking what they are doing to outcomes for the kids. The message to them was that their program was not being run effectively. Although the County has had no experience with the program, staff has seen the Citys program and how it is being managed. Staff was not = confident that a program in the County would be run any better than the program in the City. Mr. Martin said in assessing whether outside agencies should be funded they are being held responsible and duplication of services is being eliminated. What Ms. White said is that the Commission basically felt this agency needs to live up to the standards which have been set. There were several other agencies which also made first time requests. Mr. Dorrier said that is a good way to handle requests. He is just saying that at the national level, Boys & Girls Clubs of America is a fine national model. Ms. Thomas said it is incumbent on us politicians not to jump into the process and interfere with A@ what the Review Team is saying needs to be done. The system needs to play out. Ms. White said members of the Review Team and the Commission who have worked with programs and their outcome measures, are willing to work with those programs to help them improve. They are hoping the message they receive is that they need to make their program better. __________ March 18, 2002 (Adjourned-Afternoon Meeting) (Page 13) Parks and Recreation Ms. White said this category totals $4,433,195. The Library accounts for 48.8 percent of that total. Parks and Recreation totals 37.1 percent with another 1.3 percent for the Greenway Program and 2.8 percent for Towe Park. Major issues for the category are: improving maintenance of existing parks, community centers and athletic fields; meeting the demand for more and better athletic fields in the County; increasing opportunities for teens to participate in the After-School Programs; providing summer programs; and, implementing the Greenway Program which is now part of Parks and Recreation. Ms. Thomas said she is excited about the Greenway program, and it is only a cost of $6800. However, she would like for staff to look into whether the County could share the Global Positioning System unit of the Planning District Commission. They got the equipment with a grant, they dont use it that much, = and they need money. They might be willing to rent it to the County. Ms. White said staff will talk with the PDC about this. Ms. White said Therapeutic Recreation Programs were funded in the amount of $6960. This was done in conjunction with the City. The County has been requested several times to fund its share of County residents who take advantage of City Programs. An additional supervisor for the After-School Teen Program was funded in the amount of $5000. This would allow more students to participate, and the cost will be offset by the increased fees collected. The contribution to the McIntire Skateboard Park is $13,525. Last year, the Board funded this item in mid-year, and this is the cost for a full year. Also funded was $83,350 for equipment from one-time funds. Ms. White said Recreational/Cultural Agencies were funded an average 2.5 percent baseline increase. The Regional Library budget is $2.16 million. Total funding for other agencies was $446,000. Of that amount, $411,000 was offset from Tourism Funds. Staff also recommends funding an additional $1000 for the Lewis and Clark Festival. Ms. Thomas asked if the County does maintenance for the Visitors Bureau. Ms. White said no. A@ The Bureau has asked for maintenance funds in the past, but did not request such funds for this budget. Ms. Thomas said the building is in bad shape. Mr. Tucker said there has been funding to replace the roof on that building. He will have to look for that item. Ms. White said staff has had a communication from the Library saying they will have a very difficult time meeting their budget with just a 2.5 percent increase. Mr. Rooker asked about the Special Activities listed on Page K-6. He asked if these are things the County has participated in for a long time. Mr. Pat Mullaney said those items are a very small part of the budget. It may be possible to transfer them to the summer playground program. Ms. White said some of those costs are offset by the fees for the programs. Mr. Rooker asked where he can find the revenues for Parks and Recreation Programs listed. Mr. Hildebeidel said that in the General Fund section on revenues, there is a section which shows the overall Parks and Recreation revenues. Mr. Rooker suggested that in future budgets revenues pertinent to a particular category be shown with the expenditures for that category. Ms. White said that at one time those were shown so it would be obvious how much in local funds were being used to fund a category. Mr. Rooker asked what is meant by a therapeutic recreation program. Mr. Mullaney said the City has a therapeutic recreation supervisor and a number of therapeutic programs for people with severe disabilities, people who cannot be main streamed into a program. Rather than hiring a therapeutic supervisor for the County, Parks and Recreation partners with the City for that service. Mr. Hildebeidel said that $225,000 is shown as recreation fees in this budget. Ms. White said the main thing to be addressed is the use of Tourism Funds. Page P-1 shows how the Tourism Fund is structured. It shows that there was money left over from prior years, and it shows that in the FY 03 budget there will be an end-of-the-year balance of $857,000. > Ms. Thomas asked about the $58,000 recommended as an increase to the Capital Improvements Fund. She said it is noted that a portion of that money will go to the ACE Program, but those funds also support other things such as the Paramount Theatre and the greenways and trails. She could not tell from this figure what would go into the ACE Program. Ms. White said that none of that amount will go into the ACE Program. Mr. Tucker said $350,000 is available out of the $857,000 balance if the Board chooses to use that money. Mr. Hildebeidel said the ACE program was funded in FY 02 with the full $350,000, and > then there was a carry-over balance. __________ Community Development Mr. Foley then mentioned the Community Development category which is funded at $4,087,870. He said that 42 percent is for Planning and Community Development, 11 percent for Housing, 18 percent for Zoning, and the remainder is for other community development items. Major issues for this category are: implementation of the Neighborhood Model; completing the Rural Areas section of the Comprehen- sive Plan; continued development of the GIS system; and, establishment of the Central Development Services Center. It is recommended that one Senior Planner be hired in January, 2003; that the second Neighborhood Master Plan begin; there be continued development of the GIS with GPS Technology which is actually in the CIP at $27,500; and, Web-based GIS Application development continue, which is part of the CIP at $72,000. March 18, 2002 (Adjourned-Afternoon Meeting) (Page 14) Ms. Thomas asked how far that gets the County toward the goal of having the entire County on GIS tax maps. Mr. Cilimberg said it is part of the current contract and should be completed by summer. Mr. Foley said it is the major focus of work now being done with the consultant. He said level funding was given to most of the agencies in this category. But, CTS is recommended for a four percent increase for operations. The TJPDC Criminal Justice Planner is being transferred to OAR, so that shows as a reduction. The Piedmont Housing Alliance was recommended for a 6.15 percent increase. Ms. White said in reference to MACAA, it has been going through a lot of organizational changes with the new director. It was recommended that MACAA be level-funded this year pending a report from the MACAA Board on restructuring issues. Ms. Thomas said Planning and Community Development had the largest number of unfunded requests. She asked if the department will be able to meet its outcome measures without those positions being funded. Mr. Cilimberg said the work will go slower, but he cannot say it will not be done. Their staffing request was based on the Neighborhood Model and other activities related to the urban part of the County. Mr. Dorrier asked how many neighborhood models are being worked on at this time. Mr. Cilimberg said that work on the first master plan is about to get underway. Mr. Dorrier asked about a plan for Hollymead. Mr. Cilimberg said that will not be done this year. A decision must be made regarding which area will be the subject of the second master plan. Mr. Dorrier said some developers have said to him that when they bring in a plan which complies with the Neighborhood Model they run into a smoke screen. Mr. Cilimberg said some developers are A@ submitting plans which they feel comply with the Neighborhood Model, but they are not master plans for a total area. Mr. Dorrier asked if the County has a person in place to deal with these submissions. Mr. Cilimberg said the budget submittal request of the Planning Department is what they thought was needed to deal with those submittals by the private sector, as well as getting underway with the master planning process. Mr. Rooker asked if the items which were not funded are listed in priority order in the budget papers. The first numbered item is for two senior planners. Mr. Cilimberg said Items No. 1 and 2 were submitted together. Mr. Hildebeidel said the cost of the second master plan is in the baseline budget. Mr. Rooker asked if the two new senior planners were related to development of the third master plan. Mr. Cilimberg said one was directly related to master plan development, and that is the one that is being recommended for one-half of a year. The other planner was to deal with other aspects of the urban development code. Mr. Rooker asked that Mr. Cilimberg articulate the need for these positions. Mr. Cilimberg said this person would work on some of the project proposals submitted which have to be reviewed for rezoning and Comprehensive Plan amendments, some of the associated implementation aspects of the Neighborhood Model which are not about master planning, zoning ordinance development, and the Community Facilities Plan. Mr. Rooker asked the status of Zoning Ordinance development. Mr. Cilimberg said staff is currently working on two ordinance amendments which are related to the Neighborhood Model. One is for a traditional neighborhood development district, and the other is basically a comprehensive look at parking requirements. Mr. Rooker asked how long it will be before anything is completed on these ordinance changes using current staff. Mr. Cilimberg said these two items are to be taken to a work session with the Planning Commission in April. Mr. Martin asked Mr. Rooker if he wanted to recommend that the request be further developed because he would like to do the same thing with the planning position for fire and rescue. Mr. Rooker said that would be good. There are certain things which have to be done in order for the Neighborhood Model to move forward. Mr. Martin said it can be put on the list, and at the last work session the Board can debate what it can afford. He said the Board has done good today in that nothing has been put on that list. Mr. Rooker said it would be good for Mr. Cilimberg to know that the Board will discuss this further so he can come prepared to make his case for one more person. Mr. Tucker asked if that is the Senior Planner not related to the Neighborhood Model. Mr. Martin said Mr. Tucker and Mr. Cilimberg should figure out which employee is the more significant. Mr. Rooker said there are a number of unfunded items listed for the Planning Department, so if the Board starts adding dollars to this budget, what will that money accomplish? Mr. Foley said the recommendation was to fund one of those positions for one-half year. He said Mr. Cilimberg is talking about another planner to deal with things like the Sperry proposal, etc. Mr. Rooker said he has a question about the Housing function. He asked how many people are being served by the Voucher Program at this time. Mr. Ron White said the Office is authorized through contracts with HUD for 430 vouchers. Currently, about 370 of those vouchers are under lease. March 18, 2002 (Adjourned-Afternoon Meeting) (Page 15) Mr. Rooker referred to a letter from HUD received earlier in the year where it was said that only about 60 percent of the vouchers were being used. He asked if some of those vouchers might be taken and passed to another locality. Mr. White said hopefully the County will not lose any of those vouchers. This is the first time that HUD had sent such a communication, and they gave a year, or until the next budget cycle, to make a correction. He sent an E-mail to Ms. Thomas explaining what the department will do to increase use of the vouchers. He said that there has been an increase up to 80 percent. He said a contract was transferred from VHDA to HUD, and VHDA transferred more vouchers than the County had under lease, so that gave a loss. There was a special allocation of vouchers requested by his predecessor in 1999, and there were not the cases needed to fill those vouchers. Last year he asked HUD for permission to use them for regular cases rather than special purposes cases. Those are some of the things which created the low utilization. Ms. Thomas asked that the E-mail be sent to all Board members. She said she was not aware that she was the only recipient. Mr. Rooker asked what expenses are covered by the $325,000 allocated to the Housing Office budget. Mr. White said it is the cost of administering the program. He has 6.5 FTE employees in his office. Mr. Rooker asked about the Homebuyers Club. Mr. White said that is purely a County-supported = function and is not connected to Section 8. He said they run three clubs per year, and individuals make commitments to the club and go through monthly training sessions to prepare them for home ownership. They take classes in the way of credit counseling, budget counseling, with people from the real estate industry, lenders, and legal people. When people graduate from that club they should know all they need to know about how to buy and care for a home. Mr. Rooker asked how many people have been served by the clubs. Mr. White said each club has about 25 attendees. Everybody wants to buy a home within a two-year period or shortly thereafter. The two clubs which were completed in the past year had about a 98 percent success rate. There were 38 families who ended up buying homes. Mr. Rooker said it seems like an area that the real estate community should have an interest in funding. Mr. Martin said the real estate and banking communities have their own programs. But, in some ways, they are self-serving. This one is more serving to the individuals. Mr. White said these people are at 80 percent of median income or lower. A lot of the programs run by the lenders are not for this segment of the population. He said the office is also running an Hispanic club and he thinks that six of those families have either purchased or have contracts. Mr. Dorrier asked about the Charlottesville Transit Service. He said the County is providing transportation to Route 29 North and between downtown and Pantops. It is stated in the budget papers that the County is not recommending any changes. He wonders if the County is looking at the big picture for A@ transportation. He thinks that in ten years there will be so many cars in the area that there will be gridlock. Ms. White said the request for additional funds this year was to decrease the headway times from an hour to one-half hour. She said the County is not looking at the plan that CTS brought out last year, comprehensively. Ms. Thomas said CTS hired a consultant and the plan was presented to this Board. That plan showed the routes they thought the County should pick up each year and the dollar amount increased quickly. What is recommended in this budget is not doing the next step of that plan. Mr. Cilimberg said he thinks the request this year was what was shown in the first year of that five-year program of improvements. Ms. Thomas said she has a question about the Planning District Commission. It is noted that the salary of the Criminal Justice Planner is being transferred to another function. She asked what other planning district commissions have done because their funds have been drastically cut by the state. She asked about other reductions. Mr. Hildebeidel said funding for the legislative liaison was increased somewhat and some additional funding provided in their pro rata population formula. There was a problem with some of their transportation issues. It appeared that Albemarle was subsidizing Greene Countys non- = participation in some of the RideShare and carpooling items. Albemarle was concerned about that in the PDCs funding request. = Ms. Thomas said Albemarles streets are helped every time they keep someone from Greene = County riding in a single-occupant vehicle off its streets. If Albemarle pays for RideSharing from Greene, it is actually benefitting from that expense. She said it is hard to get Greene County to come up with money for anything. __________ Mr. Tucker said there is only one item left to discuss which is a non-departmental item. Staff has created a new Landfill Fund to support the Rivanna Solid Waste Authority in the amount of $475,000. He said there will be a similar type of increase each year for the next several years. Staff is projecting a large remediation cost in FY 05, and part of this increase will help with that payment. > Mr. Rooker asked if there is a time when that expense would become a capital cost. Mr. Tucker said no. He said it is an on-going operational expense for remediation and testing at the Landfill now. A@ Something like the paint pit would be a capital item. Mr. Rooker asked if there is a one-time closing expense. Mr. Tucker said when Cell 2 is closed, there will be some of that, but RWSA all ready has most of the revenue to do that. March 18, 2002 (Adjourned-Afternoon Meeting) (Page 16) Ms. Thomas said she has suggested that the Board would be more straightforward with the taxpayers if the tax rate were increased by one cent to pay for the Landfill Fund. If you take the $475,000, plus the $250,000 for recycling, and $25,000 for Amnesty Day, that is almost the exact amount a penny on the tax rate would produce. When the County asked the RSWA to handle solid waste in 1990, the tax rate was reduced by two cents. During the intervening years, costs were paid by the consumer paying his garbage collector and he then paid tipping fees for use of the landfill. The money that used to pay for County landfill costs is now going to a private companys profit and the taxpayers are having to pick up what = they never expected to pick up 12 years ago. She does not expect any of the Board members to be enthusiastic about her suggestion, but she wanted to put it in front of everybody as what is going on in the County for landfill and solid waste costs. She said this is a new expense the County did not have before, and the individual homeowner is not paying less for his monthly/weekly garbage pickup. Mr. Tucker said another item which has not been discussed is the ACE Program. Staff needs some directions from the Board concerning this item. He also has several items he would like to mention. One is the possibility of adding an additional police officer, training for firefighters, the mechanic for fire equipment, and the hiring of a second senior planner. Mr. Rooker said the Planning Department had a lot of unfunded requests. He would like to have a list of items along with what could be done if money were added to the budget, or what would not be done if additional money is not added. Ms. Thomas said she heard no one say that an additional police officer should be added. Mr. Martin said he would like to see the trend, and if the County is not moving toward the ratio it wants then maybe another officer should be added. Mr. Dorrier said he would like to look at the turnover rate to be sure the County is holding onto existing personnel. Ms. Thomas said also unfunded were a Budget Analyst and Accountant. She asked if anyone wanted to make a pitch for these positions. She asked if goals can be reached without the budget A@ analyst. Ms. White said based on the Audit Committees report, an Office of Management and Budget was = created. There was a recommendation to increase that staff by one in order to do more reporting, and add the ability to look at performance factors, to measure productivity, and get into more detail on some of the departments and issues in order to improve processes. That was never funded, and the request at this time is for additional funds in order to do those things. With existing staff, those additional things cannot be done. Mr. Hildebeidel said that next year the operating budget will have to meet GFOA standards which require additional analyses of non-general funds. There is also scheduled for next year a major review of the Capital Improvement Plan (CIP). That is an intensive workload. He said the budget was done this year, but it is not a document of which he is proud. It is not up to his standard. He was just trying to get out a book with the help of a lot of people, but it is not a product that he would hold up to any standard. Mr. Tucker said a few things happened. First, Katie Bullard, the management analyst left the County for a career promotion to become the Citys budget director. That left no one to take her position, = and then Ms. White had an accident and was out of work for a while. He said Mr. Hildebeidel had to use anybody who was willing to help with preparation of this budget. Mr. Rooker asked if that vacant position will be filled. Mr. Tucker said yes. Mr. Hildebeidel said A@ interviews are almost completed for that position. This request was for an additional position in OMB to do all the things Ms. White was doing, and also to work on the CIP. Mr. Rooker said he would appreciate an articulation of what that person would be doing. He would like to know if this position would end up saving the County money. Mr. Dorrier said when he and Mr. Perkins served on the Audit Committee, they found that there was not sufficient personnel to do the work required. It was mainly putting out fire and never catching up. That A@ is why they recommended that this extra person be hired. They feel it would be cost-effective in the long run. Mr. Rooker asked if Mr. Steve Allhouse has the skills to contribute in any way to the budget process. Mr. Foley said staff has discussed transitioning Mr. Allhouse to the Capital Plan. This last year was just an update of the CIP, and there was work done on the Community Facilities Plan. That is part of the work program between now and when work on the CIP begins, and updating the standards. Mr. Allhouse will be very involved in that process. Ms. Thomas said the Board needs to discuss the ACE Program which was mentioned when discussing the Tourism Program. Mr. Tucker said if the Board continues to fund the program with one-time moneys, there is about $750,000 available, assuming that $100,000 is put into the Jails Reserve Fund. = There have been no one-time revenue requests mentioned today that should be funded. Mr. Dorrier asked Ms. Sherry Buttrick about the amount of money spent last year on this program. Ms. Buttrick said the Committee is behind schedule with the selection of properties. She said they are half way through the selection process for FY 02 and a lot of money has been earmarked but has not been > spent because they are backlogged on procedures. Mr. Foley said the Board committed $1.1 million to the first set of easements. The second set is being reviewed now and there is another $1.0 million set aside for those easements. Mr. Davis said over $1.0 was spent in the first round, and it appears that the full $1.0 million will be spent in the second round. March 18, 2002 (Adjourned-Afternoon Meeting) (Page 17) Ms. Thomas said that over $200,000 was also leveraged from the State on the first round. Of course that money is hard to get, and although it is there, it is hard to use. Mr. Martin asked if the ACE Program should be put on the list with the other items. Mr. Tucker said yes. The only other item for the list is the Schools request for about $400,000 in start-up costs for Baker- A@= Butler. Mr. Martin said he thinks the moneys could be switched if there are properties which are being investigated now which might qualify for Tourism Funds. Just authorizing funds now does not mean the Board cannot go back and switch funds and pay for some of those properties in FY 02, so there is more > flexibility. Mr. Tucker asked Mr. Davis if any of the properties quality in FY 02. Mr. Davis said he thinks some > of them do, but the appraisals have not been done yet, so there is no definite dollar amount known at this time. Mr. Foley said in any given year, if there are extra tourism moneys, those funds could be used. Ms. White said the $350,000 budgeted last year took up all of the on-going Tourism revenues. The $800,000 that is in that fund now is basically carry-over funds from prior years. With use of $350,000, most of the on- going tourism moneys would be used. It is one-time money that might not be there in the future. Mr. Martin said he did not realize that the Board was going to discuss the ACE Program today, so he is not prepared. Mr. Tucker said the Board has not yet heard from the School Board, but staff wonders if the Board members have an inclination to fund the one-time start-up costs for Baker-Butler. Mr. Martin said he certainly wants to discuss that item. Mr. Rooker asked how Mr. Tucker arrived at the $125,000 recommended for that item. Mr. Tucker said it was actually just the funds remaining after funding the Boards Reserve Fund. Mr. Rooker asked if = the Board has seen a breakdown of the $537,000 requested by the Schools. Mr. Hildebeidel said he does not think staff has seen a breakdown of the request. Ms. Thomas said she knows Mr. Tucker wants the Board to put money into a reserve so there is more one-time money for Baker-Butler. The Schools request for salary increases last year was met with some one-time moneys over Mr. Tuckers objections. Last year she thought the State mess was a =A@ political mess and not a mess of the economy. It has become a dive in the economy so there is no money there. It turned into a revenue problem at the state level that is far more serious than what was being anticipated last year, so the Schools have not made up that money. Now, the Board is being told what the budget increase is, and last year the Board gave them one-time moneys to use or not use for salaries. Now, the Board is being hit doubly. Mr. Tucker said that is why staff wanted to show the $911,000 that the Schools have put aside for their own reserve. If this Board does not provide them with additional revenues, they will use part of that to fund the start-up costs for Baker-Butler, and then whatever is left will be put toward salaries. They also have the alternative of increasing class size which would give them additional revenues for salaries if they chose to do that. Mr. Dorrier said he wanted to be sure he understands the funds being dealt with. There is $850,000 in one-time funds in the carry-over. Mr. Tucker said that is correct. Mr. Dorrier said there is also $857,000 in the Tourism Fund. Mr. Tucker said that is correct. But, the Tourism funds can only be used for items related to tourism. Mr. Dorrier said ACE is related to tourism. Mr. Tucker said only certain properties can be purchased with tourism funds. Mr. Dorrier asked if the properties have to be in the development areas. Mr. Rooker said not all development areas qualify for use of tourism moneys. He asked if there are any plans for use of the reserve. Is there anything in the current budget which could be funded with the Tourism dollars? Mr. Tucker said he does not believe there is anything. Mr. Martin suggested that the Board wait until staff makes another report so there is something concrete to look at. Mr. Davis said the Tourism moneys are actually limited to uses that are related to tourism or travel, and no one knows exactly what the General Assembly meant by travel. That is vague. Staff can look at A@ whether there is anything in the way of transit that could come out of those funds. Mr. Tucker said tourism moneys have been used for contributions to the many festivals. Ms. Thomas suggested that the Board get a copy of the programs which were not funded, and the reasons behind those recommendations. Mr. Tucker asked what the Board members feel about the suggestions for increases in certain fees. There was no discussion at this time. _______________ Agenda Item No. 3. From the Board: Matters not Listed on the Agenda. There were no other items brought up at this time. _______________ March 18, 2002 (Adjourned-Afternoon Meeting) (Page 18) Agenda Item No. 4. Adjourn to March 20, 2002, 1:30 p.m. With no further business to come before the Board, at 5:55 p.m., motion was offered by Mr. Martin, seconded by Mr. Rooker, to adjourn this meeting until 1:30 p.m. on March 20, 2002. Roll was called, and the motion carried by the following recorded vote: AYES: Mr. Martin, Mr. Perkins, Mr. Rooker, Ms. Thomas and Mr. Dorrier. NAYS: None. ABSENT: Mr. Bowerman. ________________________________________ Chairman Approved by the Board of County Supervisors Date: 07/03/2002 Initials: EWC