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HomeMy WebLinkAbout1997-03-17 adjMarch 17, 1997 (Adjourned Meeting) (Page 1) 000246 An adjourned meeting of the Board of Supervisors of Albemarle County, Virginia, was held on March 17, 1997, at 1:00 p.m., Room 235, County Office Building, McIntire Road, Charlottesville, Virginia. This meeting was ad- journed from March 11, 1997. PRESENT: Mr. David P. Bowerman (arrived at 1:08 p.m.), Ms. Charlotte Y. Humphris, Mr. Walter F. Perkins and Ms. Sally H. Thomas. ABSENT: Mr. Forrest R. Marshall, Jr. and Mr. Charles S. Martin. OFFICERS PRESENT: County Executive, Robert W. Tucker, Jr., County Attorney, Larry W. Davis, Deputy County Executive, Richard E. Huff, II, and Assistant County Executive, Roxanne W. White. Agenda Item No. 1. Call to Order. The meeting was called to order at 1:08 p.m. by the Chairman, Ms. Humphris. Agenda Item No. 2. WORK SESSION: 1997-98 COUNTy OPERATING BUDGET: Mr. Tucker said this year the format for review of the budget has been completely revised. His staff will present the budget in functional catego- ries and focus on specific issue areas. At the end of the specific catego- ries, department heads will appear to answer questions from the Board. At the end of the General Government categories, and after a discussion of critical issues, there are two others items to be discussed: 1) Funding of constitu- tional officers' employees, and, 2) Salary compression. Mr. Tucker said he would start with General Government expenditures. The biggest item is the transfer to the School Fund of 48 percent; Public Safety is at almost 11 percent; and the Revenue Sharing Agreement with the City of Charlottesville is at almost six percent. He said some issues which are driving the baseline costs are: the performance pool for the Schools and Local Government was set at 3.5 percent; a two percent increase in departmen- tal operating budgets; three percent has been provided to all of the outside agencies; a Virginia Retirement System supplement (which is a refunded cost- of-living adjustment) has been required from all localities and Albemarle's cost is $500,000; Social Service programs have increased primarily due to Welfare Reform initiatives which will begin in Albemarle County on July 1, 1997, at a cost of over $700,000; the Emergency Communications Center (EOC) budget increased due to building and operating costs of over $500,000; and, the Virginia Juvenile Crime Control Act which provides funds for juvenile services at $175,000. Mr. Tucker said there are some deferred capital and one-time expenses in the amount of $366,000 for various departments, such as: the Electoral Board needs additional voting machines at $17,000+; various police equipment, personnel testing, radar units in excess of $48,000; fire and rescue defibril- lator in the amount of $44,000 which is a matching cost for funds which will be received from the State; Public Works and Social Services replacement vehicles at $30,000; and, a consultant for the Development Area Initiatives for the Planning and Community Development Department in the amount of $176,000+. He said those are some of the major costs that were funded out of the 1996-97 budget and from expected carry-over funds. Mr. Tucker said General Fund Revenues consist of the Property Tax at 66 percent; Other Local Taxes at 22 percent; and Federal and State revenues at a smaller percentage. The revenues only have an increase in property taxes from real estate of 2.7 percent. That has nothing to do with the 2.6 percent average increase in the real property assessment. The 2.7 reflects new construction, as well as the reassessment increase. That is compared to the FY 1997 increase of 7.6 percent. Personal property revenues increase by 15.6 percent, and that constitutes 21 percent of the County's revenue sources. Sales tax revenues are projected to increase by five percent. There is a three-percent transient occupancy tax at $585,000, a portion of which will be used in the General Fund for balancing the budget. Categorical State and Federal revenues increase by 17 percent and 18 percent respectively. That increase comes about primarily to fund the Social Service programs associated with Welfare Reform initiatives. Mr. Tucker said the majority of the School Division shortfall was funded. There was an initial Reserve Fund of about $200,000 when budget review began last October. In January, revenues were updated and that figure March 17, 1997 (Adjourned Meeting) (Page 2) 000247 increased by $170,000 and that amount went into the Board's Reserve. There was a Transient Occupancy Tax increase which could be used for General Fund purposes at just under $300,000. There were savings by paying for certain items out of the current year's budget. Moneys to be spent for the Keene Landfill were saved, along with some additional revenues, which amounted to $400,000+. State revenues for Schools increased after the budget sessions began in the amount of $220,000. That left a shortfall of about $121,000. He has asked the Schools to make up that amount, and they intend to do so out of carry-over funds from the current fiscal year. Mr. Tucker said he would like to review the current Fund Balance. The balance is $14.6 million, but from that must be deducted the amount being transferred to the Capital Improvement Program (CIP) under the split-billing of $768,000 as well as the Avon Street Connector Road at $627,000. That leaves $13.2 million. The Director of Finance has indicated that he requires a cash flow of about $13.0 million to pay bills over the year, and that leaves $213,000 in the Fund Balance Reserve which the Board may use for some other one-time expenditure. He said Ms. White would review some of the critical issues for the Board. Ms. White mentioned first the County's overall mission: ~To promote the general well-being and enhance the quality of life of all citizens through the provision and delivery of the highest public service." She said the first goal is to have UA high performance organization with a strong client focus." Staff looks at ways the various departments can do some of their work more efficiently and effectively and even quicker. The second goal is customer service. The third goal is to have an active and effective leadership development model so the County will have a highly-trained work force cogni- zant of the latest technology and able to use that technology to provide better services to the County. The fourth is to have a highly recognized, satisfied and a well-compensated work force. During this process, staff hopes to look at specific issues that are in the functional areas and to provide some strategies to address those issues. Ms. White said the first functional category is ADMINISTRATION at $5.63 million or about six percent of the General Fund. This category contains the budgets of the Board of Supervisors at five percent; the County Executive at nine percent; Community Resources at one percent; Human Resources at five percent; the County Attorney at seven percent; Finance - Administration, Assessment/Collections, Accounting/Payroll, Real Estate, Purchasing, at 43 percent; Information Services at 27 percent; and the Registrar/Board of Elections at three percent. The first critical issue for this category is the Fiscal Impact Analy- sis. When the Financial Management Policy was adopted by the Board, one of the first policies was to be an updated Fiscal Impact Model which would be used to assess the impact of new development on future costs. In February, the Fiscal Impact Committee recommended implementing the Fiscal Impact Model, but only if staff were provided to monitor and maintain the credibility of that model. It was also a recommendation of the Committee that the office be located in the County Executive's Office. Staff's strategy in dealing with these issues is to fund the Fiscal Impact Planner and have that office located in the County Executive's Office on July 1,1997. The second critical issue is the Albemarle County Neighborhood Team. As the Neighborhood Team concept has developed and grown over the past year, a need for funds to go directly to neighborhoods which have articulated a need for a particular program, service or infrastructure improvement has been discovered. The priorities for the Team are: to act as a mediator in keeping citizens informed about local government, trying to get information out to the community, and, to bring information back to the county. By strengthening neighborhood organizations they will be better participants in local govern- ment issues and also address some of their own issues. The Human Services Plan talks about using a neighborhood-based approach to not only assess some of the needs in the community, but to also use neighborhoods as a way to deliver human services. The strategies for addressing these issues are: t) To implement a neighborhood college program, this would be similar to the citizens Police Academy. It would provide leadership development and information about County issues. It would bring in representatives from the various neighborhoods, train them about what is going on in the County, and they would take that 0002.48 March 17, 1997 (Adjourned Meeting) (Page 3) information back to their individual neighborhood organizations. That is at a total cost of $925. 2) To implement a neighborhood matching grant fund for $10,000 so neighborhoods can submit a request for a small matching grant from $500 to $1000. The types of projects have not yet been identified. This program is meant to encourage the neighborhoods to do fund-raising and get contributions on their own. A third issue is to fund an additional night at the Yancey Elementary School for recreational/educational classes. Also, the citizens want to have the gym open a second night to satisfy the demand for basketball and other types of recreation. The third critical issue is in the Registrar's Office. With adoption of the National Voter's Registration Act, more work has been generated in the office for registrants, changes of address and making sure people are actually members of this jurisdiction. There are four precincts, Monticello, Hollymead, Jack Jouett and Crozet, that need to be divided in the near future. Monticello Precinct is anticipated to be divided before the Fall elections this year. The next issue is the Spring Republican Primary in June which creates an extra work load. The last is the continual changing of addresses the office must do in relation to E-911 work. The strategy in that office is to add a .6 FTE Assistant Registrar. That position would start on July 1, 1997. If the Board approves adding that position on a permanent basis, staff will try to fund that position from the current budget starting in April. That would give the office a head start on some of the work load associated with the Republican Primary. Ms. White said that is the end of the Administration function. She invited questions from the Board members. Ms. Thomas said although the amount of money for the Neighborhood College is small, she wonders if training County staff to recognize neighborhood issues would be as effective as training the neighbors to understand County government. The County has done a lot of work to get staff to think of the citizens as their customers. She thinks the next step would be to get staff in the development area to recognize when issues are likely to be of concern to the neighbors and give them the skills to work with neighborhoods and communities. Ms. White said that is an issue staff has looked at. Mr. Tucker said during the initial meetings setting up a neighborhood group, staff covers community development issues as well as social services, etc. Department heads or members of the staff from those offices are in attendance. He said staff is making progress in the area of understanding individual issues. Ms. Thomas said it had occurred to her that the County is getting less and less support from the State each year for the Finance Department. She asked if it is a new formula. Is it level funded? The dollar amount stays set and the amount local government has to pay increases every year. Mr. Tucker said he believes it has to do with funding of the constitutional officers. Since the County does not have a commissioner of revenue or a treasurer, the County still gets some funding from the state as if it still had those functions. That funding has been declining over the past few years. Ms. White said the State has also had fairly flat funding in a lot of areas such as office reimbursements for the Commonwealth Attorney's Office and the Sheriff's Office. As those expenses increase, the State funding stays level. Ms. White said the next functional category is JUDICIAL at $1.99 million. This category contains the budgets of the Circuit Court at four percent; the General District Court at one percent; the Magistrate at one percent; the Juvenile Court and Juvenile Court Services at one percent; the Clerk of the Circuit Court at 25 percent; the Commonwealth's Attorney at 23 percent; and, the Sheriff at 42 percent. The first critical issue identified is with Juvenile Services. There are an increasing number of youths involved with the Juvenile Justice System, both at the Shenandoah Valley Detention Center and with the Court Services Unit. The 1996 Session of the General Assembly passed the Virginia Juvenile March 17, 1997 (Adjourned Meeting) (Page 4) 000249 Community Crime Control Act (VJCCCA) . For the first time, Albemarle County will receive approximately $191,000 in block grant funds which can be used as the County sees fit to provide services to the youth involved in the criminal justice system. Use must be in accordance with a state-approved plan. That plan is something the Board will be approving later this year. It is also a plan that has to have the approval of the Juvenile Court judge. The strategies for using the block grant funds are: 1) To provide an intensive probation program in the Juvenile Court Services Unit. Funding of $33,129 is to fund one probation counselor who will be shared 50/50 City/County. That person will work with six to 12 hard-core, at-risk juveniles who are either on probation or have just been released from the Juvenile Detention Center. This person will be a County employee, on the County payroll, but will be supervised by the Court Services Unit. 2) Community Attention. The bulk of the $152,405 will be used to provide residential and community-based services to juveniles. At the direction of the Court. 3) The First-Time Truancy Program will be administered by Community Attention. This program attempts to get children at an early age at the first signs of truancy, and to work intensively with them and their families so it does not become a chronic problem. Mr. Huff said he would like to talk about the other two issues in the Judicial category. The first issue has to do with the Commonwealth Attorney's Office. That issue continues to be growth and the services provided. Statistics were provided by Mr. Camblos on the caseload, hour increases, prep work increases, appeals brief increases, and special prosecutions. For special prosecutions, the County provides a prosecutor to another jurisdiction where the Commonwealth's Attorney has had to disqualify himself, as well as bringing in a special prosecutor from another jurisdiction to prosecute a case in Albemarle County where Mr. Camblos or one of his assistants has a conflict. Those cases still require the office to manage the entire caseload. During the current year, the State provided the funds to add another assistant attorney, but the strategy in next year's budget is to provide the clerical assistance necessary to support five attorneys in that office. Staff recommends adding a .5 FTE and to upgrade the position to meet customer service demands in the office for managing witness notifications, etc. Mr. Huff said there are some personnel issues in both the Commonwealth Attorney's Office and the Sheriff's Office. Staff will deal with those issues later during these work sessions. Mr. Huff said the Sheriff's Office continues to experience significant demands in the Juvenile Court system in terms of court hours and the transports required. In the current year's budget, two part-time deputies were upgraded to full-time deputies with an indication that that was simply one-year of funding and the funding would not be renewed in the next fiscal year. That was tied into the Scottsville Agreement where the Board indicated that at the end of the current fiscal year, the County would no longer be in the same kind of agreement with the Town of Scottsville. Now, the Town has approached the County and made a proposition for the County to continue the agreement whereby two deputies would continue to serve the Town, be under the Sheriff's direction and supervision, but that the Town would incur the entire cost for both of those deputies. Staff sees that as a good recommendation. The funding works out so the two part-time deputies who were increased to full-time in the current year can be retained in the next fiscal year to meet the on-going demands in Juvenile Court. The Sheriff requested funds for a radio upgrade to improve the level of service in his operation. In terms of a strategy, staff recommends that the permanent upgrade for the two part-time deputies to full-time deputies be funded. It will require the negotiation of a new agreement with the Town of Scottsville articulating that they will pay the entire cost of both of those deputies. Staff recommends that the radio upgrade be funded from end-of-year carryover funds. Mr. Huff then invited questions from Board members. Ms. Thomas said the Commonwealth's Attorney speaks about hours spent, but not in terms of completed work in his justification statement. She did not find that helpful. She realizes that the number of cases dealt with is imprecise because some are difficult cases, and some are easier. She poses the question, but not the answer. Mr. Huff said staff will try to work on some better indicators for next year. 000250 March 17, 1997 (Adjourned Meeting) (Page 5) Mr. Huff said the next functional category is PUBLIC SAFETY at $10.4 million. This category contains the budgets of the Police ({Police Community Services, Police Services, Police Animal Control) at 58 percent; Regional Services (Emergency Communications Center, the Regional Jail Authority, the Juvenile Detention Home) at 12 percent; Fire/Rescue (Fire/Rescue Administra- tion, Management, Training, Prevention, Volunteer Services, Operations; Volunteer Fire Companies, Volunteer Rescue Squads; Fire/Rescue Tax Credit; Forest Fire Extinction; Fire Department-City of Charlottesville) at 19 percent; Inspections at seven percent; Other Public Safety Agencies (Community Attention, SPCA, Offender Aid and Restoration, Community Criminal Justice Board) at four percent. Mr. Huff said a critical issue for the Police Department is a change in philosophy. Staff wants to move away from ratios as a method of funding law enforcement. In the past there has a great deal of discussion concerning the number of officers per thousand of population and what that would do in terms of law enforcement on the streets. There is a need to tie into that the crime rate, the number and type of calls for service, and the outcomes to be effected with the number of officers on the street. In thinking about how to best serve the citizenry, staff is recommending that target areas be focused on for positive public safety impact, that is the community policing philoso- phy. Having community-oriented police officers working in strategically- defined neighborhoods on very specific issues will allow officers on the street to be freed to answer general calls for service. In the past, it has been labor intensive to work on specific neighborhood problems. Staff will develop and focus on moving away from ratios for funding, and work specifi- cally on identified problem areas. Mr. Huff said the second critical issue for the Police Department is the Regional Criminal Information Network and other technology enhancements. Last December 1, the County went on-line with the University and the City of Charlottesville Police Departments to have all criminal history records accessible by all three jurisdictions. Staff is working diligently in analyzing crime information as a region. It has already produced some good anecdotes on how that will help. The Global Positioning System for Accident Reconstruction gives a specific way of identifying locations of accidents, the cause and how to find solutions. It also helps with accident reconstruction. There is the computerized Mug Shot Development. A police artist no longer has to sit for hours trying to get a mug shot right. On the computer, the image can be sent to other jurisdictions. All the technology enhancements are moving the department toward a more efficient and better service for the citizens. Mr. Huff said the third critical issue for the Police Department is the utilization of civilian staff to support sworn officers. Wherever possible, the department wants to use civilian employees in lieu of the more costly sworn staff, freeing up the sworn staff to do the type of functions that require a badge and a gun. First is the Records Clerk. As the department continues to grow, there is an increase in the number of incidents and records. For the management of all of that, staff proposes to add a clerical person as a records clerk. The concept of a Civilian Investigative Assistant was proposed this year. This is a non-sworn position to do a lot of the leg work required in putting together cases, whether it be witness follow-up, pulling records, or taking stuff to the lab in Richmond. Staff's strategy is to fund two community policing officers that are partially grant-funded from the Federal government. Then, fund one patrol officer to help meet minimum staffing goals. As of last week, the department was fully staffed. Under the County Executive's recommenda- tion, one patrol officer will be added, the Civilian Investigative Assistant and a Records Clerk will be funded. The Assistant is recommended to be a January 1 hire rather than on July 1. A Systems Analyst position is recom- mended for automation support. The funds for that are actually in the Information Services budget so there would be common supervision. That position would also be doing crime analysis. Staff has also applied for some grant funds for this position. Mr. Huff said the Emergency Communications Center budget has two changes in philosophy which he would like to discuss. The first critical issue is a change in accounting methodology which moved approximately $191,000 in E-911 expenses and revenues into a cost center that is new. These expenses were being paid out of the E-911 Fund, not from the operating budget. In order to keep better track of all expenses associated with the Center, it is proposed March 17, 1997 (Adjourned Meeting) (Page 6) 00025 . to move all of those revenues and expenditures into the E-911 budget next year. The second critical issue has to do with a legal opinion. Under State statute the new E-9tl Communications Center must be funded from General Fund revenues and not from surcharge revenues for the Center itself. Staff proposes that surcharge revenues be used to fund operational costs, and put the General Fund revenues previously used for operational costs into the capital budget to fund the new Communications Center. Staff anticipates that it will take two-plus years to fund the costs associated with the new communi- cations center. Once it is full funded, surcharge revenue can be directed to other capital projects. Mr. Huff said there has been community discussion about a regional radio system upgrade. This is for police, fire and rescue regionally (City, County, University). Some preliminary figures indicate it will be very expensive to upgrade the systems. The fire departments are far behind. Their low band radio system is 20 to 25 years old and in dire need of an upgrade. The system has outlived it usefulness in terms of technology. The 911 surcharge revenues can be used to assist with this upgrade. Staff is currently developing some financing alternatives and costs to bring back to the Board at a later date. Mr. Huff said there will be no increase in local funding for the 911 Center operational budget for next year. There will be a more detailed accounting system in what turns out to be a multi-jurisdictional budget with funds coming from a number of different locations. Mr. Bowerman said he was confused about setting up a cost center and saying that the surcharge revenues cannot be used to fund the capital costs of the new EOC Center, but then after it is funded, the surcharge can be used for other capital items. He does not understand why this is all necessary. Mr. Huff said Mr. Davis and Mr. Gouldman have discussed the legislation and have opined that the revenue cannot be used for bricks and mortar. The building does not deliver the 911 service to the end user. The radio system does. It is the way the legislation is worded. Capital funds can only be spent on that which delivers the product to the public safety provider in the field. The radio system, the towers, the micro-wave links do that, the bricks and mortar do not. Mr. Bowerman said it just sounds stupid. He did not understand why staff had to go through all of this, and he still doesn't, but he does understand staff's reasoning. Ms. Thomas said this sounds as if it is adding a new burden to the County budget, but Mr. Huff indicated there would be no increase in the local contribution. Mr. Huff said the surcharge money was going into a fund to pay for the building, and the General Government was paying for operations. Now, those two things have been flip-flopped. Mr. Huff said there is a critical issue for Fire/Rescue Administration. Next year will be the first full year of funding for the three career fire- fighters. The positions have been advertised. There is a lengthy process for recruitment and hiring of those people. The County will be requiring a physical agility test, a written test, etc. These people will not start until approximately June, 1997. The RFP for the ladder truck associated with those positions is ready. The chiefs and captains are anxious to have these people start working in the system. Mr. Huff said he anticipates receiving requests from other volunteer stations soon for personnel to help them with daytime coverage. A policy on how to provide assistance for daytime coverage will need to be developed. Staff has asked the volunteers to come forward if they need help, rather then the County initiating requests. Recruitment and retention is a critical issue with the volunteer system. Nothing done to date has had a positive effect on the volunteer fire and rescue systems. He has heard that some counties have implemented full retirement systems and still have trouble keeping people for daytime coverage. Loudoun County is having a great deal of difficulty with their volunteer system. Mr. Huff said there is a Fire Station Location Study just beginning. A consultant was hired jointly with the City, County and University to identify where future stations need to be located, priority order for those stations, and staffing recommendations. It will be several months before the study is completed. Mr. Huff said staff is working on the area of prevention with increased enforcement, not only with obstruction of fire lanes, but also on open March 17, 1997 (Adjourned Meeting) (Page 7) 000252 burning, blasting permits and hazardous materials storage. There is a closer monitor of safety and quality of life issues through the Inspections Program. Mr. Huff said staff recommends funding automatic defibrillators for the first responder vehicles from the end-of-year carry-over balance. That is a grant program through the TJEMS, a 50/50 grant. Staff will attempt to buy two for each department which wishes to have them. There was also a Fire Scene Accountability System requested by the volunteers. This package actually has items that are used to track what personnel are on the scene for an incident, how many go in, how many come out, where they all are, as a safety issue. Staff also recommends a half-time increase in clerical support in the Fire/Inspections function for records support in the training function. Training hours have increased substantially over the last year and a half. Maintaining all the training records is another item the volunteers have asked for help on. Mr. Huff then offered to answer questions on the Public Safety category. Ms. White said the next functional category is HUMAN DEVELOPMENT at $6.7 million. This category contains the budgets of the Thomas Jefferson Health District at 10 percent; Region Ten Community Services at five percent; Social Services - Management, Benefit Programs, Service Programs, Employment Services, Medicaid (UVA), and Energy Assistance at 72 percent; Human Development Agencies - Children & Youth Commission, Charlottesville Free Clinic, Sexual Assault Resource Agency, District Home, JAUNT, Madison House, JABA, Focus-Teensight, Shelter for Help in Emergency, Charlottesville- Albemarle Legal Aid, United Way, Children, Youth & Family Services, Piedmont Virginia Community College and Tax Relief for the Elderly and Handicapped at 13 percent. Ms. White said this is the second year that there has been a joint budget review team between the City and the County with representatives of United Way, the Planning District Commission, the City's Social Development Commission, the County's Social Services Board, and the School Division. All of the Human Development Agencies were reviewed together with separate recommendations being made on each one. The first critical issue has to do with the Health Department and is based on a request which was basically left unfunded. They requested $775,000 as the County's share of their budget, a $142,500 (22 percent) increase. They have had an eleven percent increase in their budget due to the ~lag pay" issue, and also their four percent State salary increase. Ms. White reminded Board members that at the last budget work session last year, Dr. McLeod said the County had not funded her request but that was fine because the State had just instituted a "lag pay issue" meaning they only had to pay 23 paychecks instead of 24 which would create a savings in the current year. The 1997 Legislature decided not to do that, so they are back to paying 24 paychecks in the current year. The Health Department's local share is short because of the amount the County did not contribute in the current year. In order to get the salaries of current employees back up to where they need to be, they had an 11 percent increase in their budget just for personnel. Ms. White said the Health Department also lost a Federal grant in their public education programs. The County's share of that expense was $17,500. The other $17,500 is a $35,000 projected increase in their employee health insurance. The State did not keep up with the employee's contributions to their health insurance. The State did put some money into the employer's share of these health insurance increases, but it required that whoever is funding the other percentage of the Health Department budget will also have to pick up on those costs. Also, $37,500 was requested for new positions, a part-time position in the environmental division, a part-time position in their clinics, a part-time nurse, and, a full-time outreach worker in their Child Health Partnership Program. Forty percent ($300,000) of Albemarle's request is for 100 percent locally-funded programs. With the mandates for the State, 60 percent of the funding is going to the mandates, and the other 40 percent is for locally-funded programs (mostly in the dental clinic), and the Child Health Partnership Program. Staff's strategy was to give a larger increase to the Health Department than to other agencies. They were funded with a five percent increase in order to help with the staff salary increases. Not recommended for funding were the additional physicians, nor the $35,000 to offset the Federal grants, March 17, 1997 (Adjourned Meeting) (Page 8) or the health insurance costs. Staff wants to take another look at the locally-funded services. Staff does not know what impact not fully funding the Health Department will have or on what specific services. At this time, $107,000 is unfunded. Ms. Thomas said she understands that local government does not want to pick up what the State government has dropped, or the local needs that come up in the health area. She does believe there are probably $100,000 in needs in this area that neither the County nor the State is meeting. She asked who will assess what effect this is having. Ms. White said the City's recommenda- tion at this point is the same as the County's. Staff needs to discuss the impact of this on local programs directly with Dr. McLeod. Mr. Bowerman asked if part of the analysis will consider how much more it will cost in the future if it is not funded this next fiscal year. Ms. Thomas said if this sort of thing is not shown, the public will not know that the Health Department is getting less and less support. Ms. White said staff did not have a strategy for funding it this year because it was such a significant increase. As shown in the budgets of other departments, the local share has gone up as the State's share has gone down over the last several years. Ms. Thomas said she is frustrated that the message is not getting out about what is happening to local government. Ms. White said the second critical issue is Welfare Reform. Albemarle's program starts July 1. With that program, there will be increased State and Federal spending for Child Care at about $500,000. Administrative funding for Employment Services will be increased at about $200,000 which is unmatched money. There is a regional welfare reform group working together to address issues on a regional basis, working with the United Way and MACAA. They are trying to bring the churches together, and working with the business community to develop training and job readiness programs. The strategy to address Welfare Reform is to fund the local required match for the State and Federal funds at about $50,000, with a ten percent match for the child care programs. The second strategy is to fund additional money to the Literary Volunteers in the amount of $2360 and to ask them to focus on welfare recipients. The third strategy is to fund two additional United Way Child Care Scholarships at $6240. There is a joint program with the United Way, the City, the County Social Services Department, and the State which allows a 50 percent match for those dollars. Ms. Thomas asked if there were a strategy to hire welfare recipients, such as the Federal government has announced it will try. Ms. White said at this time a need to have public sector employment has not been established. Ms. Humphris asked Ms. Kathy Ralston to speak to this question. Ms. Ralston said an RFP was just issued from the Regional Steering Committee and given to private business organizations in an effort to launch this on a regional basis. Over the next several months, people will be educated and they will try to come up with jobs for the recipients in the region. The unemployment rate is low in this area, so there are a lot of jobs unfilled. The problem they expect is getting these people child care for jobs that are not traditional eight-to-five jobs. A lot of the jobs are part-time, a lot are for evening hours, and hours vary from week-to-week. The challenge will be trying to wrap services around those people so they can get a job and sustain themselves in those jobs. Ms. Thomas asked if the County will need to provide jobs. With the low unemployment rate, Albemarle County is in a different situation than some other communities. Ms. Ralston said Social Services will be utilizing the County's Human Resources Department to try and put people in jobs. Ms. Humphris asked if the County will treat itself just as any other employer. The County will not look at these people because they are welfare recipients, but because they are people searching for jobs. Ms. White said the Chamber of Commerce has also identified Welfare Reform as one of the issues they will be looking at. Ms. White said the third critical issue has to do with Children, Youth & Family (CYF) and the Neighborhood Team. One of the goals of the Human Services Plan is to invest community resources in programs that support families and which helps families to raise healthy children. There needs to be a more collaborative effort between many of the agencies that are on the March 17, 1997 (Adjourned Meeting) (Page 9) Ooo s' Neighborhood Team, working with the School Division, working with Social Services and Parks and Recreation to provide a more comprehensive program. The emphasis has been on using school buildings as community centers. Also, delivering services to children, youth and families should be approached more on a neighborhood-based level. The programs focus on prevention and early intervention with the idea of saving on juvenile detention. The strategy for working with CYF is to fund a third Bright Stars Four- Year Old program. Staff understands there is space available at Agnor-Hurt, so is planning to have the program there. The program will cost about $30,000 since there will not need to be a new classroom. The second strategy is to fund the County's increased share of the Family Partners Program through CYF. That is an early intervention program that works with families with young children who may be at risk of abuse or neglect. The program provides training in parenting skills and also gets those families other community resources they may need. The third strategy is to begin a Summer Playground Program at Greer Elementary. There are three schools, Greet, Stone Robinson and Yancey, which will cooperate on a summer program involving the actual summer school program being done in the morning hours between 9:00 a.m. and 12 noon, and then have the summer recreational playground program work in the afternoon between 1:00 p.m. and 6:00 p.m. That will provide a child with a full day of summer programming and it makes transportation easier for the families. The fourth strategy is to expand the Middle School After-School Programs to all middle schools. There were two successful programs this year, Walton and Jack Jouett. Ms. White then invited questions on the Human Development Category. There were none at this time. Mr. Huff said the next functional category is PARKS. RECREATION AND CULTURE at $3.6 million. This category contains the budgets of the Darden Towe Memorial Park at three percent; Parks and Recreation - Administration, Maintenance, Summer Swim Program, Athletics/Classes, Community Centers, Special Activities, Teen Programs at 33 percent; Jefferson-Madison Regional Library at 47 percent; Agency Contributions - Virginia Discovery Museum, Piedmont Council of the Arts, Literary Volunteers, WVPT Public Television, Thomas Jefferson Visitors Bureau at one percent; Tourism Fund at 16 percent. Mr. Huff said Monticello Avenue (Internet service) is a regional program operated out of the Regional Library System, and is currently funded by the City, County and University. The County's current commitment is to pay 50 percent of the cost of one staff person. The public lab associated with Monticello Avenue is open so individuals in the community can come into the lab where there is a structured environment and learn what the Internet is and gain Internet access. The personnel at Monticello Avenue have been working with Internet providers in the community to put together searchable data base resources in the community. In November, 1995 there were 17 information providers providing content information to Monticello Avenue. In March, 1997 there are 95 information providers, and staff is working with another to provide content to the community. Recent additions to Monticello Avenue are the Albemarle County Fair, the Rivanna Solid Waste Authority, the Garden Club, the Albemarle NAACP, and, the Albemarle Baptist Association. There have been approximately 1200 sessions per month by area residents in the lab and in the reference department at the Central Library. There have been over 15,000 Internet sessions since November, 1995. It is providing a valuable service, but an associated problem which is a critical issue is that growth has stretched that one staff person working with the information providers and keeping the lab open between 51 and 56 hours per week. Volunteers have been used as much as possible to help manage and keep the lab open. The City and the County have both agreed to recommend funding in the next budget for a technology support specialist with funding split 50/50 with the City to provide relief in the lab and allow the current staff person to work more intensely with WEB development. The next critical issue is with Tourism. It is anticipated that over $585,000 will be generated from the increase in the Transient Occupancy Tax. It must be monitored in a separate fund and spent on tourism and tourism- related programs. Funding for the Visitors Bureau will come from that fund, and three capital projects which have been identified as being eligible. There are four programs which total $448,000, leaving about $137,000 for tourism-related projects yet to be identified. 000255 March 17, 1997 (Adjourned Meeting) (Page 10) Mr. Huff then invited questions from Board members. Ms. Thomas said she could not follow in the budget papers the $60,000+ in requests for the Library system which were not funded. Mr. Huff said staff did not recommend any expansion of staff positions other than the Monticello Avenue position. The bulk of the requests had to do with adding a second staff person in the branch libraries so there would not be just one person on duty. Staff wants to discuss the justification for that request further. It was not work load driven, but simply that they did not want to have just one persons in the Library alone. Staff did not sense that as a higher priority than other requests. Mr. Huff said the next functional category is COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT at $2.5 million. This category contains the budgets of Planning and Community Development at 38 percent; Office of Housing at 15 percent; Zoning D~partment at 19 percent; Soil and Water Conservation at one percent; Virginia Coopera- tive Extension Service at six percent; Gypsy Moth Program; Community Develop- ment Agencies - Planning District Commission, Charlottesville Transit Service, Monticello Area Community Action Agency, Albemarle Housing Improvement Program, Charlottesville Housing Foundation/Thomas Jefferson Housing Improve- ment Program at 21 percent. Mr. Huff said he would talk about the Zoning/Inspections merger. The way the State sets up budgets, the Inspections budget is categorically a public safety function. Although the departments have been merged, their budgets will continue to show in two different functional categories. This is a main focus area for customer service improvements. The three development departments are highly visible from the citizenry and this one receives a lot of comments relative to customer service. Mr. Huff said the merger of the two departments took place on July 1, 1996, with a goal of consolidating the in-take process for building and zoning permits, and to improve the cross training for the zoning and the building inspectors. That has been a success so far, although there has been staff turnover and some staff vacancies since the merger. One of the vacancies is that of the Architectural Review Board (ARB) planner. Staff recommends that a Design Planner be added in the Planning Department thus moving the ARB function from Zoning to Planning. The ARB was using 10 to 15 hours per week of this person's time. The remaining time was used for support of the Zoning function. That Design Planner would take care of such issues as Mountain Protection, Historic Preservation, or other areas where the Board makes special requests of Planning staff. When the person in Zoning is replaced, that will free up 15 additional hours. If the Board approves the recommenda- tion for this additional employee, there are funds left from the vacancy so the Design Planner could be hired in the current year and begin to work with the Development Initiative Team. Mr. Huff said erosion control is a pressing need. Because of review time, and the back-log in Inspections, staff recommends that an additional erosion control inspector be added. In the 1996-97 budget, staff asked for funds to extend the 911 Addressing Technician through the end of FY '97. Staff recommends that this person be retained through the end of FY '98 assigning 911 addresses to new subdivisions, and continuing to help clean up the data base. There are still about 3800 errors in the data base that came from the consultant. Correcting these errors is incredibly manpower inten- sive. Staff also recommends that the current GIS Technician, who has been employed for about three years, move into the GIS area. A demonstration will be done this Wednesday to show the Board where staff thinks there can be productivity improvements made to the GIS system. A consultant is needed for the Development Areas Initiative and that is being recommended for funding out of the FY '97 carryover balance. Another critical issue is to fund an intake clerical position in Building Code and Zoning Services. The position was previously authorized in FY 1995-96, but staff recommended that the position not be hired at that time. Now, the work load is such that it cannot be done with overtime. That additional person is needed and staff requests that the previously authorized person be hired. Ms. Thomas said there are quite a few places in the budget where the statement "we suggest that it be funded from end-of-year carryover funds" occurs. She can only guess that the dollars are there and the things the March 17, 1997 (Adjourned Meeting) (Page 11) 000256 Board expected to be done this fiscal year will still be done even though the department is being asked to hold back money and put it into next year's budget. She said the Board does not have the basis in front of it to make sure it is making the right assessment. She asked if it is a reasonable thing that is being requested. Mr. Huff said there are a number of one-time expenses in the budget. The money may not necessarily come from that department's budget. For instance, the Sheriff is not likely to have the funds in his budget at the end of the year for his radio system upgrade, but some other department will. Staff is confident, based on the latest revenue and expenditure projections, that there will be the funds necessary to do the one-time costs. In the Keene budget, staff expects there to be $100,000 left. The firefighters will not be hired in January but in June. He said that frequently there are reappropria- tion requests presented to the Board in August of each year. That is actually being put in front of the Board a little earlier than usual. Mr. Huff said that basically the Gypsy Moth has been effectively eradicated thereby eliminating the need for the program staff. No spraying was done last year and surveys indicate no need for spraying in the current year. Strategy is to privatize that program and contract for egg mass surveying to alert if the pest reappears. He has asked Parks and Recreation to oversee this contractual work. Ms. White said the last issue in Community Development has to do with housing. There was a request from CHF/TJHIC~ (which is the reorganized organization) for $50,000 for administrative and operational support. They have also asked the City of Charlottesville for $50,000. They hope to seek some regional solutions to affordable housing issues and provide support to other nonprofit housing groups throughout the Planning District, particularly in the more rural counties. The programs they propose are: a revolving loan fund, grant writing for some nonprofit groups, rental programs, capacity building which is to strengthen some of the nonprofit organizations that are in the rural areas, and, specific services such as accounting. The request is not funded in the County Executive's budget due to two constraints: 1) The amount of funding itself, and, 2) The budget request was submitted very late so staff has not been able to get input from the County's Housing Committee. Staff recommends that there be discussions with the Housing Committee and AHIP to evaluate and determine what the benefits of the newly organized organiza- tion would be to Albemarle County. Ms. Thomas said the Housing Office requested an additional staff person and that was not recommended for funding. She asked if the new organization can provide anything that the County's Housing Office needs at a lower price given the number of volunteers working with them. Ms. White said it is basically a request for additional clerical support. Ms. Humphris asked the time frame for getting answers to the questions about this request. Ms. White said at this time, the City is not recommending funding. Staff has already asked for input from the Housing Committee and they will be meeting this Friday. She hopes that on the 21st staff will have something from the Housing Committee as to how they see this organization fitting into their priorities. As far as discussions with the outlying counties and their nonprofit groups, she does not believe there has been much discussion, and that will take a longer time. Ms. Humphris said the Board needs to have that information. If this organization is as-billed to seek regional solutions, it has to be a regional organization with everybody pitching in to do their fair share. Ms. White said there has been no request to the other counties for administrative and operational funds. Those costs are only requested from the City and the County. Mr. Tucker said it has been difficult for staff to assess what benefits Albemarle County would receive from this organization. Ms. White then invited questions from Board members about the Community Development function. Ms. Thomas said she thinks the ARB Planner/Design Planner is a good response to community development issues. When trying to find what makes a community desirable, those are design issues. Mr. Tucker said that is what staff thought when this was discussed with ARB members who supported shifting that function to the Planning Department. 000257 March 17, 1997 (Adjourned Meeting) (Page 12) Mr. Huff said that under Personnel Issues staff wanted to discuss requests from both the Commonwealth's Attorney and the Sheriff to place their employees on the County's pay scale for equity with other County departments. The Board previously set a policy to provide stipends rather than place the employees in those offices on the County's pay scale. In keeping with that policy, staff worked to develop a parity model for stipends to bring positions up to a minimum level similar to County positions. Mr. Huff said for the Commonwealth Attorney's staff, position by position was compared to those in the County Attorney's Office. The idea was to provide a stipend for comparable positions so they were equal in pay, but not putting them on the pay system so there are not the questions of perfor- mance, or merit, or evaluations. That does what Mr. Camblos requested which is similar to what was done in the Sheriff's Office last year of setting a range that is comparable on the pay system and then providing stipends. This same thing is being proposed for both the Commonwealth's Attorney and the Sheriff next year. It brings the employees in the two offices up to a comparable scale with other County employees. He said Mr. Camblos is satis- fied with the staff's recommendation. The Sheriff is present today and may wish to speak. Sheriff Hawkins said he sent some information to the Chairman and hoped it had been distributed. He basically agrees with the County Executive's recommendation, with three areas of contention. Two of those he believes have been adequately addressed. One is that a request be paid for from carryover funds. If staff says there is enough money to pay his requests, he is satisfied with that opinion. He had written a letter speaking to the urgent need for the equipment. He said the second issue dealing with the pay scale confuses him. He does not know how the recommendation will work. He has always thought of the Sheriff's deputies as Albemarle Sheriff's deputies within County government. He still feels strongly that they should be incorporated and included as a regular segment of County government. He will have to look at a chart or something showing how this will work before he can give his opinion saying it is an acceptable means. That only leaves one other item, and that has to do with manpower. Sheriff Hawkins said there is a recommendation in the budget to extend the agreement with the Town of Scottsville for an additional year. He said money is no longer an issue since the Town Council agreed to totally fund this position as of July 1, 1997. He asked if it would be possible to extend the contract to the end of his current term in office which is two years and nine months longer. He does not plan on running for this office again, so whoever succeeds him would need to reenter the agreement should he choose to. The reason for asking is that the Town is getting ready to purchase new equipment in the way of a patrol car, uniforms and equipment. He would not want them to do that and then in a year have to do something else. Mr. Davis said the only time limit on the agreement was the County's obligation to fund positions. Otherwise, that is an on-going agreement which can be terminated by the County, the Sheriff, or the Town with a one-year advance notice. As long as there is no funding requirement for the County, it is an on-going agreement which does not need to be modified unless the terms are to be changed in some fashion. Sheriff Hawkins said he will be entering into some long-range plans with the Town, and he would like to be able to plan past that one year period of time. He said his office will actually end up with less funding and less resources than they had two years ago prior to the start of this agreement. He is concerned about that. When he asked for an additional position in last year's budget and was given an option of raising the two part-time positions to full time in exchange for withdrawing that proposal, he decided to do that with the understanding that the Scottsville position would be coming back to his operation at the end of June of this year. That is where the confusion is. He will leave the people in Scottsville and the Town will pick up the entire funding process. That loses the services of those two officers completely as far as his office is concerned. He will be able to keep the two part-time positions. It will still leave him with less manpower and less resources than two years ago to staff his positions within the confines of the Juvenile Court and the other operations of the Sheriff's Office. He asked the Board to consider whether it is possible to fund that additional position in FY 1997-98. There were no further questions concerning this request. March 17, 1997 (Adjourned Meeting) (Page 13) 000: $8 Mr. Huff said he would like to discuss the SALARY COMPRESSION ISSUE. He said this is an issue organization-wide and is not related to any one specific department. The issue is complicated by a merit-based system which does not reward employees for longevity. There are no automatic increases for addi- tional years of service. From time-to-time, employees want to know where they will be in ten years on the County's pay scale. On a merit-based system, there are no lock-step increases, so it is impossible to answer that question. Mr. Huff said it is complicated by other types of pay scales that give credit for specific years of service. It locks the employee into certain steps along the way based on years of service. By direction of this Board, the County's pay plan is not set up that way. Individual employees could be compressed near entry level for any number of reasons, among which could be: average to below-average performers as opposed to above-average performers moving up the scale more quickly. The scale was raised significantly and individual salaries were not raised accordingly. During the Hendrix Pay Study, there were a number of employees who were brought up to the new minimum, but as a result their salary was compressed around that new minimum. Staff recommends that further analyses be made of the causes and potential solutions for the Board's review with a reminder that the action will need to involve School Division classified staff. Mr. Huff said he would like to go over a couple of issues which are specific to the Police Department. He showed to the Board some slides showing police officer pay scales for select jurisdictions. Some jurisdictions have a take-home-car program. That is a factor in the compensation package of some of these localities. Albemarle does well compared to its market in terms of minimum to maximum pay range for police officers. Albemarle compares favor- ably with the City of Charlottesville and is in close range with other local jurisdictions. The City give a stipend for their skill-based proficiency. Mr. Huff mentioned some issues which are specific to the Police Depart- ment. In 1996-97, the average increase for police officers based on merit was 5.68 percent, excluding the skill-based proficiency plan. That was with a 4.5 percent merit pool. The 5.68 percent also excluded the amount the County put in to bring the salaries of officers that were below the new minimum up to the new minimum. Then, adjustments were made to insure that no new officer was coming in with the same salary as that of officers who had been employed for a few years. No police officer was denied a pay increase for FY '97. There were cases in the past where a police officer did not vest a step under the old vesting system. Two years ago, fifty percent of all County employees did not vest a step because of the reduced merit pool. No other local government department has access to a skill-based proficiency plan. Twenty-six percent of the sworn officers are projected to receive a nine percent or greater increase in 1997-98. That includes people moving into the skill-based proficiency plan. The plan enables officers to earn additional compensation by learning and applying new skills needed by the department without having to take on supervision or to compete for supervisory vacancies. Examples of this might be accident reconstruction, being a field training officer, being a breathalyser operator, being a member of the emergency response team, or hostage negotiation team. This has to be earned every year, and if it is not, the employee's salary can fall back down the scale. Basically, the employee's salary is moving up the ranges in the pay/classification system as he meets the criteria for each new level under the skill-based proficiency plan. Those officers are getting the average merit increase plus additional compensation for their willingness to both learn and give back to the department and to the community their expertise in particular areas. It is a resource issue. They requested, and staff has tried to respond, by providing this additional methodology for earning additional compensation. Mr. Huff said with the exception of the skill-based proficiency plan, there are similar things in all of the departments. He has talked to other jurisdictions who said that when they raised their scales, they were not financially able to give the same percentage increase to everyone of the employees so it pushed salaries further down into the scale. Staff tried not to bring in new people, regardless of their experience, at salaries higher than those of existing employees unless there is some really compelling reason to do so. In the Police Department, Chief Miller made a policy decision not to bring in more experienced officers from other localities at salaries 000259 March 17, 1997 (Adjourned Meeting) (Page 14) greater than those of officers that have been employed by the Albemarle County Police Department, until the existing employees can be moved up and away from the lower end of the scale. The Hendrix model will pull those people up, but staff wants to take an organization-wide look at the causes of the compression issue. He has already asked Human Resources to help him put together a team to study the issue. Staff will return additional information on that issue. Mr. Perkins asked if the nine percent increase for some employees is because of the skill-based proficiency test. Mr. Huff said that is correct. In the absence of that test, there are no nine percent increases based simply on merit. Mr. Perkins said at the recent public hearing on the budget, there was a fundamental misunderstanding of the salary scale. It was mentioned that if someone had been an employee for a long time, that person should be making the maximum salary. That is not the way it works, and he does not know how to make the citizens understand that. Mr. Huff said he does not know how much of it is a misunderstanding as opposed to a difference in philosophy. Some officers come from other jurisdictions, so he contacted those jurisdictions and asked about their pay plans. He found that many of these officers expected an automatic salary increase based on years of service. That is not how the plan is structured. Ms. Thomas mentioned that one speaker at the public hearing said the plan was not working the way it had been described by Mr. Hendrix. That made it sound as if there had been a misunderstanding at some point. Mr. Huff said Mr. Hendrix had said the County was ten percent off the market, and needed to put ten percent into the performance plan this year. It was not fiscally possible. Employees remember him saying that, and then know that only four and one-half percent was put in last year, plus some additional money to bring people up to the minimum. Staff said the County could not afford ten percent, but would try to catch up over time. That is the only thing which was not implemented from the consultant's list of recommendations. Mr. Tucker said that even with the ten percent, the compression issue would still have been there, but at a different place in the scale. Mr. Perkins said it appears that the County is at or about where it should be. He has been employed by the same company for 32 years and he is at 94 percent of mid-point. That is the way it works, and that is the way the County's pay plan works. It is not that the employee strives to get the maximum, but the achievement is to get to the mid-point. Mr. Tucker said it is a difference in philosophy. The County is fortunate to have experienced officers who came to Albemarle from other jurisdictions, but they have a different perspective or philosophy that Albemarle's plan. Mr. Bowerman asked if all officers have access to the skill-based proficiency program. Mr. Tucker said it is available to only police officers. Sergeants and above do not have access to the test. About 40 percent of those who are eligible participate. Mr. Huff said an officer has to be on the payroll for three years before becoming eligible to participate. Mr. Bowerman asked if staff has an estimated value for the take-home-car program. Mr. Tucker said staff will be addressing that issue soon. Ms. Humphris said this is a prevalent issue in private industry, and it is a problem that she does not believe has ever been solved to the satisfac- tion of the longer tenured employees. Mr. Tucker said last year, when the new pay plan was implemented, the County simply did not have the funds to pay a ten percent adjustment throughout the organization. Ms. Humphris said the Board thought it did well. She is not embarrassed about any of the payroll issues presented. It actually shows the County in a good light. The County is very competitive and is a good place to work. She said Albemarle County has been placed on two more lists of the best places in the country to live. She will name those lists at a later time. Mr. Tucker said that concludes the work session today. On Wednesday, there will be a presentation of the GIS System, as well as the budget of the School Division and the Capital budget. Ms. Thomas said she had a couple of questions. It was mentioned in the Human Resources budget that there is a need for an additional person to deal March 17, 1997 (Adjourned Meeting) (Page 15) oooz6o with harassment suits because there are so many being filed. She asked if this is a place were prevention would help. Mr. Tucker said there is training for all employees in regard to harassment issues. He said that when the suits are filed, the time needed to go through each case is where the department needs help. While the County has had some harassment suits, they are like the crime rate and a trend cannot be developed. Staff is reacting to an issue that it has to deal with at this time. Whatever that individual would be doing, if there were a drop in this kind of case, that person would be used for other work. Staff believes that on the School side and Local Government side, there needs to be someone trained to handle these cases. On the prevention side, there is a lot of training of the employees taking place. Mr. Bowerman said in the eight years since he has been on the Board, there has never been a financial situation where costs were under projected or revenues were over projected. He said that is very conservative. He asked how low the Fund Balance goes in the worst months of the year when there are no tax collections. Mr. Tucker said it gets fairly low, but he cannot give an exact number today. There have been some times when the Director of Finance was concerned that the County might have to borrow money to cover the cost of payroll. For that reason, the Director of Finance has been very conservative when estimating revenues. Mr. Bowerman asked if the occasion for borrowing were rare or very short-lived, would it be worth looking at a reduced Fund Balance and temporary borrowing as a matter of policy if taxpayer dollars could be freed up for one- time capital costs. He knows the Fund Balance has risen over the years as the population and the budget grew. He wants to be sure it is no lower than it needs to be, but if it could be a little lower at the risk of some occasional temporary shortages, whether or not the projection of the Fund Balance could be a little closer. Mr. Tucker said he would need to have that idea analyzed. Ms. Humphris said the Board could look at that to see whether it would be worth changing the Board's Fiscal Policies. Mr. Tucker said the Fund Balance could only be used for one-time capital expenditures, or something along those lines. Ms. Humphris said it is the time line, funding something earlier. Mr. Bowerman said ~yes." He knows the possibility is relatively inexpensive. The Fund Balance will grow in the future to keep track with the budget. He wants to be comfortable that the Fund Balance is at the proper level and not too conservative. Ms. Humphris said when Mr. Breeden was talking to the Board recently, he gave some numbers that made her think that ~we are skating very close to the edge." It surprised her. Mr. Bowerman said he wants to take a look at the possibility. Ms. Thomas said that on recycling, the projection is to do less in the next year. That is alarming. Now that an audit of the landfill has been done, and it shows how much is being wasted by burying stuff in the ground, it is no time to be doing less in terms of the amount of newspaper that will be taken out of the landfill. The County does less well than the City in recycling so this does not seem to be the time to reduce the emphasis in that area. Mr. Bowerman asked if Ms. Thomas was referring to the estimated tonnage. Ms. Thomas said ~yes." Mr. Bowerman asked where those projections came from showing it would decline in one area and stay much the same in other areas because recycling is voluntary. Ms. Thomas said it is voluntary, but it can be influenced by having reminders sent out in water bills, etc. Mr. Tucker said that over the next couple of months, the Rivanna Solid Waste Authority (RSWA) is going to ask the City and the County to take a more active role in the recycling issue. The only reason the analysis has not begun is that they are waiting for the new director of the County's Engineering and Public Works Department to begin work. He and the City Public Works Director will talk about what can be done to make a difference in recycling. If some changes are made at the landfill, they want to put a greater emphasis on the recommenda- tions of the Task Force. There is talk about shifting the municipal waste to another landfill, so recyclable materials should be removed before the waste is shipped out. Ms. Humphris asked the percentage of newspapers that go to the landfill. She had never thought newspapers should be allowed in the landfill when they can be recycled. She hopes that consideration will be given to banning newspapers and magazines from the landfill. Mr. Tucker said that is what this March 17, 1997 (Adjourned Meeting) (Page 16) 00026'1 group will look at. They will probably have to look at some type of incen- tives. It is all volunteer right now and if people are not willing to take it to McIntire or contract with their own hauler, what incentives can the County use to insure that more is recycled. Ms. Thomas said the incentives right now in the County are all in the wrong direction. If you want to be responsible, you probably have a trash hauler who charges more. That is a crazy way to go about incentives. Mr. Tucker said when this program began, none of the haulers charged more for that service. Ms. Thomas mentioned the Water Resources Management function. She thinks it is an overworked office. But, as a member of the Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO), they have had some unsatisfactory discussions about water quality protection programs for the bypass. If construction begins on the Bypass in the near future, she thinks the County will need a whole extra person to "bird-dog" that. It will be something the County feels stronger about than the contractor or the Virginia Department of Transporta- tion (VDOT) . It is something staff might want to keep in mind for the FY '99 budget. Ms. Humphris said it became clear recently through the RWSA that VDOT's consultant had made no plans to do anything during construction of the Bypass other than what a private developer would have to do. It was found that they were designing only for a ten-year storm, and they were told that this area experiences one-hundred year storms frequently. One of the main reasons the bypass was not to be built until after the Meadow Creek Parkway and everything else had been finished was because of the water supply[ That water supply had been dying and everybody has struggled to bring it back to life and get it stabilized. Even VDOT had said they recognized the potential danger to the life of the water supply and wanted to put off construction of the Bypass as long as possible. Now VDOT is pushing to build it sooner and they are not even planning to put into effect protective measures. .During the construction phase there is an unbelievably large number of cubic yards of earth that will have to be moved. There is no way they can do that without putting in extraordinary measures to protect the water supply. The people in the City don't seem to understand that the issue about this bypass is the water supply. Mr. Tucker said the County's Water Resources Manager and RSWA are working with VDOT on what they feel the needs will be during and after construction. Ms. Humphris said at the last meeting of the MPO, VDOT representations were asked if their consultant had been told to plan for dry basins or wet basins. VDOT had not even given the consultant anything in writing. That is far from what VDOT should be required to do to protect the water supply. The VDOT representative was asked what would happen if there were major damage to the Reservoir during construction or after. He said VDOT is not responsible for that. Ms. Humphris said what is happening here is major to the whole community, but we can't get anybody's attention. That is one of the reasons the MPO passed the resolution last July that it would not support using Federal funds (which the MPO is responsible for), to build a bypass unless and until they had taken into consideration the design issues and other issues because it is our water supply they are fooling around with. Agenda Item No. 3. Other Matters Not Listed on the Agenda from Board Members. Ms. Humphris asked if everybody got a letter from Dr. Deborah DiCroce about the dinner Piedmont Virginia Community College is having. Everyone replied ~yes". Ms. Humphris said some people from the Architecture School were to meet at the County Building from 8:30 a.m. to 10:30 a.m. on April 2 for a community planning presentation. She said to respond that the Board would be in session on that morning, and could be in the Auditorium at 8:30 a.m. for the presenta- tion. March 17, 1997 (Adjourned Meeting) (Page 17) Agenda Item No. 4. Adjourn. With no further business to come before the Board,' at 3:21 p.m., motion was offered by Mr. Bowerman, seconded by Mr. Perkins, to adjourn this meeting until 1:00 p.m. on March 19, 1997. Roll was called and the mosion carried by the following recorded vote: AYES: Mr. Perkins, Ms. Thomas, Mr. Bowerman and Ms. Humphris. NAYS: None. ABSENT: Mr. Marshall and Mr. Martin. Approved by Board Date Initiats~