Loading...
1979-10-16N182 October ~16,, 1979 (Night Meeting--Adjourned from October 11, 1979) An adjourned meeting of the Board of Supervisors of Albemarle County, Virginia, was held on October 16, 1979 at 5:30 P.M. at the Sheraton Inn, Route 250 East, Charlottesville, Virginia; said meeting adjourned from October 11, 1979. Present: Messrs. Lindsay G. Dottier, Jr., Gerald E. Fisher, J. T. Henley, Jr., F. Anthon~ Iachetta, and C. Timothy Lindstrom. Also present were the following members of the Albemarle County School Board: Mrs. Jessie C. Haden and Messrs. Ronald H. Bauerle, Charles W. Maupin, Jr., Charles A. Norford, James W. Walker and Reverend Peter T. Way. Dr. Clarence McClure, Superintendent of Education, was also present. Absent: Mr. W. S. Roudabush. Officers Present:. Mr. Guy B. Agnor, Jr., County Executive; Mr. George R. St. John, County Attorney; and Mr. Ray B. Jones, Director of Finance. Agenda Item No. 1. The Board and the School Board met at 5:30 P.M. The meeting was called to order immediately after dinner at 6:55 P.M. by the Chairman, Mr. Fisher. Agenda Item No. 2. Discussion of Revenue Projections and Schedule for Budget Approval. Mr. Fisher said the goal for adoption of the 1980-81 budget is to enable the School Division to send out teacher contracts by April 15. Based on such a goal, the School budget needs to be received by the Board of Supervisors on January 28. He then emphasized the importance of ~having Capital Improvements funds available this year since the Literary Fund has approved one million dollars for the Scottsville School and $500,000 for the Albemarle High School gym. Mr. Fisher then reviewed the presumptions the staff had developed to come up with the revenue projections. (The presumptions are outlined in the memorandum set out below.) Mr. Agnor then reviewed the following memorandum: "TO: FROM: DATE: SUBJECT: Board of Supervisors School Board Guy B. Agnor, Jr., County Executive- October 15, 1979 FY 80-81 Revenue Projections. At your request, Mr. Jones, Director of Finance, has completed an analysis of revenue sources and their projected revenues for guidelines in the preparation of the FY 80-81 budget. His analysis is summarized in this memorandum for your consideration. The analysis is limited to ~the General Fund only, since the purpose of this report is to provide an estimate of support available from the'County's General Fund. Revenue estimates of the School Fund are not included. Ten categories of funds comprise the General Fund. The focus of the report is on six of these categories which represent 91% of the total revenues in the General Fund, and are the funds considered to be of local origin. Additionally, State funds are included in the analysis this year because they include estimates of the "Michie Legislation" which are new revenues, and which should be available for school operations as well as general operations. The categories and their increase in revenues are as follows: PRELIMINARY REVENUE ~ESTIMATES FY 80-81 Source Property Taxes Other Local Taxes Licenses & Permits Fines Use of Money & Property Current Services Sub Total Local Sources ~State Supplement Federal Funds Miscellaneous Revenues Non-Revenue Budget Estimate $Increase %Increase FY-BO FY-81 (Decrease) (Decrease) $10,592,829 '$11,535,300 $ 942,471 8.9 3,464,000 3,982,500 518,500 15.0 1,466,300 1,579,000 112,700 7.7 60,'000 60,000 -0- -0- 600,000 700,000 100,000 16.7 169,300 179,500 10,200 6.0 $16,352,429 $18,036,300 $1,683,871 10.~ 866,947 1,158,350 291,403 33.6 510,500 511,O00 500 O.1 56,000 60,000 4,000 7.1 150,245 25,000 (125,245) (83.3) $17,936,121 $19,790,650 $1,854,529 10.3 1. Property Taxes - The current rates on all classes of property are proposed to remain unchanged in FY-81. The assessment values on real estate will remain the same as the current fiscal year. The increase in property tax revenues for FY-81 will be derived from new construction, estimated to provide $281,400 or +3.8% increase over the present real estate base. Additional vehicles and higher costs of new vehicles will contribute $615,000 or +25.8% to personal property tax revenues. The combination of real and personal property revenues is estimated to provide $896,400, +9.2% over the current year. Not included in these estimates are revenues proposed to be derived from a Service Charge on tax exempt properties. This service charge has not been adopted, but if adopted, will provide an estimated $220,000 in new revenues, representing 1.2% of the General Fund revenues. It is the recommendation of the staff that ~,~t~se funds be omitted from this early analysis, and be considered the means for funding the initial start-up costs for the opening of a central administration building planned for mid-fiscal year and needed by all branches of the County government. 163 October 16 1 Ni ht Meetin -Ad'ourned from Octobe 2. Other Local Taxes - ThiS category reflects the inflationary and expanding economy. The two principal sources of increases are from sales taxes and utility ~.taxes, estimated to provide $425,000 of the $518,500 from this category, an increase of 15.0% over FY-80. 3. Licenses and Permits - Auto licenses and business-professional licenses compri.se the principal sources and the increases in this category. These two sources are estimated to increase $110,000 of the $112,700 from this category, a 7.7% increase over FY-80. 4. Fines - No change expected. ~ 5. Use of Money and Property - Projecting monies earned on invested funds is very difficult with interest rates changing rapidly. The amount of funds available for investment will decrease as capital projects proceed, but it is estimated that high rates of interest will continue to provide additional funds ~f approximately $100,000 or +16.7% over F¥-80. 6. Current Services - This category is derived from fees collected by the Commonwealth's Attorney, Sheriff and Clerk of the Circuit Court. The Clerk's fees are the major source and represent $10,000 of the $10,200 increase, a total increase of 6.0% over FY-80. Two other categories which merit a comment due to the changes indicated are State Supplements and Non-revenue. The large increase in State Supplements ($291,403) is expected largely from funding by the General Assembly of the "Michie Legislation", principally in the Sheriff's Department ($206,240) and Oommonwealth Attorney's Office ($49,750). The decrease in Non-revenue is the removal of funding from the carry-over balance which was used in FY-80 and is not planned for FY-81. Distribution of Revenue: The Five Year Capital Budget has been adopted with an appropriation of $500,000 from the General Fund beginning with F¥-81. Therefore, this amount should be set aside from these new revenues before considering other uses or distribution. The remainder, for planning purposes, can be divided on the basis of the division of the FY-80 operating budget. General Operations share 33% of the current budget, the School Fund 67%. The Debt Service Fund is not expected to require additional revenues and is therefore omitted from the calculations. With as estimated $1.85 million, reduced for Capital Budget needs by $0.5 million, the remaining $1.35 million can be considered as providing a $900,000 increase in local funds for the School Division, and $4'50,000 for General Operations. The addition of $900,000 in local funds to the School Fund represents a 9.8% increase in General Fund allocations over the-current budget. In relationship to the total School Division budget, it represents a 5.8% change, not a significant amount in comparison to rates of inflation. Assuming that the General Assembly will recognize the need for school divisions to be more adequately funded in the face of spiraling inflation, it is my opinion that the 9.8% increase in support from local funds is an adequate amount with which to commence budget preparations. It will require, as in every budget review, careful scrutiny of requests." Dr. Ronald Baurele asked what Federal guidelines have been received regarding salary increases. Mr. Agnor said nothing has been received. Last year, a sincere effort was made to comply with the guidelines but it is uncertain if this year will be as successful because of the following: The rate of inflation went higher than the 7% guideline and many areas of the private sector did not comply with the 7% guideline and this was reflected back on the County employees. Agenda Item No. 3. other Matters of Mutual Interest. Mr. Fisher noted that the full amount of money requested for the Meriwether Lewis/Murray Schools has been included in the Capital Improvements Program for planning purposes. However, a letter will be forthcoming from the Board stating some concerns about location of a new school to replace Meriwether Lewis School. Mrs. Jessie Haden, Chairman of the School Board, was pleased that such concerns would be~given to the School Board and noted that this would enable the School Board to look at sam~ and proc'eed with more detailed planning. Mrs. Haden stated that when the School Board requested guidelines last year about budgeting that the School Board tried to stay within these guidelines but found themselves in a situation where they needed additional funds to carry on the educational programs in the County. Therefore, they would like to reserve the right this year to request additional funds from the Board of Supervisors if some are needed. Mr. Fisher said the revenue projections presented tonight are based on the assumptions available at this time. He noted that State funding has not been keeping pace with the amount needed to implement the quality standards. There are almost no areas of the State now that are not spending more than what the State reimburses for quality education. If something is to be done about this problem, Mr. Fisher felt more time will need to be spent in legislative committees when they are considering funding bills for education. Mr. Lindstrom felt the impression was given last year that the Board had established an absolute maximum when the guidelines for the budget was given. Mr. Lindstrom said he has not had a chance to study the information given by Mr. Agnor. Although he feels the projection are good ones and should be adhered to, he did not want to create the impression that they are final. Mr. Lindstrom also felt the amount of money expected to come from the general fund should be studied further. Dr. Iachetta agreed, but noted that he would not support a tax increase and in fact hoped for a decrease. Dr. Iachetta felt the projections should be optimistically assumed. October 16, 1979 (Night Me~ting~-Adjourned from October 11, 1979) Dr. James ~Walker agreed with Mr. Lindstrom and said he feels the School Board had to do the best it could in arriving at a budget. Mr. Fisher said the projection is the best available at this time and new dollars cannot be created if revenues keep falling off. Mrs. Haden noted that the School Board has a legislative committee which hopefully will give the rest of the School Board some guidance about revenues. Mr. Dorrier said some parents in the County are concerned about the lack of activities in middle and elementary schools.~ Mrs. Haden said the policy in mi~ddle and lower schools is that such activities be held so the students can ride the bus home. Th.erefore, there are no after school activities. ~ Dr. Clarence McClure, Superintendent of Education, said a committee comprised of parents, staff members and some students had considered some competitive sports for the middle schools. They considered extending the school day to get in seven periods so that several times a year, students could compete during the day against each other in various activities. Dr. McClure said people in the professional field have stated that highly competitive sports are not the best thing for students at this age level. A lot of time is required and about $330,000 is now being spent in high school sports. Also, it would be very costly to provide these same activities for the lower grades because transportation would have to be provided and many children could not participate. Dr. McClure felt the County Parks and Recreation Department, as well as the YMCA offer activitie~ which should be considered. Mr. Fisher was delighted that the use of school grounds by the Parks and Recreation Department has been successful. Mr. Dorrier asked if the TIPS Program (Crime Resistance) was effective. Dr. McClure said the program was requested by the FBI and the Governor. It is being nationally validated at this point and claims are being made that it is successful. He noted that the program is now being developed in the secondary schools. Principals at the elementary and middle schools use it as they see fit. The program can be included in the Social Services curriculum~ Dr. McClure said the School Board approved the program four years ago and every school is not required to have it. Mr. Dorrier had not received any criticism of the program. Dr. McClure said several schools have purchased the needed materials but there has ~been no commitment of local monies. Mr. Dorrier hoped the School Board would pursue the program in order to help alleviate the problems with juvenile crime. Agenda Item No. 4. At 7:50 P.M., motion was offered by Dr. Iachetta, seconded by Mr. Lindstrom to adjourn into executive session to discuss acquisition or sale of property. Roll was called and same carried by the following recorded vote: AYES: Messrs. Dorrier, Fisher, Henley, Iachetta and Lindstrom. NAYS: None. ABSENT: Mr. Roudabush. The Board reconvened into open session at 8:15 P.M. Agenda Item No. 5. Motion was offered by Dr. Iachetta, seconded by Lindstrom, to adjourn to October 17, 1979 at 2:30 P.M. in the County Office Building Board Room. Roll was called and same carried by the following recorded vote: AYES: NAYS: ABSENT: Messrs. Dorrier, Fisher, Henley, Iachetta and Lindstrom. None. Mr. Roudabush.