Minutes 02-11-2010 - Laserfiche WebLink

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Commissioner Gordon asked how many property tax bills went down and Frank Clifton said theoretically 50% of property taxes went up and 50% went down on real property. Everybody's taxes went down on motor vehicles. Commissioner Hemminger asked if Durham Tech was included in the education expenditure and Clarence Grier said yes. Commissioner Hemminger said that she would like to not have that number included because the public does not respond to that very well. Chair Foushee said that she disagrees because this is a truer picture of what the County is spending on education and a footnote can be added to indicate Durham Tech funding. Commissioner Hemminger said to footnote this and to list how much. Frank Clifton said that some of this money is in other departments, though lumped under education, such as school nurses, social workers, and resource officers. All agreed to have a footnote designating the funding for Durham Tech. Commissioner Nelson asked how Orange County compares with other governments in terms of fund balance. Clarence Grier said that Orange County is better off than a lot of comparable governments. Frank Clifton said that he would encourage the County Commissioners to keep a larger fund balance, but it will take some time. With a larger fund balance, the County would not have to make such reactive budget cuts. Commissioner Hemminger said that she wants to budget salaries 100%, but she is having a hard time with this because of the budget season. Frank Clifton said that the Board would have to make that decision. Commissioner Yuhasz verified that this was 100% of currently authorized positions and there is a possibility that the number might get smaller if positions are eliminated. Clarence Grier said that the County is close to the top of its debt policy and has no room to issue any debt in the coming years. Chair Foushee asked for clarification on deferring CIP funding for the County and Clarence Grier said that just for one year there may not be CIP expenditures. Chair Foushee said that she wants to be clear that recurring capital is an operational expense and not a capital expense. Frank Clifton said that another key element for next year is that he will probably be recommending elimination of a lot of positions, most of them currently vacant. He has asked the County Attorney to draft a Reduction in Force Policy so that he will have something in case the County gets in a critical situation. He said that he will also look closely at funding for the outside agencies. He will pay special attention to try and maintain funding to local agencies that serve local populations that are funded primarily from local funds. He would not agree with any across the board cuts because it is not fair to reduce effective agencies along with all the others. Regarding Revenue Strategies, Frank Clifton said that the sales tax option gets distributed across the board to the entire population. He would suggest obligating the funds to some category instead of putting it in the general fund. Commissioner Nelson said that if the Board was interested in this, the deadline for putting it on the May ballot would be too soon. If it would be put on the November ballot, the impact on next year's budget would be minimal. Commissioner Yuhasz said that the Board should at least consider the sales tax option. He said that this tax has the potential to grow, unlike an annual property tax increase.