Minutes 05-11-2010 - Laserfiche WebLink

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Commissioner Hemminger said that she is having a hard time with this. Michael Talbert said that if this is put in the fund balance of the Capital Fund, the County Commissioners can use it for anything they choose and it can be moved back to the General Fund. Commissioner Hemminger said that she wants to be more transparent with the public. Frank Clifton said that he has never seen as many old projects left to sit in the accounts. He said that he is trying to create some transparency. He does not know why the auditors have not brought this issue to the County Commissioners' attention before. He said that there is no way that it could have been missed as a confusing system. Commissioner Gordon made reference to the County Capital Projects Fund and asked if there was an amount in there in the beginning. Michael Talbert said that there is not money in it because they never closed any projects out. Commissioner Gordon said that she is inclined to go along with this as a way to clean up the records. She accepts the argument that some money should be kept in a capital reserve. She made reference to Twin Creeks Park and said that there was actually bond funding of $300,000 designated for this. When the financial situation improves, she would like to put the $300,000 back for Twin Creeks. Commissioner Jacobs said that the Homestead Park Aquatics Center and Southern Park are also bond projects. He said that, as the Board makes cuts, he would like to keep track of where they take money from and where it goes. He said that he would like to have the opportunity to visit what these activities are and why they were funded so that things can be put into context. He said that whatever the Board does should be accompanied by this list so that when the Board revisits the County Capital Reserve Fund, everyone understands where the money was taken. Frank Clifton said that this can be done through the minutes of the meeting in which the action was taken. Then it will always be available for someone to research. Commissioner Jacobs asked that someone put words to some of these projects so that everyone knows what these projects mean. Michael Talbert said that he would do this. Commissioner Jacobs said to asterisk the ones that were bond projects. Commissioner Nelson said that he is not as comfortable with this as others are. He does not know what some of these projects are, so it is hard to say that he is comfortable cutting them and moving the money somewhere else and he does not understand where the somewhere else is yet. Regarding the second section, he has some of the same concerns and he is not ready to approve these suggestions. For attachment 3, he asked if the item for the Library Task Force funding was for the Southwest Orange Library, and he was told that it was. Frank Clifton said that one of the troubling aspects of what the County Commissioners have done in the past is that the County is paying debt service and interest on bond funds that are being held because there were not enough funds to complete a project. He thinks that it would be better to take the bond funds and pay down the debt. Commissioner Gordon said that, after hearing the discussion, she thinks the County Commissioners need more information on what these projects are before she can recommend this action. She thought that she could go with the staff recommendation as it is but she realizes that after the further discussion, the Board needs more description on these bond projects. Commissioner Pelissier said that the County Commissioners need to see project ordinances on each of these projects so that a determination can be made on which projects to close out. She suggested a yearly report on all capital expenditures so that the Board can keep track of what is happening with capital expenditures.