Minutes 02-22-2011 - Laserfiche WebLink

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Commissioner McKee said that the County Commissioners may have to take a stand and set an expectation that there will not be a property tax increase in order to make the reductions they need to make. Commissioner Jacobs said that he agreed to start from the supposition of no property tax increase, but he would also like staff to look at other projections because there is a certain point where the County ceases to be Orange County and it becomes something less. He does not want to get to this point. Commissioner Foushee made reference the '/4 cents sales tax and said that this should be flagged with the understanding that there is not much the County can do right now. Given that this may be a revenue option, she would like to have a conversation before meeting with the schools in April. Frank Clifton said that the statutes provide that before the County sends the tax bills out, there is an extended deadline to adjust the tax rate if needed. There is a window of opportunity to do this, after June 30tn Commissioner Yuhasz agreed that item 3-b (1/4 cents sales tax) needs to be discussed again soon. 2. Preview of Requested Oranqe County CIP 2011-16 Deputy Financial Services Director Michael Talbert said that this is a preview of the CIP. This was the buff-colored sheet. He said that this includes only requested items and it is a working document. This is not the recommendation. He said that both school boards have approved their CIPs. The three attachments were the requests by the County departments, the CIP for CHCCS, and the CIP for OCS. He made reference to page 1, which is a summary. The total for the five-year period is $148,000,000. The total for the next five —year period is another$100,000,000. The breakdown is $80,000,000 for County projects, $87,000,000 for CHCCS, and $45,000,000 for OCS. One of the balancing factors that have been used for capital is the lottery proceeds. This is $1.5 million for the next five years. If this goes away, then that is $7 million lost. Commissioner Gordon asked about the debt capacity and Michael Talbert said that the ratio at this time is 16.33% and the goal is to keep it under 15%. Frank Clifton pointed out that the percentage of debt will go up as the County's budget goes down, even if the debt stays level. Michael Talbert continued covering the highlights on pages 2-3. Commissioner Jacobs said that he thought the Sheriff needed more than $195,000 for the jail and Frank Clifton said that he has had some discussions about this and what could be done with this site. This amount would help alleviate some of the issues with housing of female prisoners. Commissioner Jacobs said that at some point in the recent past, the Board made a commitment to the Sheriff to upgrade the jail. The Sheriff usually does not ask for things and he wants to make sure that the Sheriff is comfortable with this. Michael Talbert said that there is an existing jail project that was established several years ago and some bond proceeds were put into it. It has about $1 million in it at this point. This was for the 20 additional female cells. There is still discussion about where these cells should go. Frank Clifton said that there is some question about the things that need to be done for the jail in relation to the historic district and the fact that it has to be State approved. Commissioner Gordon made reference to the $600,000 for Twin Creeks and asked about the use for this money.