Agenda - 06-21-2011 - 8c - Laserfiche WebLink

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ORANGE COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS ACTION AGENDA ITEM ABSTRACT Meeting Date: June 21, 2011 Action Agenda Item No.G SUBJECT: Approval of Fiscal Year 2011-12 Personnel Ordinance Chan es DEPARTMENT: Human Resources PUBLIC HEARING: (Y/N) No ATTACHMENT(S): 1. Personnel Ordinance, Article V, Section 19.0, Living Wage and Article IV, Section 24.0 Furlough INFORMATION CONTACT: Katherine Cathey, Interim Human Resources Director, 245-2553 PURPOSE: To approve amendments to the Orange County Personnel Ordinance Article V, Section 19.0, Living Wage and Article IV, Section 24.0, Furlough. BACKGROUND: If approved by the Board of County Commissioners, the 2011-12 Manager's Recommended Budget requires approval of an amendment to Article V, Section 19.0 and Article IV, Section 24.0 of the Orange County Personnel Ordinance. Staff recommends amending Article V, Section 19.0 to refer to a minimum hourly wage, "as set by the Board of Commissioners in the annual budget", rather than stipulating the amount of the minimum hourly wage. This change would alleviate the need to amend the Personnel Ordinance each time the Living Wage is updated during the annual budget process. North Carolina General Statute §153A-45 provides that in order for an ordinance to be adopted on its first reading it "must receive the approval of all the members of the board of commissioners. If the ordinance is approved by a majority of those voting but not by all the members of the board... it shall be considered at the next regular meeting of the board." The Board then has 100 days after introduction of the ordinance to adopt the change to the ordinance. If the Board does not unanimously approve the above amendment to the Personnel Ordinance, the amendment will not go into effect, as this is the last regular board meeting prior to July 1, 2011, and the Living Wage will remain at $10.12 per hour instead of the $10.81 in the recommended budget. In addition, because of the financial crisis for the past two years, the Board has authorized a Furlough Plan for County employees. An amendment to Article IV, Section 24.0, Furlough allows the Board to have the use of furlough in times of economic crisis, but also allows the County Manager to use voluntary furloughs as an ongoing cost saving measure. FINANCIAL IMPACT: Savings from the proposed personnel services reductions are included in the 2011-12 Manager's Recommended Budget. The savings projected from extending the Voluntary Furlough program is $30,000. Personnel services costs associated with increasing