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Commissioner Jacobs said that it would be at least informative for staff to come back <br /> with bond information to pay for Elementary School #11. He said that this Board has been <br /> committed to not raising property taxes, and if they are making large capital investments, it <br /> might be worth it to talk about issuing bonds. He said that if they approve a bond, the <br /> taxpayers will be committed to paying for the projects in the bond. <br /> Commissioner Gordon said that she would not support a bond for Elementary School <br /> #11 because the County has worked hard under the SAPFO to plan for future schools and is <br /> already committed to building Elementary School #11. <br /> Frank Clifton asked if the bond issue would only be within the district. <br /> Commissioner Jacobs said that he is just asking staff to look into other capital projects <br /> that may be included and this may be too late for Elementary School #11. <br /> 2. County Departments <br /> Financial Services Director Clarence Grier said that the budget analysts will go through <br /> each department and provide an overview. <br /> Budget Analyst Michael Talbert said that they will go through the budgets briefly then <br /> each department head is available to answer questions. A couple of ground rules —there is <br /> pressure on the health insurance costs, increases in retirement required from the State, and <br /> 401 k contributions that are funded for an entire year as opposed to half a year. Every <br /> department that has employees, that is impacted in budget line item. Secondly, there are <br /> departments that have requested technology and are using the Technology Project and <br /> Capital Project funding. There has been considerable discussion about where that money <br /> gets spent. <br /> Sheriff— paqe 32-1 <br /> This budget is an increase of $270,000, which is a 2.4% increase. The Sheriff has 138 <br /> FTEs and represents about 15.8% of the total employees. Most of the costs are driven by the <br /> cost of benefits and there are some additional costs from the jail operations. There are some <br /> capital expenditures this year—four road-control vehicles and one transport vehicle for the jail; <br /> and $90,000 to replace kitchen equipment for the jail kitchen. The other change this year is <br /> that the County jail is broken out as a separate operation from the Sheriff. There are 36.5 <br /> FTEs that are dedicated to the jail. The operating budget total is $3.8 million. The capacity of <br /> the jail is 129 prisoners and there is a contract with the federal government to house 75 <br /> prisoners. This number varies daily. The reimbursement from the federal government is $1.8 <br /> million a year for housing the prisoners. <br /> Sheriff Pendergrass said that he appreciated meeting with the County Commissioners. <br /> He said that, in separating the budget out, there has been an increase somewhat in their <br /> request and one they hope to be considered is that the cost pool for the inmates is $60,000 <br /> and they wanted to go to $80,000. This contract provides medical service for all inmates and <br /> this is a good staff. <br /> Michael Talbert said that the Sheriff is the benefactor of some of the technology dollars <br /> that will come through the technology project for the replacement of 20 laptops with a cost of <br /> $26,000. <br /> Commissioner McKee asked if four vehicles would be enough and Sheriff Pendergrass <br /> said yes. <br /> Commissioner Foushee asked if there were matching funds with the technology. <br /> Michael Talbert said that the laptops were originally partially-funded by grant money, but there <br /> are no matching funds to replace them. <br />