Minutes 05-22-2014 - Laserfiche WebLink

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He said the largest components of the property tax revenues are real property, being $132.6 million, and registered motor vehicles, being $7.9 million. He said it is anticipated that the new collection method will make registered motor vehicles a larger component moving forward. Clarence Grier said property tax continues to be the largest portion of the general fund revenues, at 72.8 percent. He said property taxes have been 74 to 76 percent in past years, but the use of fund balance has decreased the reliance on property taxes. He said the bond rating has been upgraded to AAA rating for all three major rating services, and this lowers the debt service rates moving forward. Clarence Grier noted that the largest expenditure of General Fund Revenue is education, at 48.7 percent, and this is followed by Human Services, at 16.8 percent, and Public Safety at 11.5 percent. He referred to the slide on Concerns and Issues for Fiscal Year 2015-16 and said both school systems have a combined total of$330 million in outstanding projects and older facility needs. He said the health insurance costs for the County continue to increase, and this year the increase was 14.5 percent. He said the outstanding post-employment insurance benefit is $63 million, and the County has fully funded the past 2 fiscal years annual required contribution. He said the property tax revaluation is an issue because current assessed values are higher than property sales by 5.5 cents. He said a revaluation conducted at this time would require a $4.42 property tax increase to generate the same amount of revenue as is budgeted this year. He said the gap in general fund revenues and expenditures is growing at a rate that is unsustainable. He suggested a property tax increase or reduction in expenditures may be necessary in the next fiscal year. Clarence Grier reviewed the spreadsheet outline of the projected future budget for fiscal year 2015-2016. He said the Revenues are projected at$187,131,286, with 1.5 percent property tax growth and a 2 to 3 percent sales tax growth. He said the anticipated appropriated fund balance excess is $4.5 million, with expected adjustments of$7.1 million and estimated preliminary revenues of$194,309,751. He said taking into account the estimated expenditures of$2.6 million and estimated expenses of$198.2 million, there would be a budget shortfall of $3.9 million He said this would equate to $2.59 cents on the current property tax rate. He reviewed the dates for future public hearings and the document availability. Commissioner Gordon said this budget presentation was given on May 20th and questions arose about the CHCCS district tax. She said she had found a couple of interesting historical notes related to this. She said in 2005, there was a referendum to implement an OCS district tax, and it was defeated. She said there was also a referendum in 1996 to expand the use of the CHCCS special use tax from just operating to also to include capital. She said this passed with a vote of almost 2-1. Chair Jacobs noted for the public that the Board does not make any decisions about the budget until after the public hearings. Chair Jacobs said that the Board may have its own opinions about how the schools' money should be used, but that is not the role of the Commissioners. He said the Board gives the schools a per-pupil amount, and the school systems decide what the money is used for. Commissioner porosin referred to Commissioner Gordon's comments on the past history of school taxes. He hopes no one will conclude that the County school system is any less passionate about funding the needs of the children in the OCS district. He said it is common for the County not to have a special tax because the district is funded with a property tax. Commissioner Gordon said she is a strong supporter of both school systems, and she just thought the historical information was interesting.