Agenda - 02-20-2018 8-a- Minutes

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21 1 month. Even though residents can pay their tax bills in installments if they have to, 2 some cannot afford the rise. Maybe over the time period some people who do not 3 have a job now will have one. 4 5 o Commissioner Marcoplos said that he might change his mind, but today he is seeing 6 the advantages to a one -time increase. Phasing will make residents experience a tax 7 increase year after year; after only one increase over the past eight years residents 8 will find that repeated increase objectionable. The amount may not be as important 9 as the perception that we are in an era of tax increases. I also would like us to have 10 some revenue stored up front before what I expect will be a difficult future. I see the 11 benefits of phasing as well, he said, and I look forward to our continued discussions. 12 13 o Commissioner Dorosin said he is leaning toward phasing. It is how I would run my 14 home finances, he said: putting a large necessity on a credit card and paying the 15 amount off over time. If I thought all our residents could pay off the $7M all at once 16 then I would support a one -time increase, but we all can't. The one -time increase 17 might be enough to displace people. 18 19 o Commissioner Rich said she supports a one -time approach, at least right now. We 20 told folks that if they voted for the bond referendum it would mean a five cent 21 increase in their taxes. Residents will have to pay a lot more under the phased rather 22 than the one -time scenario. I think we should continue the conversation and weigh it 23 out together. 24 o Commissioner Jacobs noted that the Board has been talking about the highest 25 possible increase under the two scenarios. If we actually did some of the other things 26 — cost reductions, other revenue enhancements, efficiencies, adjusting the reserves 27 — then the tax increase might be lower — two cents instead of four cents -- and more 28 palatable as a one -time event. 29 30 o Commissioner Marcoplos said that another option is to phase in the increase in two 31 increments (year one and three, for example). 32 33 o Commissioner Price said that when the tax increases stopped over the past eight 34 years, residents' expectations settled around the idea that the tax rate does not 35 increase. She added that even if the Board decided on a one -time increase for FY18- 36 19, there is no guarantee that new conditions would not arise making it necessary to 37 increase taxes again in the next or in future years. 38 39 Ms. Hammersley thanked the Board for this discussion. She said her thinking when 40 recommending phasing to SWAG was that in the later years an opportunity might arise to 41 help avoid the later phases. The numbers are not my primary consideration when I craft a 42 budget recommendation, she said. The primary consideration is the balance across 43 environmental sustainability, social justice, and economic vibrancy. We're affecting people's 44 lives, and we need to keep that in mind as we make our decisions. We'll give you as much 45 information as we have to help you in understanding the impacts. This is the first time we 46 have talked about the budget before the budget, and it is giving me a greater perspective for 47 thinking about how I'm going to address this without surprises for you all. 48 49 Commissioner Rich said that the County's messaging on the budget situation has to happen 50 repeatedly. It used to be you had to say something three times before people remembered 51 it, now that number might be seven. It's important for us not to have our message hijacked.