Minutes 01-26-2018 Retreat - Laserfiche WebLink

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17 figure out what we are going to do. I would like to say that we have a priority order for decision making, where a tax increase is at the end. We might have to raise the tax, and it is part of our responsibility to meet our fiscal obligations, but there are different ways that we can get there. Commissioner Rich said she was thinking along the same lines as Commissioner Jacobs. Different residents of the county have different expectations of what our budget should be and what we should be spending money on. Not everybody is going to be happy when we start cutting or if we raise taxes. We should balance out as best as possible all that is before us. Commissioner Jacobs added that the tax equity study’s presentation of the difference in income across the different areas of the county is eye-opening. That’s a factor we never really discuss, but it’s an underlying current in everything we do. Commissioner McKee said that when he joined the Board seven years ago he was adamantly opposed to any tax increase, because of the ten or eleven years of constant tax increases. I have evolved in my thinking, he said. I don’t see how we are going to be able to go forward long term without some tax increase. But I also don’t see how we can remain healthy and affordable without cuts; and those cuts are going to be painful and they are going to be adamantly opposed. We are going to have to be prepared for that. We’re not going to see the storm that Commissioner Marcoplos referred to earlier, before it hits. Commissioner Burroughs expressed appreciation for Commissioner Dorosin’s broadening of the conversation. We definitely should look at efficiencies, cuts, and “selling the cow” by making a short term adjustment in our reserves. We can talk at a high level about all these things, but when we come back to this conversation after today we will be responding to the Manager’s budget, she said. In fairness to the Manager, and as leaders, we need to give the Manager some specific direction. In reply to a question from Commissioner Marcoplos. Ms. Hammersley said it would be helpful to hear specific suggestions for cost efficiency opportunities from the Commissioners, perhaps after the lunch break. Commissioner Price said she agreed with the broader look suggested by Commissioner Dorosin. We also have to be mindful of approaches that others can take to help the county address the local economy, which impacts the County budget. She acknowledged the work Commissioner Rich is doing on the living wage, for example. Economic development that brings in jobs and additional development are factors affecting our budget as well, she said. Commissioner Rich asked the staff to present after the lunch break on the actual dollar amounts that would be added to the household budgets of owners of differently valued homes under the two tax-increase scenarios. 12:00 Lunch Break 12:45 Continue Budget Exercise We’ll focus on the set of items favored by a majority of the Board for the next discussion: • What Board values/goals is advanced by this set of potential priorities, and how? • What concerns would staff or Board members have if this (majority) set of budget priorities were adopted by the Board? • How might the Board or staff address those concerns?