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15 <br />Commissioner Jacobs said there is an undesignated fund balance, and the Board can <br />come back in the fall and discuss this. He said the Family Success Alliance is in place and is <br />succeeding, and the Board may wish to support this further, but he thinks there should be a well <br />thought out plan. <br />Commissioner Burroughs concurred. <br />Commissioner Marcoplos asked if the staggered tax rate costs more over 5 years than <br />doing 5 now. <br />Travis Myren said no, it is a lower total. He said the Board could do roughly 5 cents <br />now, or implemented over time it gets to almost 8 cents. <br />Commissioner Marcoplos said over the long haul, if there was a 5% increase now, <br />people would be paying less taxes. <br /> Travis Myren said the overall rate would be lower. <br />Commissioner Marcoplos said the overall rate would be 3 cents lower, while the County <br />would still derive the same amount of money from the tax. <br />Travis Myren said yes, and that assumes that the County has to do all the incremental <br />increases over time. He said one of the justifications for the phase-in approach is that the <br />County will learn more about the economy in the coming years, and can adjust the increases <br />accordingly. He said the increases are not set in stone. <br />Commissioner Marcoplos said it seems that if the increase was a bit higher this year, <br />and there was less phasing on overall, it would save the residents more than $3. He said that <br />money could be put into the debt fund, and that would keep taxes down in the future, while still <br />giving the County space to react to economic conditions. <br />Commissioner Burroughs said that is a great idea and they both lost that battle a while <br />back. <br />Chair Dorosin said he appreciated Commissioner Marcoplos’ comments, but the reality <br />is that a 4.5 or 5-cent tax increase hits people on the margins much harder. He said there is a <br />trade off between the short-term and long-term costs. <br />Commissioner Marcoplos said that is why he called it a hybrid approach. He said a 5- <br />cent increase would be shocking to the system; but maybe raise the taxes a little bit more than <br />planned in order to save people money in the future. <br />Chair Dorosin said there is a motion on the floor to put $280,000 from OPEB back in to <br />the general fund, and the Board should vote on this first. <br /> <br />VOTE: UNANIMOUS <br /> <br />A motion was made by Commissioner Marcoplos, seconded by Commissioner <br />Burroughs to set a tax rate of 2.42 cent tax increase the first year, and bank it. <br /> <br />Commissioner McKee said he supported the incremental tax increases due to the <br />possibility of an improving economy leading to removing the tax increase all together further <br />down the road. He said he does not believe the County should be in the business of taxing <br />residents in order to bank the money for future use. <br />Commissioner Rich asked Bonnie Hammersley if she could explain how the County <br />would bank the money. <br />Bonnie Hammersley said staff would create a debt service fund. She said the 1.42 <br />increase would provide $2.6 million in revenue, which is what the County needs to pay its debt. <br />She said the additional revenues would go into a debt fund and be used for future debt service. <br />Commissioner Burroughs said the economy may not continue to rise, and then the <br />Board is left to implement a large tax increase, which will be very painful. <br />Commissioner Marcoplos said recessions occur on an average of every 7 years. <br />