Minutes 05-19-2020 Virtual Business Meeting

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7 ➢ Two Step Process to Decide; 1) Municipalities Allocation 2) Eligible Uses Allocation by June 1 ➢ Inform Town Finance Officers of Federal and State Guidelines, Tracking Expenditures and Reporting Timeframes ➢ Implement Funding Plan Questions Commissioner Dorosin said the BOCC is discussing two things: the allocation formula and the plans. He said the recommendation for the formula is to do it per capita, and asked if there are any alternatives to this method. Gary Donaldson said per capita is fair and reasonable, but another alternative could be on the ad valorem. He said the staff recommendation would be to use the per capita. Commissioner Dorosin asked if staff looked at a comparison of the options. Gary Donaldson said yes, and the ad valorem option would be higher for the county and less for the municipalities. Commissioner Dorosin said it would be helpful to hear all options and their comparisons, when there is more than one option. Commissioner Dorosin said the second decision is what the funding plan would be. Bonnie Hammersley said staff will bring a recommended funding plan to the Orange County Board of Commissioners, and she will be meeting with department heads and will find out what they need, and her staff will prioritize. She said $2.6 million is not a lot of money, and the County will have to spend quickly. She said staff will probably bring it to the Orange County Board of Commissioners at the May 28th work session, and the towns have to submit their plans at the same time. Bonnie Hammersley said the other option is to give the towns a portion of these funds, which would be totally voluntary on the part of the County. She said there will be no other monies in the CARES ACT for municipalities. She said the plan will be brought forward as soon as possible, and staff is open to suggestions. She said there are many Covid related expenses, and any local funds would have to be used before the CARES ACT funds; however, Orange County has not put aside any local money. She said after CARES ACT funds have been spent, then petitions can be made to the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). Commissioner Dorosin said the two things that these funds can be spent on are on County needs and small business grants. He said he hoped that any plan would include funds for these two things. Bonnie Hammersley said the BOCC must decide if it wants to give funds to the towns, per capita. She said she did not think to include ad valorem as an option. Chair Rich said these monies have to be spent between March and December 2020. Commissioner Bedford said she had a concern about using the per capita allocation as outlined, although she thinks per capita is fairer than ad valorem. She said things like the health department and DSS, which are countywide, have had a lot of expenses. She asked if the total of these expenses is known, and said these expenses would only be incurred at the County level. She said it may be better to give the towns half of the suggested percentage, and when the staff has the first quarterly report, staff can adapt the funding. She said postage to mail paper-voting ballots will also be a County expense. She said her concerns are the per capita percentages are too high, and she would like to try to stagger the plan and funding. Bonnie Hammersley said the County is in charge of many of these services, but the entire county is taxed for these purposes. She said they have spent about $495,000 to date. She said there are some things that will be centralized within Orange County, such as masks. She said the consultant who will come on board to lead the recovery will be shared amongst all the partners, and all plans will work together and complement one another. She cautioned the