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<br /> great. She said that the proof is in the pudding, and she is not sure that it has been proven that
<br /> the occupancy tax increases the income tax.
<br /> Travis Myren said he did not hear majority support to use occupancy tax funds to offset
<br /> general fund expenses but there is majority support for spending some on the arts, and in terms
<br /> of fund balance, there is an appetite for reduction, but not elimination.
<br /> c. Master Aging Plan Balance Discussion
<br /> The Board discussed the outstanding balance of the Master Aging Plan project and how the
<br /> Master Aging Plan should be budgeted in future fiscal years.
<br /> BACKGROUND: The County's Department on Aging has had a long-standing relationship with
<br /> Carol Woods.As Carol Woods is a continuing care retirement community, it does not pay property
<br /> taxes to the County. Carol Woods has instead provided a $175,000 annual charitable gift to the
<br /> Department on Aging, which the County reserves for use for the Master Aging Plan (MAP). Over
<br /> the last several fiscal years, the Department has accumulated a large reserve of the donated
<br /> funds, detailed in the table below. The primary causes leading to this accumulation are, first, that
<br /> the Department had access to one-time Federal grants that needed to be spent down, and second
<br /> that there has been a higher rate of vacancies in the temporary staff that were funded out of the
<br /> MAP program. For example, of the seven (7) identified temporary staff positions that are intended
<br /> to be funded out of the MAP program, only two (2) or three (3) of those positions were filled at
<br /> any given time over the last three (3) years.
<br /> MAP Balance FY 2018 FY 2019 FY 2020 FY 2021 FY 2022 FY 2023 FY 2024
<br /> Starting Balance $ 99,880 $ 128,263 $ 163,864 $ 251,570 $ 377,911 $ 469,734 $ 579,105
<br /> Expenditures $ 146,617 $ 139,399 $ 87,294 $ 78,659 $ 100,965 $ 90,138 $ 130,659
<br /> New Revenue $ 175,000 $ 175,000 $ 175,000 $ 205,000 $ 192,787 $ 199,509 $ 216,459
<br /> Annual Surplus/(Deficit) $ 28,383 $ 35,601 $ 87,706 $ 126,341 $ 91,822 $ 109,371 $ 85,799
<br /> Ending Balance $ 128,263 $ 163,864 $ 251,570 $ 377,911 $ 469,734 $ 579,105 $ 664,904
<br /> In response to this balance, the FY 2024-25 Manager's Recommended Budget redirected
<br /> $75,000 of the new Master Aging Plan funds to offset the Aging Department's expenses in the
<br /> General Fund. There was also a proposed Commissioner amendment to the Budget to redirect
<br /> the remaining $100,000 to offset General Fund expenses. That amendment failed by a vote of 3-
<br /> 4, with the majority of the Board preferring to revisit the issue in greater detail prior to the Board's
<br /> FY 2025-26 Budget process.
<br /> For this discussion, County staff will present the recent budget history of the Master Aging Plan,
<br /> the programs that the MAP program supports (Attachment 1), and three broad categories of
<br /> scenarios of how the funds could be spent down. The scenarios are:
<br /> 1. Expand Aging programming within the MAP project to spend down the balance over 2-3
<br /> fiscal years.
<br /> 2. Utilize the balance to offset the cost of the Department on Aging in the General Fund for
<br /> multiple fiscal years.
<br /> 3. Identify other County initiatives consistent with the donation that could utilize additional
<br /> one-time funding.
<br /> As the Board discusses the three (3) options, it should keep two (2) considerations in mind. First,
<br /> utilizing one-time revenues for ongoing expenses will create a budget gap in future years. Second,
<br /> while the County has broad latitude to utilize existing Carol Woods donations, Carol Woods could
<br /> withhold future donations.
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