Minutes 04-22-2025-Budget Work Session

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32 Chair Bedford asked if the county did not build a new recreation facility, what would the needed repairs be. Alan Dorman said $7.5 million would still be needed for repairs. Chair Bedford asked what kind of programming takes place at the current gym. She said it is used for basketball in the evenings. David Stancil said it is used all day for preschool, afterschool, classes throughout the day, and at night there is basketball and volleyball, rentals from the community, and summer camps. Chair Bedford said that if one of the school systems builds an elementary school or middle school, there would be an option for their gym to be built with an outside door and separate bathrooms and offices. She said that kind of facility would only be available after 6 p.m. She said it is expensive, but it was ranked high. She asked if the $7.5 million in repairs would only help the county limp along with the existing facility without improvements. Alan Dorman the facility is in need of improvements and the figure includes renovations and they have also put off several large CIP projects. He said they can do it for less, but it would be far from idea. Chair Bedford asked where the new gym would be located. Travis Myren said there is space by the motor pool and also where it is currently located. He said the opportunity cost would be that they cannot expand programming and serve more children. David Stancil said the current facility is maxed out. Commissioner Fowler asked if the new one is built, would the existing facility be demolished. Chair Bedford said yes. She said there were options for other projects to be adjusted. She said she thought there should be contingency for escalating costs of capital projects. She asked if there was a capital reserve fund. Travis Myren said there is less than $60,000 in that fund. Chair Bedford asked if there should be a contingency fund that could be tracked so staff could see what specific expenditures were higher than expected. She asked if that is allowed. Travis Myren said the expenditure needs to be connected to a capital project. He said each project carries a contingency of about 8% of the cost of construction. Kirk Vaughn said the CIP is a plan. He said once funds are borrowed, it needs to be tied to a project. He said placeholders for future years do not result in borrowing until much later. He said it could be a project basis or tied to a contingency project as part of the plan. Commissioner Fowler confirmed that 8% contingency is included. Travis Myren said yes. Chair Bedford said the expenses increase each year and they have not been very accurate on the operating side. Kirk Vaughn said it has been an extraordinary period of expenditure and inflation. He said that it has operating impacts and those are reflected on page 47. Travis Myren said they cannot borrow for operating costs. Chair Bedford said it has an impact on whether they should do the project. She said that she learned that $23 million is county pay-go and she asked if there is a history of pay-go. She said if they are framing $6.4 million causing a tax increase, it really is all of the projects together. She said she did not know that they were doing prior year pay-go. Kirk Vaughn said not every CIP cost is "borrowable." He said the $23 million in pay-go is over 10 years. He said there is a summary of the county capital on page 49, which is an incremental increase over time. Travis Myren said that if it were not for the school projects there would not be a tax increase.