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25 <br /> Slide#34 <br /> Questions? <br /> ORANGE COUNTY <br /> Chair Hamilton thanked the County Manager for the presentation. <br /> Commissioner Portie-Ascott asked for the breakdown between lump sum property tax payments <br /> and property taxes paid on a payment schedule. <br /> Travis Myren said he would look into it. <br /> Commissioner McKee asked if the County Manager considered what other reductions could be <br /> made to reduce the tax rate increase to 2 cents. <br /> Travis Myren said not specifically to 2 cents. He said he instituted a hiring freeze,and departments <br /> were directed to develop flat budgets. <br /> Commissioner McKee described the other possible increases which will affect residents, such as <br /> fire taxes and user fees. He said he would like information on how to lower the tax rate increase to avoid <br /> cumulative large increases in future years. <br /> Travis Myren said that he would share information on mandatory and non-mandatory services <br /> offered by departments. <br /> Chair Hamilton asked how many commissioners are interested in a scenario of a 2-cent tax <br /> increase. <br /> Commissioner Bedford said that a reduction from 3.75 cents to 2 cents is the equivalent of$5.9 <br /> million. <br /> Commissioner Portie-Ascott said she would also like to see a scenario of no tax increase. <br /> Commissioner Carter thanked the County Manager and staff for their work on the budget. She <br /> highlighted some of the reductions and some of the increases in the budget. She said it's important to <br /> communicate the tradeoffs. She said she liked to see a scenario of no tax increase and a 2-cent increase. <br /> Vice-Chair Fowler thanked the County Manager and staff for their work on the budget. She noted <br /> that cutting the tax rate impacts the debt to revenue ratio and that the modeling several years out is at <br /> 19%. She said that the policy is that they want to keep it at below 15% and cutting revenues makes that <br /> ratio worse, which could impact the interest rates the county receives when taking on debt. <br /> Chair Hamilton said that could change what the Board decides to fund for capital. <br /> Commissioner Bedford said the recommended wage increase is $1.86 million, which would still <br /> leave$4 million to reduce. She said there are a multitude of scenarios and it's too ambiguous to ask what <br /> a budget could look like. She said she would like to hear from county departments on their budgets and <br /> propose budget amendments. She said that otherwise they'd be putting the County Manager in the <br /> position of cutting personnel. She said when looking at mandatory vs. discretionary, they could cut the <br /> budget to just what's mandatory but then end up doing it poorly. She cautioned against asking for <br /> scenarios from staff. <br />