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HomeMy WebLinkAboutM120107S District No.1 Commissioner: Phil JohnsoB District No.2 Commissioner: David W. SuWvu District No.3 Commissioner: John Autin County Administrator: John F. Fischbach Clerk of the Board: Lorna Delaney MINUTES Special Meeting December 1, 2007 Chairman Phil Johnson called the meeting to order in the presence of Commissioners David Sullivan and John Austin. Discussion re: 2008 Budget: County Administrator John Fischbach stated that he and Central Services Director Allen Sartin are requesting direction from the Board on several recommendations regarding further reductions in the proposed 2008 Budget. Allen Sartin explained that the budget and the fund balance are estimates. There are several methodologies to determine the unreserved, unrestricted fund balance and that is why there is a discrepancy between his estimate and Auditor Donna Eldridge's estimate. His estimate does not include "closing savings." The' Board has not held a public hearing on the fourth quarter supplemental budget requests which are estimated at $270,000 from the General Fund. He added that the budget could be balanced with reserves but it would put future reserves injeopardy. There was a discussion about not levying in 2008 for the Veteran's Relief Fund. This is allowed by statute as long as there is a sufficient amount of fund balance in the fund. This would add approximately $39,000 to the General Fund. Currently the fund has a surplus. The Board reviewed the proposed reductions in several funds. · The proposed reduction in the County Commissioners budget is $11,677. Commissioner Austin moved to accept the reduction as presented. Commissioner Sullivan seconded the motion. He noted that he has a concern about the travel line reduction to $5,000 and Allen Sartin reviewed the travel line expenditures for the past 3 years. The Chair called for a vote on the motion which carried by a unanimous vote. Commissioner Sullivan noted that in 2008 the County needs to address posting documents on the web site which he thinks may result in fewer public records requests. · The proposed reduction in the County Administrator's budget is $10,665. John Fischbach explained that the total funding for the Jefferson County Domestic Violence/Sexual Assault Program will be taken from the Chemical Dependency/Mental Health Fund. In addition, the Hood Canal Coordinating Council dues have been reduced. Commissioner Austin moved to accept the reduction as presented. Commissioner Sullivan seconded the motion. He stated that several other programs are also being funded from the Mental Health Fund and he is concerned about whether there will be enough revenue in the fund to support all the programs. The Chair called for a vote on the motion which carried by a unanimous vote. Page 1 Commissioners Meeting Minutes: Week of December 1,2007 · The proposed reduction in the Central Services/Information Services budget is $100,000. The County Administrator and Central Services Director are recommending that the Board rej ect this reduction. The County Administrator explained that reserves in this fund are too low and they have been gradually building the fund back up over the past few years. Commissioner Austin moved to accept the recommendation to reject the proposed reduction. Commissioner Sullivan seconded the motion for the purpose of discussion. Allen Sartin explained that the County needs to have a level of reserves to replace equipment when it is necessary. They have also restructured their replacement cycle. There was a discussion about the depreciation on computer equipment. The $100,000 would not go into reserves in 2008 if the Board approves the reduction. The Board concurred that they wanted to table the motion to later in the day. Later in the meeting: There was continued discussion about the proposed reduction. Commissioner Sullivan moved to reject the reduction in the Central Services budget. Commissioner Austin seconded the motion which carried by a unanimous vote. Allen Sartin added that the full capitalization of assets also needs to be dealt with in the future in the ER&R Fund. · The proposed change in the Sheriff's budget is a $28,988 increase in revenue and a $71,012 reduction in expenses. Commissioner Sullivan asked ifthe Sheriffwill still be able to add two Road Deputies? Allen Sartin replied that Sheriff Brasfield had said at an earlier meeting that there would be money in the budget for the additional deputies. Commissioner Sullivan moved to accept the reduction as presented. Commissioner Austin seconded the motion which carried by a unanimous vote. · The proposed reduction in the WSU Extension budget is $50,000. The Food and Farm Program and technical computer support would be eliminated and the Noxious Weed budget would be cut by $5,467. The balance would be made up from the department's reserves. Commissioner Sullivan moved to accept the Noxious Weed reduction and reject the other recommendations. Commissioner Austin seconded the motion. Commissioner Austin asked ifthe computer classes offered at WSU Extension are available at other local learning centers? Extension Agent Katherine Baril replied that the classes at Peninsula College are during the day and most entrepreneurs want classes in the evenings or on weekends. She suggested a possible source of funding for technical computer support would be a portion of the Associated Development Organization (ADO) funding that WSU Extension receives from the County. Commissioner Sullivan stated that he doesn't want to cut Extension's budget because they need to have flexibility for the ADO work. At that point, Chairman Johnson suggested that review and discussion ofthe remaining reductions be completed and then the Board can come back and take action on the recommendations. Later in the day: The Board discussed the estimated amount of unrestricted fund balance in the WSU Extension Fund. Commissioner Sullivan moved to accept the Extension Agent's recommendation regarding the Noxious Weed budget reduction and the use of $23,483 ofthe unrestricted fund balance. Commissioner Austin seconded the motion which carried by a unanimous vote. The other recommendations were rejected. Page 2 Commissioners Meeting Minutes: Week of December 1, 2007 · The proposed reduction in the Emergency Management budget is $25,000. The proposal is to reduce clerk hire hours and cut paging and cellular phone services. Director of Emergency Management Bob Hamlin had stated at an earlier meeting that cutting the paging and phone services would not be a problem. The Board agreed that this is a public safety issue. Later in the day: Commissioner Sullivan moved to cut$685 for the pager and cellular phone service from the Emergency Management budget. Commissioner Austin seconded the motion which carried by a unanimous vote. The other recommendation was rejected. · The proposed reduction in the Parks and Recreation budget is $50,000 in Parks programs and $50,000 in Recreation programs. The proposal is to eliminate activities at Memorial Field because the facility is in need of repair or replacement. Future parks projects that would be eliminated are: the skate-park and BMX race track at HJ Carroll Park, the new slide and playground surfacing at Upper Oak Bay Campground and repairs for the East Beach picnic shelter. Commissioner Austin suggested that the repair or replacement of Memorial Field should go before the voters. He doesn't think closing it this year is a good idea because the County would lose revenue. Commissioner Sullivan said that Memorial Field is a prime piece of property that could have alternative uses in the future. Chairman Johnson stated that this issue is on the agenda for the City/County Subcommittee on Recreation in 2008. The elimination of the future projects was discussed. At this point, there are no budgets for the projects. Commissioner Sullivan noted that there may be constituents interested in continuing on with the projects using private donations and volunteer labor. Commissioner Austin moved to accept the recommendation to eliminate the future projects in the Parks and' Recreation budget and to reject the recommendation to close Memorial Field. Commissioner Sullivan seconded the motion which carried by a unanimous vote. This is a $59,500 reduction in the use of fund balance. Commissioner Sullivan stated that the County needs to address the future of Memorial Field in 2008. · The proposed reduction in the Community Development budget is $100,000. John Fischbach stated that the recommendation is to reject cutting a landuse enforcement staff position and the Hearing Examiner. The Board agreed that these functions cannot be cut. However, it is recommended that the Board accept reductions by not accepting grant revenue for the Dosewallips River and Duckabush River Flood Plans and that they increase fees. Commissioner Austin moved to accept the recommendations as presented for the DCD budget. Commissioner Sullivan seconded the motion which carried by a unanimous vote. · The proposed reduction in the Public Health budget is $100,000. Allen Sartin stated that Public Health did not submit their backup information, however, he believes that the majority of the proposed reduction amount of $94,000 had to do with the removal ofthe "original" Clean Water District budget. John Fischbach added that there was a proposed reduction of2 FTEs for positions that are currently vacant. The Board agreed that they do not want cuts in the Onsite Sewer System Program because it would increase the timeframe for the permitting process which is already an issue. Commissioner Sullivan suggested funding the Nurse/Family Partnership from the Mental Health Sales Tax Fund. Allen Sartin stated that as the proposal stands, the Public Health Fund will not meet the working capital requirements for 2008. He suggested that at the very least, the Clean Page 3 Commissioners Meeting Minutes: Week of December 1, 2007 Water District items need to be removed. Commissioner Sullivan stated that he does not want to cut items that have not been identified. Later in the day: There was a discussion about the Board accepting the Public Health Director's recommendation to cut $94,000 from their budget without the Board being specific about which line items are cut. However, the Board reiterated that they do not want to cut the Onsite Sewer System Program or already existing positions. Allen Sartin stated that the Department's proposal is to reduce the transfer out of the General Fund to Public Health by $94,000. Commissioner Sullivan moved to accept the reduction of $94,000 as recommended by Public Health. Commissioner Austin seconded the motion which carried by a unanimous vote. · The proposal is to not levy in 2008 for the Veteran's Relief Fund. Commissioner Austin moved to not levy for the Veteran's Relief Fund due to the current surplus in the fund. Commissioner Sullivan seconded the motion which carried by a unanimous vote. Allen Sartin reviewed a new report he generated that showed the reductions that the Board had accepted in their motions. There was a discussion about using fund balance to make up the remaining shortfall. Approximately $328,000 will need to be taken from reserves. County Administrator John Fischbach cautioned that some of the reserves, such as the Special Project Fund reserves and the Bridge Sales Tax reserves are one time items. Allen Sartin stated that the Special Project Fund reserves are $131,116. Commissioner Sullivan moved to have the Special Project Fund reserves transferred to the General Fund. Commissioner Austin seconded the motion which carried by a unanimous vote. The Bridge Sales Tax reserves are $138,552. Commissioner Sullivan moved to transfer the Bridge Sales Tax reserves from the Construction Fund to the General Fund. Commissioner Austin seconded the motion which carried by a unanimous vote. Discussion with the Jamestown S'Klallam Tribal Council: The following members ofthe Jamestown S'Klallam Tribal Council were present: Ron Allen, Tribal Chair, Liz Mueller, Matt Adams, and Kurt Grinnell. Scott Chitwood, Natural Resources Director was also present. The following items were discussed: · Cooperation between the Tribe and the County · Determining protocol for dealing with human remains while constructing a Public Works project · Tamanowas Rock Sanctuary Project · Jefferson County Clean Water District · The Jefferson County Critical Area Ordinance (CAO) · Hood Canal Coordinating Council Summer Chum Recovery · Water Resource Inventory Area (WRIA) 17 · Puget Sound Action Area Page 4 Commissioners Meeting Minutes: Week of December 1,2007 NOTICE OF ADJOURNMENT: Commissioner Sullivan moved to adjourn the meeting at 2:16 p.m. to the next regular meeting on December 3,2007. Commissioner Austin seconded the motion which carried by a unanimous vote. JEFFERSON COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS " '1,_,,> ""'. ~ ' ./ 7 "Z=Jl1~,~// p~i(~~~~i;-'-"'^,-"-'" jJJ/V LIt~~ David W. Sullivan, Member ~~ ~7Y(~(cmc ~lie Matthes, CMC Deputy Clerk of the Board Page 5