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HomeMy WebLinkAboutStrategic Minutes 11-13-2009BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS ST. LUCIE COUNTY, FLORIDA 2009 STRATEGIC PLANNING SESSION Date: November 13, 2009 Convened: 1:15 p.m. Adjourned: 4:05 p.m. Commissioners Present: Faye Outlaw, County Administrator, Lee Ann Lowery, Asst. County Administrator, Millie Delgado-Feliciano, Deputy Clerk The County Administrator advised the Board the State Attorney and the Public Defender had attended a prior meeting and understand the present situation. Criminal Justice The Criminal Justice Coordinator addressed the Board and reviewed the operations and the various programs initiated for cost savings purposes. They have saved in number of bed days due to the pre-trial programs $2,371,000 bed dollar days. This year they have reduced their cost by $102,000. The manager of the pre-trial program negotiated a lower cost. The mandated Juvenile Justice budget is 2.1 million and he is working with the Judges on this pre-trial program. The economically deprived counties do not pay their fair share of this issue, so other counties pick up the cost. This is a state wide issue. Com. Craft stated he would like recommendations for more future cost savings from the coordinator and praised him for his present accomplishments. New Horizons- Jail Diversion $481,000 He recommended working hand and hand with those interested in utilizing the drug lab operations. This would generate revenue for the county from outside businesses. The cost would be $20.00 for the drug test. This could be provided through our health clinic should the Board decide to have the health clinic rather than going to the courthouse for these tests. Court Administrator The Court Administrator addressed the Budget for the 19th judicial. They are presently engaging in Juvenile programs. 45% of children who do not engage in programs return to jail or the detention center. The court fees mainly provide the budget for this department. He advised the Board if they switch over to IP phones they could save $50,000 per year. He is attempting to keep the budget as tight as possible. Com. Craft recommended the Criminal Justice Coordinator provide the data to the judges indicating cost savings in electronic monitoring. Ms. Pat Arnold -Public Defender's office Ms. Arnold stated she did not have a written presentation but will answer any questions the Board may have. The Public Defender is happy with the success rate of the programs discussed by the Coordinator .They also run the re-entry programs and she is seeking funding through other foundations which would be a direct benefit to the drug court and mental health court operations. This foundation is called Life Builders. Com. Craft asked if the Public Defender could make a presentation to the Coordinating Safety Council in January. Com. Craft stated he would like to discuss the jail position that is state mandated now. The mandated it is requirement for the state attorney and the public defender to be at 15t appearances. He would like to see the funding for that position moved to another place that would help the programs. Ms. Arnold stated although it was mandated, no one has received funding for that mandate and they do not have that position allocated in their budget. Com. Craft stated there is a benefit, however since it is mandated, it needs to be funded by the state not at the local level. The Board presently funds 3 positions for the Public Defender, 2 mental health court positions($94,000) and one jail attorney. The County should not fund anything that should be funded by the state especially with the county having limited dollars. Ms. Arnold stated she would pass the information on. Com. Lewis addressed the courtrooms planned for St. Lucie West. The Court Administrator stated they have more judicial officers doing work in St. Lucie County than before. He is planning a shuffling game with the space presently. They are trying to do more and meet the need with the community. The Supreme Court has certified this as a medium size circuit no longer a small one. We may get more judges in this circuit. The build out at the old clerk building will alleviate some the problem. Judge Roby asked if there was a way to convert non used space. He does not know what the cost would be and needed to speak to Central Services. Com. Craft stated he believed once the old courthouse annex is done he believes this will take care of the problem. Every time we get a new judge, then a new bailiff would be needed. We want the judges, however we do not want to fund it on our side. The County Administrator stated there were some issues as to the bid, however she believes they are due in on the 18th of this month. Clerk Smith/ Health Insurance Fund- Follow up discussion The Clerk advised the Board he is presenting unaudited document and the final numbers will be coming. This fund is an internal services fund to be used for specific purposes. He recommended the Board look at reducing the amount held unused and unrestricted amount to balance out the costs savings for the Constitutional Officers, this would be a cost savings to the county. Com. Craft asked how much they would be able to free up. The Clerk stated he would defer that question to the County Administrator. The County Administrator stated they have a build up in the fund that they think is more than what they need to have on account. There were a number of things they were to bring to the Board. There presently is $15 million (10 million unrestricted) in that account and the first question was, what is the threshold amount and the appropriate level of reserve they should have with all of their various funds and the amount above the threshold level and what they should do with it. The Board would be in position to refund that portion back to the operations( departments that paid into the fund) on a pro rata share. This would help to lower the budgets to all the departments who contributed to this fund. 2 Com. Grande stated what needs to be set aside in the future, he believes this is not the time and place to figure out how to work with this money. He believes they need a better analysis of what the options are and the legalities. The County Administrator stated the point they wanted to clarify, this is a health insurance fund that could be used to back fill gaps in operations. Com. Coward stated he concurred with Com. Grande's comments that they are not looking for specific policy decisions but would like to have a rough estimate and clear what the left over dollar amount would be or is it too early. The Management and Budget Director stated what they anticipate to be left over is around $ 5.8 million that can be re-allocated. The source comes from rates. Com. Coward asked what the source of these dollars were. The County Administrator advised the Board from all the various founds, i.e. general funds, enterprise fund, etc. Com. Coward stated if the original source of money is general fund and is unrestricted and put in a fund for specific purpose and it is not needed for that purpose, why do we not have the flexibility to back it out into the original source and use the flexibility therein. The County Administrator stated they do in terms of principal, this is why she stated it would be pro-rated, based on portion paid by the general fund paid into it. Com. Grande stated they needed to find out legally what they could do with it. Com. Coward thanked staff for the information and the Clerk of Court. BOCC COST SAVINGS DISCUSSION The County Administrator stated this discussion focuses on the BOCC discussions on Cost Savings, Cost Reduction and Revenue Enhancements. They have looked at a number of initiatives and will continue to do so. COST SAVINGS They have implemented a hiring freeze across the board. There were some positions that were important and she felt the county could not function with these positions being vacant, and she filled them accordingly. They are looking at the insurance rates to see if they were budgeting too high an expenditure in each of the departments as well as the constitutionals and what they pay into it and if they can adjust it. They are close to finalizing it and what each department would pay and reduce it. This will help on the sustainability side. The Health Clinic, she believes once they get this up and running this will produce cost savings for the county. Safety Training, they have stepped up this program and whether they can be proactive in reducing injuries and accidents. Energy and Water Costs- They started with a high level management position, sustainability Coordinator and the Board had made it clear what they wanted to focus on was the energy and water costs so they have restructured the position. The position has been advertised. 3 Com. Coward stated he would like to establish a goal for this new position. Com. Dzadovsky addressed a bonus incentive to save energy costs. COST REDUCTION The County Administrator addressed the Board and stated they were looking at the following: Longevity pay Sick leave incentive Car allowance Unpaid holidays -10 holidays They are attempting to consolidate/restructure departments. She will need to evaluate if it is appropriate to have 18 departments. She believes there will be restructuring. The County Administrator stated they will provide a recommendation to the Board regarding the Emergency Reserves policy. In terms of revenue enhancements, they have not included staff time in fees for Public Works They are looking at this. Also they are looking at the business tax fee and if now is the time to bring the issue forward to increase it. Com. Dzadovsky addressed the salaried employees and paid time off at a cost of 5.2 million. He asked if they stopped that program in two years would that reduce the obligation of 5.2 million if the employees were made to use the time off in the next two years. The County Administrator stated she has not had any discussion with the employees and staff and has not looked into how that policy would be restructured. The 5.2 million has to do with the liability for sick time. The Board would have to do away with giving sick time and vacation time, this is what that liability relates to. The Human Resources Director stated there is no paid time off policy. All employees accrue sick leave and vacation leave whether they are salaried or hourly. Com. Coward addressed performance contracting that may be able to assist the county with additional revenue, i.e co-using antennas and towers. The County Administrator stated they started looking at different areas along that line and they will continue to do so. Com. Dzadovsky asked if there had been any calculations done as to where we will be with home valuations and the CRA calculation and what we will lose to each of the CRA's. The County Administrator stated they have not done any calculations regarding the CRA's They have budgeted 4.2 million until the values come in from the Property Appraiser. Com. Craft asked if anyone had explored the idea of a 4-10 hour day work week. The County Administrator stated she had not looked at this ,however the prior Administrator had looked at one area, i.e Road and Bridge on a 4 day work week. Com. Craft stated they needed to identify the departments where it would be feasible to bring down to 4 days a week and he believes staff should take time to talk to their employees for suggestions, this suggestion cannot apply to all. Com. Grande stated there were many good suggestions received from the employees and he hopes that staff will look at them. 4 The County Administrator stated she has not had the opportunity to review the employee suggestions. Com. Dzadovsky stated they also needed to have discussions with the residents as to what services should be cut after all the other areas have been addressed within the county. The County Administrator stated she has left the area of employee suggestions and recommendations tothe Human Resources Director to bring forth to the Board. The Human Resources Director stated he has been attempting to schedule meetings with the individual Board members to go over various suggestions. Com. Craft addressed a suggestion regarding the credit cards and he believes this can be handled through staff and does not need to come back to the Board. The County Administrator did not pursue the recommendations because she was waiting for the Board to look at the suggestions from the group. Com. Coward stated he believed the simple ideas should be implemented as quickly as possible, he did not wish to have the employee group think their time and ideas were not taken seriously. WRAP UP Com. Grande addressed the review of per capita and CPI figures for county operations and the Sheriff. The County Administrator advised the Board she did have those figures available for their review. Com. Coward asked if the FY 2010 figures also indicate the additional funding provided by the county for the SRO program. The County Administrator stated it did. Com. Coward stated this needed to be noted also. He also addressed the information on the operating budget relative to revenue. He would like to see what the gap is in the coming two budget cycles. The County Administrator stated they could do this, they do not have it in that format but will provide it in hard copy to the Board, they are very close. Com. Coward addressed the Budget shortfall changing. The County Administrator stated it was 6.4 million going into 11/12, and now it stands at 28 million going into 2011/2012 due to different funding sources being updated. She believes it is a high number and it may be 10 to 15 million. Com. Coward stated they needed to continue to refine that number while working on areas that would continue to bring this number down. There are many potential opportunities presented. There is a big difference between $10 and $20 million. He does not want to leave thinking they are in desperate times and believes they are ahead of a lot of other counties. He does appreciate all the hard work staff has put into this. Com. Grande stated we are at the start of a budget year where we have projected out into the next year. The second out year we have foreseen a problem and seeing this type of a problem that far out is unusual for government. The number needs to be refined as quickly as possible. 5 The County Administrator thanked the Board for their indulgence during the Strategic Planning and she sees this as an opportunity on how they could do things differently and focus on some areas and believes this has been extremely helpful to her. It is important to her to keep a focus on what she calls "out years". They have a balanced budget now and looking at 11/12 she wants to start working on having a balanced budget for 11/12. There being no further comments the meeting was adjourned. 6 of St. Lucie West the grant will expire in 2010 as of June 30th they will be short 2.1 million for continued operations if they do not get the funds for the TC Connector. The County Administrator stated this was one of the MSTU that would be in a deficit for funding due to the decrease in values of the properties. She stated they would need to look at funding options to continue this operation. She alluded to the fact the Board may have decided to hold the millage rates and this was discussed in the October workshop. Com. Coward addressed the MSTU for transit and being presented the opportunity to increase revenues to the Avenue D intermodal. He was told they would not need to increase the MSTU at that time and only voted for it because he was assured they would not need to increase the MSTU. The Community Services Director stated the intermodal will be run by the Council on Aging using security funds for personnel and other cost savings and they do not anticipate it will not increase the MSTU and it will be a wash. They are confident of this. Com. Coward stated he is in favor of the intermodal but he believes they are being ambitious in believing it will be a wash. He has concerned with the economic situation in moving forward with amulti- million dollar project. The Community Services Director stated they will have some funds through the 5407 grant. Com. Coward stated he does not wish to raise taxes especially due to the economy and he was assured the MSTU was solid and there was no intention on increasing it and believes he is not receiving at consistent message. Com. Grande requested they come back with a total amount of the budget allocated to the demand response for transportation and the demand response trips. This may be the only place where he could see some reduction in cost. Demand response cost for Port St. Lucie and Ft. Pierce is 3.2 million. The demand response is $17.72 per trip. The Community Services Director stated the best way may be to move those who are not ADA to use the fixed routes. This would be a cost savings. Public Safety Sheriff's Department/School Board SRO Program Mr. Marty Sanders/ School Board Executive Director of Growth Management and Government addressed the Board and stated they have discussed a form of transportation for students to use Community Transit for transportation and if they can come up with funding to increase the fixed routes he would bring this to the school board for consideration. Mr. Sanders addressed finding a stable funding source for the SRO program. This is a continued community burden and they will continue to work to look for that funding. Com. Dzadovsky stated they had discussed a possible referendum as a funding source and asked if anything had transpired. Mr. Sanders stated they have not at this point and the next step would be to try to finalize a MSTU or MSBU. It may take 10/12 months to accomplish the referendum. Sheriff Mascara stated everyone is committed to the SRO program; however the funding has all fallen onto the Board's shoulders for the next couple of years. Port St. Lucie has removed 17 police officers from the SRO officers and he does not believe the Board nor his department will 9 not do it? They have picked up the cost. He believes this program is paramount. He believes the Sheriff will be asked to assume more responsibilities. The Sheriff addressed what they have identified that is not mandated to do. They eliminated 76 positions, no raises or bonus, no education reimbursement, eliminated 4 positions last year that they did not fill. They did not ask for funds to replace vehicles. They operate the jail which he feels is the responsibility of the Board. They have eliminated personal use of patrol vehicles. The jail budget is just under 29 million and the jail population continues to rise. They continue to have the Explorer program. Com. Dzadovsky addressed 15Y appearances and if this is reducing the cost. The Sheriff stated this decision has nothing to do with the jail. The Sheriff stated they have an increase of court cases; he was informed by the Chief Judge they will be using the St. Lucie West complex for trials and this would require personnel at that location. They are also looking at taking on more responsibility of federal prisoners this is being discussed by a coalition. Com. Craft asked if Port St. Lucie is hit harder and would they need to cut road patrol, would they be able to cover it. The Sheriff stated he would not be able to cover it with the existing staff. He would need to bill the City of Port St. Lucie for services provided by the Sheriff's office. Com. Dzadovsky asked if the felt there would be a cost savings if all three law enforcement departments were combined. The Sheriff stated it would be cost savings to the cities but not the county. He advised the Board he had been in discussions with the Mayor of the City of Ft. Pierce with regard to taking over the City of Ft. Pierce Law Enforcement and the Commission voted it down. Com. Dzadovsky asked what it would take to create a law enforcement district like the Fire District. Mr. Feterman stated they would need a local bill carried by the delegation passed by the state legislature. Com. Dzadovsky stated he hopes they will have this discussion with the municipalities. Com. Lewis stated the Sheriff is already tasked by statute to patrol the entire county, and it would only be a funding mechanism or source. The Sheriff stated they would not have the manpower to respond to all the issues within the cities. He stated he is aware that there has been discussion to go back to the 05/06 budget this would cause a 16.5 million deficit or the loss of 200 deputies. Com. Grande stated when you talk to go back to 05/06 levels, he would suggest that when a chart is put up he recommends adjusting the figures two ways; increasing the numbers by population and also increase the numbers by the CPI. The Sheriff stated they also need to have the increase in population of inmates included. The County Administrator stated the numbers on the screen and in the binders represent what has actually budgeted from General Fund and Fine and Forfeiture and expenditures. As she looks at where they are and where they are headed the two bookends she is looking at is, the BOCC operations and the Sheriff's budget. Whether she looks at it in a per capita basis or a budget allocation, she cannot get around that bookend from the budget allocation standpoint. 10 If she was to be challenged to look atone bookend, she would have to gut the Board operation to have a sustainable budget and this is what would happen if the Board so directs. As a starting point she must look across the Board where to share in the sacrifice. Com. Lewis recommended looking at the 10 year history. The County Administrator stated under the best case scenario if they were to reduce the gap it would still be a very big number and she would have to recomm4end to the Board to cut funding for all other outside agencies, she would still not be in the ball park where she needs to be. However, everyone is in the same boat where they need to look at the service impact and there will be service impacts due to the elimination of personnel. The numbers suggested don't work, the lion's share of the Board's budget is personnel and when you cut personnel you must cut services. Com. Dzadovsky stated he would like to start thinking about having community meetings as to what services can be cut. The Sheriff stated he is not doing anything they do not have to do to keep the public safe. He addressed giving the jail back to the county stating this would cut $28,000,000 from his budget. Com. Coward stated if this were to be achieved, where the saving would be in the proposal. The Sheriff stated he was not mandated to run the jail; they are doing this for the BOCC. Com. Dzadovsky stated he would like to review information on a private source running the jail. The County Administrator stated there would be information coming tomorrow on the per capita cost and the annual CPI adjustment. Com. Coward addressed the emergency reserves and what was an appropriate amount to be in there today. There is 17.6 million in reserves today and he would like to have further debate on this issue. Com. Craft stated he would entertain this discussion to close the gap if only for 1 or 2 years, but would like this discussion as a last resort. Com. Dzadovsky stated they can have a discussion on the 5% that had been presented tomorrow and where they would be today. Com. Grande stated at the time the goal was established we already had 17 million and the operating budget was reduced substantially and if they can see at the end of the tunnel by borrowing from the reserves, this may be something they can look at as recommended by Com. Coward. Com. Dzadovsky stated he would also like to know if this would affect the County's bond rating. There being no further issues to discuss, the meeting was adjourned. 11