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HomeMy WebLinkAboutStrategic Minutes 11-12-2009BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS ST. LUCIE COUNTY, FLORIDA 2009 STRATEGIC PLANNING SESSION Date: November 12, 2009 Convened: 8:00 a.m. Adjourned: S:OOp.m. Commissioners Present: Paula A. Lewis, Chairperson, Charles Grande, Doug Coward, Chris Craft, Chris Dzadovsky Others Present: Faye Outlaw, County Administrator, Lee Ann Lowery, Asst. County Administrator, Marie Gouin, OMB Director, Joseph E. Smith, Clerk of the Circuit Court, Jeff Furst, Property Appraiser, T. Clancy, Asst. Tax Collector, Shai Francis, Finance Director, Millie Delgado-Feliciano, Deputy Clerk Opening remarks were made by the BOCC Chair, Paula A. Lewis. The County Administrator addressed the budget not being sustainable in its present form; however, the 2009/2010 balanced budget is in place. The Assistant Tax Collector provided a power point presentation and informed the Board the tax collection for this past year was $575,750,822 as 9/30/2009. The tax roll for 2009 was a total of $459,886,939 a 10% decrease from the 2008 tax roll. The Assistant Tax Collector addressed the Tax Certificate Sales for 1003-2008 and stated he felt there was a limited amount of investment out there so they did things a little different and spread it out to make the bidding process easier and it ended up at $2.3 million. The actual collection rate was $539,517,977 FYE 6/30/2009 with discounts of 3.1%, pending 1.0% and CTC's 6%. Collected 95.3% He advised the Board there has been a rise in bankruptcies by 4/10%. Also the Value Adjustment Board process needed to be completed by May 15th and because it was not, many did not make into the number. These may up about 2/10%. The Property Appraiser's office advised the Board Florida presently has a 43% decline in home sales and St. Lucie County has 58.6% decline in home sales. Presently the median price for a single family home is $110,000 and believes the market is still soft. They expect the inventory to diminish once the economy picks up. In the commercial end there has been a spending decline as well as office job decline. There is less need for warehousing of construction and manufacturing. The Property Appraiser stated he believes Florida will be feeling the recession 10 months longer than the rest of the nation. He believes January 1, 2010 will start the assessment date. Com. Craft questioned what would be identified with municipal governments, 11.5 % for all or just for our county and would the city of Port St. Lucie be greater than an 11.5 % impact. The County Administrator advised the Board she had scheduled meetings with the Constitutional Officers and made then well aware of what our county was in for. Today they are focusing on the General Fund and the Fine and Forfeiture Fund. Also enterprise funds will not be discussed today or tomorrow. 1 The County Administrator reviewed the Fiscal Sustainability and reviewed reoccurring revenues. She advised the Board that fund balances are not included in the re-occurring revenues. The Management and Budget Director provided a 10 year history of the County's Budget. The Court gas tax and county gas tax supports the Public Works end. Impact fees are down 84%. Com. Grande commented the fact he felt were going to end up with a 20% decrease in revenues in the FY 2011/2012 and sated the bottom line in order to come out even in 2011/2012, they would need some type of combination of 30,000,000 in revenue increase. Com. Coward stated the overall budget has grants included and he would like to focus on operating expenses within the last 5 or 10 years. The County Administrator advised the Board the grant funds are not built into the equation; they were pulled out as well as capital in order to zero in on operating (a 3 year trend). At this She reviewed assumptions and projects. She stated the numbers going into 2011/2012 have changed since the workshop on October 2"d. The amount of revenues have not changed, $204 million as of now this is the same, what has changed is where we will be and the real expenditures for 2011/2012. She projected a $12 million surplus going into 2011/2012. This is not found money. Right now they have $88+ million as "one time money. The $35.4 million of onetime money has not been budgeted by the Board and at the Board's direction for them to use in the next fiscal year. The budget today as it stands has included the $52.9 million as one time money used to balance the budget for this year. Projected revenue of all sources total $106 million giving them projected revenue in the General Fund and Fine and Forfeiture Fund of approximately $204 million. In terms of projected expenditures it is $149 million; however the total amount of the expenditures is $173 million. This would leave $55 million with based on projected 11.5% drop in property values they are projected to have approximately revenues of $105 million with this amount of revenue plus the projected one time money projected they are looking at $159 million in revenues for 2010/11. Projected expenditures are at $146.7 million for 10/11. They are expecting to spend slightly less in 10/11 than this year, having capital this year to spend out and not projected to be replaced for 10/11. Based on this projection they are projecting to have 12.3 million at the end of 10/11 to carry into 11/12. With that 12.3 million in onetime money to carry into 11/12, plus what they project in property tax revenue and other sources (this is projecting they come in at the same level for year 10/11) would give $104.5 million and would be a total revenues projected at $117 million for 11/12. With projected expenditure rate staying at the same rate of $146.7 they would be in a short fall of 29.6 million for 11/12. There are some mitigating factors that could change this figure. Access fees were turned in by the Constitutionals fund balance of 5.9 million that will sit on account unless the Board says otherwise and it being backed out from the 29.6 million would be bringing it down to $23.6. Million gaps. If we factor back in the 5% reduction in property values, this would be 4.4 million and adding it back in would bring the amount to a $28 million deficit or shortfall. She has instituted a "hiring freeze" across the Board. There is however a number of mitigating factors. They may need to add $400,000 for the utilities loan in 2011/2012 if the department is not able to pick it up. Also if the state adds more mandates, this will also change the figures. She also advised the Board these figures do not include the funds in reserves. The County Administrator addressed a 10 year history of the Constitutional Officers. Com. Coward stated he would like to bring expenditures down to the '05' level. He addressed the significant increase in the Sheriff's budget since '05'. 2 Com. Craft stated he felt they needed to engage into discussions with the cities if there was a drastic loss of revenues and be made aware what their plans are and expressed his concerns especially with law enforcement. Com. Coward addressed a letter from the City of Port St. Lucie Police Chief indicating due to the recession they will be reducing their SRO program support from 19 officers to 3. This burden may be shifted to the County's Sheriff and he believes the same may occur with the City of Ft. Pierce. The County Administrator addressed a letter she received from the Sheriff where he indicates he is anticipating broader coverage than in the past for the SRO program. Com. Craft commented on the fact they may be seeing actual cuts in patrol for the cities and the School Resource Officers will fall back on the county. He stated he would like to engage in discussions in preparation for the shortfall should it occur. He would like for them to be ready beyond the SRO program. The County Administrator alluded to the paragraph in the Sheriff's letter where he states that "as they continue in the economic down turn, he anticipates more will be required by the Sheriff's department from both cities." She believes this is conversation they need to engage in. Com. Grande stated the population has changed and law enforcement expenses are based on population unless they can reduce the population to those days it may be difficult since the level of service is based on the population. ROUND TABLE DISCUSSIONS Clerk of the Circuit Court The Clerk of the Circuit Court addressed the Board regarding cost containment and enhancements with regards to the Recording Department and the Finance Department and other areas. The Clerk reviewed the chart presented where it indicated the Clerk to the Board function and the operating expenditures were $1.849 million. They have continued to reduce the number to 1.8 million and the budget for 09/10 had been further reduced to $1.799. The Clerk's office was able to return fees however not as good as in 06/07. This past budget year, they provided a little more than $100,000. On the recording fee operation, this has been reduced from $4.5 million in '06' to an estimated $1.735 million in 2010, the excess fees they do not believe they will have that many. They are presently at 20 FTE Clerk to the Board function and about 22 FTE for recording fee operations. He addressed the Health Insurance Fund which is a fund the Board controls and this fund presently has an unreserved fund balance of $10 million. All constitutional officers pay into this fund with the exception of the Sheriff. He believes those unreserved fund balances can be used by the Board if they wish and he hoped they would consider reducing the fund balance to a more manageable amount. He also suggested the Board could provide assistance from the unreserved fund balance to those who pay into it and by doing this; the Board would not need to budget for the additional dollars. He advised the Board they have gone to doing their laser fish and recording in a different way and this provides a reduction of staff time and cost. The Clerk also reduced cost by moving the recording department at St. Lucie West to the Clerk's building. He also advised the Board they have looked into what is called "voice over Internet protocol" telephones. This system would assist in reducing the telecommunication cost the Board presently provides at $100,000 per year. They hope this may reduce the cost that is used for all constitutional officers for telecommunications. 3 ~~ .~~ ~~ He also addressed the Health Care cost the BOCC pays is probably one of the highest in the state. On the Board Finance side it is about a one million dollar cost and on the court side it is about 2 million. In 2011/2012 budget year they hope to be able to reduce or get rid of the Banner Court system this will be less expensive for the Board to fund, they are looking into this. Com. Craft addressed the expanding of the court rooms at St. Lucie West. The Clerk stated he was not sure the Court Administration's position on that issue. The Clerk's office is doing the best it can with what they have. There have been 650 new foreclosure filings. Com. Grande questioned the unreserved insurance fund and asked if this was to cover unanticipated claims. The Finance Director stated the reserves are already taken out of it. They set aside those funds right away based on experience. The net is the $10 million dollars and it is an unreserved fund balance. They have $15.5 million and $5.5 million is set aside for other benefits in the future. Com. Grande asked if they could get together with the Health professionals and determine what the $10 million is actually sitting there for if not reserved for anticipated claims. The Clerk stated upon Board direction they would be happy to do so. Com. Lewis stated they are taking steps towards the employee health clinic and changing the provider. If there is a large balance, they need to know what it is doing. Com. Dzadovsky asked if they had an idea as to where to place those funds. He questioned where we were with our investments today. The Clerk stated they are doing well with the investments today. They have about 300 million in investments and of that they are doing well with their money managers and earning 4% to 5% interest on one of the funds based on the Board's policy. They are looking at the SBA fund B balance and they have received $800,000 from the fund B balance and placed into fund A. He stated to answer the first question, what they would do with the additional dollars would be based on Board direction. The Finance Director advised the Board they do not invest in the stock market and the majority of funds are invested in Treasury funds such as CD's and these are doing well. Com. Coward asked if there was an opportunity to increase the interest rate. He addressed withdraw of funds from FLIGIT and the fact it is now at a rate of 3.68% after removing 33 million dollars. The Clerk stated there was an issue he wished to make sure when he became Clerk and that was that he was comfortable with all the investments. He made the determination if there was an investment anywhere not earning any dollars or losing principal they be removed and this was the issue with FLIGIT at that time. It is doing much better since then. The Clerk advised the Board they have made a 3 million dollar day to day investment in FLIGIT, however their first priority was "safety" with regards to the county's investments at that time. Com. Coward stated he believed safety was important however he believes they could do better than 1.5. The Capital Guardian Funds is producing 4/5% and there is 55 million presently in the fund. 4 Com. Craft addressed the employee recommendation regarding saving costs and one being overtime. The Clerk advised the Board as far as overtime it must be pre-approved. Staff is making sure overtime is used only when necessary. There has been some hiring in the office due to the attrition and are trying to keep it at 189, when things fall below this figure, some things wind up falling through the cracks, however they do not know what will happen in the next year with the state. Com. Dzadovsky addressed the banks failing and if he was concerned about local banks failing especially those who hold our operating funds. The Clerk stated he met with the local banks which has the county's investment, Seacoast National Bank. They are fully aware of the county's concerns and making sure we keep in contact with them as to where they are. The bank is collateralized and the qualified public depository, for Seacoast is 200% the county's dollars are fully protected for every dollar, Seacoast must provide two. They are in constant contact with the bank on a daily basis. Com. Coward addressed any policy changes that may need to be made to those procedures in order to increase the return. The Clerk stated they made a change in the early summer and the extended time was approved by the Board. Everyone is keeping an eye on it and he believes they are prepared should it pick up. TAX COLLECTOR Mr. Clancy, Asst. Tax Collector addressed the Board and stated their budget is approved by the Department of Revenue. They have had an average of 4.9% over the last nine years and have tried to maintain a flat budget and return additional dollars to the Board. They have it down to about 1% in terms of the BOCC's cost. They now have 75 employees and there is no fund balance for this department they return what is left to the taxing entities and start over at 0. He advised the Board they pay the highest commission of 2% to the School Board and this is according to Florida Statute. PROPERTY APPRAISER Ms. Franklin stated they meet frequently with staff for ideas on how to reduce costs. They have been working with the Clerk on The Value Adjustment Board to attempt to save money with the process. They have lost several key people due to retirement and are trying with limited staff to get through. In the future the Property Appraiser will return as much as possible to the Board. Com. Dzadovsky addressed the impact of the Value Adjustment Board hearings and if it had a negative impact. Ms. Franklin stated this is staff time consuming with the paper work and preparation. They are attempting to continue to provide the service without extending too much staff time. The Clerk of Court addressed the Board and advised them Fligit did well this year and he asked the Board to consider Fligit is a long term investment tool and the county's fund pool must be short term and long term. Their greater return is lower in light of the money market funds which earn .018%. These dollars must be available immediately and they can go to the bank and pull them out. When they had them in Fligit there was a three day window in order to receive them. When they took them out they were able to place them into the long term investment. They since have done equal or better than. 5 Lunch Break Com. Coward stated he was hoping to have updated numbers regarding the investments showing the better performing investments will show a greater return. He also requested information on whether or not these figures were incorporated into the budget projection they are currently working on. The County Administrator advised the Board she did not believe these updated projections had been incorporated into numbers they are seeing today. Based on what they know today is what they have calculated into the revenue stream moving forward however, she will be sitting down with the Clerk as they move forward and where appropriate will make the change. The Clerk concurred with the County Administrator's comments. SUPERVISOR OF ELECTIONS The representative for the Supervisor of Elections addressed the Board. He advised the Board their main goal between 2010/2011 and 2011/2012 is to basically maintain their level of expenditures and tries to flat line efforts in continuing to work for the local elections, the mid 2010 elections and getting to the 2012 Presidential Elections. Their future will depend on several things. They will be working with the Census Bureau and hopefully they will follow the Supervisor of Elections recommendations and it would affect the precinct lines too hard. All will be in place hopefully by the 2012 Presidential election. He addressed the equipment manufacturer that has been acquired by another and controlling their hardware. He is not sure whether they will continue the support of the existing hardware or if they will need to make conversions to different hardware, they do not have an answer as yet. The service cost for the software for voter count is continually rising and there is no indication this will stop. They are trying to project what the service agreements will be but it all hinders on the new company. In 2007 a new law was passed to assist persons with disabilities to vote unassisted and these machines are to be in place by 2012. The only area this addresses is one piece of hardware with audio instructions for the voter. There is a lot of effort attempting to delay this until 2016. The price tag would be around $500,000 for that equipment. The company name is Automark. They would need to place this audio at the 80 precincts. They are attempting to delay this hoping there will be other alternatives. Com. Coward questioned if they had considered lowering the amount of precincts in the county due to the fact some are small with very little voters. The representative stated they are waiting for the census and possible re-districting to occur. Com. Dzadovsky addressed the lease of their present location and the overtime. The representative stated he believed they received a low lease due to the negotiations held during the time the economy was at a declining point. The County Administrator advised the Board their rent is presently $90,000 per year and have a 10 year lease at that rate. It does not provide for a reduction due to the economy decline. Com. Coward questioned if the agreement had an "out clause" in it. The County Administrator stated they normally do have out clauses however this was done a few years ago and she is not sure. Com. Coward stated it may be cheaper to place them in a vacant county building than paying the $90,000 for the 10 year period. 6 The County Administrator stated she believed the Supervisor of Elections had presented to her the possibility of a new mandate regarding the mailing of ballots (notification to felons). The representative stated she could not comment on that issue as she was not aware of the outcome. Com. Coward stated he wished to make sure they understood that they were looking for ways to obtain additional cost savings and not maintain the current level. The representative stated their goal was to cut the costs of the elections. HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES Healthy Start- Sylvia Kramer Ms. Kramer addressed the Board and stated the funding provided by the Board is $51,000 and this represents a fraction of what the Board spent in pre-natal care in 1992. She stated the Board saved 1 million dollars by year 5 and it is safe to say that the Board has saved around $50 million. She advised the Board due to this program, the county now has one of the best rates in infant mortality throughout the state. She stated she does not need to add to the "what if's". Com. Lewis stated the question is being asked if they could find a way to not rely on county funding next year and what she is indicating that they could not see a way. Com. Coward stated they do not want to get into a discussion as to if the various groups at the table are worthy, it is a dialogue on special cost savings ways to potentially get some of these benefits. Ms. Kramer stated the $51,000 is not adequate for what they are receiving but they would continue to work with it and all she could do is to reduce services to the women. Com. Lewis stated they are aware of the services the coalitions provide, however, they are looking to lower costs due to the shortfall that is coming. The concept is not to take away from the immediate funding but looking to have a sustainable partnership. The county is only asking for them to do the same thing the county is doing and they are looking for assistance. Ms. Kramer stated she understands the Board's position and she has a deep concern for those infants who need the care. Com. Dzadovsky stated they are not attempting to do this today but are attempting to put those on notice that the funding may not be there and they may need to look elsewhere. The County Administrator stated the potential gap shows up in the FY 11/12 and it may cause them to take action in the 2010/2011 budget year. As she looks at the numbers and meeting the statutory requirements she may need to make recommendations tothe Board to start cutting the upcoming years' budget. She believes the agencies are in a good position to look at their operations and bring forward concepts rather than having her look at raw numbers. Com. Coward stated they must have a shared sacrifice as opposed to an across the Board cuts. They must have the dialogue with everyone as to how to meet those short falls. Just saying they are worthy and don't cut us does not make it. Com. Craft stated the Board has cut many of their services and he does not like the attitudes coming to the table today and there should be decorum from both the Board side and those others. 7 Health Department Mr. Lee, representing the Health Department addressed the Board and stated they started absorbing cuts in the last 3 years. They have not had raises in the last 3 years, they have frozen their travel, working with the community to build health access and trying to leverage new dollars from other funding sources. They are looking to avoid duplication of services with other health departments in neighboring counties. They have kept their administrative staff low. They have identified and prioritized their services. In the cases where they can justify they have increased their fees. New Horizons Mr. John Romano, representing New Horizons addressed the Board and advised them they have cut positions but still take care of any issues coming in; they will not turn anyone away. They have cut services on outpatient services but will take care of emergencies. They are looking at grants some are specific, mental health, drug related. They have frozen travel and mileage, all funding is down. Com. Dzadovsky stated they are looking to cut more services there will be a 39 million dollar short fall and the public will need to decide what services they want. Mr. Romano agreed if there were to be any more cuts it would be in services. Homeless Services - The representative advised the Board they have pursued every possible option and have pulled in 4.1 million this year, a stimulus grant. She is trying to secure another grant through St. Lucie County for about 1 million and won't cost the county any money. Roundtable Ms. Christine Epps, Executive Director addressed the Board and stated as of 06/07 they have obtained grants. Com. Coward requested the amounts provided from the top three agencies. Ms. Epps stated the Children Services Council provided $118,000; BOCC $43,200; $8,000 from the School Board. The Sheriff's office $5,000 and Healthy Start $1,000. In 07/08 obtained state grants also, 08/09, 31% in state and federal grants and donations so 35% of the budget is now obtained outside of membership dues. They have secured $50,000 from the state and 10% of this can be used for administrative costs and they are presently looking for a federal grant for 3-5 years in the amount of $125,000. There have not been any staff increases, no travel and at this point there is not much to cut out. They are trying to establish relationships with others (at the Federal level) since they are not getting enough from the state because they are allocating funds according to numbers. Council on Aging/Transit The Council on Aging does fund raising to assist seniors with the programs they need. Meals on wheels for example, out-reach, adult day care services. St. Lucie County provides the 10% match needed for these programs. Community Transit is operated by federal state and local grants. They will be losing 100% of the funding for the Treasure Coast Connector and would need $600,000 to operate it from Martin County and St. Lucie County. Also with the operations 8