) STOKES COUNTY GOVERNMENT
COUNTY OF STOKES ) DANBURY, NORTH CAROLINA
) JUNE 18, 2007
The Board of Commissioners
of the County of Stokes, State of North Carolina, met
for a Budget Work Session regarding the Proposed Fiscal Year 2007-08
County Budget in the
Commissioners’ Chambers of the Ronald Wilson Reagan Memorial Building
(Administrative
Building) located in Danbury, North Carolina on Monday, June 18, 2007
at 2:00 pm with the
following members present:
Chairman
J. Leon Inman
Vice-Chairman
Jimmy Walker
Commissioner Ron
Carroll
Commissioner
Commissioner
Stanley Smith
County
Personnel in Attendance:
County
Manager K. Bryan Steen
Clerk
to the Board Darlene Bullins
Finance Director
Chairman Leon Inman called the meeting to
order.
Chairman Inman delivered the invocation.
Chairman Inman opened
the meeting by inviting the citizens in attendance to
join the Board with the Pledge of Allegiance.
Budget Work
Session
Finance Director
proposed School-Capital Outlay and Capital Reserve which included the
$180,000.00 for land
purchase. The amended copy also includes financing the PODS at
Meadowbrook in order to
make more funding available in capital outlay.
Chairman Inman
requested Board members to note a possible tax rate to work from:
Vice Chairman Walker –
60 cents
Commissioner
Lankford - 60 cents with a few
modifications
Commissioner Carroll – not ready to determine a
number yet - need further discussion on several departments
Commissioner Smith - not ready to determine a
number yet – need more discussion on several departments
Chairman Inman – 60
cents if possible
Commissioner Carroll
noted the following departments that needed to be discussed:
·
Arts Council
·
Economic Development
·
Fire Marshal
·
Forsyth Technical Community College
·
Libraries
·
Public Buildings (Capital Projects)
·
Recreation
·
Forestry
·
Grower’s CoOp
·
Hold Harmless
·
Contingency Accounts – Salary Personnel
Commissioner Smith noted the following
departments that needed to be discussed:
·
Economic Development
·
Environmental Health
·
Fire Marshal
·
Health Department
·
Libraries
·
Forestry
·
School Capital
·
Cooperative Extension
Chairman Inman requested Board members to note
an estimated amount of hold
harmless revenue to be appropriated to fund balance in this fiscal
year’s budget:
Commissioner Carroll = approximately $600,000
Commissioner Lankford = approximately $300,000 to $400.000
Commissioner Smith = approximately $500,000
Vice Chairman Walker = approximately $300,000
to $350,000
Chairman Inman = approximately $300,000 to
$400,000
Finance Director
following projections:
·
New Growth in the County = additional value of
$84,477,105.00 which could result in approximately $488,108.00 in ad valorem
tax revenue
County Manager Bryan Steen noted that the
collection rate is continuing to improve
which will reduce the collection of prior year tax revenue. The county manager’s
recommended budget takes this into account by reducing the prior year
tax revenue
projection.
The Board discussed
some possible savings on Medicaid expenditures if the State
gives Counties some relief from Medicaid expenditures.
Finance Director
expenditures:
·
Fiscal Year 2005/06 = $2,074,155
·
Fiscal Year 2006/07 = estimated at $2,391,230
·
DSS Director budgeted $2,582,310 for fiscal year
2007-08 (this figure was recommended by the State)
The Board discussed the Medicaid expenditures
and the cap on Medicaid expenses by
the State, which could save County funding.
The Board discussed
the current fund balance and the needed fund balance in order to
start discussions with the Local Government Commission (LGC) pertaining
to a future bond
referendum.
Commissioner Smith
noted that he would like to discuss a one-time bonus for county
employees.
Commissioner Lankford discussed
(working with the proposed 60-cent tax rate
budget) the following items:
·
Add $100,000 back to Personnel Contingency =
$300,000
·
Add $100,000 – Economic Development
·
Add $100,000 – Courtroom “C” Renovations
·
Reduce Hold Harmless appropriation to fund balance
to $300,000 instead of $565,201
·
Important factor for the next few years – “hold
spending”
·
Reduce other line items to balance the budget
Commissioner Carroll reiterated the hold
harmless revenue source is scheduled to
reduce each year until it is completely terminated in fiscal year
2012-2013.
The Board discussed
the hold harmless revenue and the last tax re-evaluation.
Schools –
Current Expense
The Board discussed
the county manager’s recommendation to increase the Schools-
Current Expense by $353,790 = $9,838,959.00 allocation.
Other Issues
to Discuss
Arts Council
Commissioner Carroll
noted the need to eliminate the Arts Council Director from
having to raise part of his salary.
Commissioner Carroll noted that the Arts Council is a
county department and should be funded as a county department with the
Director
concentrating on Arts Council programs.
The Board discussed
the pros and cons of fully funding the Director’s salary. The
Board discussed increasing the funding for the Arts Council so that the
Director could
concentrate on programs instead of matching funding for salaries.
Economic
Development
The Board discussed
the manager’s recommendation to eliminate the full time
Economic Development Director’s position. The Board discussed the need
to appropriate
funding to Economic Development in order to bring Economic Development
to Stokes
County.
Commissioner Lankford
and Commissioner Smith were on Board with the county
manager’s recommendation to eliminate the full time position with the
serving as the Economic Development Director on a trial basis.
Commissioner Carroll
expressed concerns with the manager’s recommendation to
eliminate the full time Economic Development Director’s position.
Vice Chairman Walker
also expressed concerns with the manager’s recommendation
to eliminate the full time Economic Development Director’s
position. Vice Chairman Walker
noted if the County wants to continue to move forward with Economic
Development, then the
County needs a full time Economic Development Director and that he had
received numerous
comments from citizens regarding the need to put extra funding into the
Economic
Development budget.
Vice Chairman Walker
reiterated it is not a safe step to eliminate the director’s
position and feels elimination of the director’s position will move the
county backwards in
bringing Economic Development to
The Board discussed
the duties of the current director.
County Manager Steen
commented on his decision to eliminate the full time
Economic Development Director’s position. Manager Steen noted the following regarding
the elimination of the director’s position:
·
Cost would probably be much higher than the current
director’s salary
·
Outside consultants can help with issues
·
Already looking into possible projects
·
Already talking with City of King, Town of Walnut
Cove, and Town of Danbury officials regarding Economic Development
·
To meet with Water and Sewer Authority
·
The need to start networking
·
The need to determine where the county wants to go
and how to get there
·
The need to identify infrastructure needs
·
The interim period also will give the county time
to determine the cost of replacing the director
·
Willing to put the hours in needed for both
positions – Economic Development and County Manager
Vice Chairman Walker also stated that the
Economic Development Director needs to
continue to assist current businesses in the County.
Forsyth
Technical Community College
Commissioner Carroll
felt that the Board should appropriate at least $25,000 in capital
reserve as a good faith effort for possible feasibility studies,
architectural studies, etc. for a
future stand-alone campus. The
remaining members of Board had no issues with funding at
least $25,000 in capital reserve for a stand-alone FTCC campus if
possible.
Libraries
Commissioner Carroll
felt the Board should try to fund the salary study needed to
retain valuable employees, the cost being $25,931 each year for two
years. The Board
discussed funding for the libraries.
The Board members had no issues with trying to fund the
library’s request if possible.
Forestry
Commissioner Carroll
expressed concerns with the loss of $6,000 in the manager’s
recommended Forestry budget, which would actually be a loss of $15,000
(additional State
funding). The Board discussed
the recommended funding and had no issues with trying to
fund the request if possible.
Commissioner Smith noted that in past years, the combined
Forestry District budget has had to fund items in Stokes County due to
lack of funding from
the County.
Growers’ CoOp
Commissioner Carroll
felt that the Board should appropriate at least $10,000 as a good
faith effort to help the Growers’ CoOp if possible. Commissioner Carroll noted the Growers’
CoOp is another valuable part of Economic Development. Commissioner
Smith supports at
least $15,000 appropriation to help them get back on their feet. Vice Chairman Walker
supports an appropriation of $5,000 and more possibly depending on the
fund balance.
Commissioner Lankford supports an appropriation of $5,000 if
possible. Chairman Inman
has no issues with some support ($10,000- one time allocation) to help
the CoOp “stand on
their own feet”. The Board
discussed the issue of the CoOp being a stand-alone entity.
Recreation
Vice Chairman Walker
expressed concerns that the funding allocated for recreational
services is going for salaries instead of being used to provide
programs for the citizens. Vice
Chairman Walker presented information from the YMCA regarding programs
sponsored by
the YMCA at the
Commissioner Carroll
requested additional information wanting to know how the
County’s allocation was being spent.
Clerk to the Board Darlene Bullins presented the Board
with a copy of the Recreation Contract between the County and Stokes
Family YMCA along
with additional information pertaining to programs being sponsored by
the YMCA. Vice
Chairman Walker requested to hold further discussion until additional
information that he had
received from the YMCA be shared with the Board regarding program
costs.
Capital
Projects
Commissioner Carroll
requested to discuss Public Buildings – Capital Projects.
Commissioner Carroll expressed support for the following capital
projects: Courtroom
“C” renovations, Government Complex (Courthouse) roof, E911 roof, and
ice guards at Booth
Mountain.
County Manager Steen presented the Board information
regarding the usage of
Courtroom “C”.
The Board discussed
capital projects that have not been funded in previous years –
renovations to Courtroom ‘C”,
Booth Mountain, re-pavement of Government Center parking lot, and roof
on Emergency
Communications building.
Salary
Contingency
Commissioner Lankford
and Commissioner Carroll discussed the need for the
$300,000 in the Personnel-Contingency for the salary adjustment study being
conducted. The
proposed study would put every employee on a fair and level playing
field.
The Board discussed
the proposed salary study and being able to do something
(COLA, Bonus, etc) for our dedicated county employees.
Vice Chairman Walker
suggested giving full time employees a one-time $500 bonus
and contract an independent outside consultant to do a salary
study. Vice Chairman Walker
stated that his position (all the time) has been to have a professional
salary study done for
the County.
Commissioner Smith had
no issues with the $300,000 appropriation.
Chairman Inman wants to do something for the
County employees, has no issues
appropriating between $200,000 and $300,000, and definitely wants to
see a system that puts
everyone on a fair playing field.
Environmental
Health
Commissioner Smith
discussed the nonrecurring overtime pay to address backlog of
permit requests in the manager’s recommended budget.
Clerk to the Board
Darlene Bullins noted one of the Environmental Health Specialists
had submitted her resignation this week, which would further increase
the backlog of septic
tank permits.
Commissioner Smith
expressed concerns with the 8-10 week backlog for septic tank
permits and the need to address the issues.
Vice Chairman Walker
noted that the Health Director had recently quoted a 4-6 week
backlog, but information from citizens is an 8-10 week backlog and
could be 12 weeks.
The Board directed
County Manager Steen to follow up regarding the number of
weeks waiting for a septic permit.
County Manager Bryan Steen presented
information from Environmental Specialist
Supervisor noting that there had been numerous system failures that the
department was
having to deal with, the resignation of one of the specialists, and
that he believed the waiting
time would surely increase.
Adjournment
There being no further
business to come before the Board, Chairman Inman
recessed the budget work session until Tuesday, June 19, 2007 at 9:00
am.
_________________________
_____________________________
Darlene M.
Bullins
J. Leon Inman
Clerk to the
Board Chairman