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BOOK 70 OF 838 <br />EB 1,X988 <br />Director Fry believed that, especially in the table on <br />revenues, you can see where the intergovernmental revenues, which <br />used to make up a much larger portion of the funds we received, <br />have declined in importance over the past few years with the <br />exception of when we have gotten a large grant for a particular <br />purpose. Some of the other sources have been pretty consistent, <br />but the intergovernmental in the terms of the dollar amount and <br />the percentage of the revenue has really had quite an impact on <br />us. We have lost Federal Revenue Sharing, and our share of the <br />other major state source, the Pari-mutuel funds, has remained at <br />$446,500 for at least the last 15 years; the increase in those <br />funds derived from the growth in the state over that time goes <br />entirely to the state and the counties receive no benefit. <br />Chairman Scurlock agreed that the table of expenditures over <br />the last ten years clearly shows that the reliance on taxes back <br />in 1978 was in the range of 50%, and then when you get up to 1985 <br />through 1987, you are closer to the 60% level. It also shows <br />where we are spending our money. We were allowing 33% for <br />Public Safety in 1978, and now we are running pretty consistently <br />at 38%; General Government in 1978 was at 33% and now is in the <br />range of 16% and Human Services are at 4%. The Chairman believed <br />this highlights how much of our resources are having to be <br />directed to the area of public safety. <br />Chairman Scurlock noted that the Board received a lot of <br />criticism this year because we had a fairly substantial increase <br />in taxes. One of the reasons for the increase was building our <br />reserves, and he would like someone to address first, the need <br />for reserves and second, the state requirements that mandate a <br />reserve, i.e., you can't budget more than 95% of your revenues. <br />Finance Director Fry confirmed that in budgeting you are <br />required to pull out a 5% estimate for revenues that you will not <br />collect. He referred back to Page 8, noting that comparison of <br />budget to actual on the revenue on General Fund demonstrates the <br />reason for this, particularly in the variance on taxes where <br />20 <br />