07/16/2014 - Laserfiche WebLink

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Staff does not recommend funding vehicles from Optional Sales Tax on an ongoing basis. However, in an effort to reduce the impact on'ad valorem taxes next year, the proposed budget includes $600,000 for replacement vehicles from Optional Sales Tax. This would be the first step in a four-year phase-out of the use of Optional Sales Tax for this purpose. Staff recommends that the County transition away from the use of Optional Sales Tax for replacement vehicles in an effort to ensure structurally balanced budgets going forward. The Optional Sales Tax is set to expire in December 2019, if not extended. Therefore, this revenue source may not be an available option in the long run. The Tax Collector's budget is not due until August 1 st; therefore, staff has estimated no change in this budget request at this time. The BCC departmental funding amount is down $565,638, or 3.8%. Total staffing for BCC departments is up 1.35 full time positions. One additional position is proposed at the Main Library beginning July 1, 2015 to facilitate a transition period due to the upcoming retirement of a key employee in the Genealogy department. This position is temporary in nature and will be eliminated after this retirement. An additional 0.35 FTE position is needed due to the retirement of the Emergency Operations Assistant Chief. This employee has been handling the duties of the Assistant Chief position and serving as the Emergency Management Coordinator for the last few years. Staff recommends that the County fund a full-time Emergency Management Coordinator in the General Fund and a Battalion Chief in the Emergency Services District to serve as the Fire Marshal and supervise the fire inspection activities of the department. This will result in an additional cost of $1,243 in the General Fund. Recommended State agency budgets total $2,740,114, a decrease of $355,978, or 11.5%. The decrease here is due primarily to a decrease in the required contribution to the Department of Juvenile Justice (DJJ) and lower than expected Medicaid expenses in the current year. Proposed funding for Children's Services is $623,890, the same level as approved for the current year. Total transfers out of the General Fund are increasing $163,615, or 4.4%, primarily due to reduced gas taxes and increased expenses in the Transportation Fund. Half -Cent Sales Tax revenues are increasing $155,528, or 4.1 % and State Revenue Sharing is increasing $85,456 or 6.1 % from the current year amounts. Based on the preliminary roll, the assessed value increased by 4.5% compared to an increase of 1.4% last year. New construction added 1.26% while existing values increased 3.26%. The millage rate to fund the recommended General Fund budget is 3.3117, an increase of 1.5% from current and 4.8% above rollback. The current year General Fund spending plan utilized $900,000 in reserves to balance the budget. The previous use of fund balance was not in accordance with County fund balance policy, which prohibits the use of reserves for recurring expenses. Last year, staff proposed a two-year phase- out of fund balance usage. Consistent with this plan, the proposed budget for next fiscal year is 3- 0