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