5/22/1995 - Laserfiche WebLink

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Bou 95 PrSuE 1 i Chairman Macht inquired if the workshop should be broadcast - through the building sound system and a consensus was reached to broadcast the meeting for the benefit of interested County employees. Administrator Chandler continued that the recommended budget figures presented in July will be significantly different. Also, this budget is going to be more difficult in many respects than the current budget which was brought in with no tax increase. The Board should recognize that during the last 4 years we reduced expenses or held the line, eliminated positions, and deferred capital equipment replacements; some of which are going to have to be addressed. It is really too early to get an accurate estimate of revenues, especially state revenues, such as shared sales tax, as we do not receive figures on these revenues until the middle or the end of June. Some expenses which were approved after adoption of the budget this year and were funded with contingency funds, for example, courthouse security of over $300,000, will have to be offset by recurring revenue. There also will be recommendations for replacement of some equipment which had been deferred although rather significant expenses in maintenance, repairs, and downtime had been incurred. Another factor which will affect most of the operating budgets is health insurance. We had a rather significant reduction in our overall expense for the current year; however, the preliminary figures on the experience indicate there will be some increase in cost of the coverage. It may be necessary to increase the dependent contribution which is currently $12.50 a month. Another area of recommended increases will be personnel -- reinstituting step programs and an across-the-board increase for all employees to maintain our competitiveness. There are several expanded programs in the budget, such as Emergency Services District northwest fire station and the debt service for the land acquisition program. Sebastian Utilities has not been included but if that is consummated it would ultimately be brought back as a - budget amendment. Administrator Chandler then briefly reviewed the budget booklet. The first item is an overall summary of the total budget, indicating that expense is up about $8.9 million or 6.7%. The real difficulty is going to be in the area of tax budgets, such as the general fund, MSTU, transportation, and the Emergency Services District. There are an additional 35 full-time positions requested in these budgets, 29 in the BCC departments and 6 for the constitutionals. 2 MAY 22, 1995 � � r