10/23/2001 - Laserfiche WebLink

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The State of Florida has projected that the current economic troubles will adversely affect revenues b about $1.3 billion. Budget cuts will have to be made to adjust for the shortfall. The State has served notice to local governments that this will mean decreased shared revenues and grant funds. y Legislative Session has been scheduled for October 22 through November 1 to address these issue Local governments will not have an indication of the amount of the financial burden that will be passed d on from the State until after this session. In the next few months, staff will develop a plan for dealing with the shortfall in all of the County budgets (operating funds such as General Fund and M.S.T.U, as well as capital funds like Optional Sales Tax). Optional Sales Tax funds remain the best option for the purchase of the voting systems. However, this revenue source fluctuates—like most County revenues—along with changes in the economy. doubt about whether the actual revenues for the upcoming year will meet the amount This casts budgeted. Additionally, all contingency funds for FY 2000/01 have been utilized. Therefore, there is very the room for any increases in allocation. This leaves us with the task of re-evaluating all projects in the five-year program for Optional Sales Tax. In order to provide the funds necessary for this purchase, other projects may need to be deferred—or deleted --from the five-year program. Staff has developed some alternatives for reallocating funds for the voting systems as presented below. Please find the detailed worksheets for each alternative attached. Option 1 - This option moves the construction of a new Fire Station 5 at Grand Harbor from the 2001/02 fiscal year to 2002/03. A total of $1,149,500 has been allocated for this project. Moving this expense out one year addresses the cash flow situation that would be created by adding the cost of the voting machines. Additionally, $146,448 is available from the original $1.7 million allocated for 4`h Street and U.S.1 Intersection Improvements. Financial responsibility for the project was assumed by the Florida Department of Transportation. Subsequently, $1,425,000 was redirected to the North County Pool and $153,552 was allocated for water and sewer hookups at the Hobart Park soccer fields. An additional $561,502 would be needed from contingency funds to generate the total $1,857,450 Indian River County contribution. This contingency will be spread across two years to minimize the impact on the current year. Option 2 - This option removes the South County Park Phase II and Swimming Pool from the five Year plan. Moving this project will provide $1,700,000. The remaining $146,448 from the 4`h Street and U.S.1 Intersection brings the total to $1,846,448. Reserves for contingency will provide the additional $11,002 required. Fire Station 5 construction would be moved out one year in this option as well to provide for positive cash flow during the 2001/2002 fiscal year. Option 3 - This option removes $500,000 allocated for recreation land for multi-purpose fields. The remaining $ 46well. 8 for the 4" Street and U.S.1 Intersection would be utilized in this ves for alternative as well. Resercontingency would provide $1,211,002 over three years. Of this total, $2111002 would come from fiscal year 2001/02, with $500,000 each from fiscal years 2002/03 and 2003/04. Fire Station 5 construction would be moved out one year in this option as well to provide for positiv year. e cash flow during the 2001/2002 fiscal One important item to note is that this decision is possibly a temporary solution. It is still too early to determine the severity of the recession and the severity of the revenue cuts from the State at this time. Once staff has received sufficient information from the State and has a better indication of how sharply local revenues will drop, a comprehensive plan for addressing the revenue shortfall will be presented. In the next few months, staff will present this plan to the Board of Commissioners for consideration. At that time, it may be necessaryto review the Optional Sales Tax Program and reallocate funding to projects with the highest priority, which will likely result in certain projects being cut from the program. In addition to the Optional Sales necessary spending cutbacks in Tax budget, the operating budgets of the County will be reviewed for order to meet the revenue shortfall. OCTOBER 23, 2001 -26-