ISLAND COUNTY COMMISSIONERS
- MINUTES OF MEETING
SPECIAL SESSION -
JULY 19, 2002
The Board of Island Commissioners met in Special Session Friday, July 19, 2002, at 2:00 p.m. to conduct a budget workshop to provide an
opportunity for Elected
Officials and Appointed Department Heads to comment on the three Current Expense budget reduction options by
the County Commissioners presented at
the July 15, 2002 budget workshop. Mike Shelton, Chairman, Wm. L. McDowell,
Member, and William F. Thorn, Member, were present. Elaine Marlow, Budget Director, was in attendance, along with a
number of Elected Officials and Appointed Department Heads were in
attendance. [hand-outs and memorandums/submittals have been placed on file]
Hand Out:
2003 Budget Current Expense Worksheet Update 7/19/02
Chairman Shelton referenced the July 15th hand-out prepared by
the Budget Director from the three County Commissioner budget reduction
options, which in terms of balancing the budget, was based on what was believed
to be around an $870,000 deficit.
Subsequent to that time, it has been learned that rather than a 16%
increase in medical insurance premiums, the true figure is 26% or another
$135,000. The total deficit is
predicted to be $958,308 as shown on
page 3 of today’s hand out. [26% insurance medical premiums =
$135,000; bottom line deficit figure
shows the difference as $90,000 which is due to having realized a little more
revenue from franchise fees].
Tim McDonald, Health Services Director, summarized
from his Memorandum dated today
discussing the Health Department’s perspective on the Commissioner budget
reduction options. In an earlier
budget workshop he provided an 11%
reduction in the Current Expense allocation
to the Health Department, along with alternatives. Relating to the Board’s July 15th budget options
summary, Mr. McDonald referred to his memo fourth paragraph, and the attached
spread sheet:
“If we add the above mentioned changes to
each individual option, the net reduction of current expense support for public
health is substantial. The attached spread reports that Option 1 reported on lines C and D on the options
spread sheet results in a 45% reduction. Option 2, reported on columns F and G of the options spread sheet, would result in a 34%
decrease. Option 3 is 28.6% for the high range and 26.6% for the low range.”
Any further cuts had to be made in light of cuts
that will also be made in State grants
for the next biennium; 51% of the Department’s revenue is from grants
and the precise level of cuts will not
be known until the 2003-2005 biennium
budget is adopted. MVET replacement
funds will be received until the end of the current biennium rather than the
end of this year, a loss of $46,205.50
for 2003 and he was not aware any MVET
replacement funding beyond June 2003.
Mr. McDonald hoped that the rather than specifying which programs are
cut, the Board would rely on the Health
Department’s evaluation based on
community needs and public health principles.
Tom Baenen, Island County Assessor,
on further review of the budget for his Office, and having gone through
what is now the current estimates, offered
an economy through a 3.65%
budget reduction. In the end, he
indicated this would mean 19 instead of 21 staff [one eliminated a year ago]
and working with a M&O budget basically $20,000 less than two years’
ago. The Assessor and management
staff at this point feel there could be no further cuts and be
able to function as required.
Suzanne Sinclair, Island County Auditor, summarized from prepared written comments noting that any of
the three budget cut alternatives presented by the Commissioners would affect the number of staff in the Auditor’s
Office. Reducing staff
by 1-1/2 represents about 11- 13% of the proposed cuts in personnel
County-wide, and includes a .5 fte as a seasonal temporary elections helper;
1-1/2 represents 13% of the staff paid by Current Expense. Since 1987 the number of employees in the
office has been the same, with the exception of the Public Works Accountant
position created in 1994. The result would be:
·
Difficulty
filling in for vacations and lunchtime;
·
Maps scanned by DNR but no time to download the
CDs or index;
·
No
time to check mylars, refile, or send any documents to archives;
·
Return
of documents 2 months’ behind; staff
time not available for indexing and verifying;
·
No
additions to information on the computer system to simplify searches/help for
public;
·
Election
Board worker training will not be updated as to materials, handouts, or curriculum;
·
Voter
registration will not work on the street range/grid project;
·
Elections
will not be auditing for voters in the wrong precinct.
Don Meehan, Washington State University
Cooperative Extension Agent,
submitted written comments regarding
WSU Cooperative Extension impacts from proposed budget cuts being suggested
by the Board, summarized:
Total cuts are $50,000 or 28% of
WSU Current Expense budget, and will result in loss of a full time
office assistant position; ½ time faculty position; and cuts in grant funded
programs to support Current Expense. Greatest impact will be on the 4H youth prevention program; following that, the Master Gardner
program and weed control programs, with negative impact on the quality of the
programs offered to the public, affecting 600-700 volunteers supported in carrying out community based
programs. Ten specific obvious impacts
were listed in the memorandum.
Greg Banks, Prosecuting Attorney,
had concern about the proposed
cut outlined in the Commissioner options which would equal $60,000 or one deputy prosecuting attorney. If the cut has
to be made his office would function, but
there would be some roll-back in services as he discussed in his budget
presentation. He will continue to make every effort to keep public
safety at the top of the agenda and
keep the most dangerous people locked up.
He suggested that the Commissioners:
1.
Reconsider E911 sales tax issue and get it on the
November ballot; even under the fire district proposal the County would save
$270,000;
2.
Relook at potential
to save $200,000 from Miscellaneous Budget as donations from taxpayer
dollars to senior organizations;
3.
More
consideration given to consolidation of
county administrative functions to see what redundancy can be eliminated and
what can be changed in terms of salary
structure.
4.
If cuts are inevitable, consider
implementing now thereby spreading the cuts over 18 months rather than
12 months.
Delilah George, Superior Court Administrator, reviewed some of the policy changes that had been implemented
already that resulted in saving the
County money. Even with that, Superior
Court budget is at 60% expenditure at
the end of June, 2002. They are and
continue to look into other budget saving ideas. Superior Court is appreciative of the Commissioners recommended
budget cuts, Options #1 and #2 at
$2,000 reduction, and Option #3 recommended $5,000 cut. If $2,000 has to be cut from extra help so
be it; the $5,000 figure would take the
remainder from jury fees; however, both of those are directly related to jury
trials and jury days over which they have no control.
District Court Judge, Peter Strow, did not favor the proposed cuts to District Court as outlined in the Commissioner budget
reduction options, but indicated that
if the $40,000 were indeed to be cut,
his preference would be that he make the decisions where to make those cuts.
Chairman Shelton reviewed the budget problem again. The Board will continue on with the Budget
Director to refine the figures;
unfortunately today’s figures seem to represent the best case scenario.
Commissioner Thorn commented that the 4H program was probably one of the most important ones;
a prevention program in theory at least
and encouraged that program be retained.
He hoped too that the E911 sales tax issue could proceed. Comments about a County administrative
review were well taken and something
he attempted to make several proposals on. He disagreed with comments regarding senior
programs, pointing out that was his
singular highest priority; it is a very vulnerable population and clearly
in the category of health and safety priorities. His offered a suggestion to Superior Court
to take a look at voice recognition
software.
Commissioner McDowell commented
to note that next year $900,000+ cuts
will have already been made, and will have to start from scratch with perhaps
further budget cuts and the possibility of even less revenue. As far as the suggestion that the Board
specify the dollar amount to reduce and let the Elected Officials and Appointed
Department Heads make the cuts, he
thought a reasonable request as far as Elected Officials, though he would want to see what those cuts were
first. In the case of Appointed
Department Heads, while he agreed they
are the closest to the situation, ultimately the Board makes the final
decision, although would consider department head recommendations.
Consensus and Follow-up:
For
appointed department heads, the Board will make the dollar amount
reduction and program cut decisions. Appointed department heads work for the
Commissioners and the Commissioners
will review department recommendations, but ultimately make the decision.
Budget Director will go back and
recheck all figures to ensure
accuracy; though there could be a few minor corrections or
adjustments, no substantial changes are anticipated, and come back at the
August 5th Board meeting with the dollar amount that has to be cut
from the budget.
The Board will continue to look to see
what other areas where there could perhaps be some additional budget reductions.
Year
2003 budget process began with the official budget call memorandum to
Elected Officials and Appointed Department July 5, 2002, from the County
Auditor. The Budget Director will
follow shortly with revenue and expenditure worksheets for use in
submitting budget revenue and
expenditure figures. A memo will
accompany the worksheets to explain the process and dates for submittal.
Meeting adjourned at 3:00 p.m.
BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS
ISLAND COUNTY, WASHINGTON
____________________________
Mike Shelton, Chairman
_____________________________
Wm. L. McDowell, Member
_____________________________
William F. Thorn, Member
ATTEST: _______________________
Elaine Marlow, Clerk of the Board