BOC minutes may 282013
May 28, 2013
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PERSON COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS MAY 28, 2013
MEMBERS PRESENT OTHERS PRESENT
Jimmy B. Clayton Heidi York, County Manager
Kyle W. Puryear
B. Ray Jeffers Brenda B. Reaves, Clerk to the Board
Frances P. Blalock
David Newell, Sr.
The Board of Commissioners for the County of Person, North Carolina, met in
recessed session on Tuesday, May 28, 2013 at 6:00 pm in the Commissioners’ meeting
room in the Person County Office Building for the purpose of a budget work session.
Chairman Clayton called the meeting to order. Commissioner Puryear was absent
until 6:58 pm.
DISCUSSION/ADJUSTMENT/APPROVAL OF AGENDA:
A motion was made by Vice Chairman Jeffers, and carried 4-0 to approve the
agenda.
County Manager, Heidi York informed the Board that a folder was added to their
Drop Box named Budget 2013-14 which contains a file with on-going follow-up
questions from commissioners regarding the FY13-14 proposed budget.
Ms. York stated at each commissioner’s seat are handouts with slides related to
Tax Revenues that will be presented by Russell Jones, Employee Insurance Costs as will
be presented by Amy Wehrenberg and New Position Requests outlining the positions
recommended and not recommended in the Manager’s proposed budget.
TAX REVENUES:
County Manager, Heidi York along with Tax Administrator, Russell Jones led the
group in the discussion about the County’s tax revenue noting impacts to the revenues
included the recent revaluation and the proposed new DMV system projected to go live
September 1, 2013 as well as the adjustments made by the Board of Equalization and
Review.
Mr. Jones presented the following information:
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Mr. Jones stated, in his opinion, the best revenue neutral rate would be the
.6934 which allowed growth but did not include the four months of additional DMV
revenues.
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Mr. Jones stated confidence that the DMV program would not be delayed
again noting there are proponents still in active debate for such action. Mr. Jones noted
the extra four months bonus DMV revenue equates to $775,000 for the County; he
further noted should the program be delayed the entire fiscal year, the County would be
$400,000 to the negative. Ms. York stated funds are set aside to account for a further
delay by DMV as well as to counter any negative impact should the state appraised
properties values come in lower than anticipated which will not be known until
September 2013.
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EMPLOYEE INSURANCE COSTS:
Finance Director, Amy Wehrenberg presented the following information related
to group health insurance impact to the County Manager’s recommended budget:
Current Year’s Cost FY 13: $2,268,700
Manager’s Recommended FY 14: $2,380,803
WellPath Group Insurance FY 14: $2,412,624
Changes in amounts & %’s:
Manager’s Recommended over FY 2013: $112,103 or a 4.9% increase
Wellpath Grp Insur. over Manager’s Recom: $31,821 or a 1.3% increase
Wellpath Grp Insurance over FY 2013: $143,924
County Manager, Heidi York confirmed an additional $31,821 in funding is
required to balance the Manager’s recommended budget.
POSITION REQUESTS:
County Manager, Heidi York stated the handout presented related to
recommended 9.2 new positions includes the additional costs of the new insurance
benefit plan which totaled $2,951.
Ms. York explained the Telecommunications new position recommended for a
911 Shift Supervisor has approximately $27,500 funding available from the 911
surcharge/restricted fund to offset the County’s portion.
Ms. York noted the two new positions recommended for the Department of Social
Services (DSS) are funded 50% by the State and 50% by the County.
Ms. York stated the new positions recommended for the Human Resources (HR)
and the Info Technology (IT) to begin in January 2014 are tied to the new Munis (HR
and Finance) software package which will be implemented over the summer and fall.
Ms. York added the IT position(s) will also support the Laser fiche software program for
all county departments.
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*Cost includes salary and benefits
**Positions will begin in January 2014 with full year costs estimated at $41,388 for
the HR position and $58,886 for the IT position.
*** 100% grant funded position
It was the consensus of the Board to approve the 2.2 new positions recommended
for the Cooperative Extension department for the Social Worker/Parent Educator and the
Sr. Admin Support Specialist, both of which are 100% grant funded. Ms. York noted the
grant is for a three-year period and the County will not have any obligations currently or
in the future.
Positions Recommended
FTE DEPT POSITION TITLE COST*
1 Info Technology** IT System Administrator $29,443
1 Info Technology IT User Support Specialist $53,467
1 Human Resources** Human Resources Technician $20,694
1.6 Coop. Ext.*** Social Worker/Parent Educator $82,739
0.6 Coop. Ext.*** Sr. Admin Support Specialist $28,296
1 Telecommunications 911 Shift Supervisor $46,008
1 EMS Compliance Officer $51,320
1 DSS
Processing Assistant IV-Service
Intake $36,510
1 DSS
Income Maintenance Caseworker
II - Adult Medicaid $42,292
Offsetting revenues or reductions $185,988
TOTAL $204,781
Positions Not Recommended
FTE DEPT POSITION TITLE COST*
8 Sheriff Deputy Sheriff/SRO $351,412
1 Animal Control
Animal Services Compliance
Officer $41,260
1 DSS
Caseworker II – Children’s
Medicaid $42,292
1 DSS Processing Assistant III - Clerical $34,154
.4 Coop. Ext. Social Worker/Parent Educator $17,681
.4 Coop. Ext. Sr. Admin Support Specialist $14,859
TOTAL $501,658
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Commissioner Blalock requested the Board of Commissioners to hear from the
department directors for the justification as to why the new positions are being requested.
The following department directors appeared before the Board to describe the
roles projected for the new positions requested:
IT Director, Gary Latta, HR Director, Angie Warren, Emergency Management
Director, Wes Lail along with Telecommunications Director, Tommy Cole and
Emergency Medical Services (EMS) Operations Manager Greg White, and Interim DSS
Director, Carlton Paylor.
Vice Chairman Jeffers requested the County Manager to review the feasibility to
transfer current Person Industries’ employee to HR due to HR taking over the PI related
duties.
Vice Chairman Jeffers asked for additional information related to the EMS debt
set off amount and the ability to garnish wages with the assistance of the Tax Office.
Commissioners Blalock and Newell were interested in more information related to the
outstanding EMS debt, annual billing/collection totals and the period of time debt is
carried on the books before being written off.
Commissioner Newell requested a copy of the EMS contract with the third party
bill collector, NRG as well as more information about transport fees.
Vice Chairman Jeffers told the group the DSS position not recommended related
to the Children’s Medicaid will be affected with a 30% increase of applicants just as the
recommended position for Adult Medicaid as both are impacted by the Affordable Care
Act.
Commissioner Newell had questions related to the fee schedule, one of which
related to the Kirby rental. County Manager, Heidi York noted she would ask the
Recreation, Arts and Parks Director, John Hill to come to the next scheduled budget work
session prepared to speak to the rental fees of the Kirby as well as to provide a contract
for such services for the Board to review and with an overview of the operating costs and
revenues for the Kirby.
Vice Chairman Jeffers requested options related to 911 dispatchers being put on
the same schedule to accommodate the Munis software program.
Vice Chairman Jeffers advocated for the volunteer fire departments to be funded
at the pre-recession levels before adding the additional funding based on call volume.
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Commissioner Puryear asked if there was potential to earn more revenues on the
fees related to the Jail concessions and phone cards. Sheriff Dewey Jones commented the
County received 13% of concession sales and 25% of phone cards purchased by inmates
which are comparable to other jurisdictions based on a review of such last year.
Commissioner Puryear asked how much revenue had been taken in for concealed weapon
fees. Ms. York stated $47,805 to date has been collected by the Sheriff’s Office for
concealed weapon fees noting over one-half of the fee in revenue will be submitted to the
State noting the fees for such are regulated by the State.
Ms. York asked Commissioner Puryear if he wanted the Tax Administrator to
review the Tax Revenue discussion which took place in his absence. Commissioner
Puryear stated he would follow up with the County Manager on the discussion he missed.
Ms. York reminded the Board the Budget Public Hearing is scheduled to be held
at the Board’s next regular scheduled meeting on June 3, 2013 at 7:00 pm in the County
Auditorium. Ms. York noted the next scheduled budget work session is scheduled for
June 10, 2013 at 6:00 pm in the Commissioners’ meeting room and asked that the Board
members would direct any agenda items to her attention for the June 10th work session.
ADJOURNMENT:
A motion was made by Vice Chairman Jeffers, carried 5-0 to adjourn the
meeting at 8:22 pm.
_____________________________ ______________________________
Brenda B. Reaves Jimmy B. Clayton
Clerk to the Board Chairman