Washington County Budget Committee Regular Monthly Meeting February 16, 2011

Transcription

1 Washington County Budget Committee Regular Monthly Meeting February 16, 2011 Members present: Mayor Dan Eldridge, Pat Wolfe, Mitch Meredith, Mark Larkey, Joe Grandy. Other County Commissioners Others present: Bobbye Webb, Jeff Keeling, Charles Steagall, John Rambo, Brenda Sneyd, Lee Chase, Heather Richardson, Richard Lovette, Karen Sells, Kathy Storey, Ginger Jilton, Jack Daniels, Karen Guinn, Gearld Sparks, Doyle Cloyd, Alpha Bridger, Frank Bolus, Nate Morabito, Ed Graybeal, Gary Anderson, Pete Speropulos, Johnny Deakins, Scott Buckingham, Connie Sharp, Joe McCray, Pat Beard, David Shanks, Connie Sinks, Willie Shrewsbury, Sam Phillips, Mark Ferguson, Greg Matherly, Richard Matherly, Patrick Littleton, Charles Baines, Leighta Laitinen, Lusetta Slagle, Ron Dykes, Beverly Thomas, Keith Ervin. Mayor Eldridge called the meeting to order at 9 a.m. and opened with prayer. He then yielded the floor to Commissioner Mark Ferguson. Mr. Ferguson said he wanted to address concerns he had that Washington County's financial situation was being misrepresented in the media and through statements made by Mayor Eldridge, particularly concerning the fund balance. Mr. Ferguson said he wanted to make sure he fully understood the finances. He referred to a fund balance of more than $9.2 million as of January 31. He said nearly $2.7 million was taken from that amount to balance the current (2011 fiscal year) budget still left the county with more than $6.4 million. Mr. Ferguson also referred to an additional $2.5 million, though, that is part of the fund balance, leaving more than $8.9 million in the general fund balance. Mr. Ferguson said he wanted to look not just at the general fund balance, but at all county fund balances, and relate them to the recent Washington County audit. He first mentioned the debt service fund balance, which totaled more than $7.2 million as of January 31. Mr. Ferguson also mentioned a $2.2 million highway fund balance, a $523,000 solid waste fund balance and a $284,000 capital projects fund balance. So overall, after we took out $4,062,000 to balance this year's budget, we're still sitting here with $19,118,538.18, Mr. Ferguson said. Mr. Ferguson said there had been a lot of talk about where we're at for next year, and he said the county doesn't know where it is for next year until it sees how much money comes back from different departments spending less than they had budgeted. He said there was a possibility not all of the money taken out of the fund balance to balance this year's budget would be used. Mr. Ferguson then said that the debt service fund balance was exactly the same at the end of January as it was at the end of last June. He said the general fund balance was also nearly identical. The point I'm trying to make is, there is not a commissioner here, or a county official here, that don't realize we're in a tough economic time... We've got virtually the lowest growth we've ever had if not zero growth. We all know that. And we've heard Charles (independent auditor Charles Steagall) say we've got to be more conservative. We need to cut back, we don't know what the future holds and we've really got to watch what we're doing... but we're not broke. There's some things that really concern me and really bother me, and I would hope that it would

2 bother this budget committee. Because we're all commissioners, we've all got constituents we have to answer to, and we're all held accountable for the way we spend the taxpayers' money. Mr. Ferguson then said that over the past five months, he believes a picture has been painted in the media of the county that is inaccurate. He read one sentence from a Jan. 18 Jonesborough Herald and Tribune article, a quote from Mayor Eldridge, that the commission in 2010 depleted the fund balance to the point of not having any available funds. He then read the entire paragraph from the article, in which Mayor Eldridge said the county had gotten into a mode of deficit spending over the past three years. Mr. Ferguson said he learned of the article from a business owner, who had that section underlined. He said he then read it himself and told the person it was not a true statement (about the fund balance not having any available funds). Mr. Ferguson said he told the business owner the commission had never once spent any money contrary to the opinions delivered by Blackburn, Childers and Steagall, the independent auditors. I'm constantly defending a doom and gloom cloud cast over this county, that we're broke, Ferguson said. And Mayor, I take offense to this. There's nobody that wants to get the truth out to the public any more than I do... If you all really want the citizens of this county to know the truth about our finances, you will print a retraction to what's been in this paper for the last five months. I think I've made my point. The committee then approved two requests from the Washington County Sheriff's Department for budget transfers one to purchase bullet proof vests (see attachment 1) and a second to [purchase a S.W.A.T. van (see attachment 2). The vest transfer involved $16, being transferred from the Reserved Bullet Proof Vest Grant to the Sheriff's uniform budget line item. The van purchase involved transfer of $55,000 from the Drug Fund's undesignated fund balance to the Drug Fund Budget line item. The first resolution was passed unanimously after a motion from Pat Wolfe and a second from Joe Grandy: County Sheriff's Department to transfer $16, from the Reserved Bullet Proof Vest Grant (34986) to budget line item (Uniforms) for purchase of replacement vests. The second motion passed unanimously after a motion from Joe Grandy and a second from Mitch Meredith: County Sheriff's Department to transfer a total of $55,000 from the undesignated fund balance of the Drug Fund to line item in the Drug Fund Budget for purchase of a S.W.A.T. van. The committee then heard a report from Director of Schools Ron Dykes about the schools' finances and the pace of sales tax revenues (see attachment 3). Mr. Dykes said through seven months, sales tax revenues were $301,000 above last fiscal year's figures. School finance director Beverly Thomas acknowledged that this revenue level, though, is nearly the same as the figures the system had budgeted for this year as it had anticipated some improvements in retail sales.

3 Washington County Library Director Pat Beard then presented the committee with a request to add money to two line items based on revenues from donations and from lost material payments (see attachment 4). The request was for $950 in donations to be transferred to line item , Instructional Supplies and Materials, and for $81 in lost materials to line item , Library Books. Mitch Meredith made a motion, seconded by Joe Grandy, that passed unanimously: Resolved that the Washington County Board of Commissioners authorize the Washington County Library to transfer $950 from donation proceeds to line item , Instructional Supplies and Materials, and to transfer $81 in lost materials revenue to line item , Library Books. Highway Superintendent Johnny Deakins then briefed budget committee members on a $20,000 internal transfer he had completed within the last month to bolster his department's budget line item for light vehicle parts. The committee then heard a request from Election Administrator Connie Sinks to transfer funds from a $10,000 state HAVA grant to the Election Commission's rental budget line item. The grant funds were for rental of 10 voting machines during the 2010 elections. After a motion by Joe Grandy and second by Mark Larkey, the committee unanimously approved the following resolution: Resolved, that the Washington County Board of Commissioners authorize the Washington County Election Commission to transfer $10,000 from the Other State Grants line item, 46980, to the rental line item, , for the renting of 10 voting machines during the 2010 elections. Ms. Sinks then briefed committee members on a pending requirement based on a state law passed a couple of years ago for Tennessee counties to use optical scanning systems and paper ballots for elections. She said counties had been given a grace period and allowed not to implement the change for the 2010 elections, but that unless the law is repealed, it will be required for the 2012 elections. The result, Ms. Sinks said, will be additional costs to the county of nearly $263,000. She said the change would also render worthless to the county the voting machines it spent several hundred thousand dollars on just a few years ago, machines Ms. Sinks said work very well. She detailed the costs, and her concerns about optical scanning systems, which the county used a number of years ago, and requested that the budget committee recommend to the full County Commission passage of a resolution requesting that the Tennessee General Assembly repeal the law. Mark Larkey made a motion, seconded by Joe Grandy, that the Washington County Commission approve a resolution seeking repeal of the Tennessee state law requiring the change to optical scan voting. The motion passed unanimously. The committee then heard a presentation from Washington County Agricultural Extension office's Connie Sharp about a pending cut to the office's budget in its state funding. Ms. Sharp said the state plans to eliminate two Washington County positions in its new state staffing plans, a horticulture specialist and an ag agent.

4 Ms. Sharp said the ag agent slated to be cut is John Hamrick. She detailed the many duties he fulfills, from work with greenhouse producers and farmers to educational activities with local 4-H and FFA students. She also reviewed for committee members the impact agriculture has on Washington County, including a 2010 economic impact of nearly $52 million. Ms. Sharp said the state has agreed to pay Hamrick's position for the 2012 fiscal year if Washington County is willing to pick up half of his salary for that year, then pay his full salary starting in the 2013 fiscal year that begins July 1, This would not involve any new money for the 2012 fiscal year, because Washington County already pays half of Hamrick's salary and benefits in a cost-sharing arrangement with the state. The state is willing to do that, Ms. Sharp said, if the Washington County Commission signs a memorandum of understanding pledging to fund the salary starting in July Otherwise, she said, the position will be cut at the end of this fiscal year. The MOU must be signed before May 30 for the state to agree to the arrangement. The cost to pick up the other half of Hamrick's salary and benefits, if accepted, will total about $32,275. Joe McCray of the Extension Office then outlined some of the budget sacrifices the office has made over the past few years. County Commissioner Greg Matherly, who serves on the Agriculture Committee, said the extension office in general and Mr. Hamrick in particular add a great deal of value to the county in what they do. Mayor Eldridge said he had been receiving many telephone calls over the past few weeks about the impact Mr. Hamrick has on the lives of a large number of Washington Countians through his job duties. Budget committee members agreed to study the proposal and try to make a decision at their March meeting. The committee then heard some updates on Washington County's financial situation from Mayor Eldridge. He said he wanted to provide further information in addition to that he provided at the January meeting regarding the history of the past decade's spending and fund balances. Mayor Eldridge presented a slide showing that the General Fund's spending had grown by 69 percent over the past decade, while the fund balance had grown by just 40 percent. Now that revenues have become stagnant, the county risks further eroding the fund balance to meet expenses, unless budget cuts are made. The current fiscal year's budget, in fact, will use more than $2.5 million of fund balance if the budgeted figures are expended. Mayor Eldridge said because the fund balance is not a static amount, but in fact fluctuates through the fiscal year growing mostly during December and February as property tax revenues come in and declining during other months it can reach a tipping point during the year that could force the county to engage in what is known as revenue anticipation borrowing. The general fund for Washington County is basically our checking account, Eldridge said. He said during the budget year, the fund balance went as high as almost $17 million in February 2010, but also dipped as low as $6.7 million in May. During the current fiscal year, he said, the fund balance's low point so far has been $5.2 million in November compared to nearly $8.0 million in November 2009.

5 This is all about cash flow, Eldridge said. The fund balance itself is not a savings account. We don't maintain $12 million in cash in the fund balance every month of the year... The concern that I've got is that we all recognize that at $5.2 million, which includes the $2.5 million cushion, the cash flow reserve that we say we aren't going to touch, if we take this cushion out that leaves us $2.7 million in the fund balance in November. The problem with that is, that's not even one month's expenses. Mayor Eldridge said the county took $2.8 million out of the fund balance this fiscal year to balance the budget. If we don't change a thing; if our revenues stay the same, and if our spending stays the same, next year we will drop below the $2.5 million (in the lowest cash flow month of the year), Eldridge said. He said that would trigger revenue anticipation borrowing, which he said would be devastating to Washington County's bond rating. The current rating from Moody's is AA2, which is investment grade and allows the county to get excellent interest rates on its $160 million worth of debt. It is crucial we maintain that credit rating, because if for some reason we have to go back to the bond markets to borrow more money, our borrowing cost is going to go up dramatically if we lost that investment-grade credit rating. A great way to put that credit rating in jeopardy is to do revenue anticipation borrowing. He said Washington County hasn't had to resort to revenue anticipation borrowing since about Since then, he said, the county has been very focused on building its fund balance to avoid a repeat of that. That's what we're guarding against, Mayor Eldridge said. We cannot maintain status quo and not dip into that last $2.5 million reserve we have and trigger revenue anticipation borrowing. We either have to increase revenues or decrease expenses one or the other. Commissioner Ferguson interjected, and said it seems to him like it would be hard for the Commission to pick out a month like November and decide this is the situation the county is in based on that month. That's why I'm saying until the year is closed out, you don't really know where you stand, Ferguson said. We're dealing with cash, Eldridge replied. The numbers we're looking at here are cash balances, and regardless of what the balance sheet says we have, we're focused on actual cash flow, and we can't spend cash we don't have. I understand, Commissioner Ferguson replied. But the audit sort of speaks for itself. It does, Mayor Eldridge said. The problem is, the audit speaks for our circumstances on June 30, not at any other point in time. Nine months later, I just went over it, our circumstances are virtually the same, Ferguson said. It is, Eldridge said. However, from June 30 through November 30, we had very little in revenue and lots of expenses. That's where the cash continues to drop every month.

6 I understand, Ferguson said, but until you get December and February's revenue in I don't know how that you can make a determination where you're at. It won't matter if you run out of cash in November, Eldridge said. I don't care what happens in December and February if you run out of cash... We didn't run out of cash in November, Ferguson interjected. We didn't, Eldridge replied. Exactly, we did not. Mark, the whole point I'm trying to make here is, we have to act in a manner that prevents us from ever being in a position where that could happen. I support that 100 percent, Mayor, Ferguson said. What I don't support is the fact that we're broke. I don't think the figures show that. I've said enough carry on. Mayor Eldridge then moved on to a chart that shows the county's 10-year history in debt service fund. The chart shows that while the county's total debt has increased from $47.5 million in 2001 to $159.2 million in the current fiscal year, the debt service fund balance has stayed almost the same $7,168,983 in 2001 and $7,219,431 currently. This means the fund balance represented 15 percent of the total debt in 2001, whereas it represents 4.5 percent of the total debt now. Mayor Eldridge also said this year's debt service revenues are expected to fall short of debt service expenses by about $60,000 this fiscal year, which would decrease the debt service fund balance by that amount. Commissioner Joe Grandy then pointed out that a large portion of the county's payments on its debt involves interest-only. Mayor Eldridge said that is correct, and that the largest portion of debt, that for the Justice Center and two new schools, will remain interest-only until about Commissioner Wolfe said the reason for that was that in the 2007 bond issuance for those buildings, the county debt-leveled. To keep the debt service requirement flat without big peaks and valleys, Wolfe said, the Commission chose a course with some years when there will be more interest portion than others. Mayor Eldridge said that was also done to minimize the tax increase necessary at that time. Right, Commissioner Wolfe said. That was the purpose. Mayor Eldridge said the big unknown for the county is what is going to happen with revenue. He said so far this fiscal year, the county is now projecting about $430,000 less than budgeted. For us to think that there's some pot out there that's going to offer great relief to these circumstances that we're dealing with, folks, I'm sorry, he said. I don't think it's realistic. And I think the bottom line is, in Washington County we will have to learn to do more with less. The prospect for meaningful increases in revenue for the foreseeable future just is not there. Mayor Eldridge said he believes the facts clearly show that spending at the current year's levels, assuming that revenues are going to be the same, quickly takes us to a point that we are in big

7 trouble. Commissioner Meredith agreed, saying the same approach will start causing that red light to flash, just like it would at home. Your savings account starts getting a little low, and it's time to do something different. Property Assessor Scott Buckingham asked if the Mayor's requested budget cuts are unreachable for county departments. Mayor Eldridge said the circumstances the county faces are absolutely manageable. I don't want us to think, though, that we're going to accomplish this without making any changes. Sheriff Graybeal said he knows we have to face reality, but he said he can't find anything in his budget that isn't essential to the citizens of Washington County, and he does not want to step backwards with respect to services. Commissioner Wolfe said Washington County has been a blessed county. We've been blessed with people being willing to pay the property taxes every year, Wolfe said. And people expect services and that's what I think all department heads are providing... We've been blessed, we're not broke, but we've got to watch what we're doing because we cannot jeopardize bond ratings, liquidity we've got to maintain adequate reserves and we've got to watch what we're doing expensewise. The meeting adjourned at 11 a.m. The following resolutions were passed during the course of this meeting: County Sheriff's Department to transfer $16, from the Reserved Bullet Proof Vest Grant (34986) to budget line item (Uniforms) for purchase of replacement vests. County Sheriff's Department to transfer a total of $55,000 from the undesignated fund balance of the Drug Fund to line item in the Drug Fund Budget for purchase of a S.W.A.T. van. Resolved that the Washington County Board of Commissioners authorize the Washington County Library to transfer $950 from donation proceeds to line item , Instructional Supplies and Materials, and to transfer $81 in lost materials revenue to line item , Library Books. Resolved, that the Washington County Board of Commissioners authorize the Washington County Election Commission to transfer $10,000 from the Other State Grants line item, 46980, to the rental line item, , for the renting of 10 voting machines during the 2010 elections. Respectfully submitted, Jeff Keeling