Board of Supervisors Public Hearing on County Executive's Recommended Budget   2/21/2017

If I can call us to order for tonight's meeting and public hearing.

Just do a few quick introductions.

Today's officer for for us is Kelly Goforth.

Thank you for joining us tonight.

and to my right, Greg Kamptner is our county attorney, of course the supervisors, and our interim county executive is sitting at the very far end right now, Doug Walker.

Our clerks, Claudette Borgensen is our clerk, sorry, and Travis Morris is our deputy clerk.

So we appreciate everyone being with us tonight.

We can share a moment of silence, please.

All right.

Any other announcements from that side?

I'm trying to find the announcement with the water testing dates in it.

They're coming in April.

This is a wonderful water testing program that's sponsored by the Soil and Water Conservation District.

And I will have the dates available in March.

Oh, yeah.

All right, so we'll move on to our public hearing on the county executive's proposed budget.

Thank you, Madam Chair, members of the board.

Again, for the record, I'm Doug Walker, the interim county executive.

And if my volume fades, just give me an eyeball so that I can make sure to lean forward into the microphone.

This is the next step and a number of steps involving the consideration of the FY18 annual budget.

You received the formal presentation from me in the role of county executive on Friday and then today is by custom the board asks the public to come and make comment on the recommended county executive's FY18 budget.

This then leads to your consideration of the budget over the course of the next several weeks.

There will be another public hearing on the board's proposed budget on April the 11th.

But again, this is all part of the county's commitment to engagement with the public.

So this is a slightly abbreviated version of what the board heard.

This is intended to provide a relatively broad overview of what this budget is intended to accomplish as it has been recommended.

The budget is not the presentation.

There is a number of other materials that are available.

There's a copy of this presentation.

There's a copy of a budget summary that's available here at the clerk station if you would like to use that to follow along.

Again, this will stay relatively high level, recognizing that any budget is always about the numbers.

So, some combination of narrative and numbers.

So as much as we talk about the budget and what it funds and where the revenues come from and what the expenditures are, budgets are often built around what they support.

This budget is no exception.

This budget is intended to support actions that will achieve a number of board focus areas, including your approved strategic priorities,

Our ongoing commitment to transformation of our organization to provide services and programs more effectively and more efficiently to the citizens.

The health of our organization in the form of making sure we have a quality organization, thoughtful investments in the future,

and underlying most of what we do, the many mandates and obligations that we're obliged to support.

And we'll talk about each of these as we go forward here briefly.

So starting with the approval of the FY 17 budget last year, the board supported a very thoughtful and deliberative process that made some meaningful changes that have now led to where we are today with this budget.

Again, the adoption of the FY17 budget set direction.

It also provided resources.

It set in motion the board's consideration and ultimately adoption of its highest priorities in a strategic plan.

There was a refreshing of a program and service inventory.

There was an initiation of a priority-based or priority-driven budgeting process aligning the board's priorities in direct correlation with its strategic plan highest priorities.

and then for the first time actually considered and ultimately adopted in December a balanced two-year plan in the context of the five-year plan this county has a tradition of its long-range financial planning the five-year plan gives a meaningful look into the future

The two year balance plan sets a clearer framework around not just the upcoming fiscal year but the succeeding fiscal year in a balanced way to help guide the decision making in a thoughtful way so that you're mindful of consequences of shorter term decisions from one year to the next.

That two-year plan provided guidance that staff has used to structure this recommended budget.

The two-year plan guidance includes no tax rate increase which delays the planned CIP tax rate that was previously identified for FY18, enhanced use of dedicated revenues for specific services and primarily that relates to the consideration of a stormwater utility fee which is not

intended to be considered as part of FY18 but is intended to be considered as part of FY19.

The strategic use of new revenue and one-time money, and you'll see that play out particularly in our support for the capital program, but also some strategic use of one-time money to accomplish some of the board's strategic priorities.

Maintaining current service levels according to the program service inventory.

No indication from the board of a desire to lessen the current levels of programs and services.

And using existing funding formulas, and we talk about this primarily in the context of what we refer to generally as a 60-40 split or dedicating 60% of certain new revenues to the school division as part of your annual transfer.

In addition, the board identified the three focus areas that were mentioned previously.

Implementing your approved strategic priorities, driving transformation to reduce cost and improve productivity, and continuing to support a quality organization.

We include this chart here which reflects the direction and the degree of change in the rate of assessments over time.

It's assessment rate change.

And what's meaningful is that as part of your two-year plan process, we indicated that we projected a 1.8% increase in assessed value

With the completion of the current land book, we actually are now projecting an increase in assessed value of 2.9%.

So that does represent a meaningful change in the revenue projections from when you completed your two-year plan in December to where we are here today in February.

That's not the only revenue source.

It's not the only revenue source that is actually experiencing some meaningful improvement.

In addition to the increase in assessed value of real estate, we're also experiencing increase due to new construction of land divisions, local personal property, that would be cars as well as business personal property.

consumer-driven activity that would include sales tax, meals tax, lodging tax, BPOL, and then public service tax.

There's one corporation in particular assessed by the State Corporation Commission that experienced a very large increase in its assessed value.

We are given that information, but that does translate into a significant increase in tax revenue.

The recommended total budget for FY18 is just shy of $400 million.

On the revenue side, you see the majority of that money necessarily comes from local government property taxes and other local taxes.

On the expenditure side, the most significant beneficiary of tax revenue is the local school division.

Cost of supporting the K-12 education, this community's support for education, as you see reflected in the share of resources going to operations, going to capital, and going to debt service is just over 60% of the total budget.

A few highlights.

I put some numbers and some percentage change with the pie chart.

This is the total budget with an increase of almost 22 million or 5.8 percent.

That would include a 5.4 percent increase in the combined operating expenses and almost 12.5 percent increase in the capital budget.

On the revenue side, as I mentioned, a strengthening revenue growth overall.

General fund revenues being up 6.5%.

The moderate increase in real estate values of 2.9%, but you also see that's complemented by an increase in new construction and land divisions.

This budget is built on the current tax rate of 83.9 cents.

Again, there is no tax rate increase that is proposed.

State revenues increased by 1.6% primarily for the school division and social services.

Federal revenues increased by 3.1%.

A smaller number, higher percentage change, again that also is primarily for social services.

again in tabular form just reflecting the change from the adopted FY17 to the recommended FY18 again in column form showing the actual dollar change for general government, other general government funds and general government debt service and the percentage change in those categories as well.

and then you see a similar reflection of the changes for the school division would note that the total increase for school division of $10,950,000 or 5.5% increase

Most of what we talk about at the board level in making the choices and changes for the allocation of resources is in the general fund.

And this is a complicated transition but an important one because of the resources that are not part of this conversation.

The total budget that I just

I showed you includes, for example, all of the resources that come from the state directly to support K-12 education.

The general fund does not reflect those resources.

But 68% of the total county budget is included in the general fund.

So we'll be talking more again today and then more as we go forward about the general fund.

But it's important to keep those two pictures in mind.

General fund revenues include general property taxes and other local taxes, which I've mentioned previously.

The total for local revenues is up almost 15 million or 6.6%.

Again, you see the state revenues and federal revenues make up a much smaller share.

The change in local revenues at almost $2 million or 5.8%.

Total general fund growth of $16.77 million or 6.5%.

State Revenue Outlook, we tend to look at what the Governor has included in his budget presentation.

So much happens during the course of the General Assembly session that it's very difficult for us to predict how it's going to end up.

The Governor's message was not terribly optimistic back in December.

It has improved somewhat.

but we're still unclear about where the money committees in both the House and the Senate are going to end up and compromise and ultimately agree on what the budget is going to be for the state going forward.

The other point of this slide is just to indicate that over time from FY09 to FY18

is that of the total amount of the general fund, the state payer is paying less of a share.

And so it just reflects a change in the partnership that has defined the relationship between local taxpayers who are also state taxpayers and where the money comes from to support those services.

That's perhaps more dramatic when we look at what occurs on the school side.

This is a slide from the schools that shows again from the same time period, over a nine year period, that the local share makes up a much larger percentage of the total amount of funding necessary to support the school system.

and again it's that relationship between the state and local government that again this is not unique to Albemarle County but it's reflecting the choices that the state is making as well as the choices that the county is making.

General Fund Expenditures, these are in this slide are categorized by large department and we want to be clear that when we say administration in this case that includes not just county administration but also the finance department, the IT department,

H.R., OMB.

So these are the categories that we use to report to the auditor public accounts for its comparative reporting.

Similarly, health and welfare in addition to social services also includes our support for Jaunt.

Public Safety in addition to the Police Department and Fire Rescue also includes our support for the jail.

Parks and Recreation and Cultural in addition to the Parks and Rec Department also includes our support for the JMRL Library.

And Community Development also includes our support for CAT.

So just want to be mindful these are not specifically departmental changes.

It's also worth noting that because we're a service organization with people serving people, that costs associated with personnel are spread throughout these categories.

And so when we talk about the proposed salary increases, changes in health insurance, that does get reflected in these changes also.

I did want to point out in the lower section the revenue sharing.

That is the transfer to the city of Charlottesville as part of our agreement that for the first time in many years is actually showing an increase of about $88,000.

This formula lags, so we, after the recession, had spent some, it had gone down, it's now, things are improving, and so we've just now caught up and that share of that transfer is now going up.

Just a bit about the strategic priorities.

I'll try to move through this fairly quickly.

These are the board's strategic priorities that it adopted in FY 17 that this budget intends to support through implementing them going into FY 18.

including the urban redevelopment and revitalization that the board is aware of, resources provided to support the county attorney's office and community development to modernize, recodify zoning ordinance to better prepare us for potential investments, redevelopment in particular, in our development area, particularly around the Rio Route 29 in conjunction with the completion of the small area plan.

The boards also are recently of a proposal to fund a neighborhood improvement funding initiative for smaller scale projects.

The $1.4 million already provided is being supplemented with some additional resources and help to support the soft cost to keep more of the funding available for the projects.

And this budget also does reinforce financially investments in economic development, positioning the county to take advantage of

of those activities as they become available as you move forward with your efforts to implement your economic development strategic plan when it's completed.

Pantops Master Plan, Rivanna River Corridor is addressed in this budget.

Finding Families Pilot Program, this is in social services as a prevention item to avoid or minimize cost for foster care.

Additional agency support including expanded hours at Northside Library, the Boys and Girls Club at Southwood, the Belvedere Senior Center, and the Women's Treatment Center.

Transformation, our efforts to maximize cost savings and efficiencies and operational improvements includes a commitment to further expand our records management enterprise to move away from our reliance on paper and do more digital record keeping and data management.

Part of that is converting our copy sitter to an imaging sitter.

We're also seeking to expand our innovation fund where we operationalize ideas from employees that actually improve our efficiency and effectiveness and save money.

Diversity and inclusion generalists to improve our recruitment and retention and frankly to better enable our workforce to look more like the community that we serve.

Fire and Rescue System Fleet Consolidations is fleet maintenance following some successful effort to consolidate our fuel program as well as consolidate our training program.

and a time and attendance system, which is the first phase of a workforce management system, again, to increase our productivity and move away from our paper-based timekeeping into a computer-oriented timekeeping as an enterprise, so we're not on department by department basis, but throughout the whole organization.

A quality organization promoting agility and flexibility to manage workloads and meet evolving needs.

Budget includes a 2% market adjustment for all classified employees.

A remedy to relieve entry level compression that the board has discussed the last two years.

The employer share of increases in health insurance.

Increase in our support for training our employees.

and then staffing resources in a number of different ways including temporary and contractual resources that were not investing in ongoing commitments, continuing to approve positions added during FY 17 that would

For example, the planner positions and community development added to address workload concerns, making adjustments to current positions, some that are part-time to be made full-time, and then there are new positions also.

And of course, we'll be going through all of these in some detail in the coming work sessions.

An illustration is to reflect how mindful we are about the relationship between the growth in our population and our staff ability to keep pace with that growth.

So again, using FY09 to FY18 time frame.

just showing the relative stability, you see the dip there with the recession, but a relative stability of our focus on keeping our staffing levels in some reasonable comparison to the increase within our population.

Similarly, looking at total expenditures per capita, you see Albemarle towards the right hand side.

This is information that comes from the auditor public accounts compared to the report I mentioned previously and illustrates that we are relatively comparable to those counties.

that we use as benchmarks.

You see that Fauquier County on a per capita basis is a little high, Montgomery County is a little low, but Albemarle County among counties in this benchmark group is relatively on par.

We include Charlottesville here because they're a neighbor and also to make the distinction between costs associated with operating a city and providing urban services.

and what is traditionally considered county services.

And as we look to, as we become more urban and then seek to address those needs as we become more urban, it's just mindful to kind of think about the distinctions that between cities and counties may become less so.

Illustrating our ongoing commitment as part of our organizational culture, our DNA, to focus on wherever and whenever that we can address process improvement and trying to be effective and trying to be efficient, trying to be productive in areas of technology, our paperless communications, our energy savings, the use of purchase cards,

That should be expected regardless of where we are looking to make investments for the future.

We should always be expecting that we'll continue to look at our current operations to find areas of improvement.

and finally strategic investments and improving our urban neighborhoods in CIP and reducing borrowing costs.

I mentioned previously the neighborhood improvement funding initiative.

The budget seeks to restore some funding that was removed in FY16 or actually is diverted from investments in capital.

to operating because of circumstances that we were facing then.

This budget also seeks to add significant one-time funds into the capital program, increasing transportation revenue sharing, recognizing that the state increasingly is expecting local governments to participate in the cost of these projects, whether it's revenue sharing where we are right now getting a one to one dollar match,

or SmartScale projects where in order to be more competitive then they are expecting projects to be more shovel ready.

As mentioned, the previously identified tax increase for FY18 is deferred in this recommended budget.

The budget also does include funding for the acquisition of conservation easements program.

And without getting into detail about the mandates and obligations,

and we'll mention the revenue sharing payment to the city and our transfer to school divisions in that category.

So the challenges, and I am wrapping up, the challenges that we see is that we still, despite the relatively good performance of our local economy and that is reflected in the revenue projections,

We still see an uncertain economy going forward.

Whether it's changes that may be coming from the federal level and uncertain activity at the state level, it's very difficult, not impossible for us to make meaningful predictions about what's going to happen.

As much as we are proposing some meaningful investments in staff resources to keep pace with demands for services, we are always aware that we do have staff capacity needs that remain unmet and we can certainly talk about all of those positions that were requested and not funded and talk generally about the choices that we made.

You may want to be making other choices.

Then the underfunded capital program, a significant investment in capital in this budget but it does tend to reflect some of the choices already made and not necessarily put us in the position to then be considering the capital needs assessment for example and the projects that for years have been kind of out there on the horizon unable to address because of

and more compelling needs and our commitment to our maintenance and replacement program.

Again, in summary, this budget intends to implement the board's strategic priorities, achieve transformation that promotes efficiency and productivity, sustain a responsive, flexible, high-quality organization, invest resources into the CIP to build the county's future, and meet our mandates and obligations to maintain our program and service levels.

just to finish up with acknowledgement about where we are in the process again this is the 21st of February which is the public hearing on the county executives proposed budget we did your work sessions start on Thursday and then they go through March perhaps even the end of March if necessary and then another public hearing opportunity on the

on the 11th of April on the board's budget before the board is scheduled to adopt the budget on the 18th of April.

That ends my comments.

I'm sorry if that went a little bit long.

I just want to make sure I've covered everything.

And again, all of this is supplemental to the information that is available online.

is available here in the auditorium, and obviously will be supplemented further as we go through your work sessions.

So that's all I have, Madam Chair.

Do you all have any questions, clarifications, comments?

Well it should probably just be stated and then have an answer back some other time.

We did get an email about reported changes in the BPOL rates and so I didn't remember that and so at some point someone could tell us whether we did really do that or not.

So we'll be able to respond properly on that one.

I feel like I just had one.

What was the year where we had to divert the $700,000?

I'm just in my mind trying to remember.

Was it 15?

It was 16.

I think most people here are familiar with the rules of the public hearing.

Each person is allowed three minutes to speak if there's under ten people speaking, which there is that have signed up.

We have some sign ups from online registrants and people that have signed up here.

Please make your comments to the entire board.

We don't respond immediately after your comments, but everything is recorded and put in the minutes and the video so we can refer back to it if we need to.

With that, we'll get started.

Anything else you need to say?

So we'll start with the person who signed up here, Robert Haig, Samuel Miller District.

Please, when you come up, give your name.

I may have pronounced it wrong.

Good evening, I'm Robert Hoge, Samuel Miller District.

Last year I went to a town hall meeting at North Garden.

At this meeting I asked a school official why our school buses run on non-state maintained roads.

The answer I received, because we can.

Money could be saved if school buses were taken off non-state maintained roads.

Also at this meeting, I had a question for the supervisor, a question I've asked before about property tax relief for the elderly.

Why don't we collect some of the lost revenue from the sale of their property after they die?

Because the rest of us are paying this.

The question was passed to Mr. Foley.

He could not answer the question either.

I'm beginning to wonder if I ever get an answer for this question.

Quite a few people left this town hall meeting disgusted.

The public library system waived the late book return fee for kids.

This teaches kids and their parents not to take responsibility.

Remember this when the library system wants more money.

Our tax system punishes people that are 50 and older that have never had children.

60% of their tax dollars goes to the school system.

It's discrimination, and they do not feel represented.

More older people that have never had children realize this and deserve a break on their taxes.

Also, very few kids will grow up to do chores for senior citizens for free.

Heck, you can't even pay them to do chores now.

A few other items.

The cost of school sports should be fully paid for by the parents.

The parks should be funded only through

interest and activity fees.

Taxpayers cannot afford to support every charity's request for our tax dollars.

In closing, you are elected to represent everyone, not just school children and the school system, but everyone.

Mr. Ho, could I just do one thing really, really quick?

Could you just leave your address with the with the clerk?

Because I thought that I did answer your question on the on the tax relief for the elderly via email.

So I'd like to mail you that.

Thank you.

and thank you for your efforts on cleanup on Dick Woods Road.

Okay.

Good evening.

I'm Peter Thompson.

I live in the Samuel Miller district, but I'm here representing the Senior Center tonight, which serves all of Albemarle County and beyond.

Madam Chairperson, members of the Board of Supervisors, staff, and fellow citizens, thank you for considering the Senior Center's request for a capital investment of $2 million to build our future center at Belvedere.

I'm grateful to all of you for all the time you gave us and our board over the last several months to learn more about how our Senator Belvedere vision aligns with county priorities.

The Weldon Cooper Center states that the number one demographic issue in our area is the aging of our community.

Indeed, we are in the midst of a doubling of our senior population in less than a generation.

And the percentage of seniors as part of Albemarle's population will only continue to grow well into the future.

As recommended in Mr. Walker's proposed budget, the Center of Belvidere fits within Albemarle's advanced strategic priorities as it supports lifelong learning.

And it will be so much more, engagement opportunities for social wellness to avoid the growing public health crisis of social isolation, physical wellness programming, an enhanced volunteer center to promote civic engagement, and performing and visual arts and community gathering spaces, which are vital to a healthy community for all of us.

Several prominent philanthropists encourage us to seek this public investment, believing both the funds are necessary and illustrating the credibility in the project in already meeting identified county and city priorities.

We know that the county's capital investment will be leveraged greatly by inspiring the next level of private philanthropy necessary to complete this vital project.

Every Virginia county that Albemarle benchmarks with funds both their local area agency on aging, like Java, and a senior center.

Indeed, in all but one of the benchmarks for Albemarle County, the local senior center is part of county government.

So county government is building, funding the capital improvements, and operating the senior center each and every year.

A healthy community needs both what Java provides and what the senior center provides.

Indeed, tonight our senior center heartily and officially supports our Friends of Java's annual operating support request because we provide equally important and very different programs and services for the citizens of our county.

As Albemarle County grows, government cannot fund all our citizens need.

Private-public partnerships are a key strategy to meet county needs.

Our center will raise over 80% of the funding necessary to build this project.

Only 10% or less will come from each the county and the city governments.

We will do all the planning and all the execution of the project, saving valuable community and county resources as well.

Moreover, the county will have no ongoing financial obligation to our center of Belvedere, because this is simply a capital investment, not an ongoing operation funding request.

Our center has a 57 year record of success.

A model reliant on private philanthropy supported by some earned income.

A financial model that scales up very nicely at the center of Belvedere.

Our senior center, as you know, is also one of the most respected senior centers in the country.

Indeed, we won the 2009 Pinnacle Award as North America's premier community center for all aspects of senior wellness.

We believe we have achieved this level of excellence for a lot of reasons, but first and foremost amongst those is our senior center has always grown and adapted to meet the needs of the community as our community has changed and grown.

In order to continue to achieve that level of excellence, our community demands the center of Belvedere.

Albemarle County's capital investment is vital to making this project a reality.

Hi, I'm Kathy Kilday.

I'm a resident of the Rio district.

I thank you all for the opportunity to speak with you this evening.

And first of all, before I read from what I prepared, I want to reiterate that I support what Peter, everything that Peter just said, but I want to put a little more personal point on it for you from my own perspective.

I wrote to the board in January to support the senior center's capital investment request, and I reiterate that support today.

My parents, grandfather, great aunts were all active members of the center and I'll always be grateful for the multiple ways they were supported through senior center programs.

Being members of an active senior community kept their minds and bodies active and engaged and provided an incredibly valuable social network that served each of them well until their passing.

I understand the importance of social connections in community, physical wellness, lifelong learning, and civic engagement, and so did my parents.

When we moved to Albemarle County in 1978, I was still in college, but their retirement was on the horizon, and they were both planning for retirement by carefully selecting a community with a proactive approach to healthy aging.

Over the years, my dad played golf with the center's golf group,

He rekindled his musical inclinations with the Second Wind Band.

He served on the center's council.

My mother participated in water exercise classes weekly.

My great-aunt sewed hand puppets for the children's hospital, played in weekly card groups, attended excursions and special events through the center.

The relationships that they formed through those activities extended far beyond those meetings and those classes.

They forged strong friendships outside the center, frequently yielding rides to the doctor, wellness checks, community referrals, and the ripple effect was huge.

It's a primary reason that my parents chose to move to Charlottesville and Albemarle County, and I'm sure it continues to be an attraction.

I've been tangentially involved with the center for the last 15 years observing a broad spectrum of activities and events.

The members are passionate, involved, diverse, and fiercely devoted.

Writing in support of the capital investment prompted me to submit our own household membership last month.

I'm not sure what I was waiting for because we were certainly of age to do so.

We are fortunate to have the proposed new center in Belvedere very close to our own home, but even if it weren't practically in our own front yard, I wholeheartedly support the use of tax dollars to support building the center as a proactive approach to supporting healthy aging in our community.

Thank you.

Ronald Kerber.

Ronald here.

I guess not.

Well, the Rivanna district was not representing here.

Do we have anyone else that would like to speak that's here?

Take advantage of this opportunity?

All right.

I guess with that I will close the public hearing.

Any other comments or questions that you all might have regarding the budget?

Nope.

I'm hoping we'll hear from some more folks and we'll take this as a generally

I like to take it as a positive one.

I know people will have some problems with it.

And we don't know how many people are actually watching at home and listening.

All right.

It is a big notebook, however.

It is.

It takes a lot of time to be able to familiarize yourself enough to even have a question.

Even for us.

So, from the board, committee reports is where we are.

Are there any committee reports or matters that are not listed on the agenda you need to bring up?

I don't think so.

Mr. Walker, do you have anything under your...

It's a short meeting.

That's right.

Well, we have... Not this evening, thank you.

Ms. Malek?

Yes.

Ms. McKeel?

Yes.

Ms. Palmer?

Yes.

Mr. Randolph?

Aye.

Mr. Sheffield?

Yes.

We are meeting, I think back here, is that right Claudette?

Yeah, the small one behind the stage.

Do we need a motion?

Mallek?

Yes.

Palmer?

Yes.

Mr. Randolph?

Aye.

Mr. Sheffield?

Mr. Dill?

Yes.