2009-05-04 Budget Work SessionNEW HANOVER COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS BOOK 31
BUDGET WORK SESSION, MAY 4, 2009 PAGE 603
ASSEMBLY
The New Hanover County Board of Commissioners held a Budget Work Session on Monday, May 4, 2009,
at 4:45 p.m. in the Assembly Room of the New Hanover County Courthouse, 24 North Third Street, Wilmington,
North Carolina.
Members present were Chairman Ted Davis, Jr.; Vice-Chairman Jason R. Thompson; Commissioner
Robert G. Greer; Commissioner William A. Caster; Commissioner Jonathan Barfield, Jr.; County Manager Bruce T.
Shell; Budget Director Cam Griffin; and Deputy Clerk to the Board Teresa P. Elmore.
Chairman Davis called the meeting to order and requested County Manager Bruce Shell to begin the budget
discussion.
Environmental Management Fund Budget
County Manager Bruce Shell presented the following on the proposed budget for Environmental
Management:
·
Retain $51/ton tipping fee
Option to adjust in 6 to 8 months for RFP proposals
o
·
Budget anticipated payment from RFP proposer
$2,000,000 of miscellaneous revenue budgeted
o
Set aside for Landfill Cell 6D
§
General Fund will loan cash for build out
§
·
Repayment to be included in FY09-10 contract
·
Remaining deficit to be funded by interfund loan from the General Fund
Projected loss in revenues for FY09-10 = $390,752
o
Raising tipping fee to $52.75 per ton would cover projected loss
§
No additional debt to the General Fund
§
·
Key Assumptions
Assumes budget in place for 7 months (January 2010)
o
Turn over operations to RFP proposer, or
§
Institute an increase in tipping fee
§
240,000 tons of waste per year
o
Required operational maintenance and repairs only no additional projects
o
Construct Cell 6D prior to January
o
$2 million in capital outlay
§
RFP proposer will reimburse County for new cell construction
§
Environmental Management debt to the General Fund is projected to be $5.1 million by June 2009
o
Debt was $3.06 million as of January 2009
§
The Commissioners discussed the tipping fee and whether to increase the fee to cover the costs of
operations instead of going further in debt. In order for the enterprise fund to be self-sufficient, the tipping fee
should increase by $1.75 per ton. County Manager Shell requested guidance from the Commissioners in
determining the tipping fee for the recommended budget.
Consensus
: The majority of the Commissioners agreed to support an increase in the tipping fee of $1.75 to be
effective as a rate change on August 1, 2009. However, Commissioner Greer did not support an increase in the
tipping fee nor did he support continuing with the current operation when cheaper options were available to handle
the waste stream in New Hanover County.
Fire Services District Budget
Budget Director Cam Griffin presented the following on the proposed budget for the Fire Services District:
·
Propose a tax increase of 1.5 cents to 6.5 cents
Purchase one fire truck (replacement needed)
o
Delay purchase of second truck by financing for partial year (scheduled replacement)
§
Add 13 new positions
o
9 positions for new fire station at Murrayville
§
Improve level of service and response time
o
Objective to have 3 employees per fire company instead of 2
§
Includes indirect cost of $600,000
o
Distributes expense of County departments Human Resources, IT, etc.
§
·
$1.5 million in reductions (due to loss of sales tax and revenue projections):
Cut Volunteer Fire Departments budgets
o
Eliminate marine storage building
o
Cut enhancements to Automatic Dispatch System
o
Eliminate or postpone various equipment purchases
o
Eliminate County day in the park
o
·
One cent = $1.2 million
Vice-Chairman Thompson, as the Commissioners representative on the Board of Fire Commissioners,
spoke in favor of the tax increase saying that the County needs to improve its basic service of fire protection for
NEW HANOVER COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS BOOK 31
BUDGET WORK SESSION, MAY 4, 2009 PAGE 604
county residents. He supported a fire service with more paid positions augmented by volunteers in order to provide
a higher level of service to meet the demands of a more urbanized area. He said that in his review of the proposed
budget, non-essential items were removed and the remaining items were justified.
In further discussion of the proposed tax increase, the Commissioners considered reducing the increase to
one cent and delay adding the indirect cost to the Fire Service District budget. County Manager Shell requested
guidance from the Board on its decision for the tax increase.
Consensus
: The majority of the Commissioners agreed to support an increase of 1.5-cents in property tax for the
Fire Service District. However, Commissioner Greer objected to a 30% increase, saying that it was too large an
increase at one time for taxpayers.
General Fund Debt Service
Budget Director Griffin provided the following information on General Fund debt service:
FY08-09 FY09-10
Adopted Recommended Change
CFCC Bonded Debt $4,039,176 $3,924,915 $(114,261)
Non CFCC General Fund 2,937,988 3,419,113 481,125
Total General Fund Bonded Debt $6,977,164 $7,344,028 $366,864
General Fund Installment Debt $18,330,117 $15,844,423 $(2,485,694)
Total General Fund Debt $25,307,281 $23,188,451 $(2,118,830)
Contribution from City $600,000 $980,700 $380,700
Contribution from Airport 806,159 833,750 27,591
Contribution from CFPU 4,801,078 3,060,826 (1,740,252)
Total General Fund Net Debt $19,100,044 $18,313,175 $(786,869)
Public Schools Fund $21,398,937 $22,398,538 $999,601
(Includes bond service charges)
Total Net Impact on General Fund $40,498,981 $40,711,713 $212,732
Fire Service District $1,110,806 $1,170,290 $59,484
Environmental Management $1,135,596 $738,328 $(397,268)
(Does not include proposed scrapper pan)
ADJOURNMENT
Chairman Davis adjourned the meeting at 6:00 p.m. in order to begin the regularly scheduled Board
meeting.
Respectfully submitted,
Teresa P. Elmore
Deputy Clerk to the Board