County Manager York introduced the budget ordinance for fiscal year 2024-2025. She said the legal requirements for the budget process, including the public hearing, had been fulfilled. She advised that the staff was prepared to help them with this process or take further direction. County Manager York reminded the Board that a vote on the budget ordinance was required before July 1.
Chairman Paisley advised the Board had met in four work sessions and a public hearing. He said they could continue further discussion or entertain a motion and a vote. He added that they had received bills for utilities from the school system. Vice-Chair Carter suggested Brian Baker, Assistant County Manager, speak on the most recent ABSS meeting with some ABSS staff.
Mr. Baker said he and County Attorney Stevens had reviewed a year's worth of utility bills, which came to an estimated $5.8 million for the year, similar to what the school system had provided. County Manager York said there was currently $3.3 million in the Manager's recommended budget, so they would need an increase of about $2.5 million to meet that $5.8 estimate for all utilities for next fiscal year.
Chairman Paisley, seconded by Commissioner Lashley, moved to adopt the Manager's recommended budget with no changes. That motion failed 2-3, with Chairman Paisley and Commissioner Lashley voting in favor. Vice-Chair Carter and Commissioners Thompson and Turner voted in opposition.
Vice-Chair Carter discussed having guard rails in place due to the financial conditions of ABSS over the past year. He said it had limited their ability to have confidence in the numbers that were provided. He suggested having something in place where if ABSS believes they need a specific dollar amount and then they do not use all of those funds, he wanted the county to be able to recover the excess. He referred to Mr. Baker again for further discussion. Mr. Baker advised there were discussions around ensuring spending met the Board's priorities. He emphasized that the county had minimal discretion on how the school system spends its allocations. Mr. Baker suggested asking for additional information on spending as the year goes on or asking them to provide spending updates at the monthly Oversight Committee (OSC) meetings.
Commissioner Lashley asked if the county could request the utility bills from the school system starting in July. Mr. Baker answered that the school system had agreed to provide that information to the OSC and during quarterly presentations.
Vice-Chair Carter asked County Attorney Stevens to review what the county was required to pay for school expenditures and operational expenses. He asked County Attorney Stevens to expand on whether ABSS employees were funded entirely from local dollars rather than state or federal dollars. He answered if there was an increase in the required contribution to that employee's state retirement, whether that came out of county or state dollars. Mr. Stevens said it would come out of local dollars, so if they were locally funded, local government dollars would have to fund the increases in retirement contributions.
Vice-Chair Carter estimated there were 121 locally paid employees. He asked Dr. Harrison, ABSS Interim Superintendent, to confirm those numbers. Dr. Harrison responded that those numbers were in the ballpark. He provided some totals on those locally funded positions. Vice-Chair Carter said the county was paying for those positions and they were not aware of it. He said those jobs would be cut if they cut that funding.
Commissioner Turner spoke that ABSS leadership staff present last year were not there now. He said it was time to turn the page, and he hoped they could turn the page. He reviewed some of the line item requests and made funding suggestions. Commissioner Turner discussed a $5 million increase to ABSS's budget request, which would be a 2-cent tax increase. He said he thought it was a reasonable place to land especially getting the $1.4 million for the technology requests. Based on other conversations, he said this would avoid school employees' reduction in force (RIF).
Commissioner Turner, seconded by Commissioner Thompson, moved to accept the Manager's recommended budget with the following amendments:
- Increase the property tax rate to .47.2 cents
- Fund ABSS's technology and software equipment totaling $1.388 million with the Davenport Capital Reserve Plan
- Fund an additional $5 million in ongoing operating expenses to ABSS
- Add $200,000 to ABSS's fines and forfeitures line item
- Remove Section 13 Economic Development Policy from the Manager's Recommended Budget
Chairman Paisley said too many residents had told him they were fighting to pay medical bills and mortgages, so he could not vote for a 4-cent tax increase. Commissioner Lashley said that was too rich for his blood when they would be raising taxes almost three times the inflation rate.
Vice-Chair Carter offered an amendment to round that number down to a rate of .46.5 cents. Chairman Paisley advised that the motion maker would have to make the amendment. Commissioner Turner did not accept that amendment.