MINUTES OF THE MEETING OF THE BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS

BREVARD COUNTY, FLORIDA

 

 

 

May 10, 2007

 

 

 

The Board of County Commissioners of Brevard County, Florida, met in special workshop session on May 10, 2007, at 1:00 p.m. in the Government Center Florida Room, Building C, 2725 Judge Fran Jamieson Way, Viera, Florida. Present were: Chairperson Jackie Colon, Commissioners Truman Scarborough, Chuck Nelson, Helen Voltz and Mary Bolin, County Manager Peggy Busacca, and County Attorney Scott Knox.  

 

 

Motion by Commissioner Scarborough, seconded by Commissioner Voltz, to approve an additional Budget Workshop on June 25, 2007 at 9:00 a.m.; and authorize staff to schedule an additional budget workshop, if necessary.  Motion carried and ordered unanimously.  

 

 

 

Motion by Commissioner Voltz, seconded by Commissioner Bolin, to cancel the May 16, 2007 Joint Meeting with the Town of Malabar.  Motion carried and ordered unanimously.

 

 

 

Transportation Engineering Director John Denninghoff stated in efforts to complete the Pineda Causeway Extension and Interchange Projects, a number of timelines created were changed including September 1, 2007 to May 11, 2007; and that timeline involves the acquisition of a certain parcel of property necessary for the interchange.  He stated associated with it are two different types of parcels; one is directly associated with the actual limited access right-of-way; and the other is needed to cure impacts to existing property rights.  He requested the County Manager be authorized to accept donations on the Board’s behalf; waive the Phase One requirement; waive the title insurance requirement; and the Chairperson to execute the Deeds to donate two parcels that are necessary for the interchange that need to go to FDOT.

 

Motion by Commissioner Bolin, seconded by Commissioner Voltz, to authorize the County Manager to accept Quit Claim Deeds, Special Warranty Deeds, and a Right-of-way Deed from A. Duda & Sons on behalf of the Board; waive the title insurance and Phase 1 Environmental Assessment for the Pineda Causeway Extension and Interchange Projects located in Sections 22, 25, 26, 27 & 34, Township 26 South, Range 36 East, as no known or suspected environmental conditions exist; and authorize the Chairperson to execute County Deeds to Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT) for all parcels within the Pineda Interchange area.  Motion carried and ordered unanimously. (See pages                    for Deeds.)   

 

County Attorney Scott Knox advised the Board that the consultant’s proposed settlement amount is $82,242.29, and recommended the Board offer an additional $100,000 to put the matter to rest as an offer of judgment, for a total amount of $182,242.29.  The Board reached consensus to authorize staff to schedule the agenda item to consider settlement of claim for Courtney and Carol Roberts on the May 22, 2007 Agenda to allow additional time for the Board’s review. 

 

 

Motion by Commissioner Voltz, seconded by Commissioner Bolin, to approve the draft letter to the Florida Delegation urging it to support the funding necessary to transition the MP_RTIP Wide Area Surveillance radar sensor to Joint STARS.  Motion carried and ordered unanimously.

 

 

Commissioner Scarborough stated the Florida TODAY wrote an analysis of budgetary increases and he asked Ms. Busacca about it.  Ms. Busacca explained that Natural Resources is the largest increase.  Chairperson Colon stated she would like this to be discussed under Budget. 

 

 

 

Commissioner Voltz stated at the Grant-Valkaria meeting there were concerns regarding the Master Plan that needs to be addressed and she would like to cancel the meeting scheduled on May 17, 2007.

 

Motion by Commissioner Voltz, seconded by Commissioner Nelson, to cancel the May 17, 2007 Valkaria Master Plan Workshop; and direct staff to reschedule the Workshop in July 2007.  Motion carried and ordered unanimously.

 

 

Commissioner Scarborough stated it is essentially very good detailed work that if he is sitting as a citizen it can be seen what has been increased in the greatest dollar amount and the greatest percentage, and he thought one of the questions is going to be who has gotten the additional monies.  Ms. Busacca stated Natural Resources was listed as having a very large increase; that was due to the fact that they received money through their budget for beach renourishment; and that does not relate to anything except the fact that there were several hurricanes back to back which FEMA reimbursed, but it is not related to property taxes or even the usual events that have occurred.  She further stated there are several of those spread throughout the budget; the analysis gives some indication but not the full story; and she has requested the Directors to provide that information.  Commissioner Scarborough stated if that exact format was given to the Board then when questions are asked from the constituents it would have better answers for

 

 

them.  Ms. Busacca stated she would be happy to do that.  Chairperson Colon stated Mr. Dean’s stories have been fair even though she is not fond of a certain paper and inquired if it would be possible to see if he would like to do a follow-up with the information Ms. Busacca has.  Ms. Busacca stated she would be happy to speak with him.  Commissioner Scarborough stated there is a separate independent elected Clerk, Scott Ellis, who balances the Board’s books and handles the accounting.  Commissioner Voltz inquired why does the Clerk’s Office show that they are down 98%.  Commissioner Scarborough stated the question becomes with fund accounting and he explained by stating if he had to add his savings and checking accounts back into his check he got as income, and move it from one bank to the next bank, he counts it again;  that is why there are anomalies of large budgets in some places; however, if it moves from one department to another that is the same thing as if paying an employee or buying a tractor. 

 

Finance Director Steve Burdett explained what his office does, such as managing the finances of the County, all the financial reporting, and following standards for doing them so counties can be comparable.  He explained his office defines revenues from an accounting standpoint versus what some of these numbers are that being given are to the Board in the form of a budget.   He further explained an example is the money the Board carries forward each year, a lot of it is pertinent to bonds the Board issued to do road work, and parks and recreation so all of that money already came in one year, but the Board is not spending it all, so it carries it forward to the next year; and if it compounded however many years this gets carried forward, depending how long it takes to do the project, that $60 million bond could amount to $210 million by the time the Board is actually done using it.  He stated the Legislature might look at this as the Board has $210 million to spend on parks which the Board really only issued $60 million.  He stated on the revenue side of it the County receives tax dollars, utility fees, and revenue sharing from the State; these are all true revenues the County gets on an annual basis; and the County budgets for them annually so it can perform its annual services.  He stated the money the County carries forward each year is not a true revenue, it is just a resource not used in the prior year or it might be a resource intentionally set aside to handle reserves for Risk Management or reserves for carry forward in the General Fund.

 

Commissioner Scarborough stated a few years back the County bonded out EELS and carried forward $50 million or $60 million.   Mr. Burdett stated Commissioner Scarborough is correct; and the definitions of revenues represents what is received on an annual basis not including all interfund reimbursements, so if you are collecting money to be sent over to the Clerk or the Sheriff’s Office, the Sheriff is going to receive that $80 million and send that $80 million, so there is automatically $160 million, but truthfully the Board is not spending $160 million with the same applying with all the other offices as well as County Departments.  He stated the same general principle applies on the expenditure side.  He stated the $1.16 billion reflects the true transactions that will include moving money around but the Board does not spend $1.16 billion; the real number is closer to $669 million because those are actual revenues that would be coming into the County on an annual basis; and the Board is going to be appropriating those out to take care of utilities, personnel, and Enterprise funds which are supported by bonds.  He stated Commissioner Scarborough is correct that those should not be included in the population to be used for some other type of public service. 

 

 

 

 

 

Chairperson Colon stated she is trying to figure out the catch because this is what the Board has been saying all along.  Mr. Burdett responded that the Board has a billion dollar budget and to cut $70 million the Board is going to have to cut 7%, but the point is the Board does not come close to spending a billion dollars a year and there is a miscommunication as to what financial information should be used.  He stated they file reports every year with the State which get published on the Internet.  He stated if $560 million was spent in 2006, suddenly the budget grew to $1.16 billion so it is spending another half a billion a year, and he knows that is not the case because the money comes through his office.  He suggested when these budgets are done and this information is communicated it should be pretty consistent with the reports that are published. 

 

Commissioner Scarborough stated the Board is required to report it this way, the problem is it is totally alien to the way people do their home budgets; and folks do not count dollars multiple times because every budget has got to balance if folks transfer it.  He stated Mr. Burdett did say the $670 million includes Enterprise.  Mr. Burdett stated property taxes for 2006 were around $210 million and if compared to the total revenues received that year, the County is looking at actually 42% of governmental activities funded from property taxes.  Commissioner Scarborough stated legally one cannot consider that to be the same entity as the County.  Commissioner Bolin inquired what the number was without Enterprise.  Mr. Burdett responded $81 million would be Enterprise and $100 million or so gets spent for capital which does not go through here.  Commissioner Voltz stated when looking at $81 million from $669 million that is not all taxes, the General Fund.  Mr. Burdett responded $210 million comes in from 2006 property taxes.  Chairperson Colon stated during mid-year discussion there would be $40 million or $50 million which came down to $4 million or $5 million.  Mr. Whitten stated those numbers would be brought to the May 22, 2007 meeting.   Mr. Burdett stated the $40 million was what was being carried forward and Mr. Whitten is stating that $5 million of that is available to be allocated. 

 

Commissioner Voltz inquired if the State does its budget the same way.  Mr. Burdett responded the State has more Trust Funds than the County does; it follows a similar procedure; but what is common with the State is that the County has to prepare at the end of each year a financial report that follows the same standards.  He stated the State can take the County overall government operations and compare to the State, Broward County, etc., but everyone has to prepare on the same standard.

 

Commissioner Voltz stated the year ends September 30^th, but sometimes the County does not get the final until March or so; and inquired is there any way that can be pushed and why does the Board have to wait so long to get it.  Mr. Burdett stated staff cuts off doing any major adjustments in November; at that point it has a close approximation of what the Board has carried forward, and for the purpose of making computations it can do that, and get the Board information in December as to this is approximately what it is carrying over in the utilities operations, recreation, or the General Fund, and try and qualify it by saying it might have some more small adjustments to make. 

 

William Ferrell stated the transportation system in Brevard County is critical, money needs to be spent on it, and the bottom line is if the transportation does not work people are not able to get to the services offered and it will take away the quality of life.  He stated the Pineda, and St.  Johns Heritage Parkway would help critical problems in the area.  He stated it is critical to not take transportation projects out of the budget.

 

Margaret Zabinski stated the Guardianship Services no longer provide public guardianship and that is true they have been resigned on all cases here. She stated there are 80 wards in this County that are indigent and in need of service.  She stated they had been working the last two weeks with Judge Rainwater in reinstating and it is called Aging Solutions out of Tampa, but these are all the people in place here; she is the legal counsel; and there are guardians and nurses ready to go in place.  She stated there is a program here in Brevard, it is just no longer Brevard Guardianship; it is called Aging Solutions; and she would ask the Board to consider the budget addition for that this coming year.

 

 

 

Chairperson Colon stated Judge Rainwater asked if it was okay if discussion of the Courthouse could take place at another time and there are no cards in regards to the issue.

 

Commissioner Nelson inquired if the Board does not move forward what would the impact be; and if it chooses not to move forward with the additional structure what is the impact, do they have to go to night court, and where do they go if the Board does not fund it.  He stated that will move the discussion along. 

 

 

Ms. Busacca stated the Board asked her to bring back the issue of LOGT and whether or not it wanted to move forward the funding; she had a specific agenda item she did not provide to the Board, she has it available but because staff did not have enough time to give it to the Board to review it, it can direct staff whether or not to move forward with this and put the agenda item on the May 22, 2007 Agenda.  Commissioner Scarborough stated some of the projects are key and it is good to catch with some bonded money otherwise the roads continue to deteriorate; and he voted in favor of the bonding. 

 

 

Motion by Commissioner Bolin, seconded by Commissioner Voltz, to authorize staff to schedule an agenda item on the May 22, 2007 Agenda for approval of a bond resolution and related documents for the Local Option Fuel Tax Revenue Bonds, Series 2007.  Motion carried and ordered; Commissioner Nelson voted nay.

 

 

 

Commissioner Nelson stated when the County came up with a list he thought it would do the first level of funding and then come back and do a second level of funding; he said some of his projects could wait; in the next go around there were some issues to deal with in District 2; and now there will not be a follow up funding.  He stated the monies that are going to be used for the bonding will have the potential if not bonded to offset the loss of personnel who are going to do the maintenance so the impact to District 2 is going to be deterioration; there will not be any one to maintain them and his concern is that as the Board goes through this process there will be some roads that benefit but they won’t be fairly distributed throughout the County.  Chairperson Colon stated it is not just in District 2, all of the Districts are having those issues. 

 

Frank Abbate stated at the last budget workshop the Commissioners said they wanted to discuss the issue of salary and benefits overall and what potential impact reductions would have as it relates to salary and benefits.  He stated he had a variety of information that is available and he would share with the Board starting with the Cody numbers.  He stated when the Board implemented the Cody study it did it in two parts and when those two parts were done the dollars that related to the Cody study itself for all Board employees excluding Fire Rescue the total amount involved for the first half the dollar implementation was $1.7 million and the second half was $1.2 million so you had $3.9 million and approximately overall generally 60% of the money is ad valorem dollars so if you looking at approximately $4 million  the ad valorem impact was in the area of about $2.4 million.  He stated there was a COLA and a merit increase that was awarded and those are different numbers than the Cody numbers so if you look at those numbers they were in the area of $1.6 million in April and $2.6 million when the second half was given so if you add that up you got about $4.2 million once again.  He stated the numbers that were done for the Sherriff’s Office are not included there; Fire Rescue had its negotiated increase and it wasn’t separated Cody in general so there is significant dollars involved there as well.  Commissioner Scarborough stated roll back the Cody not with the full measure and rolling back the increases with what an employees got last year would he be right if he was a little over $7 million.  Mr. Abbate stated it is about $6.6 million excluding Fire Rescue. 

 

Ms. Busacca stated she thinks there is an unfairness to simply rolling back Cody.  She stated when the Cody analysis was done it identified that about 60% of the staff were working at the average of the salary of the surrounding communities; 40% were not.  She stated the Cody money went to those 40% to bring everyone to an average and if the Board was to go back to those same 40% you would have an unfairness that the Board had tried to rectify be recreated.  She stated if the Board wanted to take that same amount of money and go across the Board to all staff then everyone would then be working at some percentage below average.  Commissioner Voltz stated she wanted to make sure that the Commissioner’s staffs are also whatever percentage decreased. 

 

Mr. Abbate stated he distributed a copy of a memo relative to if you reduce by 1% across the Board for everyone what is the ad valorem impact and he went over to the budget office and he thanked Elizabeth Swanke for working very diligently with him to try and come up with that and he put that information together for the Board in a memo form and our assumptions were utilizing all employees that work for the Board of County Commissioners, Sherriff’s Office, Supervisor of Election, and the Clerks of Court office and if all those offices were included across the Board for every 1% reduction in salary would equate to approximately between $1.7

 

million and $1.9 million in ad valorem expenses.  He stated if the Board did a 5% across the board reduction for everyone then that impact would be between $8.5 million and $9.5 million; and that is to give the Board an idea of how it would play out. Chairperson Colon inquired if the Board has jurisdiction over Constitutional Officers.  Mr. Abbate responded no, but he put it in there because he was asked to show what it would be for across-the-board and if you take out Charter Offices it is going to go down by the same percentage of what they make up of that $210 million that Mr. Burdett spoke about.  He stated between the Sheriff and Fire Rescue they are half that money so the number would be cut in half. 

 

Commissioner Voltz inquired about the Union Contracts.  Mr. Abbate stated those are other issues also.  He stated regarding the salary freeze, Commissioner Scarborough did bring up that there is a provision that says there is an LIU Agreement that already has an increase for next fall; and the County already has a Supervisory Agreement with the IAFF that provides an agreement for an increase next fall.  He stated if those increases were to be eliminated, the County would have to be consistent with collective bargaining and in the LIU Agreement there is a specific provision that says if the County is in a hardship and has an inability to pay that it does not have to provide the increases.  Commissioner Voltz inquired if the County goes with 1%, 2%, or 5% could it look at some of the different salaries and what impact that makes on an employee.  Mr. Abbate responded with $30,000 at 1% would be $300 and at 5% it would be $1,500.  Chairperson Colon inquired what are the numbers without the Constitutional Officers.  Mr. Abbate responded at 1% it would be half.  Commissioner Voltz stated rather than cut a little bit from everybody it is better to cut whole programs.  Commissioner Scarborough stated he is afraid they may get to a point where they diminish certain things without running into other hurdles and consequences.  Commissioner Voltz reiterated if the Board is going to look at cutting something it needs to look at cutting whole programs.  Commissioner Nelson asked Mr. Abbate to explain the fact that fire fighters were or were not part of Cody.  Mr. Abbate stated when the Cody study was under way, the firefighters were under negotiation so the County had available the information from Cody and Associates; the Firefighters Union Negotiating Team used that information during the course of the negotiations; and they negotiated with them an increase that came close to them getting a salary that was identified with Cody and Associates, and the Board implemented that.  He stated there was a provision that stated if the Board did the full implementation of Cody, which they did, that there was a right to reopen the Union negotiations; it reached a tentative agreement with the firefighters a couple of months ago; and that has not moved forward especially in light of the budget, so any additional increase that was tentatively signed off by the Union Negotiating Team and the County Negotiating Team has not been presented to the Board, nor a recommended increase that would be effective for October of 2007. 

 

Ms. Busacca stated the Union has been under a great deal of pressure from both the local community and the State Union to go to Tallahassee and say please exempt them from any property tax reform; and Brevard County’s Union said no, it is part of Brevard County and will go with the County, so the Board should feel proud of them. 

 

Commissioner Voltz stated she had a discussion with Bobby Bowen and he said he had an employee who said rather than this guy lose his job the employee said he would give up his job because he is close to retirement; and that says a lot about County employees.

 

 

 

 

Mr. Abbate stated in regards to benefits, the Board has no control over FRS retirement or Social Security which is 15%, but the Board does have control over health insurance; this year it is a $45 million item; and if the Board looked at 60% it could figure out that $30 million is the ad valorem impact.  He stated the Board provides group health insurance that covers almost 10,000 lives; it pays a large majority of the employee portion, but the employee pays about $22.40 a month for the most basic coverage; and then the Board pays a portion of the dependent coverage and a portion of the retiree coverage.  He stated the Board has had a long standing policy and has been very sensitive to increases in retiree rates and employee dependent rates and how that will impact their incomes.  He stated there is a workshop every year and this year the Board decided to do across the board increase of 9 1/2% from the employer contribution rate and 9 1/2 % across-the-board for employees, retirees, and dependents sharing equally.  He stated he gave the Board information on what would be the impact if the Board chooses to do a 9 ½% increase, or double that and make it a 19% increase; it would increase approximately $600,000 revenues that would be generated; and if looking at 60% with $600,000, the Board is looking at a $350,000 change in ad valorem.  He stated a second approach is to say what if fundamentally changing the plan design from, how the County has it now; change the basic concept of the HMO; instead of a $15 co-pay for an office visit, double it to $30; implement the same kind of plan in PPO; and instead of a $300 deductible with a 20% co-pay for everything, with a $2,000 out-of-pocket maximum, taking the current prescription plan where there are co-pays and add 10% on top of that would generate the $3 million shift in costs with the health insurance plan, which would get the Board $1.8 million. 

 

Commissioner Voltz inquired about the net effect it would have on the employees.  Mr. Abbate responded it would be significant and the Board has always been extremely concerned about the impact it would have.  He stated if everybody participated in a 5% across-the-board salary reduction, that is the equivalent of almost 200 full time positions being laid off.  He stated for every 100 employees laid off it could be up to an additional 24 that would have to be laid off just to cover the costs of unemployment, annual leave, and sick leave payouts that the Board is obligated to do.

 

Ms. Busacca stated one way to reduce that is to do a sliding scale, and if a salary reduction is necessary, to take a smaller salary reduction in percentage for the people who make the least money, such as 1% for employees who make $30,000 and less, and 5% who make $80,000 and more.

 

Commissioner Bolin inquired if the premiums would stay the same per month.  Mr. Abbate responded the plan design changes would impact those who use the plan, prescriptions, and the benefits would pay the larger share.  Commissioner Bolin inquired if the County increases the co-pay, is it stopping people from going to the doctor; with Mr. Abbate responding that was the first thing the consultants said; and if they do not catch the problem early then it will be more serious; and it is questionable the long term consequences on it. 

 

Commissioner Scarborough stated he has always been very sensitive that movement in premiums are always impacting people who are least able to pay; the County has a whole scale of employees; he does not think it is over paying anyone; but the person at the bottom is the one to find a negative impact because they have a smaller salary to start with. 

 

 

Commissioner Voltz inquired what do businesses do when they go through a crunch like this.  Mr. Abbate responded there are significant changes in retiree coverage under private employers in terms of even not providing coverage, but the Board does not have that ability not to provide coverage because it is mandated by the Legislature that you provide that coverage to retirees, but the issue is how much they pay for it is something within the Boards control.  Chairperson Colon stated a lot of folks may not have a great salary, but they come and work for organizations such as the County because of the benefits.  Mr. Abbate stated in employee surveys they stated the main reason they work for the County and stay is for the health insurance. 

 

 

Ms. Busacca explained briefly the information that was provided to the Board regarding the program analysis by department; stated the reductions would total about $49 million; and there  would be a total of 183 full-time positions, and 193 part-time positions.  She stated she did not know if the Board was ready to go through the program analysis today; and her suggestion was to eventually be able to prioritize the list; as they go through the special session they will know more and may find out it may not be as bad as anticipated; and the Board can say it has a list in priority order of $30 million of cuts, and may be fortunate and only have to make $20 million in cuts. 

 

Commissioner Bolin stated this was basically the 30% reduction the Board discussed at the last meeting.  Ms. Busacca responded yes and what she asked the Board to do was to look at this at a program or service level. 

 

Commissioner Nelson inquired if the collateral damage was anticipated for the summer camps.  Ms. Busacca responded in some cases it was easier for the departments to generate that information; for example with Parks and Recreation, you do not see any staffing reduction because they did not have a chance to do that analysis.  She stated if the Board decides this is an absolute no to anything then staff will stop and not consider any further but if it is a potential staff will provide the Board with in-depth information.  Commissioner Bolin inquired what direction staff needs the Board to look at.  Ms. Busacca stated she does not think the community values all services equally. 

 

Commissioner Scarborough stated he feels these are very difficult decisions and at the end of the day it is going to be very hard on the Board.   Chairperson Colon stated the Board is basically gathering data, looking at numbers, and seeing the kind of impacts it will cause.  She inquired what is the date of the next meeting.  Ms. Busacca stated the next meeting is May 22, 2007, which is good timing because May 21, 2007 is the first Committee meeting in Tallahassee. Chairperson Colon stated each Commissioner should continue to call the Representatives and keep sharing information with them.  Ms. Busacca asked the Board as it goes through the document to please let staff know what they can do to provide more information to the Board. 

 

Commissioner Voltz inquired if this is a 30% cut, can the Board assume that the information on the potential programs they could cut are things that are nice, but could be lived without. 

 

 

 

Commissioner Nelson stated every program that is ran by County agencies was directed by the Board of County Commissioners, and the Board cannot ask a department head to say this is nice to do because it is a value judgment.  Ms. Busacca stated she asked each department to give her 30% and she gave an example of Criminal Justice Services Department in order for it to get to 30% two programs could be cut; Pre-trial Release or crossing guards, if Pre-trial Release is cut, someone else is going to have to pick that up because it is going to have an impact on the jail, Sheriff, and the courts.  She further stated if crossing guards are cut the thought was it could be transferred to the school because it did not look like the School Board was going to be under the same type of revenue restrictions that the County is, and she did not give the department director the option of saying that everything in that department is invaluable because the Board has not told her that there are some things that can be touched.  She further stated the Board told her lets do the best it can without hitting fire fighters and sworn deputies.  Commissioner Voltz stated if it has a detrimental effect on the community then why is the County looking at it.  Ms. Busacca stated staff was told to give something to the Board.  

 

Chairperson Colon stated the things that have been given to them to cut have not been easy but the Board has been responsible getting all the data and seeing where to go from here.

 

Commissioner Scarborough stated the ad in the paper was $23 million and now the County has gone to $49 million; and he is still seeing the Board $27 million shy of $76 million.  He stated if there is no money to spend, the County cannot spend it. 

  

 

 

 

 

 

Upon motion and vote, the meeting adjourned at 2:55 p.m.

 

 

 

 

ATTEST:                                                      _________________________________

                                                                     JACKIE COLON, CHAIRPERSON

                                                                     BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS

                                                                     BREVARD COUNTY, FLORIDA

 

 

 

_____________________

SCOTT ELLIS, CLERK

 

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