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HomeMy WebLinkAboutord1990-077WHATCOM COUNTY COUNCIL AGENDA BILL 7/10/90 Council /Intro 7?lFinancescounc SUBJECT: REVISION TO THE 1990 CURRENT EXPENSE FUND, PLANNING DEPARTMENT'S APPROPRIATION THEREIN TO RESPOND TO INCREASED WORK LOAD AND ACCEPTANCE OF TWO STATE DEPARTMENT OF ECOLOGY CENTENNIAL CLEAN WATER FUND GRANTS ATTACHMENTS: Draft Ordinance Budget Narrative Budget Plan Public Hearing Needed? Yes /—/ No /XX/ SUMMARY STATEMENT: The proposed ordinance revises the 1990 Planning Department's budget to reflect two groundwater study grants received from the State Department of Ecology, Centennial Clean Water fund in the amounts of $252,000 and $12,180. Also recognized are contributions from .the cities of Lynden ($60,000) and Everson ($15,000) as matching funds to the Ecology LENS grant. In addition the Department is requesting funds to supplement the current level services, mostly increased printing and other costs ($16,450), and to add staff and associated operating expenses ($53,382). ORIGINATOR'S RECOMMENDED ACTION: Adoption of ordinance amending the Planning Department's budget plan. COMMITTEE ACTION (including dates): COUNCIL ACTION (including dates): 7 -24 -90 Passed unanimously Related File Numbers: Ordinance or Resolution Number: 0 90 -77 I 2 3 4 5 6 7 i 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 of 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 76 FILE REF: BUDSUP.90 SPONSORED BV: Consent PROPOSED BV: PLANNING INTRODUCTION DATE: 7 -24 -90 ORDINANCE NO. 90 -77 REVISION TO THE 1990 CURRENT EXPENSE FUND, PLANNING DEPARTMENT'S APPROPRIATION THEREIN TO RESPOND TO INCREASED WORK LOAD AND ACCEPTANCE OF TWO STATE DEPARTMENT OF ECOLOGY CENTENNIAL CLEAN WATER FUND GRANTS WHEREAS, the County Council has requested the Planning Department to assist citizen committees in reviewing and updating the Shoreline Management Program and the Development Regulations of the county; and WHEREAS, the State of Washington Department of Ecology through the Centennial Clean Water Fund has awarded a grant of $252,000 to the County for the purpose of studying groundwater resources in the central lowland portion of the county; and WHEREAS, the cities of Lynden and Everson have respectively committed $60,000 and $15,000 to match the State's contribution to the groundwater study; and WHEREAS, the State of Washington Department of Ecology through the Centennial Clean Water Fund has awarded a grant of $12,180 to the County for the purpose of funding groundwater tests on Lummi Island in accordance with the 1979 groundwater study funded by the County; and WHEREAS, the residents of Lummi Island have volunteered to sample wells and conduct an education program on the groundwater of the island; and WHEREAS, increasing knowledge of groundwater resources is a pressing need for the continued economic and physical health of the citizens of the county; and WHEREAS, Whatcom County has been experiencing rapid population growth and cdmmareial and industrial development during the past several years; and WHEREAS, the citizens and elected officials of the county and state are aware that development increases the potential of harm to important environmental resources such as fresh water, fisheries, agricultural and forestry land, and others; and WHEREAS, the health, safety, and quality of life of the citizens of this county in future generations is dependent upon adequate analysis, planning, and regulation of development impacts and environmental resources; and WHEREAS, the current levels of Planning, Engineering, and Buildings and Code Administration staff do not reflect the increased level of permit activity; and WHEREAS, the current levels of development review staff do not allow for adequate administration and enforcement of existing county regulations given the recent level of development within the unincorporated areas of the county: NOW THEREFORE BE IT ORDAINED by the Whatcom County Council, the 1990 Current Expense Fund, Planning Department's budget plan :therein is hereby revised as follows: r I s 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 �4 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 FILE REF: BUDSU! 0 Page 2 RESOURCES 00120 - 291.80.00 Est Ending Fund Balance $ 69,832 00120 - 334.03.16 State Dept of Ecology LENS Grant 104,238 00120 - 338.58.11 City of Lynden LENS funding 20,000 00120 - 338.58.11 City of Everson LENS funding 5,000 00120 - 334.03.17 State Dept of Ecology LI Grant 3,346 TOTAL RESOURCES $ 202,416 BUDGET PLAN ENHANCEMENTS 00250- PLANNING DEPARTMENT BUDGET PLAN 558.10.11.22 Clerk III $ 3,051 558.10.11 Planner III 9,306 558.10.11 Planner I 7,862 558.10.11 Secretary I 5,198 558.10.11 Drafter I (3/4 time) 5,616 Subtotal Salaries and Wages $ 31,033 558.10.20.01 Retirement $ 2,362 558 - 10.20.02 Social Security 2,374 558 - 10.20.03 Health Insurance 3,949 558 - 10.20.04 Industrial Insurance & Med Aid 336 558- 10.20.07 Unemployment Compensation 155 Subtotal Personnel Benefits $ 9,177 558.10.31.01 Office & Operating Supplies $ 150 558.10.31.02 Office & Operating Supplies /Drafting 450 558.10.35 Small Tools & Minor Equipment 2,300 Subtotal Supplies $ 2,900 558.10.41.01 Professional Services $ 4,700 558.10.41.03 Professional Services /LI Study 1,513 558.10.42 Communications 200 558.10,48 Repair & Maintenance 800 558.10.49 Miscellaneous 12,580 Subtotal Other Services & Charges $ 19,793 558.10.51 Professional Services /LENS Study 117,670 $ 117,670 558.10.93.01 County Supply Purchases Only $ 5,743 558.10.95.01 Interfund Distr /Vehicle Rental 200 Subtotal Interfund Payments for Service $ 5,943 00251 594.00.64 Machinery & Equipment $ 15,900 TOTAL ENHANCEMENTS TO PLANNING DEPARTMENT BUDGET PLAN $ 202,416 9 10 11 �2 13 14 15 16 ATTEST: -- Clerk of the Council APPROVED AS TO FORM: Robert A. Carmichael Civil Deputy Prosecuting Attorney VVIIQIu UdlSIQII z.Y) VUaIf IJTI U11 (✓APPROVED ( ) V�VETOED L �2,k Shirley Van Zan en, Co y Executive Date -25 -5 a Planning Department July 3, 1990 Supplement Budget Request Page 1 PLANNING DEPARTMENT SUPPLEMENTAL BUDGET REQUEST I. ATTACHED DETAILED BUDGET FOR THE REMAINDER OF 1990 We are asking for four different categories of increases to our current 1990 budget. The attached detailed budget shows them separately as well as giving the total requested. A. Supplement Total: $16.450 Unexpected expenses above our 1990 budget include about $9,000 for increased printing of documents provided to the public; $4,700 for continuation of the Shoreline Master Program amendments into a committee phase this year plus mapping for the Lake Whatcom Watershed; and about $3000 for miscellaneous office operating expenses that are mostly a function of the increased volume of paper that we are handling. B. LENS grant (Lynden- Everson - Nooksack -Sumas Groundwater Study) Total: $129.238 The total grant from Ecology is for $252,000 through 1992. This amount, along with $75,000 from Lynden and Everson, will be included in our budget for the remainder of 1990, 1991, and 1992. In addition, the USGS will be providing about $190,000 that will not pass through our budget. Most of the $327,000 in funds that we will administer will go to USGS or to WWU under professional services. We are providing match for the grant over the next 2 1/2 years through staff time for management, local technical committees, and public education efforts. For this budget, we have added $117,670 to professional services plus about $11,000 for 1/4 of a secretary, computer and office equipment, and printing /mailing costs. C. LI arant (Lummi Island Groundwater Study) Total: $3.347 The total grant from Ecology is $12,180 for monitoring equipment and two years of bimonthly water quality tests. Volunteers who live on the island asked the County to sponsor this grant so that they could do follow -up testing as recommended by the 1979 study paid for by the County. The total of $3347 for the remainder of this year will purchase equipment, pay for water quality tests by laboratories, and print material to inform the public about the study. D. Increase in Positions Total: $53.382 Introduction: The total amount of planning work is continuing to increase. Although some of the additional work is from increases in development activity, there is also a greatly increased demand for staff time for environmental analysis, plan implementation, and regulation development and enforcement. The Planning Department during the past several years has augmented the amount of work we can produce by a combination of staff overtime and using additional volunteer and minimally paid interns from Western Washington University. The problems with this approach have included the fact that staff cannot continue to do this indefinitely, plus when compensatory time is taken gains are nullified. In addition, although we have been able to obtain very good interns, work by Planning Department July 3, 1990 Supplement Budget Request Page 2 interns is offset by the amount of regular staff time that it takes to oversee and revise their work. We want to note that Buildings and Code Enforcement and Engineering staffing impacts Planning staff loads, as we do theirs. We support their efforts to obtain funding for qualified people who can fill some of the gaps now present. Even with a flat economy, we all will need the additional staff for multiple years to catch up, particularly in the area-of enforcement to prevent future problems. In general, the longer enforcement is not done the tougher it is to get things done right. A good example of this is the current situation where the Council is trying to determine what to do about existing signs that have not met the County's requirements. Another general need of all the development - related departments is for an adequate tracking system for permits. Right now a lot of staff time from all three departments is used in locating and working with records that could easily be available and usable if placed in a computer data base. Perhaps more importantly for Planning, it currently is not possible to do many tasks that would be helpful in fulfilling the economic development responsibilities that we have. For instance, with a tracking system we would have data on where housing or commercial demand is occurring and could use that information to answer numerous inquiries we get from businesses considering relocating in the county. This item does not appear in our budget, but we endorse the County fully funding the Public Works request for this item. New 1990 Positions and Associated Costs: We are asking for the addition of two planners and 1 and 3/4 support staff. These positions will fill gaps and allow us to begin to catch up with the accumulated work load from rapid development and increased environmental concern during recent years. Planner ills This position will be oriented towards urban planning and development. We have simply been too overloaded to do our part in technical review of proposed development, and Cordata review and permits that we manage are being done haphazardly. We have never finished the follow -up work on the Birch Bay area, and now we also have Point Roberts character and transportation plans to do. Plus we have never been able to staff a basic examination of housing needs and growth areas in the unincorporated portion of the county. Planner I: This position would work with our existing planners to keep up with the inventory and analysis work needed to respond appropriately to recent environmental issues. Along with the increased attention to wetlands, we have an outstanding obligation since 1986 to examine provisions regarding steep slopes. Wetlands, steep slopes, and other issues will be dealt with in the form of a sensitive areas ordinance. In addition, recent ordinances regarding timber cutting and clearing, the Council's committees on shoreline amendments and development regulations, the forestry forum, and the Lake Whatcom Watershed Committee have placed a larger demand on staff than we can accommodate without another planner. Secretary I: Because of the additional work load from two planners, the administrative demands of the grants, the increase in incoming telephone calls, and the public demand for documents that we publish, we need someone who can concentrate on answering the telephone and doing mailings. Planning Department July 3, 1990 Supplement Budget Request Page 3 This would allow our existing secretarial support to keep up with the bookkeeping, office operations, and word processing demands. Drafter I: Again, the increased demand from the public for access to county maps and map information, along with the increased work load involving mapping has put us several years behind in mapping. This would be a 3/4 time position that would enable us to catch up on zoning, annexation, and land use changes, so that we could maintain current records. We also would hope to be able to do mapping for sensitive areas internally instead of by contract to increase the efficiency. Associated Costs: We have shifted to each planner doing all of their own word processing, so we will need to add three computers and standard software for the new positions. We also will need to obtain some additional office and drafting equipment, and we expect there will be a small increase in operating expenses. We have determined that we can add the staff without needing additional space, but we will need to purchase sound panel dividers to make this work. We already have a problem with having our telephone lines full much of the time, so we will need to add additional lines as well as telephone sets. E. Total 1990 Increase in Budget Request: $202.416 Most of this increase is in pass through monies from grants, equalling about $133,000 of the total. The remaining $69,832 would be County funds; of this, about $53,000 would be costs associated with adding the proposed new staff. As indicated above, we have sufficient work for at least three years to justify the additional staff. The costs shown above are based upon hiring in mid -year. The projected annual increase would be about $73,000 in salary plus about $21,000 in benefits and small increases in supplies and operating costs. If we obtain the funds that we will be requesting from the State to fulfill the requirements of the Growth Management Act (GMA), we would at that time reduce the annual County costs for the new positions requested in this budget by about one half. However, we need the four positions listed above without considering the requirements of the GMA. II. RELATIONSHIP TO FUTURE BUDGET REQUESTS In addition to this supplemental budget there may be two other budget revisions that we will request in 1990. A. GMA Required Work and Associated Costs: Much of what we will need to do to fulfill the requirements of the Growth Management Act (GMA) is work we already are committed to do during the next three years. Receiving a GMA grant would just allow us to change the fund source for the environmental inventory and analysis and some support staffing we need for our own work program. A grant request is being prepared in cooperation with -the City of Bellingham, with the existing Urban Fringe study providing the joint focus, and with separate funding for other projects. If we obtain this GMA grant from the State, we propose to change the funding of the new Planner I, new Secretary (112), and new Drafter (112) to the grant. This Planning Department July 3, 1990 Supplement Budget Request Page 4 would decrease County funding to the Planning Department by about $55,000 per year. In addition, we will request GMA funding for another Planner III who will focus on the transportation, utilities, and capital facilities requirements in the Act. We will. request funds for hiring consultants to perform wetlands and geologically hazardous area inventories, and also .a consultant inventory on housing and growth areas. The total we estimate would be about $390,000 for consultants and about $230,000 for staff and operating costs over a two and one half year period.