HomeMy WebLinkAboutFinance November 15 1996WHATCOM COUNTY COUNCIL
Finance and Administrative Services Committee
November 15, 1996
The meeting was called to order at 11:34 a.m. by Committee Chair Robert Imhof in the
Council Chambers, 311 Grand Avenue.
Also Present:
Tom Brown
Marlene Dawson
Absent:
None
BUDGET REVIEW FOR THE PROPOSED 1997 BUDGET: WHAT -COMM (911);
COUNCIL OF GOVERNMENTS; ALL OTHER NON - DEPARTMENTAL (OUTSIDE
CONTRACTS) (AB96 -367)
Those speaking included:
Dave Wareing, Executive's Office
Brad Bennett, ADA Finance
N.F. Jackson, Superior Court Administrator /Clerk
Shirley Forslof, Auditor
Dave Wareing, Executive's Office, directed committee members to Section 13, page 4 of
the budget book.
Medical Examiner: The Administration decided to choose the previous interpretation of
the contract with the medical examiner with no increase for 1997. That contract expires at the
end of 1997.
Indigent Burial. This is based on the actual cost from previous years, which is
approximately $800 per burial.
The County Morgue. The morgue is also based on a contract, which is coming up for
renewal soon.
Domestic Violence. The cost of domestic violence has been stable over a period of time.
The program is a contract with Womencare Shelter.
The Public Health Program. This is handled through the Northwest Regional Council,
which is having some struggles. Therefore, $10,000 has been reinstated. These funds are from
Current Expense.
Finance Minutes, 11/15/96, Page 1
1 Annual State Audit. In this process, the state tells the County how much it is going to
2 charge for next year's audit, which is the budgeted amount.
4 Civil Service Commission. This is a stable budget. It pays for an attorney, who is its
5 secretary. The Sheriffs Office is under Civil Service rules per state law. The Commission is a
6 hearing board that oversees the entire process, as well as any appeals within the Sheriffs Office.
7
8 Horticultural Inspection. Horticultural Inspection's budget amount is what was asked for,
9 which was $10,000. This is a role the County has had for along time through the Extension
10 Service. They have some funding of their own through Washington State University.
11
12 Economic Development. Economic Development's budget this year is $12,000. That
13 money is the County's contribution to the Economic Development Association.
14
15 The LEOFF Board. This board holds hearings and manages the Law Enforcement and
16 Fire Fighters retirement. Dawson stated that there are lot of people retiring and asking for
17 permanent disability. The board pays for certain medical examinations. There is some state
18 money, but the board does provide for medical tests for disabilities.
19
20 Northwest Regional Council. This budget is per the agreements the County has with
21 them, which is the cost of supporting the Northwest Regional Council. The funds requested are
22 for the maintenance of radio repeater sites for law enforcement in the County.
23
24 Emergency Communications. This is 911. An error was made during last year's budget
25 regarding populations. This creates a discrepancy of $30,000 as a deficit that the County owes
26 911. However, money was saved on ambulance services. The contract was renegotiated last
27 year.
28
29 Ambulance Service. This is based on the Medic One contract. There are two levels of
30 ambulance service; one is provided by the fire districts. In return f6r this service, the County
31 reimburses them for their part of 911. The second level of ambulance service is Medic One,
32 which is provided by the City of Bellingham's fire department. Wareing responded to a question
33 regarding fee structure by stating that. the recipient of the ambulance service pays one -half the fee
34 and the County and City of Bellingham pay one - quarter each of that fee.
35
36 Air Pollution Control. The County is part of four - county organization (Northwest Air
37 Pollution Control Authority). The cost is based on a per capita rate.
38
39 Animal Control: The County is in the process of putting out a Request for Proposal
40 (RFP) in two phases for two services: animal pick up and shelter. Statutorily, it is the
41 responsibility of the Sheriffs Office to deal with this issue. The County has taken on this
42 responsibility and transferred it through contract to the Humane Society.
43
Finance Minutes, 11/15/96, Page 2
I Senior Support/RSVP. This is based on their request for funding, which was $20,000.
2
3 Planning /Community Development Council Of Governments (COG). This is the County's
4 share of COG expenses. The County handles the contribution, and COG handles the
5 interjurisdictional planning and coordination of services.
6
7 Nooksack Water. Wareing stated the requested budget for the Lake Whatcom
8 Management Plan is $29,000. The amount requested for Nooksack Water is $25,000. Sue
9 Blake, Water Resources, described the plan for 1997. She distributed three handouts regarding
10 Lake Whatcom Management's budget proposal; the Steering Committee's estimated budget; and
11 a memo regarding the "Water Whys" newsletter. There was discussion regarding water rights
12 backlog sitting with the Department of Ecology. The question has been what needs to be done to
13 process these applications. The County does not have a clear sense of why the applications have
14 not been processed. There may be ways to obtain funding to get these applications processed.
15 This priority will hopefully work out with the Department of Ecology (DOE) to develop a clear
16 memorandum of understanding.
17
18 Brown asked Blake about the Nooksack hold up in building a new reservoir for a storage
19 tank. There was also discussion on water rights applications that are being held up that are not
20 part of the Nooksack Basin.
21
22 Boundary Review. This budget for this year is what they requested.
23
'.4 Professional Consultation. There is no money budgeted. In the past, money budgeted in
25 this category has been for specific projects.
26
27 Miscellaneous Non - Departmental. A handout discussed the following:
28
29 1. Leave Payout: This line was set up last year so each department did not budget for
30 payouts themselves. Administration recommended $75,469 for the known leave payouts.
31 2. Professional Services: This fund was previously non - departmental. When ADS was
32 formed, this was rolled into ADS. Part of this rollover is a $10,000 one -time expenditure for
33 start-up funding for starling control. The majority is for some strategic planning consultation for
34 the future of County services. Brown proposed writing a letter to the Department of Wildlife, as
35 they should be providing funds to solve this problem of the starlings. Dawson stated she would
36 write a letter to bring forward to the Council at its meeting on November 11, 1996.
37 3. Equipment Rental: This is for computer systems equipment, which does not include
38 copier costs. The County has begun leasing copiers at this point. Imhof suggested looking into
39 leasing computers as well.
40 4. Miscellaneous: There is no money budgeted.
41 5. Other Miscellaneous: The Executive's $100,000 Contingency Fund is for any needed
42 minor adjustments.
43
Finance Minutes, 11/15/96, Page 3
1 6 -8. Dues: N.F. Jackson, Superior Court Administrator /Clerk, stated that County
2 officials get a great deal of support from Washington Association of County Officials (WACO),
3 which supports treasurers, clerks, auditors, and assessors. There was a question regarding
4 whether the National Association of County Officials (NACO) is worthwhile for the County to be
5 involved in. Shirley Forslof, Auditor, reminded the committee that the County Executive, among
6 others, has influence in Olympia; this is an excellent opportunity for County representation.
7 Jackson stated that he is getting great resources from WACO on information from other
8 counties. Imhof thought there should be an increase in the travel budget in order for Council
9 members to attend association meetings.
10 9. Taxes and Assessments: This is for County -owned property in certain small taxing
11 districts.
12 10. Computer- Capital Outlay: This is for the upgrade of County computer systems.
13 11. Interest -Short Term Debt: (Clerk's Note: No comment was made)
14
15 There is a difference with the handout and the page in the budget (13 -4). Bennett stated
16 they pulled out the capital portion out of the total.
17
18 Wareing handed out a technical corrections sheet, and the following were discussed:
19
20 1. Health Department Dental Insurance: Negotiations are in 1997. Dental costs are
21 increasing.
22 2. Salaries and Wages: Adjustments were made to correct calculation errors made.
23 3. Community Building Grant: The Juvenile Department forgot to tell Administration of
24 this grant.
25 4. Administrative Services: This was inadvertently deleted from the budget; it provides
26 background checks on all new hires.
27 5. Salaries and Wages: Adjustments were made to correct calculation errors made.
28 6. Equipment Rental and Revolving Fund (ER &R): This includes salaries and wage
29 adjustments for Emergency Management Fund and the Road Fund.
30 7. Auditor's Operations and Management: This is an increase out of the Auditor's Fund
31 for $30,000 into the imaging project, which increases the 1997 budget from approximately
32 $87,000 to $115,000.
33
34 The final handout was the 1997 Open Issues:
35
36 1. Jail Beds. Security Specialists Plus (SSP) beds are increasing from 25 work release
37 beds to 34 and 6 minimum security beds for a total of 40 guaranteed beds. The Administration
38 based these calculations on figures from Jail. The cost per bed is $29 for work release and $31
39 for minimum security. Imhof suggested to budget the 40 beds at the work release rate, and if any
40 are used as minimum security, bill then. This is information for the agreement, not for the budget
41 process.
42
43
Finance Minutes, 11/15/96, Page 4
1 2. Public Defender Workload. The Administration recommended funding one Deputy
2 Public Defender and one investigator for six months on a temporary basis to accommodate the
3 current increased workload situation.
4 3. Health Department Clerical Settlement. This incorporates the settlement just
5 completed.
6 4. Superior Court Commissioners. This is for Council's consideration based on tying the
7 Superior Court Commissioners' salaries to the Superior Court Judges' salaries and not the
8 District Court Judges' salaries. This sum totals $4,160 per Commissioner.
9 5. Law Library. In order for the law library to be updated, two computers and one CD
10 tower.need to be purchased, which allows them to stay within the $10,000 budgeted. These
11 computers will have the potential to be networked into the system, which is a one -time
12 expenditure. Imhof thought that the Law Library computers should be added to the Revolving
13 Fund. Jackson stated that the present online search is not a commercial path; it is transferred
14 through Superior Court at no charge. Brown stated that anyone who works with WACs and
15 RCWs should also have access to hard copies.
16 6. Juvenile Court Training. Last year, training needs were cut short. This is an area with
17 much potential for litigation. Administration felt the need to recommend $10,000.
18 7. Auditor. Two positions will be transferred to ADS Finance. This request restores a
19 0.5 FTE position of an Accountant to the Auditor's Office. Administration is of the opinion one
20 position can do the work. District Accounting will be eliminated through attrition. FTE limits
21 include all the people considered for full time or full time part time positions. The limit is
22 approximately 696 full time FTEs.
23 8. City of Bellingham. This is a request for $50,000 for assistance in the acquisition of
24 property to act as a detention basin for flood control on Squalicum Creek, which is behind KMart.
25 This is recommended by the Administration. The funds would come out of flood money. Imhof
26 stated that he would like to provide the City of Blaine a similar percentage of what they pay to
27 pay for Drayton Harbor surface water clean up. Also, the Health Director suggested taking
28 money from the Flood Fund to pay for failing septic systems.
29
30 Brown stated that he would like to see the emphasis made that we may be focusing on the
31 wrong pollution sources. The primary problem has been said to be human waste. The County
32 should have an actual DNA count on the actual sources of that pollution. Wareing stated the
33 Administration can look at this and begin working on it at the beginning of the first quarter of
34 next year.
35
36 Imhof moved to recommend approval of the technical corrections handout.
37
38 Motion carried unanimously.
39
40 Imhof moved to recommend approval of the Non - Departmental handout for a total of
41 $896,239.00.
42
43
Finance Minutes, 11/15/96, Page 5
Brown stated that he does not approve of account #7190 (the Executive's $100,000
Contingency Fund). He noted he will be putting together proposals and changes for the budget
overall in terms of where the County is going in the long range.
Motion carried 2 -1 with Brown opposed.
Bennett stated that the Ordinance will be updated by Monday, November 18. The City of
Blaine's request will be added at that time.
The next committee meeting will be Monday, November 18, at 4:30 p.m.
Imhof moved to recommend approval of the last handout, the Open Issue List, and delete
the Auditor's request.
Imhof withdrew the motion to delete the Auditor's request.
Motion carried unanimously.
Imhof moved to recommend forwarding the full budget with the above additions to the full
Council for adoption and for a public hearing.
Motion carried 2 -1 with Brown opposed.
ADJOURN
The meeting was adjourned at 1:05 p.m.
�J- L"'a
Jill Nixon, Recording Secretary
ATTEST:
Qi i L
Dana Brown- Davis, Council Clerk
WHATCOM COUNTY COUNCIL
WHATCOM COUNTY, WASHINGTON
Finance Minutes, 11/15/96, Page 6