Travis County Commissioners Court
Tuesday, July 27, 2010,
Item 15
>> so -- number 15 is to consider and take appropriate action on the following for fiscal year 2011. A, preliminary budget and b budget adoption and schedule including budget hearings and mark-up administrative operations items 15 says budget adoption and schedule. Today will be more the schedule discussion than -- than -- than -- b, more than anything else, right?
>> yes, sir.
>> okay. A?
>> good morning.
>> good morning, judge, commissioners.
>> good morning.
>> it's hard to believe the year has already passed by, but here we are once again. We are the preliminary budget has been filed. We have -- we have gone through the
>> [indiscernible] process of meeting with all of the departments in preparation for putting the preliminary budget together. I want to first of all thank the departments for -- for their cooperation once again this year. As we mentioned early on in the process, this has been a -- continues to be a resource constrained process, resource constrained year. We will talk a little bit more about the future, what we think is going to be out there just to kind of put the -- the -- the long range budget outlook on the -- on your radar screen. But i wanted to just take a minutes and just thank awful the departments -- all of the definites for their efforts and their cooperation. We are very pleased with the preliminary budget. We hope that you are, too. And what we will do is we will run through just the -- the overview of the budget. And i would be happy to answer any questions along the way. And with this, i'm going to turn it over to leroy, we're going to kind of tag team as we go through the presentation. With that, mr. Nellis will give you a little bit of the overview.
>> can i ask just one question first. Any.
>> any residents who wants a copy of the full preliminary budget, it is a voluminous document, may obtain one by doing that?
>> we actually file understand the clerk's office and we have posted it to the internet under the planning and budget office website. And so they can get a copy of that off of the website as well.
>> okay. The full document?
>> yes, sir.
>> okay. That's about as many facts as -- as any person would -- would want or need probably.
>> absolutely. We will be happy to answer any questions that -- that anyone might have.
>> okay.
>> thanks.
>> first slide we have got a little summary of the fy 2011 tax rate. Have you got that up?
>> yeah. Essentially, your adopted tax rate for fy '10, the current fiscal year is 4215. When you -- when you -- when the tax office calculates our effective m and o plus debt rate for fy 11, that comes in at 45.23. That kind of gets you where you're at this year and then the commissioners court authorized the planning and budget office to bring the preliminary budget in at 3% above the effective m and o plus debt rate, which you can see over on the right-hand side. That actually takes the preliminary budget tax rate for 46.58. Now, i might mention that these numbers are all based on the best estimates that t cad had the week before we filed the preliminary budget. So since we've filed the preliminary budget, actually late last week, we actually received the certified roll and that certified roll there are some little changes which we'll be briefing the court. The new construction in the certified roll actually went down some from some of these numbers, some of these numbers will change as we go to the certified numbers later in august. The effect on the average appraised homestead, you can see that -- that the fy '10 average homestead was 287732 and the estimate that we had was 273,177. About a $14.5 thousand drop in the appraised value. When you take the 20% homestead exemption, you can see that the taxable value is about 11,600 less. The tax rates from above. And you can see that the average tax on the average homestead was about 47.74 increase. If you go to the next slide, you will see the property tax base. It did drop from 98.3 billion, the taxable value to 94.39 billion. That includes -- increase in new value of 1.88 billion. Compared to 2.93 billion in fy '10, so you can see that we've had about a billion dollar drop in new construction. It is the new construction that gives you new tax dollars at the effective tax rate. So that new construction is really -- really a barometer of the funding off of the effective tax rate. As we've mentioned earlier, the average homestead did go down. If you go to the next slide, the property tax base, the reason that we included this in the presentation is we went back to the last time that we started seeing the -- the new construction start falling. You can see in fiscal year 2002 the new construction value was $3.7 billion. Likewise, in 2009, the new construction was $3.9 billion. Now, when you compare 2002 to 2009, you will see that in the 2002 recession, that it actually took all the way to 2009 to get back to the new construction number. That's a seven year cycle. So normally, when you go into a recession, it takes a seven or a eight year cycle. We actually charted the one previous to that in the 80s, it was again a seven to eight year cycle. So we're not out of the water yet. What you will see later on in -- in our presentation is that we're recommending to the court that we maintain the strong reserves that you have in place in fy '10. So with that i will turn it over to -- to rodney.
>> as you recall, back in 2008 when we wear came to the commissioners court, we talked about some of the economic condition that's we saw on the horizon, some of the issues that we felt like we would be facing and the commissioners court took proactive steps at that time to -- to create the necessary reserves to carry us through. In addition, we -- we have mild very closely -- very closely with the auditor's office in terms of revenues to take a look at where we are, where we think we might be as we go forward. So i think the combination of the efforts that took place as far back as 2008 have really positioned us well going forward again the coop operation of the department -- cooperation of the departments in terms of holding the line over the last couple of years and understanding the situation that we faced. So i think -- so i think from the standpoint of the county finances, we are in -- we are in -- in stable condition. We are -- we are obviously as the new construction values have dipped, we certainly are not seeing new dollars coming in as we have in the past. But we are in -- in good financial condition. We do maintain our natural triple a bond rating. This -- this natural rating is prior to some of the changes that were made in the rating standards and we -- we are very fortunate to continue to maintain that triple a bond rating. Again, we have managed -- carefully our resources as we have gone through these last couple of years, going through the -- through the economic times and -- and we have continued to -- to maintain reserves and in fact increase reserves in some instances. We have -- we have monitored through the commissioners court direction and maintained our -- our budget guidelines as we have prepared the budget and tracked the budget throughout the year. We have -- we have -- again looking to the department to assist us in some of the careful spending, throughout the year, everyone has been very, very cooperative in that instance. We continue to rely one time dollars to fund one time expenses and ongoing dollars for ongoing expenses. So we are not funding ongoing dollars in -- in most instances or ongoing programs with one-time dollars, which has helped us to maintain a good, strong financial position. We will talk a little bit about -- about -- about the ongoing and one-time, some of the steps that we have taken this year, a little bit further in the presentation in terms of how we have tried to shift some -- some known -- known ongoing programs over to ongoing expenses this year.
>> rodney, i think something that you said is very significant. Really i think the residents of travis county -- really ought to -- to understand that -- that when we say triple a bond rating, we are talking about something that's really significant. We are able to -- to acquire when we -- low interest rates that we are able to acquire when we borrow money, just like a credit card type of situation. When you talk about bond rating, you look at the rating that you get with your credit card, well the county has similar type of conditions that we deal with. And -- and look at the 254 counties according to sources here, travis county is one of seven counties that have triple a bond ratings, so i think that -- that the commissioners court and staff and -- and -- ought to be after applauded and the residents -- ought to be applauded and the residents of travis county when we have to deal with situations where we have to -- to go into debt or things like that, we have a real good credit report. So i think that it's very, very important.
>> absolutely.
>> it's been -- it's been -- continues to be reaffirmed every year as we go before the rating agencies and -- and we have gotten very strong comments back from them every year. So it is a credit to all.
>> it is.
>> some of the --
>> the last time that new construction rebounded in say
>> [indiscernible] years.
>> leroy, you are seven to eight year estimate kind of disappointing.
>> well, it -- it is a little disappointing, judge. When we talk about as far as 2008, we actually thought that we would start to see a rebound in starting in -- in 2012. From all indications that we are seeing, both in investments and the yield curve going out in the out years as well as some of the market trends that we're seeing, we're not seeing that rebound happening quite as fast as we thought. So -- so in answer to your question, in terms of -- of the new construction rebounding quicker, i'm not sure if we've got that number with you. But we certainly can get it. But it's been an interesting indicator when we go back and look at the -- at the -- at the turns in the market, how -- how there seems to be a very similar trend in terms of the number of years it takes to recover.
>> seven years --
>> i do have an answer for you, judge.
>> is it good news, mr. Nellis?
>> in 1996, fiscal '96, 1.6 billion. It started dipping in '97. It come back up to 1.8 in 1998. So there is a short pattern there in the mid -- mid '90s that we did have kind of a mild recession, it did respond quicker. There is light at the end of the tunnel
>> [laughter]
>> as we begin putting the preliminary budget together, we use really three guiding principles is what i call them to develop this budget. Obviously, to meet the -- the contractual and programmatic commitments that we have to continue to fund those programmatic and contractual commitments, we -- we knew we knew we had health insurance increases coming, we endeavored throughout going back as far as january, to compensate inside the budget, those are two areas in terms of taking care of our employees, as best we can. Again, as i mentioned, when we first started, minimizing the impact on our employees was critical as far as we were concerned going forward. And so we -- i think that we are successful. In -- in achieving that -- that guiding principle as we put together the -- the budget. Providing for the most urgent maintenance currents effort requests, those again kind of dove tail into that first bullet of contractual and programmatic commitments. But also to deal with -- with maintenance of current effort increases as they go along. So these are just a few of the real important what i would consider important guiding principles as we put this budget together for you that we were considering as we went forward. The next slide has a summary of all of the -- of the funds that we have got. Starting obviously with the largest fund, our general fund going from 455 to 487 million. The road and bridge fund, 19.8 to 20.3. More or less stabilizing where it is. We do anticipate road and bridge, as you are aware, statutorily, that fund pulls down over the next several years. So we'll be addressing that. Debt service fund going from 78.1 to 84.3 million. Risk management, you -- you are aware over the last four years, we have been right sizing the reserve on the risk management, we believe that we have it right sized. It's going from 20.4, to 17.1 million.
>> our goal is to leave it around 17 million?
>> that's correct.
>> is that what we promised fund raters?
>> right. And they have been aware that we have been pulling it down, about 1.2 million per year. But we anticipate that -- that fy '11 be the last year that we will be able to pull that down, we've got it right sized. The employee insurance fund, going from 64.3 to 67.8, as we mentioned earlier, that, you know, we essentially put about 4.4 million additional funds in the employee health insurance to meet the increasing premium costs. Then other funds in trans -- and transfers going from 16.8 to 21.6. So the overall consolidated budget going from 655 to 698 million. The next slide shows the personnel changes. There were some very restrictive guidelines put out by the court on the addition of f.t.e.'s and you can see that in the juvenile probation department that they internally funded. They actually froze positions, 12 f.t.e.'s to -- to basically start weaning off of the title 4 e funds. You are aware that we are not receiving title 4 e or very limited funds, so juvenile probation is essentially moving those to the general fund by freezing positions in their general fund. We do have new funding to take up additional pieces of that title 4 e to maintain the juvenile probation program, so that was 12 f.t.e.'s. There's other existing positions that were moved to the general fund and the district clerk, county clerk, civil courts and its for a total of 2.16 f.t.e.'s. Revenue-related f.t.e.'s involved 12 f.t.e.'s, those were in tcso, constable 4, jp 1, 4 and 5, district clerk, county clerk and county attorney. For a total of 12 f.t.e.'s. There were internally funded f.t.e.'s, 2.75 f.t.e.'s in tcso, tax office, medical examiner, jp 2 and hhs. Previously approved f.t.e.'s by commissioners court in t -- in the sheriff's office, county attorney, county auditor and purchasing for six f.t.e. Reduction constable precinct 3, there was a position no longer supported by revenue, so that one was deletion. So that's a review of the f.t.e.'s that are in the preliminary budget.
>> as we have talked about in terms of -- of funding increases, that is included in the preliminary budget, just run through the list real quickly, the maintenance of current effort, obviously the largest that wilford hall focused effort on -- that -- we did make an effort this year, were successful in shifting a number of one-time pilot projects from one time funding to ongoing. And what we saw in doing so was over the years, we continued to funds these programs and it became pretty obvious that they were going to and had become a programmatic part of the county's business. And so what we hoped to do was be able to move those programs from one time to ongoing. And we were successful in being able to do that. We have also got a number of one-time funded pilot projects that are included that we are including in the budget. Again. To try to maintain those programs as we go forward. We have a number of revenue-related packages. We do have some planning and assessment dollars budgeted. The balcones canyon transfer that is budgeted i might say that's a little bit less than what we have historically budgeted based on the calculations of new construction coming on in that area. The iv-e expense to the general fund as leroy mentioned, the juvenile is experiencing a reduction in the iv-e funds, so consequently we have worked with them and i believe you have been briefed on a plan to implement to try to make up for those iv-e losses, that is a three or a four-year plan. I think it's a three-year plan that we are implementing. This is part of that implementation. So there's 617,000 general fund dollars budgeted as a part of that implementation process. Then, of course, the mid year approvals that leroy also mentioned.
>> can i -- can i have an example of mid year -- court refers to commissioners court?
>> yes, sir.
>> uh-huh.
>> can i have a couple of examples of those? Mid year court approvals?
>> yes, sir. Let's see here. The land use legal staff for county attorney, april 20th the commissioners court approved two f.t.e.'s, to work on travis county land issues. That y'all approved. The -- the mayor's mental health task force y'all approved the 25,000 for that. The program to address chronic absenteeism in public schools, the 15,000.
>> okay. What page is that on?
>> that's on page 17 of the preliminary budget.
>> i had forgotten those action, mr. Nellis. I thought what i had found a 335,000 mistake.
>> there was a lease cost totaling 109,719 that you all approved. That should tie to the -- to the amount that we have on the slide.
>> okay. Mr. Reeferseed.
>> thank you, sir! I just want, a silly question, what is f.t.e.?
>> full time equivalent employee. That's -- that's in other words, a 40 hour employee is a full-time equivalent and that they just use that.
>> the other question was why are these one-time bite programs turning into -- pilot programs turning into ongoing programs, why is that a victory?
>> well, one of the things that we do is that on -- on pilot programs at the -- that the court authorizes, we use one-time money until we see if the performance measures support what they have been -- been recommended to the court to do. And after a year or two and -- or in this case, several years, of being one-time funded, we make recommendations, if in fact the performance is where we think it should be, then we recommend ongoing funds.
>> so it's an ongoing learning experience.
>> that's correct.
>> okay, thanks so much.
>> sure.
>> we've also included other increases that we wanted to note in terms of new facilities primarily these are cash funded, costs as it relates to -- as we begin to migrate into 700 lavaca.
>> okay.
>> we have included some funding to accommodate those moves. Some part-time funding for security guards. These are all on page 21 of your packet. The security guards will enhance the ability to -- to -- to monitor county facilities throughout the evening. This will supplement the -- the -- the dollars that are already set aside. Public health interlocal, the increase anticipated for that and then -- then various other additions that equal about 250,000, again, that's on page 21 and 22 of your -- of your budget packet. In terms of compensation, as i mentioned earlier, we -- one of the things that we really looked at early on in preparation for this budget process was trying to find a way to get some type of compensation inside the budget. We did so primarily as a result of an acknowledgment that we have been very, very fortunate over the last few years not to have to increase insurance premiums and we knew that that was going to come to an end this year. And so consequently, what we were looking to do is finds a way that we could -- find a way that we could have a -- that each employee that was impacted by the health insurance premium increases, did not have a negative impact on their take home pay at the end of the day.
>> [one moment please for change in captioners]
>> ... Half percent increases so it was either 2% or 3% and so we included in the preliminary budget a 2% increase for retirees.
>> the total on the compensation reserve for both compensation, health insurance and retirement increases total $11.3 million. That is the 2.5% across the board and that includes nonpops and pops personnel. There's a 2.5% for elected officials and 2% for retirees. So the total that you see before you makes up -- those pieces make up that whole. Leroy will talk a little about our benefits and the employee insurance benefits that are included in terms of the benefits package.
>> as the court has been briefed previously that this is the first health care increase in health costs since fiscal year '07. And through the health committee we were able to do some minor plan design changes to prevented larger increases to the county and to employees and retirees. The general fund impact for health care costs for the current employees, retirees and anticipated new retirees is $4.47 million. The increase in employee and retirees paid coverage is approximately 8%. Approximately 40% of all employees are covered under the ppo and cepo employee only coverage and will not receive an increase in their health insurance costs since the county is picking up the cost for the employee only. The three plan options, epo, ppo and cepo, continue in f.y. 11 allowing employees to choose that option that best meets their needs. We are currently in the open enrollment and all employees are making those selections. Retirement --
>> is it fair that as to the ppo and the cpo, the -- the reason there's no additional cost to employees there is that if they need medical services, they will end up having to pay themselves.
>> well, the --
>> whereas on the epo, we charge per month, but the plan picks up costs.
>> the difference is that in order for an employee -- employee only to enroll in an epo, that there is a cost to the employee to do that. So the employee's paycheck, if you are in an epo and employee only, not insuring your family, you do pay for a portion of your health insurance premium.
>> but the plan picks up more of your --
>> the plan picks up -- basically 100% of all the expenses.
>> okay.
>> and then on a ppo, the county picks up 100% of the premium, but the plan is only a 90%/10% plan in that the employee picks up 10%. Then in a cepo, the county picks up the entire premium for that plan, but it's an 80% with the employee picking up 20%. So that's --
>> ppo and cpo, as long as you don't need medical services, you are in good shape.
>> that's correct.
>> but a lot more come out of pocket than epo covers.
>> that's correct. The retirement base, we did put in 194,477 based on tcdrs's calculation as to what we needed to increase our contribution. The total benefits increase is total 4.67 million.
>> are we seeing an increase in the number of early retirees on the insurance plan or has that ceased because a lot of the -- a lot of would-be early retirees are continuing to work?
>> we are -- there's currently about 400 travis county employees that are eligible to retire.
>> okay.
>> that have elected -- that are still employed. And what we are seeing based upon the retirement seminars that hrmd holds periodically is that the number of travis county employees that are signing up is increasing rapidly. Now, i know that that doesn't answer your question -- i don't know the breakdown between those that are 65 -- that are eligible for social security that are attending those seminars, but essentially that's an early indicator of how many retirees we have coming. I do know that over the next five years you will have over 1400 travis county employees eligible for retirement out of the approximately 4500 employees. Does that answer --
>> that comes real close.
>> [laughter]
>> the capital recommendations on the next slide, we do have c.a.r. At 9 million in the f.y. 10 budget we were at 8 million. We have short-term certificates of obligation of 25.2. There will be more discussion in the fall on the capital recommendations so we're not going to go into a whole lot of detail. The other funds capital mostly road and bridge at 271,000. Long-term bonds authorized in '05 of 5.6 for total capital in the preliminary budget of 44.1 million. There's a breakdown on the next page of the c.a.r. Account. That's your cash account that you pay out of the general fund that totals to the 9 million, most of which you can see was the 5.8 for technology and computers. You flip to the next, the certificates of obligation, the largest number on that has to do with vehicles and heavy equipment. One of the things that we had been kind of holding back on -- on some of the vehicles over the last past years, a couple of years, and what we've attempted to do with the c.o. Interest rates being very, very favorable right now is kind of catch up on some of those vehicles and we've tried to do that through the recommendation on the c.o. You can see we've got the new financial system portion for 11 in there at 4.1. And then you can see the other projects that -- for a total of 25.2 million for the recommended c.o. If you go to the next slide --
>> can i just --
>> sure.
>> you know, we were presented one issue either midyear or the last budget process and that was by the constables who were complaining if we could knock one year off of the -- when they get a hand-me-down vehicle or reduce the mileage, it really would make them a lot more efficient and effective. So we kicked that to the fleet maintenance committee, i think.
>> uh-huh.
>> so is that working its way back to us and if so will it get to us within the next month or so?
>> i don't know that -- i'm pretty sure it will, judge. I've got a meeting tomorrow with the vehicle users committee, and i will know more then.
>> okay.
>> we do have --
>> we want to communicate the court's -- i think we ought to at least --
>> the committee plans to bring that to the court in the next couple of weeks.
>> i think we ought to address it whether we approve it or reject it, i really think we ought to surface it and consider it and take whatever action we feel -- that's been several months that we last looked at it.
>> okay.
>> okay? Thanks.
>> then if we go to the voter approved bonds, we have -- of the 5.6 million proposed for issuance in f.y. 11 we have the proposition 1 from that bond authorization at 3.7 million for roads and drainage and 1.8 million for the parks.
>> something that i did want to point out, i failed to mention this as we were talking about compensation, and i mentioned the 2.5% being in for rank and file as well as the pops. We also went back and to ensure that the -- that lower paid employees were not negatively impacted, we did put a floor on the compensation proposal in terms of the amount that they would see.
>> what is the floor?
>> that floor is $750. So there will be a minimum -- or a floor of $750 for anyone that might not make a salary that would get them up to that amount. Then we've set that floor for them so that they are not negatively impacted. And so i just wanted to --
>> it's all calculated in this total?
>> yes. And i'm sorry i failed to mention that.
>> are you also recommending that the 2.5% be used to raise the scale?
>> that's correct.
>> we had talked about that months ago, i guess.
>> that's correct. One of the recommendations a few months back we talked about was the recommendation from the compensation committee that if we do an across the board like this that the scale goes up correspondingly so you don't have compression issues and that's also accounted for. I want to talk for just a minute about the reserves and then the schedule as we go forward. We have had a long-standing tradition of maintaining 11% allocated reserve. We have very strong unallocated reserves and we do have in the preliminary budget maintaining those reserves going into f.y. 11. The allocated reserve we have at just over 6.9 million. That is slightly higher than the allocated reserve for this year, not a lot higher, but just slightly higher. We have maintained the emergency economic downturn reserve at 4.9 million. We do anticipate that we will probably need to start tapping into that reserve either in f.y. 12 or f.y. 13 depending on how the economy goes in the next few months. We've got a c.a.r. Reserve of 496,000, which is comparable to what we had for this year. We have programmed in 2.1 million for a planning reserve for the new civil and family justice center in anticipation of that project moving forward. Be fit, we have almost 1.1 for the be fit project. We have maintained the fuel and utility reserve at 1 million. The tyc juvenile justice reserve at 250,000. We've got a slight increase in the grant -- future grant requirement reserve of -- to 596, and then we have a slight amount in there for the smart building. So we have --
>> the smart building is not the same as the cscd request.
>> no.
>> this is separate.
>> this is separate.
>> okay.
>> you do have in your possession the black book write-ups for all the departmental requests. There were over 370 requests and you have those in your possession. We have met, as we talked about earlier, with all of the departments and they have received our write-ups and recommendations. We do have a short list of folks that have requested to address the court and we'll talk about that under b in just a second. You've received the backup material for the budget hearing requests, again, we'll talk about those in just one second. I want to talk a little about the -- some dates and timing just for your information. We have public hearings scheduled for tuesday, september 21st, at 9:00 a.m. We have the second public hearing scheduled for friday, september 24th, at 9:00 a.m., and those are the required public hearings since we are proposing a tax rate above the effective. We have a public hearing on the proposed budget scheduled for tuesday, september 28th.
>> at 9:00 a.m. Too?
>> that's 9:00 a.m., yes, sir. And then, of course, we have citizens communication each tuesday if need be. At the direction of the commissioners court, we have put together an abbreviated budget hearing schedule. That schedule is for -- starting at 1:30 p.m. On thursday, august the 12th. And that is scheduled from 1:30 to 5:00 on thursday, august 12th. We have an abbreviated budget markup scheduled for wednesday, september 8th, from 2:00 to 5:00 p.m.
>> if we need it.
>> if we need it. And then we have tentatively -- well, we have the calendar calls for the budget adoption on tuesday, september the 28th.
>> have we always waited until that close to october 1?
>> i think year before last, judge, we actually adopted a little bit earlier than that, but that's typically been right around the same time.
>> okay.
>> the statutory requirement on the grievance procedure for the elected officials' salaries starts pushing those dates. It's actually very difficult to adopt the budget prior to that last tuesday in -- in september unless you -- you move the markup schedule -- the adoption, the proposed budget up and it's very difficult to get that moved up prior to the first week in september. So that's the reason that it -- it moves. We always do the adopted budget based on the fifth revenue estimate, and that revenue estimate is based upon the august 31st auditor's office closing the month of august, and then we don't -- the auditor -- we get the expenditures to the auditor's office sometime in the latter part of the second week in september and then they do the fifth revenue estimate. So that's the logistics that pushes the adoption of the budget to the 28th -- to the last tuesday in september.
>> we're still confident that the projected year-end balance is pretty much on target?
>> yes, we are.
>> and that pretty much summarizes the preliminary budget.
>> we talked about the departments asking for hearing before the court, and yesterday when we looked at those six, three ought to be fairly shorted, in my view and i recommended to p.b.o. We ought to try to schedule on tuesday and that on the other three that might be a little longer, like an hour apiece, the sheriff, t.n.r., and e.m.s., right?
>> yes, sir.
>> that we have those on the august 12th afternoon and plan to basically allot pretty much an hour apiece.
>> yes, sir.
>> and we should be able to get those done in three and a half hours.
>> right.
>> and on those tuesdays, what i would do is -- i mean i'm thinking 15 to 30 minutes each, not necessarily on the same tuesday should be sufficient. On those either we do them or not. I think the departments have done a pretty good job of outlining justification for the request and, you know, one question is there revenue to cover it and two, is there a majority of the court available to do it.
>> but we have -- based on our discussions, judge, we had received requests from t.n.r. Security committee related to the civil courts, cscd, the sheriff and emergency services and constables in precinct 2. Based on that we had identified t.n.r., the sheriff and emergency services for the 12th. Civil courts and the security commission discussion for august 3rd, next tuesday. Cscd and constable 2 for august the 10th. So if that schedule is acceptable to the court, we'll make sure that it's agendized and you have the appropriate backup, of course, from the packet this week, but we'll make sure you have additional copies when the time comes.
>> yeah. On those tuesday budget hearings, if we run out of time, it's easy to go ahead and just postpone it. But it seems to me that -- i mean that would be an efficient use of our time if we can cover those three on tuesday and set aside august 12th for those three big hearings, i call them.
>> okay.
>> we have not said anything to -- hint to those departments that there's a good chance those requests will be granted on august 12th, right?
>> the only thing that i have done, judge, is based on our conversation i just wanted to get a feel for them if those dates would work or if there were any conflicts so that if there were, we could identify them ahead of time. And so i reached out to them and just said this is what's being proposed. If there is any problems, please let me know and we'll be sure and communicate that with the court.
>> what also would be good, i think, and you know you probably have it laid out somewhere along the way, is the amount of money that's being requested in the department. In other words, if you have three of them that the bottom line total is what -- as far as what's being requested from these departments, because the money is the thing they are asking for. Whether we fund it or not fund it, i think -- you may have already done that. I haven't seen it. But if you have done it already, i know i would like to see what kind of money we're talking about.
>> i'd be happy to.
>> because if it's outside of what we're talking about here today, then, you know, how will it impact the tax rate.
>> right.
>> so that's very important.
>> the total of the three is in the 45 million-dollar range, right?
>> we don't know.
>> it could be.
>> [laughter]
>> like i said, we need to look at some things here, and based on what we see as a court, but it would be good to see all of those that have requested, and then a bomb line total amount. And let's say, for example, we just say, all right, commissioners court won't fund all of us, just for an example. What would that equate to as far as the tax rate is concerned to actually fund these things. You know, if commissioners court decides -- and it's just a lot of variables here, but if you were to look at funding all of them in a case-by-case basis by the departments, there would have to be additional funds. In other words, i'm kind of looking at the -- the moving parts to this and where we actually will be prior to these hearings coming up. I would like to have a little nor gist of what's going on.
>> sure. So not only the ask but the fiscal impact and the tax rate impact.
>> yes, sir.
>> i would be happy to do that for you.
>> the fourth revenue estimate that the court will receive the latter part of august will incorporated the certified tax roll, which as i mentioned earlier, is different than the estimates that we used in the preliminary budget. The new construction did go down about $100 million from the number we had been using, so there will be some impact on that certified roll and we will be briefing the court the latter part of august in conjunction with the fourth revenue estimate as to where we are. So we will have updated revenue information in that --
>> which will be good. Okay.
>> maybe good revenue for us. We'll find out in just a few minutes about the third revenue estimate, right?
>> yes, sir.
>> that is the preliminary budget that is available to the public and will be available from between now and when we act on it on september 28th. Any comments from anybody today? And on the budget hearing, i think we ought to go ahead and schedule those three for august 12th.
>> okay.
>> and on the other three try to work those in on a tuesday. Any objection to that?
>> no. We'll have four members of the court here i guess during that time.
>> and what we'll do is look at the backup that p.b.o. Has already, and if we have additional questions try to get those to the departments before the tuesday meeting.
>> that's correct.
>> we'll make sure that the security committee discussion is agendized for tomorrow.
>> when is the fourth estimate going to be made available?
>> i'm sorry, commissioner?
>> this is what -- what revenue estimate are we working on?
>> third.
>> i'm saying the fourth though.
>> well, i was talking about after -- in the latter part of august you'll have the fourth. The preliminary budget is tied to the third revenue estimate that blaine will be present to go the court today.
>> right. Right.
>> the fourth estimate --
>> i'm sorry.
>> august 24th and we should bring it to court on the 31st.
>> less than a month.
>> okay. Good.
The Closed Caption log for this Commissioners Court agenda item is provided by Travis County Internet Services. Since this file is derived from the Closed Captions created during live cablecasts, there are occasional spelling and grammatical errors. This Closed Caption log is not an official record the Commissioners Court Meeting and cannot be relied on for official purposes. For official records please contact the County Clerk at (512) 854-4722.
Last Modified:
Tuesday, July 27, 2010 2:25 PM
