Commissioners review enterprise funds: recreation, solid waste, emergency services and SAFER grant plans

County finance staff and department representatives walked commissioners through the enterprise and revolving funds portion of the FY2014 budget during the March 18 budget work session, focusing on Recreation & Parks activity, solid waste and recycling, miscellaneous revolving funds and emergency services support.

CFO Elaine Kramer told the board the draft budget (as of March 14) included multiple updates and a variance between draft revenues and expenses of about $3.1 million; she called attention to specific adjustments including vehicle replacements and savings from partial non-borrowed financing for exempt financing. Kramer said the solid-waste subsidy was returned to $1,000,000 in the draft because projections that trimmed the subsidy to $900,000 would likely require restoring the higher subsidy in subsequent years when vehicle replacements and other costs recurred.

On Recreation and Parks staff discussed program-by-program changes in a self-supporting enterprise fund. Department staff said the Paralympics program is expected to be largely grant-funded. Brian Lowey (Recreation & Parks staff) replied to commissioner questions that the Paralympics section’s revenues are “typically...grant majority of grant funded.” The Recreation Activity Fund was described as largely self-supporting, with adjustments to program offerings driven by enrollment and fee changes.

Solid waste and recycling

Staff explained the increase in replacement-vehicle lease payments and monitoring costs tied to a solid-waste and recycling plan. The bottom-line expenditures for solid waste rose in the 2014 request to reflect replacement-vehicle realignment.

Emergency services support fund and SAFER grant

The emergency services support fund package showed a $60,000 general-fund subsidy line included in revenues, and staff explained that the federal SAFER grant continues into FY2014 but not FY2015. Commissioners discussed a proposal to convert a SAFER-funded recruitment position into a county-funded full-time recruitment officer and to leverage the near-term grant funding for programmatic recruiting work; staff said non-position program costs of about $82,000 were proposed if the board accepted the approach and that any program expenditures would return to the board for approval before being spent.

Fire and rescue allocations were presented at levels similar to FY2013, with a length-of-service actuarial valuation item of $15,000 proposed to set trust contributions for that program on an actuarial basis. Staff noted one-time and revolving fund uses and explained that some smaller revolving funds use prior-year fund balances to cover expected 2014 expenses.

Quotes and attribution

CFO Elaine Kramer summarized the solid-waste change and budget variance: “You can see that the revenues, including fund balance, totaled 211,502,869. And as we just indicated, the expenses are 214,646...so a variance of about $3,100,000 at this time.”

Brian Lowey (Recreation & Parks) on Paralympics revenue: “Typically, that section is grant majority of grant funded.”

Context and what happens next

Commissioners asked staff to return with firm numbers for vehicle replacements, positions’ treatment (SAFER-funded roles), and to incorporate the board’s directions into the recommended budget for the next work session. Staff said some smaller nonrecurring furniture and equipment items could be realigned from FY2013 funds rather than funded in FY2014.

Ending

Finance staff will incorporate the board’s enterprise-fund direction into the recommended budget and return with updated schedules and any required legal/administrative clarifications at the next meeting.