County staff outline modest revenue growth, fund-balance use and OPEB/LOSAP liabilities during budget work session

County finance staff told commissioners the FY 2015 revenue picture showed modest growth compared with FY 2014. The updated packet presented to the Board reflected new inputs through the most recent work sessions and included an overall net revenue estimate of about $214.2 million, representing roughly a 2.4% increase over FY 2014.

Staff outlined the components driving the change, including higher recordation-tax receipts and lower energy tax and investment-income estimates. Finance said revenue forecasting used year-to-date data, FY 2012 and FY 2013 actuals and state-provided assessable-base and constant-yield data. Staff cautioned the earliest firm signal for income-tax trends would not arrive until distributions and return data later in the year (August/September), and that the state's cash-distribution method can be erratic.

On fund balance, staff presented the proposed uses of about $5.0 million in one-time fund-balance allocations for FY 2015, including OPEB (other post-employment benefits) contributions, correctional facility items and capital PAYGO. The draft budget showed a remaining unassigned fund balance of about $8 million, and staff warned that a few million dollars of revenue variance could be quickly consumed by unexpected events such as storms or other emergencies.

Commissioners and staff discussed the county's actuarial valuation of LOSAP (the volunteer length-of-service award program) and OPEB, which produced a higher-than-expected liability figure that commissioners were prepared to address over multiple years. Staff said one approach is to direct extra pension-shift funds toward OPEB as the state phases in required teacher pension funding shifts under SB 1301.

The Board also reviewed school maintenance-of-effort calculations. County staff noted the local required maintenance-of-effort figure for the Board of Education increased by about $1,020,000 for FY 2015 to $84,825,789. Commissioners discussed whether to provide additional funding beyond the required maintenance-of-effort and indicated a preliminary negotiating figure to consider was roughly $4,000,000 above last year's appropriation (approximately $3,000,000 above maintenance-of-effort), subject to further work and a joint discussion with the Board of Education.

Finally, staff presented the bottom-line numbers: total general-fund sources of about $219.9 million, expenditures of roughly $226.8 million, and an una balanced gap of approximately $6.94 million. Staff requested further direction on how to close that gap before the recommended-public-hearing budget is finalized.