Productivity Committee Public Services Subcommittee Minutes 05/18/2009 Public Services, Monday, May 18, Sub Committee Productivity meeting, 9 am
Attending:
Boaz, Brad Jamro, Ron Ramsey, Marla
Colfer, Joan Kraley, Peter Townsend, Amanda
Downs, Gina Krumbine, Marcy Vasey, Janet
Fee, Doug Matthes Marilyn Vincent, Gary
Ferguson, Shari Murray, Constance Washburn, Ilonka
Halman, Robert Portis, Alan Williams, Barry
Hambright, Gail Pryor, Sherry
Marla Ramsey reported that her department is down about 150 positions. They cut FTE
68 last year and 90 this year.
They have added facilities and have therefore needed additional personnel. Facilities
such as Port of Isles Marina
When applicable: Fees were raised last year to increase income by $400K. Fines
increased at libraries so that net costs stayed the same.
Coming on-line soon will be Goodland, another facility that needs staffing.
Doug Fee asked is Marla was reducing expenses by cutting positions or by cutting
salaries? Marla responded positions.
Free, "special" events take a huge amount of personnel time ergo, expenses. They
are ready to cancel all free events.
Peter Kraley reported that Veteran Services was allotted 50K for July Fourth event but will
probably only spent about 20K. Last year, he spent 30K. He thinks of this as a luxury
and would prefer not to spend the funds. His department has furloughed personnel.
Demand for transporting veterans to appointments is up 35%. Two of the three vehicles
they use for transportation come from federal gvmt. County purchased third vehicle.
Ridership is 734/year. They work with Veterans Dept., drive many to Ft. Myers and
others to Bay Pines in St. Petersburg. With a 25% reduction in budget, he will have to
furlough staff. Did not have a cost breakdown per transport.
Brad Boaz asked: With the library cut in hours, are the libraries now open Monday
through Friday, or Monday through Thursday? Answer: It varies by libraries. Facilities
says more cost savings is received by being closed two consecutive days. Could not
answer how much cost savings per day was received by closed facility.
Talked about child care services. The accounting for this has shifted from fund 130 to
fund 111. Goal for setting pricing for these services is to break even. A therapeutic rec.
program for special needs kids serves about 30. There is no grant $ for this. There are
trust fund `scholarships' to help parents with child care service expenses.
Gina Downs asked if there had been consideration given to consolidating the approx.
700+/- acres of mowing/landscaping services with Transportation Department? Barry
Williams responded that much of their mowing was `specialty care' of athletic fields and
Marla Ramsey added that improper care of these fields could be very costly. No
breakdown was offered on how many acres or man hours are spent tending to
mowing/landscaping needs other than athletic fields. Said (half jokingly) that they
would not mind seeing consolidation of mowing/landscaping with Transportation
Department as long as Parks and Rec provided the consolidated service.
Marla Ramsey suggests the county drop all free beach parking stickers.
Boating fees are going up if the budget cut is higher than the 3%, why not collect a fee for
beach use also?
Sun "N Fun is in its fourth year. It is open seven days a week in summer, closed the
month of November. Open weekends Dec. through mid Feb. Their high season is
summer. Held a special event this year and 2200 high school kids attended between 6-9
pm. Last year, the same event was attended by only 300.
Question was asked but not answered: What is the break-even point for operating the
facility? How many paying patrons/ how many days?
Marcy Crumbine talked about HHS. With loss of funding, she has had to shift CDBG
funds to home buyer education program. $22K of her grant goes to homeless funding for
David Lawrence Center. Within her budget, $1,740,700 is carry-forward from doc. stamp
money that used to come to the county. That source has dried up. As a result, her dept.
has lowered the amount of assistance they offer for down payments to homebuyers. Last
year, she received 700K from the state for assistance, this year it is around 40K.
Dr. Colfer addressed Public Health Services. With a millage neutral, 390K goes unfunded.
With a 25% reduction, she will lose four or five positions and about $489K.
Her dept. serves 1200 women/year with Healthy Start program. The first six weeks of the
program are the highest cost visits.
The county gives 12% of the funding for the Dental program. Dr. Colfer wanted to extend
the dental program to adults. She faces losing all funding for the adult program. Plus, the
state has imposed a cap on pay grades. This forces the department to offer minimal pay
grade to new hires. The county is not allowed to supplement the pay. Focus is on
keeping quality, experienced employees.
Animal Services. Salaries are up 100K. Why? Because of vacancies that have been
filled. They lost four positions but inmate labor replaced some of those positions. One of
their most valued positions is a vet tech. Without a tech, surgical procedures must be
done `off campus'. They estimate it costs $2,500-$3,000/month by NOT having a vet tech
on the payroll. While the inmate labor program might be `doable', right now, the charges
are too high. A supervisor/officer must accommodate the inmates. Animal services must
reimburse the Sheriff's Department the hourly rate plus 30%. Sometimes that is
$55/hour or almost $2K per week. Animal services estimated the costs at $42.50 hour for
the supervisor/officer and $1 per inmate. They will try to come to an agreement with
the sheriffs department.
About 1800 pets are adopted/yearly. Fees are about $85/pet. A portion of the fee goes
into 001, the rest goes into 610 fund. The state passed 823.15 to require that all animals
be spayed or neutered. Another unfunded mandate from the state.
Libraries: Save 625K by closing all three branch libraries. Need 843K for
replacement materials (books, DVDs, etc). They estimate 4%/yr. replacement costs.
Impact fees, when available, can only be used to purchase new materials. Grants
received are about 200K. Non residents are charged $10 for a library card. DVD check
out was 3 days but is now seven days. 36-38% of checkouts are movies.
Question which remains unanswered from last year: What is the amount spent on
movies/DVDs and what is the % of documentary movies in the collection?
Museum: Tourist tax revenue is down. Two major projects have added to the costs.
Required but unanticipated sprinkler system had to be added to Naples Depot building.
Marco Museum, while built with donations, must be staffed and furnished by county.
Estimate the county will need $1.3Million to set up museum. Staffing needs are
$30K for first year at 32 hours a week and a four day week. Additional 50K for operating
costs in the first year, bringing costs to about $80K the first year for this facility.
Slated to open Jan. 2010. Question: Why not delay opening? Or, what could be
saved by only opening weekends or two days per week?