BC 2012 05 21 Regular Meeting - Laserfiche WebLink

Home Browse Search

May 21, 2012 (Regular Meeting) Page 1078 many of those areas and increasing mandates for services to be provided. Future county budgets may be impacted in order to meet demands that this growth will require should federal and state funding be reduced due to the restructuring of their budgets. With these negative impacts being recognized and considered as budgetary decisions were made, the budget was prepared in a manner to ensure that any reductions in expenditures and staffing levels would be sustainable and would maintain the level of services that we are currently providing. Noted below are some highlighted changes that are to be implemented if the proposed budget is approved as presented. FY2013 Budget Highlights 1. County staff has continued to search for sustainable alternatives to provide a basic level of county services expected and deserved by our citizens. As a result, I am asking staff once again to continue to do more with less. Various programs and services have been modified to provide more efficient ways of doing business resulting in the elimination of 6.3 FTE. Other positions have been assigned different responsibilities to better fit the future needs of the county. 2. Transportation Services, Aging Services, and Legal Services will be joining the Department of Social Services to create the Human Services Department. Implementation will bring all human service related functions into the Human Services Center. In addition to improved staff efficiencies this will provide our citizens access to a full service center that can meet their human service needs in one location. 3. Parks and Aging Programs, which include senior centers, will be enhanced by bringing their staffs together to create the Parks and Recreation Department. This will allow for the provision of comprehensive recreational programming to all generations. 4. Library and Parks and Recreation staffing and operational hours have been increased accordingly to meet the expectations of our citizens and to provide for the safety of our employees. 5. An additional Crime Scene Investigator is recommended for the Sheriff's Department. This is the only recommended staff addition countywide. This new position will allow for the Sheriff to provide more resources to the investigative and evidence gathering process. Currently there is only one officer performing these duties. This has created staffing and operational issues as the number of cases have increased over the years. 6. Animal Shelter operations will be contracted to the Cabarrus County Humane Society. This will allow the Sheriff to devote more time to the enforcement of the Animal Protection Ordinance and will provide the Humane Society a facility and funds to operate a comprehensive regional adoption program. 7. Through a diligent energy reduction plan, energy usage among County facilities has decreased approximately 20 %. However increases in utility costs have put a strain on the proposed departmental budgets. While the additional costs have been absorbed in this proposed budget, the result will be less operational money and thus will have a negative impact on services at various levels. 8. While the FY2013 budget is proposed to decrease, County funding for our public school systems is proposed to remain flat as directed by the Board of Commissioners. You will notice that while the overall funding has not changed, the proportionate funding between the two systems will be different as a result of changes in the projected enrollment. 9. The County's Health Insurance Plan experienced a spike in claims for plan year 2011 -2012 that was driven by a number of severe claims and the rising costs of health care. Major plan re- design will be implemented for FY2013 (utilizing high deductible plans and co- insurance) to reduce the renewal rate for the County and to encourage