BC 2001 10 13 - Laserfiche WebLink

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205 Mr. Stephen Lipscomb, Public Information Officer, gave a brief overview of current projects and on-going activities by his office. These include programs on the County's Government Information Channel, monthly Intranet newsletters and various types of information and services provided through the County's website. Mr. Day reviewed proposed "Broadcast Policies and Procedures" and presented examples of public information opportunities from other local governments. These included such things as: web page biographies with links to position papers, events, media releases; brochures with similar information; media releases and position papers from individual Commissioners (as Commissioners, not as candidates) distributed to media outlets by the Public Information Officer; and samples of newsletters distributed by the cities of Concord and Kannapolis. Board members discussed the need for the County to respond to misinformation (e.g., Reed Gold Mine article) published by local news media and to keep the public informed about current County projects (e.g., Expo Park). Mr. Clifton advised that the County could not issue a press release stating the Board's position on an issue such as Reed Gold Mine until the Board has taken an official position in the matter. However, he stated individual Board members could respond to issues and that Mr. Lipscomb could facilitate the 'distribution of those statements/press releases to the news media. There was general agreement for staff to look at ways for the County to expand its information opportunities. These will include producing additional programs for the Government Information Channel, issuing more press releases and expanding the distribution of information through the local newspapers. Financial Overview Mr. Bennett presented a financial overview of the County and discussed current economic conditions. He stated in his opinion the budget for FY 2003 would be the most challenging in years and that a property tax increase may be required to cover additional debt service for financing new schools and the Expo Park. During his presentation, Mr. Bennett reviewed the history of sales tax collections and reported the collections for FY 2000-01 increased by 6.76 percent over the previous year. He further reported the County will no longer receive State reimbursables (inventory tax, homestead exemption, intangible tax and food stamp) totaling $3,857,926.00 effective July 1, 2003. Optioqs for the Board to address this matter are to enact the one-half cent sales tax, levy an additional property tax of approximately four cents and/or cut programs and spending. Mr. Bennett also provided an update Qn scheduled incentive payments through 2007 with the total for FY 2002 estimated at $4,996,944.00. Further, he discussed the Fund Balance calculation and the County's 15 percent Fund Balance Policy. Mr. Bennett also 'reviewed the projected ADM allocation for the Schools through FY 2008 based on a three percent increase annually and an annual student increase of 700 students. The projected school funding (ADM, Building Maintenance and Grounds Maintenance) totals approximately $27.4 million in FY 2002 and is estimated to total approximately $37.5 million in FY 2008. Finally, Mr. Bennett reviewed revenue and expenditure projections for the County through 2006. For FY 2003, expenditures are expected to .exceed revenues by approximately $22 million. Mr. Clifton reviewed proposed major projects totaling approximately $45 million. These include the Expo Center ($10 million), the new building at Rowan Cabarrus Community College ($3.6 million), Kannapolis City Schools improvements ($3.4 million), new Cabarrus County schools and improvements ($24 million) and Park funding ($3.9 million). He also listed other County projects such as facility renovations, utility extensions, participation in road construction projects, voting system, etc. Mr. Bennett reviewed methods for financing capital projects, including cash, bank qualified loans (maximum of $10 million per year),' Certificates of Participation (COPs) or a bond referendum. He described various scenarios for financing the $45 million for the proposed major projects, including the' issuance of $10 million in 2002 for the Expo Center, the issuance of $35 million in COPs in January 2003 or the issuance of $45 million in COPs for all projects in January 2002. Mr. Bennett also discussed potential options for refunding existing debt to take advantage of iow long-term interest rates.