LAKEPORT, Calif. – In a budget hearing held Tuesday morning, the Board of Supervisors wrapped up work on the 2013-13 fiscal year budget, accepting the document unanimously.
The budget totals just over $188 million, with that final number slightly higher than the one given in the budget book posted just over a week ago due to some last-minute fine-tuning by County Administrative Officer Matt Perry and his staff. Last year's budget was $179 million.
In the new fiscal year, the county has budgeted 947 positions, Perry said.
Along with voting to accept the budget and the recommended position allocations, the board also accepted Perry's recommendations to discontinue the practice of requiring promotional only recruitment before open recruitment, and approved a continuation of the general hiring freeze, delegating authority to Perry to waive the hiring freeze as appropriate.
Perry began the three-and-a-half-hour-long hearing by thanking the board for having realistic expectations considering the county's still-limited resources, and also thanked department heads for their hard work during the budget process and throughout the year.
He said the new fiscal year budget is balanced and addresses four key budget priorities, which he said area always a struggle to meet: developing a responsible and sustainable budget to meet both short-term and long-term needs; preserving the county's general reserves; minimizing or avoiding any reduction in service levels; and avoiding harm to the county's employees and the local economy by not imposing a large number of layoffs, work furloughs or other forms of compensation reductions in order to balance the budget.
Last year, federal government sources totaled 13 percent of the county's revenue, rising to 16 percent this year. State revenue sources, on the other hand, totaled 34 percent in 2012-13 and fell to 31 percent this fiscal year, Perry said. Tax revenue is 14 percent for this year, down slightly from last year's 15 percent.
Perry said 33 percent of the county's total budget – or $68 million – goes to salaries and benefits, 30 percent to supplies and services and 13 percent to construction in progress.
Property tax, a key revenue source and economic indicator, had a slight rollback compared with last fiscal year, Perry said.
With the property tax roll having just been closed out by the assessor's office, Perry said it showed a 0.7 percent decrease over last year.
Despite that, Perry and his staff are optimistic that the county's financial outlook is improving.
That optimism is helped thanks to other positive signs, including the fact that sales tax revenues have recovered to pre-recession levels, he said. That helps law enforcement, which receives a large amount of funding from sales tax.
Budget highlights include adding an additional building inspector/code enforcement officer who will help with code and marijuana cultivation-related issues; the county's participation in a bridge replacement program which will give it nearly $9 million to replace 18 bridges; and the impending completion of renovations at the Lucerne Hotel, the new Marymount California University campus, Perry said.
“Clearlake Oaks is receiving a lot of work this coming year,” said Perry.
That includes work on the new sheriff's substation in the Big Oak Shopping Center – which county staff said began on Tuesday – as well as a sidewalk and streetlamp project, and the new Clearlake Oaks Senior Center, Perry said.
Funds have been budgeted to make significant improvements to the Gard Street School in Kelseyville in order to provide space for the county's Child Support Services Department. Perry said there also are plans to replace wells in the south Lakeport water system area.
Improvements will take place at parks including the Middletown Square Plaza, a new park in the Clear Lake Riviera and Hammond Park in Nice, with capital improvements also planned at the Lake County Jail and Lampson Field, Perry said.
As the hearings proceeded, many department heads explained their efforts to continue offering services despite being short-staffed, either due to needing to keep positions dark or, in some cases, being challenged in keeping positions filled due to pension reform or difficulty finding candidates.
During the hearings, department heads also updated the board on their big projects for the year, which in Social Services includes gearing up for health care reform. That agency also is funding a new welfare fraud investigator.
The board also approved District Attorney Don Anderson's request for an additional deputy district attorney to help the office deal with its workload.
In the Public Services Department, Deputy Director Jeff Rein told the board that they have budgeted repairs to the courthouse boiler. He said it's hoped that project will solve a decades-old problem relating to operation of the building's heating and cooling system.
More improvements also are planned for the park facilities on Mt. Konocti – to the tune of $32,000. Rein said that Buckingham Peak – where the county has a number of telecommunications towers with rented space – continues to expand its occupants and its revenue. “It's become a cash cow, frankly,” he said.
There is $10,000 budgeted to go to Westshore Pool – which is owned and operated by the city of Lakeport, but which county officials agree is a regional facility – as well a plan to explore installing solar panels at the pool to address the estimated $30,000 in annual utilities, according to Supervisor Anthony Farrington, who along with Supervisor Denise Rushing is a plan proponent. Such an installation also may be explored for the Middletown Pool.
The board praised Perry for his work on the budget, which the supervisors acknowledged incorporated their vision and concerns.
“Overall, I think it's a good, solid budget,” said Farrington.
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