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2007-1107-Minutes for Meeting May 21,1981 Recorded 6/20/2007COUNTY OFFICIAL Py NANCYUBLANKENSHIP, COUNTY CLERKS vo 2007-1107 COMMISSIONERS' JOURNAL 06/20/2007 10:56:23 AM 1111111111111111111111111111111 2 07-1107 Do not remove this page from original document. Deschutes County Clerk Certificate Page -c If this instrument is being re-recorded, please complete the following statement, in accordance with ORS 205.244: Re-recorded to correct [give reason] previously recorded in Book or as Fee Number and Page DESCHUTES COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS ~ MAY 21, 1981 - SPECIAL MEETING Chairman Paulson called to order the special meeting between the Board of Commissioners and the Budget Board and members of the Public Advisory Team at 10:08 a.m. Those present were: Commissioner Young, Commissioner Shepard, Chairman Paulson, Wally Corwin, Jack Oliver, Jan Wick, Dick Carlson, Greg Cushman and Betty Ahern, as well as numerous department heads and employees in the audience. The purpose of the meeting was to decide what the County would like to place on the ballot to go before the voters June 30,or September 15, if they should choose to go before the voters again. They % went over the list that Mike Maier had prepared entitled "Budget Options 1981-82". Each option was discussed. It was noted that a de- cision must be made by the following Tuesday, because the ballot must be submitted to the Elections office so that it may appear on the June 30 ballot. Mr. Maier then went over the second attached sheet entitled "Estimated Total Revenue - General Fund (6%) $4,835,647.00". These:figures were designed to provide the current level of staffing and services. He also discussed the deficits being faced. He said that the County is 1.7 million dollars short of what they need. They must determine how to meet the shorfall. On the third page, entitled "Possible Methods of Budget Reduction", possible reduction measures were listed. The total of these possibilities would amount to a 1.4 million dollar reduction. There was some discussion of these possibilities. Chairman Paulson called for comments from the audience. Duane Clark of the Watermaster's office said that the County may lose a lot of employees if they should go to a 4-day week on a permanent basis. He said that many employees could not afford to live on that amount of money. Lou Selken, District Attorney, agreed with Mr. Clark's comments. He added that the County may lose their better employees who will not want to work on a part-time basis for the entire year. Myer Avedovech, Hearings Offi- cer, said that they need to be realistic with the people who have put in the time for the last few months because this was a temporary situation. He thinks they need to go back to running full-time jobs because the work requirement is not part-time. Jane Kirkpatrick, Family Counseling, said that the Mental Health Advisory Board met the previous day and discussed the shopping list ballot idea and they felt very strongly that the Board should not do that. She said that not everybody wants to acknowledge that they need mental health services. She felt that just because a min- ority of the people wants to use something, they still have a duty to pro- vide that minority with the service. Marv Young, County Extension Agent, said that this is a difficult situation and the elimination of those departments that are identified as possible :exclusions are only the suggestion of certain individuals. He said that he has talked to many people who would prefer that the County offer a shopping list B ballot. He suggested that the County go with alternative #6 listed on the first sheet, or possibly option #4. Lynn Stonelake, Health Department, asked about the advantage of having a September vote. Chairman Paulson explained that they will need to live on the reduced budget until September if the June budget doesn't pass. He said that by that time the County stands to lose a number of its employees. He said that the advantage of going to a September ballot would be that they might have a less crowded ballot. Page 1 of 3 0 Deschutes County Board of Commissioners May 21, 1981 - Special Meeting Bob Maine asked what the ramifications of Option #1 would be. Chairman Paulson responded that if they have a five-day work week and live within the 60 limitation they will lose as many people as they would otherwise because they will have an increased workload. He added that there would be some departments that would have to be discontinued. Chairman Paulson said that he had been in contact with Senator AuCoin's office, and was told that the County probably would not be receiving any payment in lieu of taxes, and the interest from forest receipts will no longer be transferred into the General Fund, but will go back to the Road Department. Ross Brown, Data Processing, asked how many people they will need to remove from the General Fund payroll. Chairman Paulson responded that they needed to make up a $536,000 deficit, so it depends on what salaries the people that are let go are making. There are a total of 120 people on the general fund payroll, so this may effect 16 to 20 people. They must give notice to those individuals effected two weeks before July. They hope to have the 6% budget out in draft form within two weeks. Helen Rastovich made clear that under #7 if the County goes to a 36-hour week they will include a loo cost of living raise in salary to the gener- al fund employees and a 10% cut-back in hours, making salaries essentially the same, but reducing the work week to 36 hours. After some further minor discussion, Chairman Paulson called for comments from those members of the Budget Board and the Public Advisory Team pre- sent. Dick Carlson said that he doesn't think that a B ballot will pass if it is presented as.an overall measure, but he thought that they should discuss presenting a shopping list B ballot. It was the consesus of the group to rule out option #2. There was some further discussion on the feasibility of each option. Jan Wick said that he felt that the A and B ballots should clearly identify where the funds were to be appropriated for each ballot. Commissioner Shepard suggested grouping several of the special interest programs together, such as Veterans, Senior Programs and the Humane Society, in order to unify several minorities to build a major- ity to give the ballot a better chance of passing. This was discussed but met with some opposition from the other members of the panel. Betty Ahern said that it was her feeling that the public was not well enough educated as to the items being voted on and how they will effect their taxes. This was also discussed. Mr. Cushman felt that the County, after coming up with a viable budget, should go before the voters to promote it. Mr. Oliver suggested lowering the A ballot to a low figure and putting the bulk of the budget on individualized B ballots. Mr. Isham said that this was not possible under State law. Chairman Paulson said that he felt that option #4 was their best option, and that they should have no mandated services on the B ballots, reserving them for the A ballot. This was discussed. Oscar Bratton asked that part of his department be placed on the B ballot, and put some of it on a B ballot, giving him a chance to better staff his department. He would prefer that this be placed on a single item B ballot. Marv Young said that he preferred to have the Exten- sion Service appear on a single item B ballot, because he felt that in the past people he works with did not want to support the entire County budget, just the Extension Service. He added that they are looking at going to a Special District status, as it may improve their chance of obtaining voter approval. Mr. Isham said that he felt that the County should continue to operate on a five-day 40-hour schedule, but not give Page 2 of 3 Deschutes County Board of Commissioners May 21, 1981 - Special Meeting any salary raises. Helen Durrant said that her department has been working to try to educate the public about budget matters. Wanda Lovejoy said that the problem seems to be that the public is not well enough educated about the budget, and that the County should work to try to provide information to them. Darrell Davidson said that he felt that the reason the Sheriff's special levy had passed was largely that they had put a lot of effort into going out into the public to present their proposal. There was some further discussion on-this. There was some further discussion on -the hour/wage question. The budget options listed were further discussed, along with the question of how to present the B ballot. MOTION: SHEPARD moved that they go with option #4. PAULSON: Second. VOTE: PAULSON: AYE. SHEPAR.D : AYE. YOUNG: AYE. They now have to decide what they want listed on the ballots. Chairman Paulson said that he and Mike Maier would make a budget officer's deci- sion by Tuesday. Being no further business, the meeting was adjourned. DESCHUTES COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS C / 5z Robert C. Paulson,,Jr., Chairman v~ C/ Al er A. Young, Co ission Clay C. Shepard, Commissioner Page 3 of 3