Polk Soil and Water Conservation District May 7th, 2014 Budget Committee Meeting Minutes - DRAFT Location: Date: Start Time:
Polk County Fair Grounds, Arts and Crafts Center 520 S Pacific Hwy W, Rickreall, OR 97371 May 7th, 2014
Attendance: Directors David Simmons Frank Pender Chad Wood Nathan Slaven Jim Buckovic Linda Marquardt-Sutton
Staff Karin Nembach
Directors Emeritus/Associates/Guests Jim Castle- budget committee member Tom Thomson – budget committee member Debbie Miller - guest Josh Miller – guest Barbara Hoyer- Soil and Water Conservation Commission Phil Walker-budget committee member Rudy White- budget committee member Bernie Faber- budget committee member Tom Finegan-NRCS (arrived 7:05 PM)
BOARD MEETING CALL TO ORDER David Simmons, Chair, called the Board Meeting to order at 6:05PM. Directors Simmons, Wood, Pender, MarquardtSutton, Slaven and Buckovic were all present to start the meeting. INTRODUCTIONSIntroductions of all individuals were made. ELECTION OF BUDGET COMMITTEE CHAIR AND SECRETARY: Moved by Mr. White for Phil Walker to be budget committee chair, 2nd by Director Pender. Moved by Pender to close the nomination, 2nd by Director Buckovic. No Discussion regarding Phil Walker’s nomination, passed unanimously. Mr. Thompson recommended the secretary be from the board of directors. Walker moved to nominate Chad Woods as secretary, 2nd by Pender. No discussion, passed unanimously. Approval of Minutes from May 15th, 2013. Mr. Walker asked for any grammatical or spelling corrections. Pender moved to accept the minutes as presented (with a possible grammatical correction), 2nd by Thomson. No Discussion, passed unanimously. DUTIES OF THE BUDGET COMMITTEE Mr. Woods read the following duties of the budget committee: The Budget Committee is an advisory group established by state statue. The committee is made up of the governing body of the local government and an equal number of appointed members. The budget committee has several purposes. It conducts public meetings to hear the budget message and review the budget proposed by the budget officer. One of its most important purposes is to listen to comments and questions from interested citizens. The committee considers public input as it deliberates on the budget. The committee can revise the proposed budget to reflect changes it wants to make in the local government's fiscal policy. When the budget committee is satisfied, they can then approve the budget. The budget committee does not have the authority to negotiate employee salaries. Page 1 of 3
Mr. Walker explained that the committee has the obligation and responsibility to go over every line in the budget, but only has authority over the bottom line, not individual line items. He stated the committee has the authority to cut or raise the bottom line, and the responsibility of levying the tax. PRESENTATION OF THE BUDGET MESSAGE Mr. Woods summarized the message. He stated that he and board had tasked the new district manager, Karin Nembach, with putting together the budget to familiarize herself with the District and its programs. This year the budget is prepared differently than in the past, breaking things out a little different. There is an administration/ operations section and professional services/staff part. Ms. Nembach and the budget officer thought that it is easier for the public to understand how the money comes in and is spent looking at it this way. At the beginning of this budget year, the District transferred the building and some other funds into the general fund and closed those accounts. There were no questions from the committee. Ms. Nembach explained the new budget format (2 funds, General and Project). She moved 3.5 staff from the general fund to the project fund to make it clearer as the way funds are raised and used. Mr. Walker asked about the $568,147 from OWEB (line 7) and Nembach explained it was for an oak restoration grant and possible other future grants. Mr. Walker pointed out the District has been criticized in the past for taking in revenue for multiyear projects, because as the money wasn’t spent in that first year, it looked like the District has excess funding and was overtaxing the citizens of Polk County. Woods said the money from possible grants hasn’t been counted on for operations. PUBLIC COMMENT: Josh Miller noted that budget handed out to the public was different than the one provided. He stated the decision to eliminate the office manager position was, in his opinion, a short term solution and a long term solution would be to focus on increasing revenue. He stated that personnel restructuring should focus on those whose jobs are dependent on grant funding, not operations, which are paid for with the tax base and not responsible for revenue generation. Mr. Miller suggested a freeze in cost of living wages and a rollback of wage increases. Mr. Walker reminded Mr. Miller that the budget committee does not have the authority over individual personnel actions, only the bottom line. Debbie Miller made the comments that the proposed budget contained errors. She said regarding the project fund, line 14, unless the District is applying for WHIP grants, the old grants are over and there is no money there. For line 18, the Soil Risk Management Grant is not over until August 2014 and the District will receive some revenue. Nembach explained that the funds were put against contract services on line 9 of the general resources fund, and the blank line item was left in because it is a historical item. Ms. Miller said the budget committee was using a new version that she had not seen before, and Nembach explained she was sent a draft. Mr. Miller said that based on public notice laws the one he was sent is the one that they should be going over. Mr. Walker instructed the committee to use the draft that was mailed out to the public, and they will amend it. PRESENTATION OF BUDGET District Manager Nembach went over the General Fund budget line by line with the committee. Moved by Pender, 2nd by White to reduce personnel services in the general fund $132,573 to $85,670 by eliminating the office manager. No discussion, passed unanimously. Nembach explained that bookkeeping services (line 22) has decreased as they have found another service. Discussion about line 25, office space and the remodel. Discussion about the different mileage lines (15, 21, and 29). Nembach explained that line 17 on the draft is $117,383 and in the revised version is $164,268 and reflects the reduction in personnel services. Total requirements on both versions are the same at $620,656. Page 2 of 3
District Manager Nembach went over the Project Fund budget line by line with the committee. Moved by Mr. Simmons, 2nd by Mr. Thomson to remove line 14 and delete $5000 from the Project Fund resources, reducing total resources in the fund to $1,028,433. No Discussion, passed unanimously. Moved to increase general fund transfer to the amended amount of $164,286 (from $117,383, reflecting the elimination of the office manager position) by Pender, 2nd by Mr. Buckovic. No Discussion, passed unanimously. Discussion regarding the removal of $5000 from line 14 and where to make up the difference. Mr. Walker suggested to let the board of directors decide, and Ms. Nembach said she suggested taking it from OWEB (line7). Discussion followed regarding the unappropriated and contingency fund. Mr. Walker suggested take the unappropriated ending down to $125,000 and bump contingency in the general fund up to $75000. Moved by Pender to approve general fund resources of $620,656, 2nd by Simmons. No Discussion, approved unanimously. Moved by Simmons to approve general fund expenditures of $620,656, 2nd by Pender. No Discussion, approved unanimously. Moved by Pender to approve project fund resources and requirements of $1,028,433, 2nd by Mr. Buckovic . No Discussion, approved unanimously. Moved by Pender to impose a tax rate of $0.05 per $1000 assessed property value. 2nd by Mr. White. No Discussion, approved unanimously. Mr. Walker adjourned the meeting at 7:21 PM. Respectfully submitted by Tom Wilson, District Clerk, May 21st, 2014.
___________________________________________ Phil Walker-Budget Committee Chair
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