The Wise County Board of Supervisors met in a Recessed meeting on Wednesday, April 29, 2015 at 4:45 PM in the School Board Education Center located on Lake Street in Wise.  The following members were present:

Honorable Robert R. Adkins – Chairman
Honorable Virginia Meador – Vice-Chair
Honorable Dana Kilgore
Honorable J.H. Rivers
Honorable Robert E. Robbins, Jr.
Honorable Fred Luntsford
Honorable Ronald L. Shortt
Honorable Steve Bates – members of said Board and
Shannon C. Scott – County Administrator
David L. Cox – Finance Administrator
Karen T. Mullins – County Attorney
Annette Underwood – Executive Secretary

AGENDA ADDITIONS

A motion was made by Ronnie Shortt, seconded by Virginia Meador, to add the following items to the agenda for consideration by the Board:

• Guest River Gorge request for funding

• Request for Math Science Funds

• Closed session (Personnel)

The motion was unanimously approved.

IN RE:  GUEST RIVER GORGE SIGNAGE

A motion was made by Dana Kilgore, seconded by J. H. Rivers, to approve the request for $15,000, to be taken from the transient funds, for the purpose of providing signs on Route 58-A east and west and directional signs on Route 72 to boost signage of the Scenic Guest River Gorge.   The motion was unanimously approved.

UNMANNED AERIAL SYSTEM –MULTISPECTRAL MONITORING

A motion was made by Steve Bates, seconded by Ronnie Shortt, to approve $5,000.00 to be taken from the Math Science Funds to be used as matching funds for the grant Using a Multispectral Sensor on an
Unmanned Aerial System to Monitor Vineyard Health.  The motion was unanimously approved.

IN RE:  COUNTY FY 2015/16 PRELIMINARY BUDGET

Finance Administrator Cox provided a power point presentation on a draft of the County’s FY 2015/16  Budget as follows:

Current draft budget General Fund

• Projected Revenues………. $50,116,305

• Projected Expenditures…….$50,431,055

• Net Balance…… ($314,750)

• Includes use of $500K fund balance for Economic Development

 He reviewed the Revenue Summary - FY 2016 (Draft) vs. FY 2015 (Approved)

REVENUE NOTES

• Coal severance reduction of $1,100,000

• Revenue reductions in Machinery & Tools and other miscellaneous taxes

• Sales taxes have remained stable

Reviewed the Expenditure Summary FY 2016 (Draft) vs. FY 2015 (Approved)

Reviewed and discussed the significant changes in expenditures from FY 2015 budget as follows:

• Regional Jail cost increase….. $363,074

• Operations increase … $302,506

• Debt service increase… $60,567

• Comprehensive Services Act increase … $222,000

• VRS rates currently in budget at full rate (25% increase from last year as we used alternate rate in FY 2015)

There was some discussion that perhaps the state legislatures could be contacted for possible assistance in the rising regional jail and CSA costs.  Chairman Adkins, a member of the Regional Jail Board, noted that the overcrowded regional jail has become a costly problem and has been addressed at the Regional Jail meetings for possible solutions for solving this problem.
 
The local expenditures by percentages were reviewed.

 GENERAL NOTES ARE AS FOLLOWS:

• Level Funding for Wise County

• $12,722,020 for Operations

• $  2,009,958 for Debt Service (Small adjustment for Debt Service)

• $     200,000 for Capital

• State provided 2% increase for Constitutional Office – Included in Draft Budget (Except for Commissioner of Revenue)

• This draft budget does not include any new debt

• Concerns on possibility of year to year declining revenues (Continuing)

• Concerns about not being able to add to our debt service fund for schools

• Concerns about growth in regional jail cost

• Concerns about economic development offsetting job losses

FUND BALANCE PROJECTION

• Current Estimated undesignated fund balance is $9.75M as of 03/31/2015

• Estimated year-End Fund balance will be approximately $9M ($8.5M when considering $500K)

• Committed fund balance for Debt Service is $4.550M (Designated by Board of Supervisors last year)

Options for reducing budget ---- individual or combination are as follows:

• Further reductions in expenditures by:

• Department/Budget reductions (1%)

• Individual Dept budget reductions

• Convenience Center hours/day reduction

• Issue small amount of debt/lease for capital needs

• Use Fund balance

• Mandate that Comp Board dollars (2% Comp. Board state funded increase) be spread across all employees within the respective constitutional office (Wise County funds all departments more than Comp. Board requires in salaries)  Estimated adjustment of $25 - $30K to current budget numbers

Mr. Cox recommended the following suggestions for controlling  the budget:

• Continue to hold hiring freeze for County

• Closely analyze replacement of employees that retire (Including locally funded Constitutional Office employees)

• Analyze duties of current employees/departments

• (Possible savings from restructuring or reassignments)

• Closely analyze bundling contracts (copiers, postage meters, office equipment, etc)

• Review of all expenditures to promote reductions through efficiency and planning

• Economic Development is crucial to maintain tax base

• Maintain Strategic Plan for Wise County

Mr. Cox noted that some offices cannot cut their budget further without cutting staff, while others may be overstaffed.

It was suggested that each office look at its budget for possible cuts without cutting personnel and that Mr. Cox look into any unspent funds that could be used to offset any short fall.

IN RE:  CLOSE SESSION

A motion was made by Fred Luntsford, seconded by Virginia Meador, to go into close session as permitted by the Code of Virginia under Section 2.2-3711(A)(1)  Personnel.  The motion was unanimously approved.

After close session, a motion was made by Robby Robbins, seconded by Ronnie Shortt, to reconvene the regular meeting.  The motion was unanimously approved.

IN RE:  RESOLUTION – CERTIFICATION FOR CLOSE MEETING

A motion was made by Fred Luntsford, seconded by J. H. Rivers, to approve the resolution certifying that only public business matters lawfully exempted from open meeting requirements as were identified in the motion convening the closed meeting were discussed or heard by the Board of Supervisors.  The motion was unanimously approved by roll call vote.

RESOLUTION #              2015

(Said resolution is on file in the County Administrator’s Office)

ADJOURN

A motion was made by Fred Luntsford, seconded by Robby Robbins, to adjourn the meeting at 7:07 PM.  The motion was unanimously approved.

ATTEST:                                                               WISE COUNTY BOARD OF SUPERVISORS

________________________________________     ______________________________________
Shannon C. Scott, Clerk                                                                 Robert R. Adkins, Chairman

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