The York County Board of Supervisors took a look at money it doesn’t have to spend – technically the “discretionary” portion of its budget – at its Tuesday work session.
County Administrator James McReynolds proposed a $131.2 million budget for 2014 last month, of which 37 percent, or $48.7 million, is discretionary. The remaining $82.5 million is mandated by obligations placed upon the county by state and federal law or existing contracts. The proposed budget is $4 million more than last year and includes a 2.3 cent real estate tax increase.
McReynolds’ presentation to the board broke the budget proposal down into areas where money would be spent, such as education, law enforcement and administrative services, showing the supervisors the breakdown between discretionary and mandated spending for each of those areas.
He cautioned that much of the discretionary totals don’t echo the sentiment that’s usually attached to the word.
“We don’t have to provide any fire or EMS services,” McReynolds said, offering those as an example of discretionary spending. “If you’re going to provide a service that you get to choose one way or the other, that’s in the discretionary.”
Much of the funding in the discretionary category is tied to personnel, McReynolds said.
“I don’t believe we can reduce staff significantly and not significantly reduce levels of service,” he said.
The presentation offered little more than basic items that fell under the categories, so the supervisors asked McReynolds to come back with a more detailed explanation of what the discretionary spending was going toward.
“Some of our citizens might say let’s tighten it up and do away with the column that says discretionary,” said Chairman Walt Zaremba. “Let’s learn what it has.”
The largest area of discretionary spending is in education. The proposed budget calls for $23.5 million in discretionary spending.
“It’s interesting to note that not all of the communities in the state might have that capability,” Shepperd said of the proposed discretionary allocation. “If we had to rely on mandated money, our education system would be a disaster.”
McReynolds added that many items are partially funded by the state. He said the county has to kick in the rest of the money to offer the service, which complicates the distinction between discretionary and mandatory spending.
The discussion of the proposed Capital Improvement Program from 2014 to 2023 revolved around the solvency of the program. The proposed 10-year program is released each year as a guiding document rather than one that sets spending in stone.
According to the 2014 estimates, around $500,000 for general projects and $6 million for solid waste, water and sewer projects will carry over to the next year. Education capital improvements would leave around $91,000 for next year. The amount carried over is the starting point in the budgeting process for capital improvement projects.
You can see the proposed 10-year capital improvement plan by clicking here.
“We have been able so far to do the critical capital maintenance by using the funds we have available, and we’ve done that for the last several years,” McReynolds said. He said around $150,000 is added annually to pay-go projects, which are funded out of county revenues such as taxes and fees rather than by debt.
The supervisors were skeptical that keeping contributions from general revenue to capital improvements at their current rate would provide enough money for critical projects.
“There are issues coming down the road that are going to cost us money, and we have to face them,” said Supervisor Sheila Noll. “We need a cushion so we have money to take care of it if there’s a problem.”
Shepperd suggested the supervisors go through the list and identify any items that might be worth taking out of the capital improvement plan and putting elsewhere in the budget.
“We might be able to hold out for another year or two, but we are getting our resources down to where we don’t have a lot of discretion left,” McReynolds said of capital improvement contributions. “If you’re going to maintain the infrastructure at an acceptable level, you’re going to have to put in more money.”
In the future, McReynolds said, the supervisors will need to consider adding more money to the capital improvements program.
The supervisors will next meet at 6 p.m. Tuesday in York Hall for another budget work session. On the agenda for that meeting is an in-depth look at the county’s healthcare costs. A public hearing for the proposed budget is scheduled at 7 p.m. April 25 at York Hall.
You can see McReynolds’ proposed budget for 2014 by clicking here.
