5-23-22 BOC Budget Work Session - Laserfiche WebLink

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increase requested for current expense items. The largest areas for increases are salaries and benefits and contracted services. The General Assembly made a $13.95 per hour wage adjustment for minimum wage paid positions and next year they have allotted $15 per hour. Minimum wage staff are currently paid $11.15 per hour. The increases create issues with compression with other positions, which has caused a number of increases needed for other positions. Contracted services positions such as for security guards are set at $10.50 per hour which makes it difficult to find people to fill. These positions had to be increased to $12.50 to fill. Contracted security will be put out to bid. $100,000 was requested for capital expense funding. Continued funding of the Lee County Promise Program was also requested. The College anticipates an increase in expenses of approximately $46,000 and anticipates approximately $40,000 in additional revenue from rental events. Approximately $88,0000 in fee-exempt rentals are currently exempt (CCCC - $52,000, Lee County- $20,000 and LCS - $16,000). The College is expecting $71,000 in Lee County appropriations for next year. Commissioner Knecht noted that for many years the County made a lot of investment in education and with the Moore Center coming along there will be a lot of added expense. The money committed by the County is $920,000 to operate the Moore Center for the upcoming year and when you add all the expense increases from education for the upcoming year, it is the largest department increase. Current expense requests were cut slightly in the recommended budget. Commissioner Reives suggested that the Community College consider sending an automotive field personnel to Senior Services to view the lift maintenance and see if there is a possibility to provide assistance in the area since there is currently only one provider in the state. County Manager John Crumpton said that he felt anyone who uses the Civic Center should pay a minimum fee to cover staff. The increase for the Civic Center is coming from the occupancy tax and when the sportsplex is finished that should add even more to the occupancy tax along with the Moore Center. Office of the Sheriff Chairman Smith called for a five-minute recess at 7:11 p.m. Captain of Patrol Chad McNeil, Chief Deputy William Sturkie and Sheriff Brian Estes were present to provide information on behalf of the Office of the Sheriff. One of the deputies requested in the budget is an investigator that solely focuses on overdose cases, which is a big part of the calls that are made in the county. There is a charge that can be made for death by distribution, but it is difficult to prove and resources for investigation are currently limited. Four patrol deputies were also requested. The County is broken down into three areas for the Sherriff's Office -A, B and C areas are assigned with three deputies, one for each area, and a supervisor. The Department tries to have five people per shift at a time, but due to different issues, there are usually four on shift. Response time for backup is challenging. With the spot annexations, there has been challenges with continuity of service and determining who should be the responding agency based on the map. If there is a person who gets involuntarily committed, they have to be transported to the hospital. There are several things that could take deputies out of an area including having to remain with an involuntary commitment at the hospital, directing traffic, processing through magistrate, after 9 p.m. all animal calls inside of the City Limits are answered by the Sheriff's Department so Sheriff's deputies are responsible for responding to animal calls in the city limits during this time, training, 3