Sarasota County

1

• Sarasota County
• Managing Budget Cuts
• 2/19/2009

2
Community Engagement Events

• Collaborative Labs conducted three public
  sessions in May 2008
• Community prioritization exercise for citizens to
  rank the importance of various county services
• Interactive role-playing simulation built around
  a board setting that portrays a fictional
  community, where events occur that require teams
  to make decisions around policy, spending and
  priorities

3
County Priorities SurveyCitizens provided
feedback on their community priorities by going
to www.scgov.net/getonboard or by attending a
live session
4
Community Engagement Interactive Role-Playing
Simulation Game Board
5
Get on Board Community Engagement Sessions

• High Priorities (in top 3 for category)
• Public Safety
• Police Services (100)
• Fire Services (95)
• Paramedic Services (82)
• Human Social Services
• Funding for Social Service agencies (76)
• Infrastructure
• Road Paving Maintenance (90)
• Environment
• Environmental Land Management (81)
• Economic Development / Tourism
• Waterfront Preservation (73)
• Recreation / Education
• Library Services (71)

• Low Priorities (not in top 3 for category)
• Public Safety
• Animal Control (9)
• Human Social Services
• Septic System Replacement Assistance (15)
• Infrastructure
• Median Mowing Maintenance (24)
• Environment
• Underground storage tank removal (9)
• Economic Development / Tourism
• Navigation Maintenance (20)
• Recreation / Education
• Agricultural Education (10)
• Public Pools (12)

5
6

• Level of Service Budget Model

• Excel file was created to track all Level of
  Service decisions
• Provide the Board of County Commissioners with a
  menu of options
• Keep our budget reduction target in front of us
  throughout the entire Level of Service
  discussions
• Three targets were giving to the Business Centers
  based upon on decreasing property tax projections

7

• Level of Service Model Home Screen

8

• Example of a Health and Human Services
• Level of Service Reduction

9
General Fund Reserve Policy

• Approved on June 7, 2006
• Contingency/Emergency/Disaster Relief Reserve
• The County should maintain at a minimum, a
  reserve of ninety days of General Fund operating
  expenditures to be used in the case of a major
  storm or other unforeseen disaster that
  fundamentally alters the current tax base.
• Budget Stabilization and Economic Uncertainty
  Fund
• The County should maintain a reserve of thirty
  to sixty days of General Fund operating
  expenditures to be used for short term cash flow
  purposes, unanticipated expenditures of a
  non-recurring nature, to meet unexpected
  immediate increases in service delivery costs, or
  to maintain service levels in the event that an
  economic downturn should cause a shortfall in
  revenues.

10
General Fund Fund Balance Discussion
Ending FY08 Fund Balance
projection
60 Days 36,093,840
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Fund Balance Used to Mitigate FY09 Shortfall
Mitigation Tool Approved in Workshops
38 Days 22,993,000
60 Days 36,186,000

• Use Additional One-Time Funds Available (22.9m)
  to balance the FY09 Budget (using 16.7m,
  leaving 6.3m available).

90 Days 54,280,000

• 90 Day Contingency/Emergency/Disaster Relief
  Reserve was not used
• 30-60 Day Budget Stabilization and Economic
  Uncertainty Fund was not used

FY2009 Fund Balance