Okaloosa County BOCC — February 12, 2013 (meeting #1122) — reading text

increased with the following special projects: creation of three Voluntary Separation Incentive Programs, layoff analyses and layoffs, furlough estimates and increasing demand to provide budgetary support and analyses. As a result of the County’s reorganization in Fiscal Year 2012, the HR Director now has oversight over three additional departments. Historically, the Human Resources Department has conducted a full-pay study every five years and a salary study every two years. However, with reduced funding the last pay study was conducted in 2005 and the last salary study was conducted in 2007. With a reduction in staff and an increase in workload, response times have been delayed to conduct investigations and provide support for disciplinary actions and other employee relations matters. Most of the department’s time is spent reacting to work, issues, and problems instead of revamping and creating programs that increase employee morale, productivity, and knowledge. To meet continued demands despite budget reductions, the department has made multiple changes to hiring procedures: post positions and conduct new employee orientation only once a week; outsourced typing tests; strongly encouraged online applications vs. paper applications; eliminated HR prescreening of employment applications (now completed electronically and within hiring departments); reduced background checks from checking all employment history to five years or three employers, whichever is more; discontinued attending job fairs; reduced print advertisement to only highly- specialized or high-level positions. Packet Pg. 6  1.a.a As staffing levels have been reduced, training has suffered both within the department and for County employees. In the Human Resources Department, training on computer software and funding for continued education have both been eliminated. Professional seminars, subscriptions, and publications that allowed staff to keep current on trends and legal changes in HR field affecting Attachment: 2013-2014 Synopsis Report (1363 : Report of Board Department Reduction Impacts (FY 2008 - 2012)) Okaloosa County were significantly reduced. County-wide, the number and frequency of training classes have been reduced. Information Systems Based on a strong desire to leverage technology as a means to streamline operations, save money, improves performance and make government more efficient, the department requires continual strategic investment in technology. Budget reductions have had a detrimental impact on the Information Systems (IS) mission including elimination of a position and replacement of aging hardware. These reductions have had a direct adverse affect on the effectiveness of IS and BCC departments, and will continue to increase the cost of government operations in the future. The reduction in staff and budget has also had an adverse affect on the ability of IS to maintain 911 addressing. Okaloosa County has drastically reduced the cost of network, radio and telephone communication through the implementation of the Okaloosa Fiber Network. Telephone through VOIP is also transmitted across fiber optic connections at a greatly reduced rate. Thousands of dollars have been invested in hardware infrastructure to support these operations because the system has been so effective in curbing costs. The fiber optic system will need continued investment in order to sustain this valuable cost saving system. Currently, the Board of County Commissioners (BCC) has only one Network Administrator leaving gaps in the support mechanism for all of the critical network operations. The BCC has enjoyed excellent relationships with Constitutional Offices and other partners in technology, but if the resources are not maintained the fragile relationship can fall apart, forcing these entities to forge expensive network and telephone contracts with outside providers. This undoubtedly will increase the overall cost to the County. Technical support for County operations continues to lag on the replacement of aging equipment. Without continual investment in technology, downtime and delays in service will hinder the ability of local government to serve the public effectively. Packet Pg. 7  1.a.a The Systems and Networks Division of IS manages over 600 computers for the BCC departments. Over 150 of these are six years or older, growing to 278 next year. Over 100 used computers have been redeployed in the last three years. The estimated cost to replace these systems is $100,000 for Fiscal Year 2014. The Attachment: 2013-2014 Synopsis Report (1363 : Report of Board Department Reduction Impacts (FY 2008 - 2012)) need to replace these old systems is amplified by support for the Windows XP operating system terminating after Fiscal Year 2014. After that date, it will be necessary to enter into an Enterprise agreement in order to allow the upgrade of all BCC computers to newer operating systems at an estimated annual cost of $65,000. Systems and Networks also manage over 85 servers that provide applications and data to departments and offices. These servers are the core of County operations. Currently, 16 of these servers are over five years old and need to be replaced at an estimated cost of $48,000. The backup system for all services and data must be replaced as backup of all County databases is required by Sunshine Laws. The current tape library is over six years old and support and parts are not longer available. The cost is estimated between $100,000 and $200,000. Library Cooperative From Fiscal Year 2008 to 2012, the Library Cooperative suffered a 60% decrease in County-allocated dollars; reduced from a high of $1.3 million to the current $513,600. The Library Cooperative’s budget maintains its administrative functions and passes 80% of the allocation to the six member libraries providing free services to all county residents. During economic down-turns, library use historically rises. Faced with shrinking salaries or job loss, residents turn to libraries for newspapers, computers, internet, books, and various other media. Free library Internet allows users to search and apply for jobs, register for social services, and access government information and services. Budget reductions have led to a cut in such services. At the administrative level, the Cooperative’s office staff has downsized from three to two. Bookmobile service to remote and under-served areas, first curtailed, has now been discontinued completely. Subsidies provided to libraries for educational and cultural programs were also discontinued and online research and instructional programs have been cancelled. County funding is allocated with knowledge that it’s not the sole support for libraries but the other funding sources have been shrinking as well. Annual State Packet Pg. 8  1.a.a Aid, which funds some administrative functions and shared services, decreased about $28,000 during the past five years. The majority of funding for library facilities comes from their municipalities, which have also drastically cut budgets. Attachment: 2013-2014 Synopsis Report (1363 : Report of Board Department Reduction Impacts (FY 2008 - 2012)) Public Safety Emergency Management: Over the past five to six years, the Department of Public Safety has been challenged to maintain the delivery of critical services, most of which are required by Florida Statues, and are a part of the Board of County Commissioners Strategic Plan. Not only has decreased local funding made maintaining these services difficult, but dwindling state grant revenues and health care reimbursements have further added to make this even more challenging. Under times of activation during significant emergencies, Emergency Management has historically been extremely stressed for staffing resources. A prime example of this was during the BP Oil Spill where a temporary person needed to be hired, utilizing a significant amount of emergency contract services to help construct a plan and manage the emergency. 911 Communications/CWP: Another challenge has been the continued decrease in 911 funding as a result of more people switching to cell phones, where less state revenue is shared with the County. For the first time, there was a decrease in available 911 funds used to offset the costs of the County Warning Point (Emergency Medical Services (EMS) and Fire Dispatch), and required $319,000 in General Revenue funds in the Fiscal Year 2011/12 budget to maintain current staffing levels. Further, continued budget reductions have not allowed the department to achieve full staffing for one of the night shifts in the County Warning Point. Emergency calls received by the 911 system have increased by 10% over the last five years. An additional 911 Call Taker is needed at an annual cost of $44,907. Emergency Medical Services: With respect to health care reimbursement for EMS, in 2012 a sudden change in Medicare reimbursement for non-emergency transports occurred which resulted in reimbursement being denied for non- emergency transports at the current Basic Life Support (BLS) and Advanced Life Support (ALS) service levels. The County, suddenly faced with a projected $585,408 loss in revenues, issued a Certificate of Public Convenience and Necessity (COPCN) to EMS to perform non-emergency transports at a lesser reimbursement rate. This did enable EMS to generate a portion of the revenues it stood to lose ($446,600) for a net loss of $138,808. Packet Pg. 9  1.a.a In Fiscal Year 2011/12 in order to meet a request for a budget reduction in EMS, one full time ALS ambulance was converted to a half-time seasonal ALS ambulance by using the Shift Training Officers (Lieutenants) and adding additional relief hours. A total of three EMT and three Paramedic positions were eliminated for a net reduction of $162,000. However, when the ambulance is Attachment: 2013-2014 Synopsis Report (1363 : Report of Board Department Reduction Impacts (FY 2008 - 2012)) down in the winter, nearly 650 calls have to be handled in that area by the other ambulances resulting in an twofold increase in the amount of times ambulances are busy and unavailable to answer calls. Another area of great concern due to the budget impact in EMS has been the inability to adequately fund a sufficient number of replacement ambulances each year. This will lead to breakdowns while responding to emergencies, transporting patients to the hospitals, and not having enough ambulances to respond to emergencies. Although this is a significant investment each year, it is the only way to continue providing the service and is the most important expense along with trained personnel. Additionally, quality assurance, medical direction oversight, and the recertification training the staff is required to receive in each two year period is also adversely impacted with the training officers