Okaloosa County BOCC — 2013 meeting #1122 (date undetermined) — 2013-2014 Synopsis Report — reading text

SYNOPSIS REPORT OF BCC DEPARTMENT REDUCTION DURING THE PAST 5 YEARS This report outlines the budget and staffing reductions, by Board of County Commissioners department, incurred by Okaloosa County over the past 5 years. Included in this synopsis are the significant impacts that have occurred as a result of these reductions. Two enterprise funded departments are not included in this report, Airports and Tourist Development, as both are funded through other sources. Also not captured in this report are significant capital projects for which debt was issued through the general fund, notably a $26 million expenditure for the Okaloosa County Courthouse Annex Extension. Administrative Services The County underwent a reorganization in Fiscal Year 2012, reassigning duties and eliminating the entire Administrative Services department and most of the budget including the positions of Assistant County Administrator and Executive Assistant II. Among the duties formerly held by the Administrative Services department now assigned to other departments, • The Public Works Director oversees the current Public Works functions as well as Facility Maintenance, Fleet Operations, Information Systems and County Extension; • The Public Safety Director controls the current Public Safety functions as well as the Corrections Department, Law Library and Court Services; • In addition to the Human Resources Department, the Human Resources Director is responsible for Risk Management, Purchasing and Veterans Services; • The Library Cooperative and the Board staff in Crestview report to the Administrative Manager. Agricultural Extension During the last two budget cycles, the Extension Department has experienced almost a 25% reduction in the County budget plus reductions in the UF/IFAS budget. The loss of two positions (4-H Program Assistant & Office Supervisor) has impacted the workload of all program areas and also greatly increased the workload and responsibilities of the two Program Technicians. Additionally, the loss of these positions resulted in the cancellation of the Money Adventures Day Camp that previously included the participation of 100 youths. Horticulture & Sea Grant Program funding reductions have resulted in a 50% reduction in Program Assistants to instruct Master Naturalists Courses, impacting the number of youths served. After a reduction of $87,000 in funding to the Family Nutrition Program (FNP), the program assistant position was cut, impacting nutrition education for 5,000 elementary students per month. Corrections As a result of reduced jail population, six full-time positions were eliminated, saving approximately $361,000 in Fiscal Year 2011, and an additional six full-time positions were cut in Fiscal Year 2012 saving $400,000. After the reductions were made in Fiscal Year 2012, inmate population steadily increased from a low in the sub-400s to over 700 necessitating the addition of five correctional officer positions in Fiscal Year 2013. If the jail population remains at current levels or continues to increase, five additional correctional officers would be needed. As department equipment purchases have been pushed back each year, mission essential equipment is rapidly becoming beyond repair. This includes vehicles, secure detention equipment, food service equipment, and laundry equipment. Facilities Maintenance Over the past five years, the Facilities Maintenance (FM) Department’s budget has been reduced by 20% (from $3.5 million to $2.8 million). During the same period, staffing has been reduced by15% (from 51 positions to 44). With more than one million square-feet of space that must be maintained, FM’s custodians have a total area responsibility of more than 40,000 square feet per day. This is an increase of more than 20,000 square feet per day. Because of this 100% increase in service responsibility, reduced daily services are now provided and special cleaning services have been mostly eliminated. Landscaping and grounds keeping services have also been substantially reduced. Because of reduced budgets, the number of projects that can be undertaken has reduced by more than 50% resulting in a growing list of deferred maintenance projects. This results in declining appearance of County-owned buildings. FM staff has identified more than $3 million in roof repairs and replacements that remain unfunded. Although in-house remodeling services are available and have proven to be cost effective, staff reductions have reduced the number of these projects that can be accomplished. There have been no new County vehicles assigned to the FM department in more than five years. Service vehicles are out of service for mechanical failure with much more frequency due to the high mileage. Fleet Operations The department has seen budget cuts in the key areas of staffing and vehicle/equipment replacements. Since cutbacks began in Fiscal Year 2007/08, vehicle and equipment replacements have been almost nonexistent for BCC departments. Also, since that year, Fleet Operations’ staff has been reduced by 10%. Staff reduction came not because of a lack of shop work but simply because of mandated cutbacks. The combination of six years of no new replacement fleet units and a Fleet Operations staff reduction has been catastrophic. Operating a fleet of old vehicles and equipment has resulted in huge leaps in shop labor hours. The volume of work orders and the length and complexity of repair tasks have been daunting. The number and size of parts transactions has also grown. In an effort to minimize downtime, Fleet Operations has utilized overtime and commercial repairs extensively. This has resulted in soaring maintenance costs and not enough vehicles and equipment in reliable condition for our work crews to operate efficiently. Growth Management To continue meeting the established goals in the face of a shrinking budget, the Growth Management Department has taken steps to reduce its costs. Included in these cuts is a 50% reduction in staff, including vacant positions, from 53 in Fiscal Year 2006/07 to 26 by Fiscal Year 2011/12. Additionally, total department cost; actual expenses, staff and operations; has been reduced by 57% from $3.3 million in Fiscal Year 2006/07 to $1.9 million in Fiscal Year 2012, excluding the $422,078 paid to the County’s General Fund Cost Allocation from the Inspections Enterprise Fund. In addition to staff reductions, other cost cutting measures include relocating staff from all divisions to rent-free facilities to reduce rent by $117,527, and returning numerous vehicles to the County fleet while not purchasing any new vehicles. The department has also made no capital equipment purchases (printers, scanners, etc) and has amended the code to allow less expensive advertising requirements. The floodplain management program was revised to reduce mailing and notice costs, and computers are now replaced on an as-needed basis. Human Resources The department has realized a 21.2% budget reduction from $610,000 in Fiscal Year 2006/07 to $481,000 in Fiscal Year 2012/13. While the department has experienced a 12.5% decrease in staffing, the workload has 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. 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 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. 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 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