The recommended budget does take advantage of a portion of the revenue produced by the 2011property revaluation, but it also funds the County’s Critical Success Factors by eliminating or reducing funding for less critical programs. For example, Jones recommends eliminating the County subsidy for indigent care. That subsidy was created many years ago, before the community’s hospitals became so successful and financially stable, and it has grown over the years to $16.7 million. Another major recommended cut was $14.6 million for Fund Balance Reimbursement and the Area Mental Health budget would be reduced by $4.5 million. Total cuts recommended in the Manager’s budget amount to nearly $42 million that would be reinvested elsewhere.

One place will be Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools — scheduled to receive $26 million more than last year. Central Piedmont Community College would receive $2.5 million more. Education services were the number-one community priority that emerged from the County’s community meetings and focus groups.

Jones is also recommending reinvesting in County employees. The average Mecklenburg County employee saw his paycheck dwindle more than $1,000 over the last two years in reduced benefits, higher insurance costs and a salary freeze. The recommendation is to reinvest $11 million to restore the County’s 401K/457 match, pay-for-performance and an increase in training. The County workforce has declined to 4,437 employees, about the same staffing level as in 1999.

The manager’s budget lowers the tax rate by 1.38 cents per 100 dollars of property valuation, or about 3.66 cents higher than a revenue-neutral rate of 78.83 cents. Best estimates now are that 57.3 percent of County property owners will be paying a higher tax bill and 42.7 percent will pay a lower bill. The average increase for those who will pay an increase is $393.

The Board of County Commissioners is required by law to adopt a balanced budget by the end of June. Our Board is scheduled to vote on the budget June 7 after several meetings (June 1, 2 and 3) where straw votes will be taken. All the meetings will be streamed live on the Internet.

The entire budget is not easy reading, but we have broken it into easier-to-understand chunks that can he found here. You can stay current on all the budget decisions by going to www.mecklenburgcountync.gov and clicking on “Notify Me.” Select the items you’re interested in and you will receive them in your email box.

In his budget message a year ago, Harry Jones said that “the great recession” brought with it a new reality for Mecklenburg County Government, and with it the need to redesign and reshape County government to preserve its course and stimulate progress. The FY12 budget adds a third “R”: Reinvest.

Traditionally, those services in levels one and two get the bulk of County funding. Those in levels three, four and five are funded but sometimes at a reduced level. The prioritization does not actually determine whether a service is funded or not funded. It is a way for the Board to identify for staff the Board’s top priorities. You can follow the budget process from start to finish at http://bit.ly/dOUjwj. The County Manager delivers his recommended budget to the Board of County Commissioners on May 17. By statute, the Board must approve a budgt by the end of June.

Priority 1
CPCC Education Services
Charlotte Mecklenburg Schools Funding
Debt Service
Education Support Services
Job Training/Employment Assistance 

Priority 2
Business Imperatives
Communicable Illness/Disease Prevention & Treatment
Economic/Financial Assistance
Economic Development
Child Abuse/Neglect Prevention & Protection 

Priority 3
Adult Mental Illness Prevention & Protection
Child & Adolescent Mental Illness Prevention & Treatment
DisabilityPrevention & Treatment
Domestic Violence Protection and Prevention
Library Services
Substance Abuse Prevention & Treatment
Water Quality
Homelessness Services
Jails & Detention Facilities
Non-Communicable Illness/Disease Prevention & Treatment 

Priority 4
Adult Abuse/Neglect Prevention & Protection
Community Violence Protection & Prevention
Court Services Coordination
Air Quality
Greenway Development & Management
Recreation & Leisure Programs
Parks, Fields & Recreation Centers 

Priority 5
Aquatic Services
Athletic Services
Nature Preserves & Open Space
Building Safety
Aging-in-Place Services
Land Quality 

Priority 6
Ethnic & Cultural Diversity
Regional Planning
Transportation
Voting Services
Morgue and Medical Examiner 

Priority 7
Advisory Committee Management/Citizen Participation
Financial Planning
Historic Preservation
Partnership/Underwriting Development
Personal Injury Prevention & Protection

If you read about technology and talent involved in appraising all 300,000 residential properties, you will understand the quality of the appraisal you received. But you might feel that the appraisal is too high.

OK. You’re welcomed to make your case. Explain on the tear-off form why the County’s appraisal is wrong, and send it in before March 10, 2011. If the Assessor’s Office looks over your case and agrees, you will get a new value in the mail. If the Assessor’s Office thinks it got your value just right, you will get a return notice saying your appeal was denied.

You still have two other opportunities to appeal on a more formal basis, and you can get all the details about doing that at http://reval.charmeck.org.

A couple of interesting things came up this week as the public began reacting to getting their values in the mail. Some of you tried to kick your appeal up a notch by getting local TV or newspapers involved for you. Sorry, we don’t discuss individual properties with anyone except the property owners. Then the Assessor’s Office began getting calls and drop-ins from attorneys representing property owners. Our appraisers are too busy working appeals from residents who are following our stated process to take time out to talk to attorneys about individual cases. We are asking attorneys to use their skills to help you write a good appeal case on your tear-off form. And now a website has popped up promising to give you secret information only they have access to that could save you lots of money. You just have to purchase one of their secret information packages ranging from $98 to $298. You know the old saying – “buyer beware.”

We encourage you to look at our website. It has a ton of great information and tools to help you understand how we arrived at your value. Remember, revaluation is separate from setting the tax rate. That will be done by the Board of County Commissioners in June.

Capital Planning
The Board discussed at a retreat in October 2010, a better approach to making decisions about how to prioritize the list of proposed public buildings. The Board gave tentative approval to a process that would take many factors into account to help the Board decide what to build and what not to build. There also is a new proposal brought to the Board by IBM. Mecklenburg County was selected by IBM to be part of a pilot program involving three communities nationwide. IBM donated a team of top executives to study the issue of Capital Planning in Mecklenburg County. IBM will present its final recommendations to the Board at its next meeting. But the bottom line is that IBM thinks all entities should be included in the decision process as well as the public. That means the City of Charlotte, the County towns, the Library, CMS, CPCC – all those entities should include their capital projects on a master list. IBM sees a better return on investment and a better result for the community if all entities are included. Staff recommends having a one-year list and a five-year plan for buildings and parks.

Debt Diet II
Finance Director Dena Diorio briefed the Board on the current status of the County’s debt and presented ways to deal with the debt we already have. The Board had an extended conversation about taking control of the current debt and making sure the County is prepared to handle future debt more prudently. Diorio led the Board in a discussion about creation of a Debt Service Fund.

• Dedicated revenues go into the fund
• No appropriation of fund balance for debt service
• Funded at 22 cents on the tax rate
• Annual amount available for capital expenditures is known
• Debt issuance is managed based on available capacity
• Capacity is the difference between the debt service budget and 20% of the operating budget
• Continue to reduce outstanding debt
• Accumulate fund balance equal to 2 years other revenue
• Excess fund balance diverts to pay-as-you-go

Funding Outside Agencies
In FY08, the County allocated more than $9 million for funding of non-profits in Mecklenburg County. The amount declined to $3.3 million in FY11. The Manager recommends that selection of non-profits for funding should focus on those agencies that serve the community in areas that reflect the Critical Success Factors he proposed:

• Workforce Development
• High School Graduation
• Prevention
• Sustainability/Environmental Quality

The Board may seek to add other critical community needs to this list. Staff suggests the following process for selecting non-profits:

• Develop Request for Proposals (February)
• Seek Proposals
• RFP Panel Review Assessment
• Manager’s Recommendation
• Board Adoption

The Board received a great deal of information during the conference. Staff will lead them in making specific decisions in the months leading up to the FY12 budget season. Manager Jones says we all have to remember that the County is on a new strategic path for the future and that in terms of funding decisions, the County cannot be all things to all people.

Critical Success Factors
County staff conducted a series of community forums, employee focus groups, telephone and Internet surveys to determine the most important issues for County residents. The data gathered from a telephone survey of 401 residents resulted in a statistically valid survey showing most interest in the following main themes:

• Schools /Education
• Workforce Development & Jobs
• Financial Management & Affordability
• Road Congestion & Traffic

County Manager Harry Jones used the results to recommend his Critical Success Factors. The following Factors are a short list of items that require acute attention over the next few years to help the county recover from the Great Recession:

• Affordability
• Sustainability
• Jobs/Workforce & Economic Development
• High School Graduation & Literacy
• Service Investments & Delivery Model
• Fiscal Discipline
• Operational Excellence

Priorities
The Board will be asked in the coming weeks to identify items to be included in the three-year strategic Business Plan. The Board also reviewed its 2010 list of program priorities. They shifted some programs between priority levels. The Board will be finalizing priorities before they begin the budget process.

Redistricting
The Board was briefed and made some decisions about the process for redistricting. The Board decided to have an advisory committee study and recommend various maps for their consideration. The plans will be presented in August and the Board is scheduled to adopt new districts in September.

Federal Strategy
Staff presented a report to the Board indicating the need for a shift in the current strategy of working with the Federal Government. Staff indicates the current strategy of pursuing earmarks is not working and the contract with our current lobbying firm is providing a positive return on investment. Staff recommends continuing to pursue federal funding through grants, to cease pursuit of earmark appropriations and to continue advocating on substantive issues related to county government. The Board agreed.

In his opening remarks, County Manager Harry Jones reminded the Board about his 2010 budget message where he outlined three objectives to prepare the County to reach its long-term objectives. They are:

• Reduce programs, services and personnel to match available funding.
• Maintain long-term fiscal discipline.
• Redesign and reshape Mecklenburg County government.

The Manager told the Board that it must maintain fiscal discipline in light of the uncertainty surrounding the State Budget. North Carolina goes into its budget season with a deficit of $3.7 billion and some of the cuts the State will make could shift funding for some state-mandated programs to cities and counties.

The Board heard from two noted economists. Dr. John Connaughton of UNC-Charlotte and Dr. John Silvia of Wells Fargo cautioned that the high unemployment rate will be with us for the next five years. Dr. Connaughton said manufacturing employment is all but dried up. He also said that the local economy in general is showing improvement but consumer spending is still cautious. Dr. Silvia said a key for Mecklenburg County is to invest in education, which will result in a better workforce. To view a video of the economic presentation go here.

The Employers Association President Kenny Colbert told the Board that the national trend among public and private employers is to restore salary increases and benefits to employees. County Manager Harry Jones has said that he plans to make employee compensation a priority in his FY12 recommended budget.

The Board heard from Rebecca Troutman of the North Carolina Association of County Commissioners. She identified some of the potential targets the state will focus on when it begins identifying cuts.

The afternoon session was devoted to a status report on the current year’s budget and a look at expenses and projected revenues for FY12. Staff also presented background on the County’s budget model at the request of several commissioners.

Additional information about the Strategic Planning Conference can be found here.

Wednesday’s session likely will draw the most attention. That’s the day County Manager Harry Jones sets the goals for the conference and expectations for the year. Of utmost interest will be the economic briefing by Dr. John Connaughton of UNC-Charlotte, and Dr. John Silvia of Wells Fargo. These experts will give us our first definitive outlook for economic activity for the coming year. The Board also will hear from Kenny Colbert, president of the Employers Association, about the local employment outlook. The County’s Management and Budget Director Hyong Yi will brief the Board on the latest news from the State of North Carolina and how the State’s decisions will affect the County’s ability to fund critical initiatives. Finance Director Dena Diorio will talk about the County’s response to the recession and will update the Board on FY11 revenues and expenses as well as projections for FY12. The Board may also review its budget model options.

We will be updating the public in real-time via Twitter and Facebook throughout the conference, and we will give a more detailed report at the end of each day here at the MecklenBlog. You can review the same documents the Board will receive at our website.

The Blog-Health-o-Meter™ reads Wow.

Crunchy numbers

A Boeing 747-400 passenger jet can hold 416 passengers. This blog was viewed about 4,800 times in 2010. That’s about 12 full 747s.

In 2010, there were 17 new posts, not bad for the first year! There were 5 pictures uploaded, taking up a total of 187kb.

The busiest day of the year was March 24th with 366 views. The most popular post that day was County Budget.

Where did they come from?

The top referring sites in 2010 were charmeck.org, twitter.com, obspapertrail.blogspot.com, newmeckweb, and charlotte.johnlocke.org.

Some visitors came searching, mostly for mecklenblog, mecklenburg county budget, mecklenburg county employee salaries, meckconnect, and mecklenburg county salaries.

Attractions in 2010

These are the posts and pages that got the most views in 2010.

County Budget March 2010

Message Board March 2010

How Mecklenburg County salaries are determined May 2010

County Manager’s Office March 2010

MecklenburgCountyNC.gov March 2010

For the past year, the Assessor’s Office has been examining homes and neighborhoods throughout the county to determine a fair value for each piece of property. Staff has also analyzed commercial properties, considering values and trends both locally and in comparably sized counties and cities all over the United States. Fair market value is simply the most probable price that a property would bring in the open market between a typically motivated buyer and a typically motivated seller. Markets are dynamic and they change, as we have since 2007, but the assessed value hasn’t changed. The assessed value has been what it is since the last revaluation in 2003. That presents an inequity between the fair market value of your home and the value the county places on your home for tax purposes — thus the need to equalize the fair market and tax value of all properties.

It is believed that whatever leveling or loss was recorded since 2007, in the majority of neighborhoods, there has still been a net increase in market prices between 2003 and now. That means the average home will likely be valued higher in January than it is today. How much that increase will be isn’t known yet.

On September 21, the Board of County Commissioners took the first step to set the revaluation wheels into motion. It received what is called the Uniform Schedules of Values, Standards and Rules. This document contains the guidelines for determining the value of all personal and business property in the County — a total value of nearly $100 billion. State law requires that the public not only be notified about the Schedule of Values, but that it has a chance to review the documents and speak about them at a public hearing. The Board has set November 3 as the date for the public hearing and we encourage you to join in the conversation.

The intent of the hearing is not to voice an opinion about taxes or foreclosure, or the economy in general — all those things may affect the eventual value placed on your home, but they are not the purpose of the hearing. The hearing is only to talk about the Schedule of Values, Standards and Rules. There will be other opportunities for the public to connect with the County about the value of their homes.

Meantime, you can see the full timetable for adopting the Schedule of Values below and you can find answers to some of the most common questions about revaluation at our web site reval.charmeck.org.

Schedule of Values Adoption Timetable

-September 21, 2010 Submission of Schedules to Board of Commissioners
-October 20, 2010 Publication of Notice of Public Hearing in The Charlotte Observer and Mecklenburg Times
-November 3, 2010 Public hearings on proposed Schedules.
-November 16, 2010 Consideration of Adoption of final Uniform Schedules of Values, Standards and Rules.
-November 17, 2010 First day for publication in The Charlotte Observer and the Mecklenburg Times of the Order adopting the Schedules.
-November 24, 2010 Publish Second Notice of Adoption
-December 1, 2010 Publish Third Notice of Adoption
-December 8, 2010 Publish Fourth Notice of Adoption
-December 17, 2010 Last day for challenging the validity of Schedules by appeal to the Property Tax Commission.
-December 18, 2010 Date as of which the final Schedules become binding and effective.

But what if we could go another step? Citizen Involvement is the ultimate way to ensure that your voice is heard. Neighborhood organizations are a classic example of citizen involvement. People with unified goals for the streets they live on get together, make decisions and then make them happen.

In his budget message in May, County Manager Harry Jones said reshaping and redesigning Mecklenburg County Government involves elevating citizen involvement and engagement as a new standard for how we operate. One thing that means is establishing a countywide volunteer services program. Successful volunteer programs at Park and Recreation and DSS lay the groundwork for making volunteer opportunities available at all levels of county government.

This effort will also include more two-way conversations with you about issues you think are important. Manager Jones began this two-way conversation in January, appearing before 18 different community groups to answer their questions about the County budget and how his proposed cuts would affect the community.

On July 12, Matt Leighninger, a nationally known expert on citizen engagement, spoke to key individuals representing dozens of Charlotte area community organizations, challenging them and their constituents to get more involved. Leighninger’s reports such as Democracy Growing Up and the Promise and Challenge of Neighborhood Democracy helped us develop our own plan for citizen involvement. Local grants funded a study by the Lee Institute from which the County wrote the strategic business plan for Citizen Involvement. We encourage you to read these documents and then take the next step – get involved.

Want to know more? Contact Brian Gott at Brian.Gott@MecklenburgCountyNC.gov