County Council - Regular Meeting

Hello, I'm Brian Hester, your Chester County Administrator. And today I'm here with Tommy Darby, our Chester County Treasurer. And Tommy, it feels like it was literally yesterday we were sitting here talking about Chester County's budget last July at the same time, right? Right. And so today we're going to recap the budget that we just kicked off July 1, our 26-27 fiscal year budget. And just kind of talk about a few of the highlights, few of the great things in that budget, just like we did last year. Um, and so we'll get right into it. Um, first Tommy, July one marked the beginning of our new fiscal year. Uh, and Chester County has now gone four consecutive years, four budget cycles that I've been here. You and I have been working together without it, without a, uh, County tax millage increase, uh, as County treasurer, What does that say about the financial direction and the financial stability of Chester County?

Well, I think, Brian, I think you hit the nail on the head as far as calling that the highlight of this budget. I think, you know, as we unpack, you know, all the requests from all the departments and you kind of look at, you know, putting the budget together, I think one of the main goals is to have as little impact on the taxpayer while trying to grow the budget, trying to meet the request that we have and the services of the citizens. But again, that's the highlight of this budget is trying to do all that without much impact to the taxpayer and not raising that millage for the fourth year in a row is tremendous. I don't think, or you would have a hard time finding other counties that have had that similar direction. Right.

Right. And I, and I do, I agree with you. I think that's really the highlight is, you know, I think after four years, people might start to take that for granted a little bit, but there's a lot of effort that goes into that. And it really speaks to our financial stability. The fact that it wasn't, you know, you get by with that for one or two years, maybe you did something one off that sort of put you in a position to be able to do it, but to continuously do it for four years, I think speaks to the level of, efficiency and stability that this County is operating under and to the leadership of the finance department and the treasurer as well.

Right. Well, we, you know, we spend, um, you know, a lot of time putting it together and, and, um, you know, the County's been fortunate to have some growth. And so that's helped in keeping that millage level. Um, but again, that's again, the highlight of, of this budget is, is I agree in that millage level.

Well, next question that I really have talks about, um, You know, most people only see that final budget when we go to the readings for council, or maybe they see the workshops. But what they don't see is the six months, really a year that's behind the budget process. Can you just talk a little bit about what goes into building that county budget, how we start, when that process starts, and how much planning takes place before council ever even gets that vote? And I'll tell you, And I'll say before Tommy gets into it is we've already started.

Right. Yeah, it's, you know, we talk about a six-month process, but again, we're always analyzing, you know, our expenditures and looking for ways to do things more efficiently. But as far as the budget process, we send out requests in January to all the departments. It's a letter basically in a budget package. And they spend about a month going through, their requests. We give them about a month to put it all on paper. We get those back usually in February, end of February every year. And then I guess for the next few weeks, we kind of put all that data in a package that we can analyze. And so usually March, mid-March, we start meeting with every department multiple times. And so we spend a lot of time looking by line item, you know, every request. it's made. And then usually in April is when we'll go to council with our workshops. And so this year we had two council workshops that we spent multiple hours with council going through our recommendations for the budget. And then you go into the reading process, which is a free reading and a public hearing. And usually that starts in May and then finalizes in June. So this year, I think the final budget was approved on June 15th. So really from January to June 15th, we were really in the weeds every day looking at it. And then, like you said, starting July 1, we start a new budget, but we're constantly telling departments, hey, look at all of your line items. Think of ways that you can save moving forward. Be cautious of your expenditures. So it's a year process, really.

Yeah. And I think that's the key is we're constantly looking. There's conversations that started prior to this fiscal year starting about the following fiscal year. And that is to the point we, just for those of you that, you know, want to hear this tidbit of knowledge, We actually do quarterly reviews of all department budgets and all elected officials budgets to make sure that they're trending in the right direction. And we do that as a group. And everyone has to report out in front of all the other departments and elected officials. And that's a good way for accountability. And we talk about why one may be trending over or under, and that allows us to prepare Tommy and I to be able to prepare. If something's happened, an anomaly, one of those things that you can't really control, then we can prepare for that the rest of the year and make sure we don't end up in a bad position at the end of the year. But so we're constantly monitoring the budget. So we're constantly talking about our budget. And then we're constantly planning. Right now, we've already had a staff meeting where I've told department directors, and we're going to have one with all our elected officials here soon, where I want to start having conversations about major needs that you foresee, departments foresee in the future, because that's how Tommy and I really have to start looking at, at this time of year, when that budget time gets here and we get into those weeds, like you said, what do we need to be prepared for? And I kind of keep a running list of those expenditures that, all right, we've got to be prepared for this next year and figure out how we're going to handle those. So, That's just a little bit about what goes into our process. So really the answer, Tommy, is we do it all year. It's never ending. Never ends. One of our priorities this year has been to continue to invest in our employees. And I think we've really done a good job over the last three years. Not only have we kept the level of knowledge, but we've invested. And those of you out there that pay attention, look at the caliber and quality and competency in our staff. and County employees. And we've really invested to ensure that, uh, you know, we retain, we recruit the best employees. And, uh, this year we were able to provide within the budget this year, a 3% cost of living increase to all employees. Uh, and, and so that that's important. Uh, and that retention, uh, we also promoted, uh, Nicole Workman, who is, uh, who is still is the County attorney. but that was her only role prior to this fiscal year. Now she is also the Deputy County Administrator. She was promoted. She is the first Deputy County Administrator we've had here in Chester, but she performs a dual role. She's also the County Attorney and the Deputy Administrator. And so we welcome that, and we were able to do that this year in the budget. And while she continues to serve in that position, we also added positions like 911 dispatchers, We added an appraiser to our tax assessor's office, an animal control officer, county garage personnel, parks and recreation technician. And so talk just a little bit why these investments in people are so important and why those additions are important to the citizens we serve.

Yeah, well, I think you're only as strong as the people that you work with. And so the leadership that we have in Chester County, I think is tremendous. Our team is, I think, really special. We have a lot of good directors. You're pretty good yourself. Thank you.

I appreciate that.

You hear that?

Everybody hear that?

But I really appreciate all of the departments. In the budget process, you get to work with everyone. And I think that's the one thing that I enjoy about my job is getting to work with all departments. And really just tremendous people. And you have to invest in your people to keep them. And, you know, we have a lot of surrounding counties that would love to have our staff. Absolutely. You have to take care of them. And I think that's really important. You know, some of the positions that were added, I think, were calculated, really. You know, one that I like to look at is our county garage. You know, when you look at their budget, they save the county a lot of money every year because they don't outsource a lot of the work on our vehicles. And so they're in-house working on county vehicles. And so it's important to invest in that department because they're saving the county money. And so putting those savings back into that department and allowing them to do their job efficiently is important. So I think that's a good one to point out. And Parks and Rec, you know, we've got a awesome new facility out in rodman um and that requires more attention that's right and so um you know you know it's important to invest you know when you have a new facility to invest um the people in those facilities and and that's right we've got to be able to take care of and maintain the things that we have um and i think something else is important when you said uh these additions are calculated the other thing that people don't think about a lot of times is we have to be very

strategic in adding positions and that we have to prepare for attrition and retirement. Right. And so we, we try to forecast in departments and know when there's going to be retirements and we want to replace people and train people and make sure that we can still run efficiently and the quality. But you know, to your point, I mean, I agree. I, we could really get off on a tangent talking about the caliber of leadership all the way down. The line with employees here in Chester County and how proud we are of our team and what we've built over the last several years. But I would take our leadership and our team here in Chester County anywhere in this state and put them up against any other county. And that's evident, too. And if you pay attention, we have department directors being asked to represent South Carolina to go and speak. on the Senate floor, on the House floor to go and speak at the Law College and to go and talk about the things and projects that we have going on here in Chester. People are big counties are coming to Chester and go, hey, we saw you guys are doing this. We saw what you're doing. And I think we've got real leaders here. And so I'm 100% with you. I'm biased probably a little bit there, but Man, I tell you, that's one thing that our community should be extremely proud of. So none of this happens by accident. And briefly, I just wanted to touch on the budget, being able to not raise taxes and to invest in our people. It doesn't happen by accident. And we were able to identify some efficiencies and savings throughout county operations. Can you just quickly highlight those savings and explain how important it is. And you kind of hit on it for us to continually look for more efficient ways to operate.

Right. Yeah. So we, you know, we talked about the budget process a little bit. And so we sit down with every department and go really line item by line item of their request. And so in that process, you know, we, we ask the hard questions to those departments, Hey, it doesn't look like you've spent, you know, the money that's budgeted here, is this something that can be better used somewhere else? And so we were able to cut some of those line items down a little bit by looking line item by line item. We also look at positions, and through that process, you might identify a part-time position that, hey, is not filled, hadn't been filled for a while, can that money be spent wisely somewhere else? And so we made some of those changes this year, and that allows... for those monies to be put back in the budget for, you know, some of these new positions and really to spend the money wisely and other places. We also look at contracts. We look at, you know, are there other funds, you know, the County operates funds accounting. So there are other funds sometimes that can pay for, for things that might be in the general fund. So I'm looking at the whole process, how things are funded, you know, Are there open positions? Are these positions necessary? And going through that every year is a good exercise and allows to keep that millage level, allows for no millage increase, allows us to put those dollars back in other departments and other things that the citizens need.

Yeah, and I think that's probably one of the toughest parts of the process for us, but You're 100% right. Those contracts and collaborations, getting departments to not operate in silos, but to work together and collaborate, maybe they can share resources instead of us, you know, inefficiencies in how we pay. And so I do think we do a good job in doing that. It doesn't make us super popular during that time of year all the time, but that's not, you know, our goal is to end up with the best budget for citizens. And our directors understand, but we do jokingly talk about, That is a rough time of year for us. So a couple, two last questions. And I said we were going to keep this kind of condensed this time. But, God, when we start talking about it, you realize how amazing some of this is. And we really want to get you guys, everybody out there, the information for you to hear what goes on. But every budget season, there's always people who wish more funding could go to one entity of another. I always hear it. whether I'm in a meeting with a group, but I always get asked those questions. And how, Tommy, do we balance those expectations while still being physically responsible, fiscally responsible, and having a fiscally responsible budget that serves the entire community? Because there's a lot of competing entities out there for revenue that comes through the county, right?

Yeah, and so just to give the citizens perspective, I think Um, when we got all of the requests back from departments and allocations entities, I think those requests totaled over almost $50 million. And so, uh, we have to look at the other side of the equation and how much money and resources do we have to spend. Um, and with the, you know, the goal of, Hey, let's, let's keep the millage as, you know, level, um, less impact on the citizen. Um, you have to make the hard decisions and prioritize how we spend those dollars. So we had roughly $39 million in resources to spend. And so, you know, the simple math is we had to cut, you know, 10, $11 million out of the request. And so through that whole budget process, going line item by line item, you know, through the workshops with council, Um, you really have to prioritize. Um, we make a recommendation to council, um, and they have to prioritize those, those requests as well. So, um, really, you know, whittling it down, um, to a responsible budget that, that basically has the less impact on, on the citizen. Um, but, but again, we're, we're limited in resources and you have to prioritize. So that's how we kind of manage that.

And I think that's really the key is resources are limited. Um, but, uh, And our council, the legislative body, they do a really good job of giving us direction early on as well. And then I think they do a really good job of prioritizing based on, you know, the facts that they're presented with as well. So lastly, you know, looking forward, when you look at this year's budget as a whole, and I think you may have talked about this a little bit, but what are you most proud of and what should citizens really be excited about as we move into this new fiscal year and the future?

Yeah. Well, I think, um, one of the most exciting things that kind of was finalized this past fiscal year was Rodman. Um, and that sports complex out there, we continue to put, put money into our facilities. Um, that's things that the citizens can see, you know, our animal control shelter should be finalized this budget year. Um, and then investing in, in the people within the County, um, the employees and, and really, trying to move the budget and grow the budget responsibly that has, um, you know, not much impact, new impact on the, on the taxpayer. So, um, you know, my office is, is really the front line that we, we talk to the taxpayers every day. And so that's, that's critical and important to me and my offices. Hey, how, you know, how can we grow the budget? It's not stagnant, you know, we're not just sitting on our hands. Um, How can we provide a better service to the citizens, public safety? I mean, the dollars that we've put into public safety, the fire, EMS over the last couple of years is tremendous. And I think you've said the response times for EMS are down and those things that impact the citizens.

Really impactful.

And so that's what I'm excited about is we're continuing to grow the county. The county financially is strong and we're able to do that with... with not much difference in impact for the citizen.

Yeah, and we're, you know, as we close out last year's fiscal year, get prepared for our audit. And, you know, we start to look at where our fund balance lies. And by the way, for the last three years, our fund balance has been at the cap, at the 50% cap that our ordinance puts on it, which means that we keep half of our, we keep up to 50% of what our general fund budget is in reserves, uh, you know, that rainy day fund, if I were to go south and, uh, that that's amazing for, for rural county as well, by the way. Um, and then we have a capital reserve account as well. And so as we look to close out last year and close out our books, you know, I always pressure Tommy a little, how much can I put in capital reserve this year? And this year he told me, we're probably just going to cap our fund balance and we're going to break even, which tells me two things. It says we did an amazing job at budgeting because you, You know, you want to, you want your budget, you want to spend the money you've allocated and bring in the revenue you've projected. That's where your budget should be every year. But I also love it when we put some extra in at the end of the year, too. And we will do that. We'll bring our fund balance up and hopefully we have some capital reserve. But, you know, those are our financial stability here in Chester County allows us to do things that we've never done before and allows us to be able to be very creative too and finding funding sources, whether it's through grants programs, we've got an ambulance, we've got a fire truck through CDBG, we're getting some parts grants, and then we're working on a new capital project sales tax, which, you know, is that penny has been extremely beneficial and this would just be a continuation of the penny. So a lot of really, I get excited I get more excited I think when we find creative ways to fund things and we've got a law enforcement center that we're looking at building. And that's another thing that I will say is our deferred maintenance on our facilities has really what I call gone down over the last three to four years. We have brought our facilities up to a level where we're not kicking the can down the road on fixing things. And our facilities are in good shape. We're repairing old facilities. We're building newer facilities. And again, no impact on your taxes. So, Tommy, I just appreciate everything you and your office do each year. I really do. And a balanced budget isn't something that happens overnight. It takes months of planning, careful financial management and teamwork in every department that we have here in Chester County. And we are proud to have gone four straight years with no county millage increase and to continue investing in services and our employees in this county. And so we just wanted to take a minute. Thank you, Tommy, for being here. And as always, if you have any questions for us, you can reach us through our website. You can reach us through, we have a job form to ask any questions through our website and then our numbers and office numbers and You can always drop into the main building to see us as well. So we welcome any questions that you have regarding our budget. Thank you, and we'll see you next time.