Board of Supervisors March 7, 2024 Sheet 1  March 7, 2024  County of Greene, Virginia  THE GREENE COUNTY BOARD OF SUPERVISORS MET ON THURSDAY, MARCH 7, 2024, BEGINNING AT 4:30 P.M. IN PERSON IN THE COUNTY ADMINISTRATION BUILDING MEETING ROOM AND BYZOOM VIDEO COMMUNICATION  Present were:  Marie Durrer, Chair Davis Lamb, Vice Chair Steve Catalano, Member Tim Goolsby, Member Francis McGuigan, Member Cathy Schafrik, County Administrator Kim Morris, Deputy Clerk Jim Frydl, Director of Planning and Zoning Melissa Meador, Director of Emergency Services Dan Chipman, Finance Director  Staff present:  RE: BUDGET WORKSHOP - WATER & SEWER  Mr. Harrison was present to answer questions the Board may have. They discussed the fact that several line items are showing inconsistencies. Mr. Harrison explained that with Water and Sewer being a new department, there are some items that were under budgeted and there were issues that were unknown to them until they actually started operating. He said that Davenport is working on a plan to rebalance the rates SO that the revenue numbers come more in line with the expenses. He said that the price of chemicals was much higher than anticipated and there were several repairs that had to be made to the water and sewer plants as they were not maintained properly. He also said that the price to dispose of the biosolids was much higher than expected. They discussed the sewer service provided to Greene Mountain Lakes and Twin Lakes and that their meters are not actually read because they do not belong to the County. They are charged a  flat rate fee.  The Board thanked Mr. Harrison.  RE: BUDGET WORKSHOP - SOCIAL SERVICES  Mr. Howard was present to answer questions the Board may have. They briefly discussed the move to the new building and Mr. Howard said that he knows that staff are working diligently to make that happen. Mr. Howard explained several of the programs offered by his office and shared updated demographics and utilization information. He shared information on the significant increase related to the Children's Services Act and said that Greene actually spends a  BOOK 43s-327    Board of Supervisors March 7, 2024 Sheet 2  little bit less than the state average per child. He said that the increase in expenditures for CSA  comes from the increase in caseload along with he complexity of the cases.  The Board thanked Mr. Howard.  RE: BUDGET WORKSHOP -] ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT & TOURISM  Mr. Yost was present to answer questions the Board may have. He said that $20-$30 million came into our community last year from tourism. Oft that amount, $1.3: million comes into the general fund to support the schools and public safety, etc. He said that the economic development side of his job is silent due to business confidentiality. He explained that tourists fund the entire tourism budget. The Board discussed different line items in its budgets such as a maintenance contract for mowing. Mr. Yost explained that this was requested by the Ruckersville Advisory Council for mowing the medians on Route 29 to create a cleaner look to that main corridor. They discussed funds budgeted for repairs to the building and Mr. Yost said that it actually ended up being in much better shape than they first thought. Mr. Yost explained what his expenditures to CVPED, the Charlottesville Small Business group and the DAC were for. He shared that there are three staff members for Economic Development and Tourism and that they rely on volunteers to staff the Visitor Center on the weekends. Mr. Yost explained the Tourism  Council and the' TOT revenue fund trends. The Board thanked Mr. Yost.  RE: BUDGET WORKSHOP - EMERGENCY MEDICAL SERVICES  Ms. Meador, Mr. Akbar, and Ms. Dunivan were present to answer questions thel Board may have. They shared a presentation regarding their staffing request to provide justification. They currently have two shifts that operate with only five providers, which is the minimum staffing requirement. If given the requested positions, each shift would operate is seven providers. They shared their increased call volume and call types and explained how long units are out of the County if they have to transport to a hospital. They shared their protocol and procedures for their operations. They discussed the need for mutual aid when they do not have units available for calls. The use of volunteers was discussed, and it was noted that volunteerism is becoming a thing oft the past due to the stringent training requirements and certification courses. The volunteers had to stop because they could not sustain the call volume. Ms. Meador said that, if the Board wanted to introduce al hybrid plan that included volunteers, she would need additional staff to accommodate as the workload is already too great on current staff members. She agreed to ask the volunteer fire departments if they would be willing to get trained to run EMS calls. They discussed the number of ambulances they have on order and Ms. Meador said they have finally accepted delivery of the truck that was ordered years ago. There was a lot of discussion between members of the Board as  to whether or not these positions are needed.  The Board thanked Ms. Meador and her team.  RE: BUDGET WORKSHOP - FEES  Mr. Frydl shared information with the Board about the current fee schedules for different county offices sO that the Board could direct staff to adjust those fees ifthey chose. He shared  4346E328  BOOK    Board of Supervisors March 7, 2024 Sheet3 3  fee information for Building Inspections, which are prescribed by the state code, and the state code says that you are not allowed to exceed your costs. He said that those fees were recently raised in July. He shared the information for the Planning and Zoning department and said that they would have to increase their fees drastically to cover the operating costs oft their department. He shared examples of what that increase would look like for different permits. He briefly touched on the fees charged by Parks and Recreation. The Board discussed the fees and decided tot take the discussion up at a later date as they do not have tol be adjusted during budget time.  RE: GENERAL BUDGET DISCUSSION  Ms. Schafrik said that none of the requested positions or addendum items were included in her budget at this point. She asked the Board for direction on which positions/items they would like included. They discussed the current tax rates and the result of dropping the personal property rate. They discussed the items included in the CIP and different ways they could be funded. Ms. Schafrik said that she is advocating for the Finance position for the County and that she would also like toi fund the position for the Treasurer's Office if possible. They Board agreed that it would be best to go department by department through the budget book. It was agreed that the Sheriff is satisfied with his budget as it stands with the addition of three new staff members. The Board further discussed the EMS department's request for positions. The Board also decided that they were not yet comfortable authorizing the advertisement of the tax rates and that they would need further discussion at their budget workshops scheduled for Tuesday and Thursday. They asked Ms. Schafrik to continue to cut departmental budgets to find the funding for requests and suggested an across the board cut of 1% from each department and also to look into increasing the landfill  fees.  RE: ADJOURN  The meeting was adjourned.  yuuw Marie Durrer, Chair Greene County Board of Supervisors  Greene County Board of Supervisors  CES  BOOK 43a329