April 30, 2019

Commissioner Koenig

said this was his item. He brought the same one forward two years ago and decreased the taxes for Pahrump. He was revisiting it now but was not happy with the results.

Commissioner Strickland

made a motion to take this item off of the agenda; second ed by Commissioner Wichman; 5 yeas. 4. 10:00 Presentation and discussion of the Town of Pahrump tentative budget for Fiscal Year 2019-2020 (FY20). Savannah Pucker explained the FY20 budget assumptions included maintaining the tax rate at .4417 on the revenue side. As to expenditures, the assumptions included position budgeting, a 2% merit/COLA increase, and the remaining capital improvements approved by the Board on August 1, 2017, along with transferring future capital improvement project funds out of the Pahrump general fund to the Pahrump capital fund to stabilize the town’s ending fund balance. The town was forecasted to have total revenues of $5,143 million. Expenditures started exceeding revenues in 2018 due to capital projects being completed utilizing prior years’ ending fund balance. Pahrum p was projected to have an ending fund balance in 2020 of $518,120.00, which was a worst case scenario as revenue was budgeted very conservatively. The FY19 budget summary showed an ending fund balance of $2,744,682.00.

Commissioner Cox

was concerned about the cemetery fund and would like to see less money go toward the parks and have some put into the cemetery.

Commissioner Blundo

commented that the ending fund balance kept going down.

Commissioner Koenig

said part of it was for Kellogg Park, which was approved long a time ago. If the Board decided to not fund that then the ending fund balance would be higher, but things the people wanted were being done.

Commissioner Cox

wanted to know where the money people were charged to use the baseball fields and the new lights went because the improvements were made based on those funds coming back.

Mrs. Pucker

was not sure where those revenues were generated. She said she would provide the approved project list to the Board noting it was a long laundry list from the town. She acknowledged it was a lot of money being spent, but pointed out the town did not see capital improvements or repairs for a decade so this was long overdue. April 30, 2019 SHERIFF 5. For Possible Action Discussion and deliberation to adopt, amend and adopt, or reject the FY20 Public Safety and Use Tax (PSST) plan for the Town of Pahrump.

Commissioner Koenig

asked to have next year’s budget hearings when the Sheriff could be present.

Commissioner Cox

questioned the recurring cost of $90,000.00 for the dash and body cameras. Lieutenant David Burochowitz explained after discussing it with IT and learning the burden it would be on their department to store the video the Sheriff opted for the plan for the company to host the video and manage the system remotely.

Commissioner Blundo

had an issue with the ticket writers because he was informed they were purchased in 2016. Lieutenant Burochowitz said there was no longer support for the current ticket writers. The original grant was in place in 2014 for ticket writers and in 2016 they had to get additional ones. The options were either to go back to paper, buy new ticket writers that only functioned as ticket writers, or the option they were requesting to combine the ticket writer with the mobile data terminal and have one device instead of several devices in the car. They also came with a five year warranty. IT Director Brad Adams explained these were tablets. The factory warranty was three years so part of the agreement was the extension of the warranty. He expected they would live in excess of five years and that the warranty may be expanded.

Commissioner Strickland

made a motion to adopt the FY20 Public Safety and Use Tax (PSST) plan for the Town of Pahrump; seconded by Commissioner Cox; 5 yeas. PAH RUMP VALLEY FIRE & RESCUE 7. For Possible Action Discussion and deliberation to adopt, amend and adopt, or reject the FY20 Public Safety and Use Tax (PSST) plan for Pahrump Valley Fire Rescue. Pahrunip Fire Chief Scott Lewis said the 2020 PSST proposal had some recurring costs captured in it. Some staff was listed as rovers in the contracts which were recurring costs under PSST so the general fund did not absorb those staff members. Also shown was some of the equipment distributed to them specifically along with equipment and tools for additions. Chief Lewis said the mobile data terminals were almost identical to the Sheriff’s Office request and would be used for citations for things like unauthorized April 30, 2019 7. For Possible Action Discussion and deliberation to adopt, amend and adopt, or reject the FY20 Public Safety and Use Tax (PSST) plan for Pahrump Valley Fire Rescue-Cont’d. controlled burns and parking in a fire zone. They were also requesting new radios for the ambulances as the current ones were no longer supported.

Commissioner Blundo

asked about the fire station security surveillance. Chief Lewis explained that historically $25,000.00 was budgeted from PSST for surveillance on the stations. In talking with Brad Adam he found out they could do it a little different and reduce the cost.

Commissioner Strickland

made a motion to adopt the FY20 Public Safety and Use Tax (PSST) plan for the Pahrump Valley Fire and Rescue; seconded by Commissione r Cox; 5 yeas. SITTING AS THE GOVERNING BODY OF UNINCORPORATED TOWNS OF BEATTY, BELMONT, GABBS, MANHATTAN, AND RAILROAD VALLEY MANHATTAN 8. For Possible Action Discussion and deliberation to adopt, amend and adopt, or reject the FY20 Public Safety and Use Tax (PSST) plan for the Town of Manhattan.

Commissioner Wichman

made a motion to adopt; seconded by Commissione r Strickland; 5 yeas. SITTING AS THE BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS SHERIFF 15. For Possible Action Discussion and deliberation to adopt, amend and adopt, or reject the FY20 Public Safety and Use Tax (PSST) plan for Nye County.

Commissioner Blundo

made a motion to adopt the FY20 Public Safety and Use Tax (PSST) plan for Nye County; seconded by Commissioner Wichman; 5 yeas. FINANCE

Commissioner Strickland

noted the back-up indicated if positions were approv ed they would be partially funded and asked for an explanation of that. Savannah Rucker advised if the Board would like to move forward with this positio n it would be funded partially from 10283, the Nye County Medical Indigency Fund, a Health and Human Services fund, and partially grant funded. She did not have an exact split, but she wanted to identify it would not reside in the Nye County General Fund.

Ms. Smith

believed it would be close to 50/50 as some weeks there would be more work on Senior Nutrition and other weeks more on Health and Human Services.

Commissioner Blundo

asked if the job was being performed at this time and services were provided to the public.

Ms. Smith

explained a contracted employee was doing the Senior Nutrition portion and

Ms. Smith

was picking up the senior eligibility specialist. She deemed them critical positions because there were two people contracted overseeing the senior centers in Beatty and Tonopah. Nye County held the grant for Senior Nutrition so her department was in charge of compliance and making sure everything was followed accord ing to the grant procedures. Ms. Smith was the senior eligibility specialist before Shirley Trummell retired, at which time Ms. Smith moved up to Human Services Manager and did not replace the other positions due to the requirements of taking on more grants. She thought it would be better to have someone 50/50 for both positions.

Commissioner Blundo

asked if part-time would be an option. Human Resources Manager Danelle Shamrell said the intent was a full-tim e position that would be shared half and half and she did not think part-time would meet the need.

Commissioner Strickland

referred to item 17 which was a request from another department for health support in Tonopah.

Ms. Smith

advised that would also be under her department. It was full-tim a e position in the past, but a few years ago a couple of employees had retired and were not replaced. A Coalition member had been filling it, but a part-time position to come out of the health nurse fund to cover the front office would help Beth Ennis, April 30. 2019 COUNTY MANAGER 18. For Possible Action Discussion and deliberation to ratify the Professional Service Agreement and amendments with Serenity Health, LLC. executed by the County Manager for the purpose of providing medical care, mental health assessments, therapy, substance abuse counseling and vocational training at the Nye County Detention Center. Tim Sutton explained the provider that had been providing medical services at the Pahrump jail terminated the contract. A lot of different companies were looked at and ultimately Serenity was chosen on an interim emergency basis.

Commissioner Blundo

made a motion to approve: seconded by Commissioner Strickland; 5 yeas. 3. 10:00 Presentation and discussion of the Nye County tentative budget for Fiscal Year 2019-2020 (FY20). Savannah Rucker said the Nye County budget forecast for the general fund for FY20 had some assumptions built in on both the revenue and expenditure sides. Reven ue was budgeted conservatively with specific budget line items to be cautious with cash flow due to the possibility of unsustainable growth, revenues falling short of project ions, delinquencies and other unforeseen cash and budgetary issues. She reviewed the various revenue sources, what the projections were, and how they were being budgeted. Total revenue for FY20 was forecasted at $41549 million. turning to the expenditures, Mrs. Rucker first reviewed them by type. Salaries were 44% of the general fund expenditures, benefits were 28%, services/supplies was 22%, and contingency and transfers were 6% totaling $43.41 4 million in FY20. Salary and budget details included position budgeting for all existing positions, step increases per CBA agreements, a 5% medical benefit cost decrease for FY20, and a 10% workers’ compensation increase for FY20. The services/supplies budget details included all contractual increases between FY19 and FY20, increased services/supplies budget s due to shortfalls in FY19. and increases to departments for VEA and utility increas es.

Mrs. Rucker

discussed the general fund funded programs, which included Senior Nutrition for $50,000.00 and the Ag Extension tax rate. She noted contingency was at $500,000.00. Operating transfers out of the general fund included $1.6 million of net proceeds into the County capital; a transfer out of the general fund into the airport fund of $25,000.00 as the airport fund could not self-sustain at this point: and a $250,000.00 transfer out to the OPEB trust fund to begin pre-funding that liability, which was $65 million at this time. Additionally, a fund would be set up at a meeting in May and then an item would be brought forward to the Board for an investment policy for the OPEB fund to get the money to grow and offset future costs. Total transfers and contingency was $2394 million. April 30, 2019 3.10:00 Presentation and discussion of the Nye County tentative budget for Fiscal Year 2019-2020 (FY2O)-Cont’d. The FY19 summary showed a beginning fund balance of $10174 million, projected revenues of 538.8 million, projected total available resources of $49 million, departmental expenditures of $37.3 million: operating transfers out of Si .7 million, for total expenditures of $39 million and an FY19 funding balance of $9.9 million. Mrs. Rucker said that was the starting point for FY20. Taking into consideration revenues in FY20 of $41.5 million, expenditures of $41 .019 million, contingency and operating transfers out of $2394 million, the projected FY20 ending fund balance was $8 million. Following the advice from DTAX and the CLGF to not utilize net proceeds revenue for operational expenses, it would leave -$1.89 million available for position approvals.

Mrs. Rucker

stated staff did not recommend approving non-critical positions at this time due to annual operational expenses in excess of operational revenues.

Commissioner Cox

asked how the marijuana tax fit into the budget.

Mrs. Rucker

explained it was in licenses and since there still had not been a determination on where those funds go they were just restricted for now.

Commissioner Cox

commented on how the State was seeing a lot of marijuana money, but the County was not seeing anything.

Mrs. Rucker

said the general fund had the licensing fees and those funds had been sequestered because of the determination required to tell the County how to take care of the funds, but the County did see sales tax.

Commissioner Strickland

said taking all this into consideration she understood the need to be conservative.

Commissioner Koenig

also appreciated the conservative budgeting, but he felt there would be more money coming in than expected because of what was happening in Pahrump.

Commissioner Blundo

felt departments could make cuts in other areas if they needed more employees.

Commissioner Wichman

understood the need to be cautious when doing this, but she pointed out the labor force was 25% less than it was in 2010 and that the County was very slowly and gradually putting those positions back in place when they were critical.

Commissioner Cox

felt if the County intended to grow and bring in more money the County would have to spend money on staff to allow the departments to function properly. April 30, 2019 3. 10:00 Presentation and discussion of the Nye County tentative budget for Fiscal Year 2019-2020 (FY2O-)-Cont’d. Dwight Lifly said it was his observation that the County Comptroller and Finance Department seemed to be running matters, not the Commissioners. He hoped as this went forward that the priorities of the community took precedence, not the priorities of County management. He pointed out 78% of the revenue went to wages and benefits, but now there was a need to increase employees. Mr. Lilly did not want to pay taxes to support the wages and benefits of the employees. He expected service s. John Bosta advised of the 15% the State collected $5 million was set aside, $1.5 million of which was given to the County. Each county received $88,000.00 to offset the increased costs of the staff for the marijuana. When that $88,000.00 came to the County it was dropped into the general fund and no one could find it. The Town of Amargosa Valley was also given $1,600.00 which the town had not receive d. That did not include the money the County collected on the 2% of gross sales and license fees. That was $700,000.00 that was set aside in an account. Mr. Sosta said that money should never have been collected by the County as it was in violati on of 5B487 and AB422. The Board was in recess until 1:30 p.m. ASSESSOR 9. Presentation and discussion of departmental budgetary requ ests for FY20. Assessor Sheree Stringer was present.

Commissioner Blundo

asked if the requested position would first go out to staff to be promoted and then a position would go out to the public. Danelle Shamrell explained there was no requirement to post interna lly first. Per the NCEA agreement it had to be posted for ten workings days inside or out. The Assessor could choose to post in-house first and then request to backfill the vacancy generated.

Commissioner Blundo

asked if there was an individual in the office currently who qualified as a senior property appraiser.

Mrs. Stringer

said yes and they were doing some of the duties right now, but she did not want to give them more duties as they would then be working out of class. She believed the position was critical as this year alone there was $52 million in taxable value in new construction which equated to an assessed value of $18.2 million with tax dollars of $620,547.20 at today’s current tax rate. Mrs. Stringer could not say how much more would be picked up in new construction value this year, but she saw it as substantial. She also felt this person could do more things for the Board of Equalization hearings. April 30, 2019 ASSESSOR 9. Presentation and discussion of departmental budgetary requests for FY20- Cont’d.

Commissioner Ccx

asked if this person would be able to add relief to the mapping department.

Mrs. Stringer

did not believe so because it involved different types of training.

Commissioner Ccx

commented that with the anticipated future growth she felt the employees would pay for themselves.

Mrs. Stringer

advised they had done some cost saving measures. Her predecessor made several deputy assessors and as they left they were replaced with account clerks instead She had also never gone over budget in the five years she had been in the office. CLERK 10. Presentation and discussion of departmental budgetary requests for FY20.

Commissioner Blundo

asked Sam Merlino if she felt this position was critical.

Mrs. Merlino

said yes. She explained she had been using Coalition workers for the past five years. For the longest time she could really depend on them, but now they were kind of few and far between. Mrs. Merlino said her office took in 10,000 documents a year that had to be filed. Her employees were in court every day and when the filing stacked up it meant errors and the judges not having the back-up. She felt she could use someone for ten hours a week just to keep up with the filing.

Commissioner Blundo

asked if the position approved in the past few months alleviated any of that.

Mrs. Merlino

said no as that position was strictly voter registration and elections with the automatic voter registration through DMV. Her office was already behind before that position came on board. Mrs. Merlino expressed her appreciation for that position. DISTRICT COURT 11. Presentation and discussion of departmental budgetary requests for FY20. Judge Kimberly Wanker said first they were asking for raises for the bailiffs. She said there were three Cat II positions in the County a bailiff, a District Attorney investigator, and juvenile probation officers. Bailiffs were required to carry a weapon and made April 30, 2019 DISTRICT COURT 11. Presentation and discussion of departmental budgetary requests for FY20- Cont’d. $16.00 an hour. Juvenile probation officers made $6.00 more an hour and the Distric t Attorney investigator made $13.00 more an hour. Bailiffs were also not in police/fire PERS because they were not first responders, Judge Wanker said she was just asking for a livable wage and would like to bring them to the juvenile probation officer standards. Judge Wanker then discussed her requests to create a hearing master positio n to alleviate pressure on the district court judges as well as full time-law clerk. She explained she had not had a law clerk and while she liked to review all the files herself, there were more and more things where it was now advantageous to have a law clerk.

Commissioner Koenig

asked if there was a temporary law clerk now Judge Wanker said yes, but the backlog was very big. She also knew fund s were a concern and explained through the drug court program they had been able to keep 241 people out of the detention center at a cost of $55.00 a day. She had also just received a $2 million grant.

Commissioner Blundo

asked if she deemed the law clerk position critical . Judge Wanker said she did, so much so she would have to order it. JUSTICE(S) OF THE PEACE 12. Presentation and discussion of departmental budqetary requests for FY20 for the Beatty Justice Court. Beatty Justice of the Peace Gus Sullivan said he was requesting two positions, a data entry clerk and a part-time bailiff position. Since 2005 he lost two part-tim e clerks and now only had three clerks, two of which were clerks and one who was an administrator who wore many hats. The Uniform System of Judicial Records sent a report in February that the Beatty Justice Court files were projected to increase 37% from last year and traffic cases by 47%. Judge Sullivan said the Beatty Justice Court also handled juvenile cases, which had increased immensely. Due to the reduction in staff the court had been falling further behind with court and state mandated requirements and was barely handling the day to day activities at this time. As to the bailiff, Judge Sullivan said in 2007 the Board approved hiring a part-time bailiff, however, he was unable to do so because the County pulled the position when the recession started. He advised the Beatty Justice Court had never had a bailiff, AprU 30, 2019 12. Presentation and discussion of departmental budgetary requests for FY20 for the Beatty Justice Court-Cont’d. although it was essential and it was his responsibility to do everything he could to ensure the safety of his courtroom staff and the public.

Commissioner Blundo

asked if the data entry clerk could be a part-time position to get started. Judge Sullivan said with the workload along with a clerk retiring in 2020 he would really like to get someone in and trained.

Commissioner Koenig

said there was no way of hiring a person to replace someo ne who would retire a year from now without having an open position in the budget . Danelle Shamrefl advised existing positions had been prefilled with the intent being to use the time to train the person and then that position would not be backfilled.

Commissioner Blundo

asked if Judge Sullivan felt these positions were critical , to which Judge Sullivan replied absolutely. 13. Presentation and discussion of departmental budgetary requests for FY20 for the Pahrump Justice Court. Pahrump Justice of the Peace Kent Jasperson said he was requesting a court reporter position as it had become evident they could no longer obtain the services out of Las Vegas. He explained the court reporters were refusing to come anymore because they were only getting per diem and appearance tees, not the page count where they made their money because cases over the past few years were plea bargained, negotiated, or kicked out. Judge Jasperson explained there were specific incidences in the NRS that required a court reporter to be present, such as a homicide trial. There was $60,000.00 in the budget for court reporting fees and the intent was to use that money to utilize a court reporter in Pahrump and Beatty. He felt hiring a full-time court reporter as a County employee would save money.

Commissioner Koenig

asked how much down time there was for a court reporte r. Judge Jasperson said not much. They took notes on a machine during court and when they were done with court for the day they went to the office and transcribed the proceedings.

Commissioner Strickland

wondered if it could be done remotely. Judge Jasperson said that was a possibility, but his experience with recordings in the past had been a lot of inaudible portions. If a court reporter was present in the April 30, 2019 13. Presentation and discussion of departmental budgetary requests for FY20 for the Pahrump Justice Court-Cont’d. courtroom when that was happening she could ask them to stop or the judge could stop it.

Commissioner Strickland

asked how much money was allotted for the court reporter in Beatty. Savannah Rucker said in FY19 the expense was $3,000.00. In FY18 the expense was $4,000.00 and in FY17 it was $1,000.00. She thought she may be able to move some money out of Beatty Justice Court service/supplies budget toward this. The Pahrump Justice Court also had $60,000.00 set aside for court reporting for an independent contractor that could be moved into this position. Judge Jasperson confirmed for Commissioner Blundo he deemed this a critical position. TREASURER 16. Presentation and discussion of departmental budqetary requests for FY20. Treasurer John Prudhont said he was asking for one position. He listed the duties of the office and said he did not have the staff to satisfy those basic job duties along with what was required by NRS. His office was extremely short staffed and he asked the Commissioners to please fund the position as it was absolutely positively critically needed. Otherwise the office would fall further behind and DTAX was watching.

Commissioner Blundo

pointed out there was already an open deputy I position that Mr. Prudhont was advertising for and he was now asking for another position.

Mr. Prudhont

stated he had been one position short for a while and was asking for another one on top of that.

Commissioner Blundo

felt the first position needed to be filled and then the situation could be reassessed and the Treasurer could bring it back if needed.

Mr. Prudhont

did not think that was a viable option based on the volume of work. He said his employees were working quite a bit of overtime. If that had to continue to keep up with the work that would amount to $49,616.00 annually in overtime.

Commissioner Blundo

asked if part-time would be an option.

Mr. Prudhont

said no as the position for the deputy treasurer trust property was a more than full-time position. A deputy I was in that that position right now and was struggling. April 30, 2019 SHERIFF 14. Presentation and discussion of departmental budgetary requests for FY20. Lieutenant David Burochowitz said he spoke with the Sheriff at lunch and they would like to modify the request. They thought the financial assistant position was extremely important. He noted the Sheriffs Office was a large portion of the budget and had serious problems with it due to inexperience in the finance world. The school resource officer positions were also very important, however, the Sheriff asked him to modify that request to eliminate the tour positions and ask solely for the difference between the $50,000.00 the School District had already pledged and give $30,000.00 for one additional full-time deputy to augment the calls to the schools.

Commissioner Koenig

said under financial assistant there was a salary of $36,000.00 and benefits of $10,200.00, noting the benefits were almost as much as the salary. Danelle Shamrell explained an entire year’s worth of benefits was estimated even though insurance went into effect after 60 days. It was also anticipated that the employee would elect family coverage as it was the highest, and 28% PERS was paid on this position.

Commissioner Blundo

asked if the school resource officer would also help on the street. Lieutenant Burochowitz said they could do both.

Commissioner Blundo

wondered if the Sheriff was willing to give up anything else budget-wise to create the financial assistant position. Lieutenant Burochowitz said he could not speak for the Sheriff. He said many of the tasks were ancillary tasks that were being handled by other people. He was not sure there was one specific person doing all of these tasks so this would take those ancillary duties and give it to one person.

Commissioner Blundo

asked if these positions were deemed critical and why. Lieutenant Burochowitz explained the financial assistant was critical because of the problems that had gone back decades in the Sheriff’s Office. It was a large chunk of the budget and since they never had anyone trained to handle the finances this should avoid those problems. As to the school resource officer position, Lieutenant Burochowitz said the reality was the Sheriff’s Office was struggling to handle the calls for service related to Safe Voice and at the school on a regular basis. For the well being of the children and being able to manage the calls for service he thought that was critical and mostly funded with the partnership with the School District.

Commissioner Cox

said she had no problem with the financial assistant, but she had a big problem with the school resource officer which had nothing to do with the kids or the April 30, 2019 SHERIFF 14. Presentation and discussion of departmental budgetary requests for FY20- Cont’d. Sheriff’s Department. It had to do with the School District that got tax dollars and marijuana money and chose to spend that money on other things instead of this. INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY

Mr. Adams

explained this request would put them all under one roof in the IT Department as an independent department. It would also ensure the department worked more efficiently and employees would have succession and cross training. Sam Merlino added the voter registration system would integrate with the GIS system and it would be helpful to have all street ranges in correctly. She absolutely supported this.

Commissioner Strickland

asked of the two which was the most critical.

Mr. Adams

said frankly both of them, One of the challenges found when the individual retired was the lack of succession training or cross training. He felt if one individual was handling the GIS the same situation would occur.

Commissioner Koenig

asked if Mr. Adams could have one this year and one next year which one would it be.

Mr. Adams

said because of a contract that was currently in place the administrator should probably be the one.

Commissioner Blundo

wondered if the different departments could be charged for the position. Savannah Rucker said that was possible and something that could be talked about. April 30, 2019 COUNTY MANAGER 17. Presentation and discussion of departmental budgetary requests for FY20. Lorina Dellinger said they were requesting a new position. She explained there used to be an imaging clerk position that went away in 2010, which was basically scanning documents into the document management system. The position has been reworked to include some type of records management into it as the County was not in compliance with any sort of records retention schedule. She stated the position was critical as there were thousands of records that were not accessible to County employees through the document management system. The position would also help the County’s Public Information Officer with requests he received.

Mrs. Dellinger

then discussed the request for a community health support specialist, who would be in Tonopah and support the health nurse. The County had a contract with the Department of Health and Human Services Division of Public and Behavioral Health for community health services in Pahrump and Tonopah. She explained part of the County’s responsibilities was to provide support for that health nurse. The position was eliminated from the budget in the past due to financial constraints and the State allowed the County to use an employee in Pahrump in Health and Human Services to provide support and charge her time to that fund, In Tonopah there was also a contract with the state for mental health and those employees shared their time providing support to the health nurse. That employee was currently on leave. Nye Communities Coalition obtained a grant to help, but that employee resigned and the Coalition did not want to put itself in the position of that money not being used so it was redirected. That was the reason to request a budget for this part-time position.

Commissioner Blundo

asked if the records technician could be part-time.

Mrs. Dellinger

thought it could be eligible, but she was not sure how that would impact the application. PLANNING

Commissioner Blundo

asked if these were critical positions.

Mr. Waggoner

said he believed they were critical because there were certain areas that did not get the attention and code enforcement that they needed and his secretary definitely needed some help. He prioritized them as the secretary, then the planning tech, and then code compliance officer. He added he was researching a lot of software that would help and probably prevent ever needing 22 or 17 staff in the department. FINANCE 21. For Possible Action Discussion and deliberation to; 1) determine if sufficient financial resources are available to increase the compensation of elected county officers pursuant to NRS 245.043(5); and 2) determine if sufficient financial resources are available to increase the compensation of the Board of County Commissioners. Savannah Rucker said in the back-up was the County officers’ salary for FY19, the proposed NRS salary wage increase, and the potential increase. The total potential wage increase was $21,225.00 excluding the Commissioners but including benefits,

Commissioner Blundo

made a motion to determine there were not sufficient financial resources available to increase the compensation of elected County officers pursuant to NRS 245043(5); seconded by Commissioner Strickland; 5 yeas. As to the question of increasing the compensation for the Board of County Commissioners, Commissioner Koenig said if the Board did that it would trigger the NCEA.

Commissioner Blundo

said in 2018 it was discussed giving the employees a paid day off at the cost of $1 00,000.00. It had also been established in previous meetings that this 3% increase would cost approximately $250,000.00 or $300,000.00. He stated for the record the Commissioners were not paid $137,000.00 and he would have liked to have seen that broken down since it was more reflective of $28,000.00 each. April 30, 2019 21. For Possible Action Discussion and deliberation to: 1) determine if sufficient financial resources are available to increase the compensation of elected county officers pursuant to NRS 245.043(5); and 2) determine if sufficient financial resources are available to increase the compensation of the Board of County Commissioners-Cont’d.

Commissioner Blundo

made a motion to determine there were not sufficient financial resources available to increase the compensation of the Board of County Commissioners; seconded by Commissioner Wichman.

Commissioner Cox

commented she got a lot of flak for the day oft before Christmas. the biggest problem being instead of taking their day off they were working that day and getting time and a half which caused a bigger problem. She did not think it went quite in the direction it was supposed to so if done again there needed to be an overtime clause.

Commissioner Strickland

made a motion to approve the community health support specialist part-time in Tonopah; seconded by Commissioner Wichman; 5 yeas.

Mrs. Rucker

and the Commissioners then discussed the request for fund 10284, Health and Human Services Fund, where the position was funded 50% by grant funds and 50% by fund 10284. This fund saw most of its revenue from property taxes and was anticipated to have total resources of Si .726 million. Expenditures were forecasted at $1.26 million which included an operating transfer out. Mrs. Rucker believed the department could support the position with the increase to salaries and wages.

Commissioner Strickland

made a motion to approve the requested position; seconded by Commissioner Wichman; 4 yeas. Commissioner Blundo voted nay. April 30, 2019 25. For Possible Action Discussion and deliberation to: 1) determine fundin g levels in excess of operational revenue for position requests; and 2) prioritize Nye County department budget requests for Fiscal Year 2019-2020 (FY2O)-Cont’d. Turning to the building fund, Mrs. Rucker said it may be able to fund a requested Planning position, but how much revenue was going to actually be received was never known so it was a shaky option. The least expensive position requested was the secretary I position.

Commissioner Blundo

was concerned about what would happen if the fund did not perform as anticipated.

Commissioner Strickland

suggested revisiting this after the first quarter to see how the building fees were trending and maybe take on another planning tech II.

Commissioner Strickland

made a motion to approve funding a secretary I; second ed by

Commissioner Cox

said she would rather fund all three positions if the money was there because of the increase in development.

Commissioner Strickland

said there were 24 open positions and she asked Public Works to come back because there was an open position there that she would like to see changed to a GIS. She wondered if the job description could be changed to an already funded GIS and put him under Public Works. Public Works Director Tim DahI said last year he did not pursue hiring a district road superintendent and he had not had a GIS administrator since the previous one retired. He wanted to get an Assistant Public Works Director but had not filled that either. Mr. DahI said he would be happy to help with funding for a GIS administrator that he would rely on also. Danelle Shamrell said nothing needed to be reclassified. The position would just be moved there, but the money had to be used for things it qualified for and she was not sure (31S would meet that criteria.

Commissioner Wichman

believed the money could not be used for GIS and that the position should reside in IT. The Commissioners and Mrs. Rucker then reviewed the general fund revenues line by line. Noting the $1 million shortage, adjustments were made to how the revenues were budgeted, adding in the federal in lieu of taxes which had been appropriated, resultin g in total budgeted revenues of $42,730,612.00. April 30, 2019 25. For Possible Action Discussion and deliberation to: 1) determine funding levels in excess of operational revenue for position requests; and 2) prioritize Nye County department budget requests for Fiscal Year 2019-2020 (FY2O)-Cont’d.

Commissioner Wichman

pointed out how the Ag Extension money was affecting the general fund. She had talked to Tim Sutton and Lorina Dellinger to see if that could be a per parcel fee, like the landfill. She wanted to figure out what it would take to get them the $300,000.00 and leave the general fund figures and tax rate cap out of it.

Mrs. Rucker

then reviewed the budgeted expenditures without the addition of the departmental requests, which totaled $41.09 million. As a way to save on salaries Mrs. Rucker suggested a vacant positions freeze, but she also recommended budgeting salaries and benefits as shown. As far as services and supplies, the $1.7 million increase was due to contracts entered into during FY19, but she also thought there were departments that could reduce their budgets.

Commissioner Wichman

suggested looking at the departments that wanted people to see if they could cut their services and supplies by 5%. She also wondered if reducing the contingency would help.

Commissioner Koenig

suggested reducing it to $300,000.00.

Mrs. Rucker

said another cost saving measure could be reinstatement of position freezes for six weeks. That had resulted in savings since 2017. There were 90 day freezes in 2017 and 2018 with no freeze in 2019. Mrs. Rucker was suggesting reinstating the freeze for six weeks for FY20 as it typically took that long to fill the position anyway. As to accruals, those were paid out and could harm a department if it was a long time employee. She said contingency could be used for unknown retiree issues like accrual payments. Tim Sutton asked if she was recommending this for all funds or just the general fund.

Mrs. Rucker

said it would be for all funds because that funding could be used as an operating transfer out to OPEB to continue supporting that and pre-funding it.

Commissioner Koenig

thought it should left on an individual basis and he did not feel it was fair to make them wait six weeks to post. The Board agreed with the six week freeze. The adjustments made to the budget resulted in $41,608.00 available to fund the requested positions. The requested positions totaled $1 .020 million.

Commissioner Strickland

asked Mrs. Rucker to add the following positions to the budget: the Clerk’s part-time position; the district court bailiff pay increase; the Beatty Justice Court part-time bailiff; the Sheriffs financial assistant; the imaging clerk; and the GIS administrator. Those positions totaled $278,690.00. AprIl 30, 2019 25. For Possible Action Discussion and deliberation to: 1) determine funding levels in excess of operational revenue for position requests; and 2) prioritize Nye County department budget requests for Fiscal Year 2019-2020 (FY2O)-Cont’d.

Commissioner Ccx

said she would rather see the Treasurer’s Office add a deputy to get caught up and would rather see the money for the resource officer go there. She also worried about the liability for the County and felt the School District should completely fund the position.

Mrs. Rucker

said the approvals resulted in -$293,000.00, but if the net proceed transfer out was excluded the budget would be within operational needs. Another option was to have that negative balance absorbed by position vacancies.

Commissioner Koenig

asked if all of the net proceeds had to be taken out, to which Mrs. Rucker responded no.

Commissioner Wichman

asked about the donations figure and how that affected the budget.

Mrs. Rucker

explained it was not budgeted for because of the status of what the budget looked like.

Commissioner Wichman

said to leave it at zero. The Commissioners revisited revenues. Property taxes were increased to 1.5% and the net proceeds transfer out was reduced to Si .4 million which left $941.00 after the position approvals.

Commissioner Strickland

made a motion to approve; seconded by Commissioner Wichman.

Commissioner Blundo

thought the Board was making some big assumptions. He would have preferred to go conservative and look at the jobs on a case by case basis.

Commissioner Koenig

suggested the Board approve this, get a copy, and then review it piece by piece to see if there were any changes that needed to be made.

Mrs. Rucker

advised she had until May 17, 2019. to get the back-up to Administration for the meeting on May 29, 2019, and asked the Commissioners to get her their notes a few days before then.

Commissioner Koenig

adjourned the meeting. APPROVED this day ATTEST: Of 2019. air Ny Coiffity Clerk I Deputy