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From YouTube: County Board Wrap-Up: Closing-out the FY 2018 Budget
Description
ATV's monthly conversation with County Board members on the major issues discussed at October's Board meeting.
A
Welcome
back
I'm
here
with
County
Board
Chair
Katie
crystal
and
vice-chair
Christian
Dorsey,
who
are
filling
us
in
on
some
of
the
key
actions
the
board
took
at
its
October
meeting.
So
let's
talk
about
the
closeout
of
the
fiscal
year,
2018
budget.
What
does
this
mean?
It
closed
out
in
fiscal
year,
18
finished
in
June.
B
So
closed
out
is
more
or
less
exactly
what
it
sounds
like
it's
the
process
of
closing
out
the
books,
balancing
what
we
spent
versus
what
we
planned
and
what
the
allocated
monies
didn't
get
spent,
and
so
this
year
that
amount
total
is
about
22
million
dollars
a
little
less
in
unspent
unrestricted
funds
that
we
are
then
going
to
unbalance
both
allocate
reserves
and
then
carryover
to
next
year.
But
essentially
closeout
is
saying:
what
did
we
plan
to
spend?
Did
we
spend
more
or
less?
B
We
are
always
trying
to
spend
less
as
suffice
it
to
say
we
don't
really
have
an
option
to
go
into
the
red
right,
so
it's
sort
of
how
close
to
that.
To
that
zero
line.
Are
we
trying
to
get,
and
in
fact,
in
recent
years
the
department's,
the
county
manager,
has
really
managed
to
a
much
smaller
pool
of
closeout
dollars,
which
is
something
that
we
often
heard
from
the
public.
They
really
wanted
to
see.
B
They
took
that
as
a
sign
that
that
the
board
and
the
manager
we're
asking
for
what
we
needed
and
needed
what
we
needed.
What
we
were
asking
for,
but
the
the
other,
pretty
important
stakeholder
that
was
less
excited
to
see
us
managing
closer
to
zero,
were
the
rating
agencies,
who
really
measure
our
fiscal
practices
and
want
to
make
sure
that
we
stay
worthy
of
that
triple
triple
a
bond
rating
that
allows
us
to
borrow
money
at
relatively
low
interest
rates.
B
So
this
is
perhaps
the
pendulum
swinging
a
little
bit
back
in
the
other
direction
of
a
little
more
money
at
closeout,
which,
from
the
point
of
view
of
kind
of
our
long-term
fiscal
picture,
is
perhaps
not
a
bad
thing
and
I
think
on
this
year.
In
the
case
of
this
year,
generally
results
the
fact
that
the
manager
and
the
department
had
said
had
slowed
down,
hiring
an
anticipation
of
another
tough
budget.
A
C
Of
the
upcoming
budget
process,
you
know
that
provides
some
flexibility
for
us
to
to
deal
with
what
is
a
fairly
substantial
gap
that
the
the
manager
anticipates
presenting
to
us
as
part
of
the
fiscal
20
budget.
So
that's
that's
where
the
bulk
of
it's
coming
from,
but
you
know
those
reserves
can't
can't.
We
cannot
overstate
how
important
those
are.
You
know,
I
think
the
analogy
for
for
many
people
that
that
may
help
is.
You
know,
people
who
are
determining
your
creditworthiness,
not
only
look
at
how
close
you
come
to
spending
what
it
is
you
make.
C
It's
also
your
ability
and
capacity
to
save
that's
a
critical
piece
and
Arlington,
while
hewing
to
a
community's
desire
not
to
be
overtaxed,
which
is
a
good
thing.
Absolutely
we
were
kind
of
skirting
to
and
maybe
falling
on
the
wrong
side
of
demonstrating
our
ability
to
save
and
deal
with
shocks
or
headwinds
or
uncertainty
in
the
government.
So
we
have
to
balance
that
and-
and
this
is
a
step
in
making
sure
those
reserves
are
balanced
and
then
we're
gonna
have
some
tough
but
very
community
driven
processes
to
determine
how
we
use
those
other
resources.
B
B
Many
of
the
things
that
this
community
prioritizes
and
wants,
whether
it's
hiring
teachers
paying
firefighters
more
to
stay,
competitive
or
other
things.
Those
are
ongoing,
year-over-year
costs,
and
so
we
are
gonna
have
a
little
bit
of
a
sixteen
point.
Five
million
dollar
blot.
Actually,
that's
a
big
figure.
Sixteen
point:
five
million
dollar
carryover
amount
to
think
about
allocating,
but
I
think
it
might
be
tempting
to
say
great.
Sixteen
point:
five
million
dollars
that
solves
most
of
that
thirty
million
dollar
budget
gap,
and
it's
really
important
to
make
that
distinction.
B
C
Know
I
think,
having
an
honest
discussion
about
all
options
and
when
you
talk
about
all
options,
that
does
mean
tax
rate
increases.
If
you
look
at
last
year,
we
dealt
with
just
about
every
fee
that
we
have
available
to
us
outside
of
the
property
tax
rate.
But
when
you're
talking
about
closing
substantial
gaps,
the
our
tax
base
is
bait,
made
up
on
the
revenue
side
about
sixty
percent
from
the
real
estate
tax
rate.
So
that's
got
to
be
on
the
conversation,
as
will
significant
program
cuts.
C
We
did
a
lot
of
what
many
people
would
call
efficiencies
last
year.
You
know
you
don't
have
those
tools
year
after
year.
At
some
point,
you've
really
got
to
talk
about
programs
and
services
as
a
way
to
close
a
gap
of
the
size
that
we're
talking
about.
So
we
we
predetermined
nothing,
but
there
is
no
way
we're
gonna
not
have
a
robust
conversation
about
those
those
alternatives
or
those
possibilities
to
deal
with
a
very
significant
budget
gap.
Absolutely.
B
Right
and
I
would
even
go
further
is
to
say
in
terms
of
over
the
last
couple
of
years
we've
sought
to
achieve
not
only
efficiencies.
We've
made
real
programmatic
cuts
as
part
of
the
fiscal
19
budget.
We
did
eliminate
programs
etc.
I
think
they
were
all
incredibly
thoughtful
and
I
really
credit
the
county
manager
to
figure
out.
You
know
what
what
what
need
government
maybe
not
be
in
the
business
of
anymore.
B
You
know
one
of
the
examples
I
give
all
the
time
from
our
last
budget
processes
in
a
County
with
the
lowest
unemployment
rate
in
the
Commonwealth,
with
one
of
the
lowest
unemployment
rates
in
the
country.
Do
we
need
to
be
investing
as
aggressively
in
job
training
programs
right?
So
so
we
scaled
those
back.
We
scale
that
program
back
consistent.
B
You
know
considerably
to
really
focus
on
those
members
of
our
community
most
in
need,
but
that's
a
great
example
of
we've
done
that
look
both
at
efficiencies
and
then
scaling
back
that
the
things
that
maybe
are
outside
of
core
government
operations
and
now
we're
talking
about
the
things
that
people
really
hold
sacred
right.
So
it's
going
to
be
absolutely
a
difficult
conversation.
You
know
the
best
thing
that
we
can
ask
people
to
do
is
to
participate
in
the
process.