LEE COUNTY STRATEGIC PLANNING

STRATEGIC PLANNING WHY? This is the worst recession since the great depression and it will have long term impacts, demand change and require innovation U.S. economic recession is forecasted 28 months, currently in 24th month Florida’s recovery will lag the national recovery by three quarters. Predicted to show an economic upturn the 3 rd quarter FY10-11 Net migration; in FY net migration was growing at a rate of 1 million increase in Florida’s population every 2 yrs. 7 mos. In FY net migration in Florida declined by 65,000 individuals Unemployment rate July 2009; Lee County 13.2%, Florida 11%, National 9.4%, (Regional Economic Research Institute) (As reported August 20, 2009, Florida Association of Counties, by Dr. James Zingale, Capitol Hill Group, LLP)

STRATEGIC PLANNING Major revenue sources that are shared by State and local governments Property tax, sales tax, motor fuel tax, cigarette tax, documentary tax and communication services tax have all decrease as a result of the recession Florida’s state and local taxing structure has a narrow base and is subject to wide fluctuations due to economic business cycles. Florida’s constitution limits the use of income and wealth tax bases, leaving in highly volatile sales and transactions sources as the primary taxes used to fund state and local governments

STRATEGIC PLANNING Lee County’s challenge during these last 2 years of economic downturn has been to maintain services without burdening residents with additional taxes and fees; by employee attrition layoffs (reassigning duties of those positions to others) greatly reducing out of county travel no merit or cola increases suspension of bonus program suspension of sick leave buy back, departments continue to reduce costs in their operating budgets greatly reduced lease space As a result as we begin the next fiscal year the County will have reduced $187 million in operating costs

STRATEGIC PLANNING The County has not increased any of its tax rates since 2000, during this period; general fund tax rate has been reduced from 4.99 to 3.65 library tax from 0.96 to 0.28, unincorporated MSTU tax rate has been reduced from 1.21 to.84 Can’t live on savings forever…we expect to use about $65 million of general fund reserves next year to keep the tax rate stable

Lee County Population

Barometer of Costs Increases from FY04-05 to FY09-10 Inflation 13.4% Population 12.7% TOTAL 26.1%

Total Operating & Capital Budgets FY04-05FY05-06FY06-07FY07-08FY08-09FY09-10 BoCC (millions) 21% Increase $ 347$ 399$ 448$ 457$ 442$ 421 Constitutionals 41 % increase$ 164$ 187$ 216$ 239$ 239$ 231 Capital 27 % Reduction $ 483$ 467$ 564$ 511$ 458$ 352 TOTAL (billions) $ 1.0$ 1.1$ 1.2$ 1.2$ 1.1$ 1.0 Staffing Level 2,4242,6952,8582,8302,6332,540

REVENUE BY MAJOR SOURCE

Board of County Commissioners Cutbacks (What Has Been Done So Far) 1.Wages frozen for two years 2.Decreased workforce by 423 positions, or 15% (combination of attrition, holding vacant positions, layoffs, early retirement program in 2008) 3.Suspended bonuses and travel 4.Curtailed post-retirement insurance subsidy (Jan. 2008) 5.Cut operational expenses 6.Reduced capital projects program 7.Kept 2009 tax rates the same

CURRENT EFFORTS 1.Continuing to hold vacancies 2.Cutting hours in low demand times/seasons – Animal Services, Libraries, Parks & Recreation, Transit 3.Reassessing/Revising staffing ratios – all operations; NW Regional Library 4.Increased response/service frequency times – internal operations; Parks & Recreation mowing maintenance 5.Matching services levels to population growth slowdown 6.Streamlining CIP 7.Trying to determine what constitutes “non” core

Future Issues 1.Potential for further declines in revenue (managing expectations – cannot maintain current service levels if this happens 2.Further cuts –cannot use same level of reserves to balance budget 3.Fund balance – between county operations and constitutionals and courts 4.Monitoring economic conditions – striking the balance of when to cut and how much 5.National Recession ending, but labor and housing markets will lag

Strategic Planning ……. is the first step in the developing a results-based accountability system and is defined as the process of addressing the following questions: Where have we been? Where are we today? Where are we going? What do we have to work with? How do we get there – making decisions?

STRATEGIC PLANNING WHAT DO WE WANT TO ACCOMPLISH Identify and define specifically “CORE SERVICE LEVEL” Adopt the philosophy of Core Service Level Provide clear direction to departments to maintain agreed upon core service levels for budget cycle

TO BE SUCCESSFUL Commissioners, staff, residents, all STAKEHOLDERS must be involved and supportive of the process “we are in this together” Understand that we are treading on new waters, we may make changes along the way to the process Understand we can “agree to disagree” but we must move forward with the majority decision. We are developing our road map for our Goal setting workshop and the next budget cycle. Prioritizing our goals is essential in developing our strategic plan Strategic plans are not merely laundry lists of goals, but reflect the priorities of the stakeholders in the planning process. If we want a useful plan it must be succinct and easily translated into useful measures. We are faced with prioritizing services that our community has been accustomed to receiving

STRATEGIC PLANNING PROPOSED SCHEDULE TIMEFRAME October and November Department Presentations – taxing funds, fee based (enterprise optional and presented as requested by Commissioner) Presentations will be in a consistent format providing the Board the opportunity to ask questions Presentations will be video tape and on County web site

STRATEGIC PLANNING PROPOSED SCHEDULE TIMEFRAME December Statistically valid citizen survey (approximate cost NTE $15,000) to gather opinion of services and costs Citizens will have the ability to view all presentations on the County Web site YOUR ROLE - Survey Advisory Committee’s for input into the process. Citizen survey plus prioritizing non mandated services

STRATEGIC PLANNING PROPOSED SCHEDULE TIMEFRAME January Departments and Administration work together in developing service level scenarios and associated costs based on Board input, Department recommendations, citizen and advisory committee input

STRATEGIC PLANNING PROPOSED SCHEDULE February Board Goal Setting Workshop - February 10, 11 and 12 Adopt the philosophy of Core Service Level - Identify and define specifically “CORE SERVICE LEVEL” Presentation of service level scenarios, Department recommendations for Board consideration and direction for budget Provide clear direction to departments to maintain agreed upon core service levels for budget cycle