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12/18/08 - New Castle County Additional Budget Reductions for FY09 Hi Everyone, Today the County Executive announced the next round of budget reductions for this fiscal year. New Castle County revenue estimates continue to decline. The County’s projected revenue for the year has fallen by another $2 million, increasing the deficit for the current fiscal year to $32 million. The size of the County’s deficit in relation to its budget is now nearly 19%, almost identical to the State of Delaware’s deficit in relation to its budget. Some of the reductions to be announced today include: The complete list of reductions in attached. The cuts across all areas of government will help the County save nearly $2.5 million over the final six months of the FY2009 budget and $5 million in future budget years. Attached are the complete list of reductions, the letter sent to all county employees and the press release. Please let me know if you have any questions. Thanks,
12/18/08 - Final Audit Report: Change Orders and Contractor Payments - Construction Projects Attached is the final audit report for "Change Orders and Contractor Payments - Construction Projects." I have also attached an executive summary of the report. The Audit Committee formally reviewed and approved the report and executive summary at last Tuesday's Audit Committee meeting. The report opinion is "unqualified" although we do have five "Other Reportable Items", which are opportunities to improve the system of internal control. I'd again like to thank the management and staff of the Special Services and Administrative Services Departments for their cooperation and courtesy during the course of the audit. Please let me know if you have any comments and/or questions about anything in the audit report or executive summary. Bob Wasserbach
12/17/08 - Reassessment Report for HJR 22 Attached you will find the Reassessment Report that was produced from the committee that was formed from HJR 22. The report was issued in November 2008. Ed Milowicki 12/17/08 - UPDATED--- NCC Checkbook and FY 2009 Projections Files: NCC Checkbook and FY 2009 Projections After meeting with budget staff this week to review November revenue activity I have again lowered the FY 2009 revenue estimates for the current fiscal year. General Fund revenues are now projected to be $16.3 million ($14.2 prior) below the original revenue estimate for the fiscal year of $159.4 million. This represents a 10.2% revenue loss. We see little activity in the building permit and deeds related activity and rtt is now down close to 50% through November. RTT is now estimated at $18.6 million for the year or $13.3 below original budget estimate of $31.9. The current year general budget shortfall is now estimated to be $32 million. The original approved budget started with a shortfall of $17 million. We now have a 18.8% budget shortfall. I would be glad to answer any follow up questions or concerns. Ed Milowicki 12/6/08 - 2007 Task Force Report with Status of Recommendation I wanted to give you this report before hand to review due to the large Finance Agenda. I will review and discuss at the meeting. Attached is the 2007 Final Task Force Report. I have annotated each recommendation within the report in YELLOW as follows: COMPLETED Ed Milowicki 12/6/08 - RTT for November Update Attached you will find RTT updated through November. At this time I will be leaving the year end RTT estimate at a maximum amount of $20 million. Range will be in the $18 to $20 million estimate for the year. Through November RTT transactions under $500,000 are down 656 transactions or 36.3% and the average value has dropped $25,495 or 9.2%. The only noteworthy transaction was the sale of one of the anchor stores at Christiana Mall to TARGET for which NCC realized $110,840. Department of Land Use is now projecting their building permit revenues to be $1.0 under the budget estimate of $6.6 million for building permits. Previous estimate was $0.6 million below budget estimate. Ed Milowicki 11/20/08 - Updated Checkbook and Projections Attached you will find the latest checkbook (excludes proposed reductions) and projections for the general and sewer fund. The downturn in the economy has also had impact on the sewer fund. With the most recent industrial/commercial/contractual sewer billing we continue to see decreases in usage thus resulting in revenues now estimated to be $1.3 million below budget estimates. Water date for the residential billing will not be received until December for the annual bill. Through mid-November RTT is running $660,000 below last November for the same time period. Ed Milowicki 11/13/08 - Message from the County Executive: Cost Cutting Measures Hi Everyone, Over the past several months, the economy has taken an unprecedented downturn. As you have seen through Finance's checkbook presentations, New Castle County has significantly felt the impact.Our estimated revenues for the current fiscal year have dropped $14.2 million, primarily due to the drop in real estate transfer tax, Deeds office transactions and residential building permits and additions. Even more disturbing, those revenues continue to decline. With no improvement in our situation on the horizon, we have no choice but to adjust how we do business to meet our current fiscal reality. Tomorrow, Thursday, November 13th, the County Executive will be discussing our financial situation and publicly announcing cost cutting measure. The following measures will be announced tomorrow and will immediately be put into place: - Hiring freeze for non-essential positions In the weeks ahead, we anticipate that additional actions will be necessary, including the reduction or elimination of some non-essential services. Also, as we prepare next year’s budget, general managers and the Department of Finance will work to further reduce spending. We will continue to follow our approach of the last four years – seeking to both increase revenues and cut expenses to ensure longer-term financial stability for the County. Chris would like to invite you to join him tomorrow as he makes this public announcement. The press announcement will take place tomorrow, Thursday, November 13th at 1:30pm in the lobby of the Government Center. Attached is the letter that will be sent out to all county employees tomorrow morning. Please let me know if you have any questions. 11/12/08 - False Alarm Reduction Program - Status Report Lieutenant Craig Weldon continues to manage this program, and has done an excellent job keep it moving. Year to date we have collected $25,970. Should you have questions or need any additional information, please contact us. Sincerely, 11/12/08 - Library Master Plan Dear Council Members Anne Farley
11/5/08 - New Castle County Real Estate Transfer Tax Receipts Plummits [fiscal year update through October] This is a report from Ed Milowicki, Acting General Manager, New Castle County Finance Department to New Castle County Council. Attached you find the actual RTT collections through October. This October dollar activity was 48.05% below last October while year to date is 47.25% for the same time period as last year. For the category of transactions under $500,000 we have seen a year to date drop of 33.3% in the number of transactions while the average value of those transactions have dropped $32,305 or 11.3%. As stated previously, in the General Fund Checkbook we currently have for FY 2009 estimated $23 million in RTT. Looking at October activity and forward the $23 million is on the high side unless some large transactions process over the next eight months. Barring large transaction the RTT estimate may fall to $20 million for the Fiscal Year. We will continue to analyze and provide an updated checkbook at Council Finance meeting. 11/2/08 - Revised Reserve Account Distribution This is a report from Ed Milowicki, Acting General Manager, New Castle County Finance Department to New Castle County Council. Per request from Councilmember McClellan I have revised the schedule of the history of the spend down of the general fund and sewer fund reserve accounts to break out the purpose of each years transfers out. The detail of those allocations were taken directly from the County's audited Comprehensive Annual Financial Statements. In addition, I have included a detailed list of Sewer Fund projects that allocations were made in FY 2006 to account for the $66.4 million transfer. These projects are reimbursed on a quarterly basis on actual expenses as the projects move forward. I would be glad to answer any follow up questions. 10/29/08 - Final NCC Task Force Report This is a report from Ed Milowicki, Acting General Manager, New Castle County Finance Department to New Castle County Council. Per request of Council members attached is the 2007 Final NCC Task Force report that was issued. This report and all related documents and information can be found on the Finance Office Web page under the Financial Task Force TAB 10/29/08 - Council Finance Meeting HANDOUTS 10/28 This is a report from Ed Milowicki, Acting General Manager, New Castle County Finance Department to New Castle County Council. Attached are the other two handouts I presented at the Council Finance meeting in case you would like to have in your files or distribute. The first showing that nearly 50% of our FY 2009 debt service goes to recently completed general fund projects throughout the County. The second shows that back in 1996 County tax revenues represented the major revenue source to the County and as RTT grew over the years the share of County tax revenues as part of our revenue portfolio decreased and budgets were built assuming continued growth in rtt as a major revenue source but with the recent downturn in the housing market the RTT share has dropped considerably and the County tax revenue percentage has increased.10/29/08 - Local Government Reactions to the Economy & Tax Rate vs. CPI This is a report from Ed Milowicki, Acting General Manager, New Castle County Finance Department to New Castle County Council. Attached for your information are various articles as to what local governments are either doing or anticipating actions due to the downturn in the economy. I thought based on discussion at the Council Finance meeting yesterday that you would be interested in seeing these articles. In addition, I have attached the schedule showing what the County tax rate would be if it was increased by CPI vs. the current county tax rate. I also had discussed this issue at the Council Finance meeting. 10/24/08 - FY 2009 Sewer Fund Budget Update and Checkbook and General Fund Revenue Chart This is a report from Ed Milowicki, Acting General Manager, New Castle County Finance Department to New Castle County Council. It is a report from the County Finance Dept regarding Fiscal Year 2009 Sewer Fund Budget Update and Checkbook and General Fund Revenue Chart Please find attached an update on the FY 2009 Sewer Fund budget and also the Sewer Fund checkbook. The first quarter sewer billings for commercials, industrials and contract users showed decrease usage in all areas. Based on this first quarter activity the current sewer fee budget estimate could be $1.0 million below original budget of $51.9 million. The residential sewer bills will go out in early January so we will see then how the residential compare to budget estimates as we receive water data to base the residential bills in late December. Overall, the Sewer fund is anticipated to have a $ 4.8 million budget shortfall at this time. Expenditure projections may be impacted depending on the Wilmington Treatment negotiations. In addition, I have attached a General Fund chart (1996-2009) for your review that shows back in 2006 the real estate transfer tax provided 26% of all revenues to the general fund. For FY 2009 that percentage is now at 16%. Ed Milowicki, Acting General Manager, New Castle County Finance Department
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