Coraggio Consulting
Fairfax County Board of Supervisors Budget Policy Committee, Tuesday, March 28, 2023

Date: Tuesday, March 28, 2023
Place: Fairfax County Board of Supervisors, Virginia
Length: 1h 15m (video)
Official meeting video (Fairfax County): https://video.fairfaxcounty.gov/player/clip/2808
Official Board of Supervisors page (Fairfax County): https://www.fairfaxcounty.gov/boardofsupervisors/

Machine transcript (speech-to-text) produced by Coraggio Consulting. Not an official county record. Names and numbers may be misspelled; check the video at the timestamp before quoting.
Speech-to-text: whisper.cpp, model large-v3-turbo. Produced 2026-11-04. Timestamps are [HH:MM:SS] into the meeting video.

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[00:00:06] going to go ahead and get started. Welcome back for our board budget committee meeting of March 28, 2023. And we have three items on the agenda, two items on the agenda, and one, which is a takeaway informational item for us, number three. So we haven't dedicated any time to that. But our first agenda item is a Human Services Council briefing, which we always do this time of year and a budget committee, and then followed by following that, we will have the FY 2023 third quarter review. So we will begin with agenda item number one, which is the Human Services Council,

[00:00:43] and want to welcome, of course, Michelle Menapace, who is the chair of the Human Services Council. Welcome. And at this time, I would turn it over to you for presentation. Thank you, Supervisor McKay. Chairman McKay. I'm so used to supervising. That's right. Thank you.

[00:01:00] So I am Michelle Menapace, and with me is Paul Thomas, who has chaired our budget committee this year. And I just want to do a brief introduction to let you know that as we prepared our advice for you, we kept a number of things in mind.

[00:01:18] First and foremost, One Fairfax informed all decisions that we have made throughout the year. We have been briefed by staff on a regular basis about how One Fairfax is being integrated, and that is always top of mind with us.

[00:01:34] We also engaged with the other boards, authorities, and commissions that advise you as well on Health and Human Services system and its budget. We met with them with a budget presentation and then also surveyed them because we still weren't meeting in person at that time. But like last year, did a survey, and their responses are incorporated into the advice that we will offer you. But we do not want to suggest that what we have to say to you today incorporates everything that they may say to you later. They are the

[00:02:14] experts on the various areas and issues that they'll be talking to you about individually. And I just remind you to keep that in mind as we move forward. And finally, we have had extensive discussions about the current climate, what the implications are, the change in pandemic funding, the shift away from waivers for Medicaid, as well as the reductions in SNAP benefits and so forth, and I mean extensive discussions.

[00:02:50] So, we are aware of those as we move forward. Also, the cost of housing and inflation and what that is going to mean. We like to describe recommendations to you as aspirational but pragmatic, and we understand that the county cannot make up the loss of all that funding.

[00:03:17] So we've done our best to keep our recommendations to you with that in mind. And for the details on what our recommendations are, I'm going to turn the presentation over to Paul Thomas. Thank you, Michelle.

[00:03:32] Before we share the fiscal year 24 budget recommendations, I want to express the HSC support for some significant investments proposed in the third quarter review package for homelessness services, emergency rental assistance, and food security. These supports will ensure that the county can continue to support our community members in meeting their basic needs. So thank you for that.

[00:03:59] Also, some budget items that are currently in the budget that we just want to make sure to amplify our support for. Behavioral health. $340,000 for a youth behavioral health services navigation program will help residents find the services they need. Employee compensation. We know that the county has struggled to hire, really, even the positions that are currently budgeted.

[00:04:26] And so we know that increasing employee compensation will be critical to recruiting, hiring, and retaining skilled and experienced staff. The $8.4 million rate increase for HHS contracts recognizes the integral role that our community partners play in serving community residents. They were on the front lines with county agencies supporting our more vulnerable throughout the pandemic and continue to play a critical role in service delivery.

[00:04:52] We need to ensure that they continue to be supported in this economic climate. And finally, the HSE is appreciative of the ongoing support for the HHS Innovation Fund, which will be used for economic mobility initiatives that will launch later this year.

[00:05:09] We're excited about these initiatives, and we'll update the board as the work on that progresses. So in addition to those already funded programs, we do want to call out some other additional ideas for where funding could go.

[00:05:29] We know that while there is consideration for reducing the real estate tax rate, the Human Services Council strongly suggests that the board not cut HHS programs to find offsetting spending reductions. And we have identified five additional items that we would like the board to fund, either in the FY24 budget or through other additional available funds. First, affordable housing. You will hear from many housing advocates in April about this topic, but we want to convey that housing is the foundation upon which individuals and families' well-being and potential are built.

[00:06:07] Without a safe, stable home, it is nearly impossible to successfully address other needs. Second, early childhood. Evidence demonstrates that experiences from birth through age five are critical to children's development. However, many children in Fairfax lack access to integrated, inclusive early learning experiences before kindergarten. We support expanding access to the Early Childhood Development and Learning Program. Third, the Emergency Rental Assistance Program. The timing of this is critical now that the federal Emergency Rental Assistance Program

[00:06:43] funding has been exhausted. We're pleased that the county dedicated additional ARPA funds to develop the ERA bridge program, but know that additional rental assistance than what was provided before the pandemic will be needed moving forward. Almost half of county renters are considered rent burdened, which means that at least 30 percent of their monthly income goes to housing. With inflation and rent increases, more residents are at greater risk of falling behind on their rent and facing evictions, so we view this rental assistance program as a critical

[00:07:18] homelessness prevention strategy. Fourth, food insecurity. With the cessation of enhanced SNAP allotments and the increased costs of food, we're concerned about rising food insecurity in our community. Additional funding for the county's food provider network will help our food providers meet increased demands. And finally, Opportunity Neighborhoods. The HSE supports the expansion of Opportunity Neighborhoods to Centerville. With the current youth behavioral health crisis

[00:07:53] and academic achievement gaps, investments in proven collective impact initiatives like this are more critical than ever. So in closing, strong investments in HHS will ensure that Fairfax County will continue to be a place where individuals and families can be safe, healthy, and realize their full potential. We thank the board for its long-standing support for HHS.

[00:08:19] We also want to recognize County Executive Brian Hill, Deputy County Executive Chris Leonard, Chief Financial Officer Christina Jackson, and Chief Equity Officer Carla Bruce for their leadership in ensuring that key priorities are funded. And we welcome any feedback you have, questions, and including both about the content of our recommendations as well as anything about the sort of the presentation of it. Well, thank you very much, Paul and Michelle. Excellent. Well done. Appreciate the pragmatic approach that you mentioned. I do have one question, and it may not

[00:08:57] be for you. It may be for county staff, and then open it up to others who may have questions. But the HHS contract rate increases, the $8.4 million. I can't remember what the county executive included in his proposed budget, how that relates to the $8.4 million. Maybe that number is the same. It is the same. And so could you remind us, because I've been asked this question a few times by some of the nonprofits, just how that number was computed, how we came up with the 8.4 million?

[00:09:37] You guys want me to take this? That was traditionally, in years past, it's been a 2% planning factor. And this year, in recognition of the inflationary costs, what's happening across the country, really, but certainly here that planning factor was a 5% planning factor, so that's how we came up with that 8.4. So the 8.4 is a 5% increase, and that would go to any of the non-profits that have, or any of the for-profit or non-profit entities that provide

[00:10:14] human services work in the county under a county contract. So that's a planning factor, so we don't tell the agencies how to negotiate. So the agencies get the 5% planning factor, and then they work with the nonprofits. It may be 4%, it may be 6%, but the planning factor goes to the agency for them to be able to use for the negotiations in those contracts.

[00:10:37] Okay, the reason I wanted to bring that up is important for us to understand that, that it's not just we approve that and everyone who does business with the county automatically gets a 5% increase above what they had last year. that it's worked with the county agency that oversees that contract and it's based on a conversation with that provider as to what their challenges and needs are. Is that fair?

[00:11:01] That's fair and accurate. Okay, excellent. Even better. Thank you. Thank you for that. With that, I will open it up to questions and I'm going to start with Vice Chair Gross and then we'll go around. Thank you. A good presentation by Human Services Council as always. But I do have a couple of questions and one of them goes to the non-profit piece. It's not really for this budget necessarily but I'm remembering back I think it was the late 90s when Verdi Haywood was a deputy county

[00:11:37] executive and we had a lot of non-profits that were struggling. We had some very small ones and so we embarked on an effort to figure out how we could be helpful to non-profits but also recognizing that some of them would go away because they just weren't big enough, and that happened. The services didn't necessarily go away. They were sometimes, you know, morphed into other non-profits. And then I think we did something similar around the time of the Great Recession where they were struggling again.

[00:12:13] And I'm wondering if it is time now for us to look at some sort of a process whereby our nonprofits are sort of reviewed from the standpoint of, are there duplicative services that could be done by this nonprofit over here could do these services, and this one over here could do other services instead of both of them doing all of them. And so I just want to sort of throw that out there for thought processes that maybe this is the time post-pandemic to take another look at our nonprofit partners. We could not do what we do in Fairfax County without the

[00:12:52] nonprofits in our faith communities, but we need to reassess every once in a while. So I want to throw that out there as an idea and would hope that somebody might think about it and come back with a proposal as to how we might do that. Not talk to the nonprofits about it. It's just as we've been going through the budget, I'm seeing some of these things that are a challenge that we have faced before but my question is on the star plan which is strategic allocation of resources plan

[00:13:27] i don't believe that's been presented to the board other than probably emailed to us are we going to have a specific presentation to a committee about this plan um we certainly can it wasn't planned uh the star plan is a replacement for the resource plan the human services resource plan that we had first maybe six or seven years ago.

[00:13:53] We had it every year. When I became Deputy County Executive, I brought with me my director hat because I had been a director for 10 years, and I didn't think the resource plan was strategic enough, certainly not for the directors. The directors weren't using the resource plan.

[00:14:09] So I was going to let that go, and then I heard from the advocates overwhelmingly, where's the resource plan? So what they allowed me to do is take about a year, work with the Union Services Council to come up with a different type of resource plan that perhaps is more strategic that could be better used internally.

[00:14:28] So certainly we can schedule some time at a committee meeting to present that. And I have not talked to Supervisor Palchuk about this, our Chairman of Health and Human Services, but I do think that perhaps allocating, you know, 15 minutes or something in a committee meeting to go over this would be helpful because you know questions come back to us yeah thank you and to that point uh supervisor gross i think we probably all have heard that there was human service council involvement in it but not necessarily any broader community involvement so as a part of that presentation we like to get an

[00:15:05] understanding of that and and what if any future steps might be taken um as a result of either that conversation or as a result of the work you're doing with the with the star plan okay thank you very much, Mr. Chairman. Thank you. I saw Supervisor Lusk. We'll get to everyone.

[00:15:23] Okay. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I'll go quickly. I just wanted to say that these requests are certainly resonating with me, and I'll make the point on the behavioral health for the youth. That is so pivotal and critical, so thank you for making those points. I just have maybe a specific question, also connected to the items that you're recommending for the FY 2024 strategic allocation. So on the first, on the emergency rental assistance, this one we know we're getting calls in my office for folks who definitely are in need of this support. So this one's

[00:16:03] legitimate. We've had conversations with Deputy Director Leonard about this, and I know that there are some efforts underway to try to figure this out, but I want to just reiterate that this is one that we know we're getting calls on pretty aggressively. The second one I'm getting calls on is on the food insecurity. What I've noticed is that you've identified a number for most of the requests here, but you do not have a number as it relates to food insecurity. Is there a thought here or what were you um wanting us to think about around how we might support uh this effort

[00:16:46] yeah thank you that's an excellent question because we go back and forth between what what has numbers and what doesn't yes um the short answer is we're right in the middle of a food access program where we have three different tranches uh utilizing the arpa dollars uh seven and a half total dollars at the seven and a half million total will go out yep the third tranche will be this summer and that will be another two million so while we're trying to figure out what that looks like and what the long-term uh food insecurity needs is and admittedly this is the first month that we're seeing the snap reduced benefits so we're going to be collecting all of

[00:17:22] that data from our food providers network right then we'll be able to come forward to the board with um with some recommendations of what our post-pandemic food need is going to be and what that needs to look like um and as paul pointed out at the beginning with the third quarter there there's going to be a return from staff at carryover with how we may be able to use some of that pandemic reserve specifically to homeless services emergency rent assistance and yes food access so we we've got plans for how to spend that we don't have the total dollar now number now it would just be a kind of an estimate we want to wait until we see we think we have enough

[00:18:01] to get us through the next, certainly through the summer. But beyond that, we will set aside. But then we'll come back to the board and let you know how we propose to spend that. And the others have numbers because in the STAR plan, there was really good clarity on what the funding streams were going to be.

[00:18:19] So we knew what the numbers were going to end up with, but a little more uncertainty on the food provider network. No, I appreciate that clarification. And I'll say, you know, if there's something that we find out later we need and if we've got to get more money to support this effort, this is a priority. I think it makes me so uncomfortable to think that people happen to make really difficult choices when they go to the grocery store because they don't have the same level of support that they had through the pandemic.

[00:18:46] So thank you very much. Yeah, and I think, you know, to that point, Supervisor Lusk, I do appreciate the staff's work on making sure we don't have a cliff here. I think, as you mentioned earlier on in terms of just being pragmatic, the level of services that we were able to provide during an unprecedented international health pandemic with a mountain of federal money is absolutely not sustainable. I mean, it's just being realistic.

[00:19:12] And so what we need to do is iron out a path so that we don't have these cliffs that people are falling off, but also, you know, iron out a path that recognizes that we have to get to a level that is sustainable and it's not the same level we were at during the peak of the pandemic. And so I appreciate that staff is working on that and preventing these cliffs from being created that people are going to fall off of, because that's not in anyone's interest. So thank you for doing that. Supervisor Faust.

[00:19:40] Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Thank you for the presentation. I think it's excellent. I think you really are focused on the right issues. On the affordable housing, we do have a proposal in our third quarter to add an additional $10 million for affordable housing, and I was going to save this question until we talked about the third quarter, but I guess there's also an additional funding that we anticipate coming forward from ARPA, is that?

[00:20:17] Yes, we're not quite ready to put forward that as a formal recommendation for use of ARPA funds, but we are working with housing and community development. we hear you. It's definitely important. Again, thank you so much. I appreciate your Human Service Council does great work. Supervisor Palachuk.

[00:20:38] Thank you, Mr. Chairman. And thank you. So good to see you both here, Paul and Michelle. And we'll just second, triple, all of the commendations coming from my colleagues for your many years of volunteer work and helping us hopefully do an even better job than we do, and I appreciate that you thank so many of our leaders, and I know we have many more here in the back, in the county, from DFS and NCS who helped make that happen.

[00:21:08] I think there are kind of a couple categories here. Number one, I appreciate that you have support for what's in the county executive's budget. I wholeheartedly agree. I think we need to continue to provide those supports there. And then in your additional recommendations, there are a few that it looks like, you know, we can continue to address in one-time funds, whether they be third quarter ARPA or other one-time funding opportunities.

[00:21:34] So I won't speak too much to those, but definitely, I know, we are all concerned and hoping the state will do a little more on not having that cliff as we try to have a smoother sailing out of the additional support that's been there for SNAP and for Medicaid as well on those.

[00:21:53] I guess I like that the top two are also, you know, my top two priorities that we see, we saw even before the pandemic, which would be the affordable housing and the early childhood. And I appreciate what you've written here. So number one, yes, you know, that we need to continue to look at one-time funds.

[00:22:10] And I know you've stated here to work toward the full recommended funding of the two cents within the baseline budget. I know that we as a board need to continue to look at that as we come out of the one-time funds. we can do a lot there. And as we have a better understanding where the economy is going and where our budget's going, that we can find ways to continue to chip away at the baseline funding as well. But then finally, with the early childhood, and I hope you can join us tomorrow, Skip's meeting over at the Sharon Bulova Center. If you have not met Keisha Dotson yet, she is now, and I see Lloyd Tucker's here, leading the early childhood work for the county along with Floor.

[00:22:49] And I think what's really critical, I love that I want to put funding to it, but they really are working at a comprehensive review of family engagement, understanding across the county what our families want, how they want those services in their community, accessible services, one size doesn't fit all.

[00:23:08] And so I think it's really important that we better understand what the needs of our community and our families are, and whether it's zero to three, four, five-year-olds, that we do continue to target more of that programming and work with, we have partners now, local university institutions as well as beyond, to understand how we can close that gap between the have and the have not in access to early childhood.

[00:23:37] And I think that's very critical and appreciate that you all are weighing in on this and hope you will continue to work with us on that. But, Paul, I think you wanted to say something to that. Well, first of all, yes, I'm looking forward to the skip tomorrow at the Boulevard Center. But also something that's come out of the skip in the past is this emphasis on building backbones of sort of understanding how we identify the connections between all the different services.

[00:24:05] And I feel like that can also help to address Supervisor Gross' concern about are all of the nonprofits really healthy or are there any redundancies? And so I think there's some things that I've seen there that could be relevant to that as well. Absolutely. And some of that is geographic.

[00:24:21] And to that, I know Tucker's in the back and Carla have been working and we have Michael Beggis from DFS to ensure and better understand how we're reaching each community, each need in each community. And most importantly, having people have agency and authority and a seat at the table as we make those decisions.

[00:24:42] And I would also add that the Innovation Fund and the model that we're seeing that Supervisor Lusk is creating in southeast Fairfax can address some of these as well, partnering with businesses to open daycare centers in their own facilities like we did during the war.

[00:25:02] You know, that all went away because women went back home, but that's not the case anymore. And with regard to the nonprofits, their model, the models that they created during the pandemic have maximized their abilities, but they're also at a point where giving fatigue has set in long ago, and I think a give and take with the leadership of some of the nonprofits is going to be important to figure out what happens next, where their biggest challenges are,

[00:25:41] and CCFAC may be a way to convene that discussion with them working with the consolidated community funding pool. That's also a means to look at where duplicative efforts are, whether any of the funding that is going out into the community through the funding pool is something so integral to the success of programs that are funded through the agencies that those services or programs should be pulled out of the funding pool and directly funded by the agencies. But maintaining a level

[00:26:17] of funding that still allows for the creativity, the innovation that the funding pool was intended to be and create in the community and the nonprofits that are so close to the service needs remain there and are, or some may actually need that kick, that financial kick to get them going to start up something new that's needed where as close to the community as they can be.

[00:26:47] Sounds like the million-dollar question we'd love to solve, so thank you. Thank you. Others that would like to be recognized, Supervisor Stork. Thank you, and obviously the report's very, very helpful. And thank you for your service, Michelle.

[00:27:04] Decades, and we've had an opportunity to work together, and I appreciate all you've done for all human services, but I know kids in particular is where we got our start. So thank you very much. And I had really one specific question, maybe one general comment. The specific questions you had under early childhood, an additional 108 children, estimated $2 million cost.

[00:27:24] Is there a specific reason for that specific number? It was on page five. Yeah. Katie, you want to answer your question? Sorry. Hi, Katie Horstman with Department of Management and Budget.

[00:27:40] So the 108 is just really based on staff capacity to implement it. There's only so much they can do in a year. So we're working on a plan over the next couple of years to phase in additional slots. Because I know we have a couple hundred coming at Ridgemont for the high school, and that's maybe two or three years out.

[00:27:59] But the capacity is about 100 a year additional? Yeah, I think with the – there are two different – slightly two different programs. The Early Childhood Development and Learning Program is out in the community, so it's working with our community partners at Original Mount Vernon.

[00:28:16] That's going to be a program that we contract out. So is one the Bell Center? Is that what the Early Childhood Development – because that goes through a united community? I guess – I don't need to spend time on it because I know where – but is that – I'll talk with you offline because I don't – I have to admit, I don't understand the limitation that's in there.

[00:28:35] It's not a limited – it's just we work with community providers, both community, like a kindercare, that type of provider, and then family daycare centers to place children versus original Mount Vernon. It's an actual facility that we're opening up.

[00:28:50] So these are existing providers that you're placing children into? Exactly, yes. Okay. And there's only so much capacity in the community in one given year. And Dan, perhaps there's a way to get a budget question to the board that just lays out the different categories of early childhood learning that we have in the county and what their existing capacities are.

[00:29:12] Because I know, you know, depending on whether you're accepting federal funding, you know, we have Head Start programs, we have center-based programs, we have programs with community-based nonprofits, we have these programs. It's complicated, and maybe there's a simple way to just spell out those tiers for us and what their capacity are just for the Board's benefit in a budget Q&A, I think would be helpful.

[00:29:33] Great. I'm fine. Thank you. Supervisor Alcorn. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. So, first of all, thank you for the recommendations on additional funding, particularly affordable housing. I know we'll do as much as we can. My question, Michelle, this is, I think, for you, you brought up the consolidated community funding pool, And I know that's not a recommendation of the Human Services Council, so I know you wear multiple hats.

[00:29:59] But I did want to ask you about that. I guess there's no recommendation of the Human Services Council on looking at funding for the CCFP. But as new nonprofits get funding from the CCFP, it affects what's available for everybody.

[00:30:15] Is that something that's on your radar? Is that an issue? Maybe it's okay. I'd just love your feedback on that. The CCFAC went through a three-year-long process of looking at the process for how the grants are solicited as well as then administered.

[00:30:35] This past cycle was the first time new recommendations went in with the two lanes, one for the emergency housing and food. That recommendation came specifically from you. But one of the things that we as CCFAC are still seeing is concern on the part of the nonprofits, same that the county is seeing for being able to retain people.

[00:31:05] We're also seeing and whether or not it is a question for discussion of how do we encourage new nonprofits, smaller nonprofits to get into the mix. Some of that involves staff communication, and they do a great job in working with the community to answer questions about the application process and so forth.

[00:31:29] But I do think that a discussion with CCFAC, and we have regular communications with nonprofit representatives. They were integrally involved in that review, three-long-year review that we did to make those final recommendations for a new process.

[00:31:48] But we are connected to them. We hear those kinds of comments. The Community Action Advisory Board also sees the challenges every quarter from the reports that we get from staff about how everything is going.

[00:32:06] And that's another means to get some of that kind of feedback, read those reports, and you'll see where the biggest challenges might be. I don't know that I could answer specifically on how to get some new nonprofits involved, but I do know that their connection within the community, their closeness to people who need those services are critical. And sometimes that's a real small group, and sometimes it's a bigger group like a Food for Others or Lorton Community Action because they reach so many people because

[00:32:43] they're able to, but sometimes it's just because the families or the people who need those services can just walk over there and get it. So, you know, it's a good thing to start thinking about having those kinds of discussions, I think, through those two in particular that I know of, CAB and CCFAC, to start looking at what that might, how anything related to those contracts might look. Well, thank you, Michelle, and that's, I kind of anticipated that, and frankly, I think we would look forward to any recommendations coming up through those two processes, because I know

[00:33:21] that's an area of sometimes change, and, you know, it's a little bit more dynamic. I'll certainly take those comments back to both of the committees and let them know that you're interested in. Great. Thank you. Okay. Supervisor Smith. Well, you know slide six made me smile. You know, I think it was maybe the 21-year budget that we were going to expand to Centerville, and then the world kind of changed a lot. And, you know, I've seen the implications

[00:33:55] for new programs being implemented and focused on our opportunity neighborhoods. So I'm telling my colleagues I will do a budget consideration item for this. I think it's important to have it's something that we look at, and I appreciate your suggestions here. Thank you. Thank you, Supervisor Smith. Anyone else who has questions for Michelle and Paul before we move on? Okay, I'm not seeing any, hearing any, so thank you again, Michelle and Paul, for your great work.

[00:34:25] We much appreciate it, and we always appreciate this opportunity to have this conversation in the context of the budget, so thank you for your recommendations, your pragmatism, and your passion. It's appreciated by all of us. Thank you. And with that, we're going to move on to agenda item number two, which is FY2023 third quarter review. And we have with us, of course, Christina Jackson, Chief Financial Officer, Phil Hagen, Director of the Department of Management and Budget, Katie Hortzman, Deputy Director, Department of Management and Budget, and Joe Lahate, our Deputy Director, also with the Department of Management and Budget. And at this

[00:35:02] time, I will turn it over to Christina. Thank you, and I will quickly turn it over to Phil. Thank you. So going over our third quarter review, which is our last opportunity to make changes in the current fiscal year before the end of the year, we have a larger package than we typically have, a bit more on the resource size than we usually have, with $109 million in new resources coming into this review you you know with the 24 advertised

[00:35:40] budget we've been talking a lot about interest earnings as being one of the the big drivers on the revenue side and certainly as we look at third quarter that's the big story on our revenue picture here with about half of those new resources coming from those increased interest rates so we're seeing both the impact on next year as well as the impact on the current fiscal year so So this slide that I have up here is our high-level overview of the third quarter package.

[00:36:07] That $109 million in new resources, really the top two lines, the previous balance as well as the revenue adjustments. That previous balance is a $58 million. It includes $5.3 million in adjustments coming out of the FY '22 audit, which increased our FY '23 beginning balance.

[00:36:28] And then as well, we have $52.8 million in adjustments based on the fall revenue estimates. Some of those adjustments that we did back in the fall, the two largest ones, an increase of $18.8 million in our projected sales tax revenues this year, really based on what we were seeing with trends throughout the year.

[00:36:46] And then we had also at that point increased investment interest earning or estimate at that point by $17.8 million. Then we have $51.2 million included as recommended adjustments in our revenue estimates now as part of the third quarter review.

[00:37:03] Expenditure adjustments, we have a total staff recommendation of a net $88 million. I would note that net amount includes some anticipated savings and fringe benefits based on some of the vacancies that we have. It also includes the utilization of some of our general fund pandemic reserve as well as some of the hiring incentive reserve that was established back as part of the carrier review then 10 million dollars in reserve adjustments keeping the county's reserves fully funded at that 10% target and we end up with a net available of ten point seven million dollars after all those staff recommendations so

[00:37:40] looking in detail on the revenue side as I mentioned our revenue is projected increase as part of this package by fifty one point two million dollars again the largest portion of that investment interest interest an increase of 37.6 million dollars with those higher interest rates combined with the fall estimate where we increased interest at that point a total of just over 55 million dollars in additional funding coming in from interest earnings. I'd note that with this adjustment our FY23 estimate is 102 million dollars now which is fairly well in line with what we're expecting FY 2024. Another revenue

[00:38:20] adjustment personal property tax an increase of 11.2 million dollars we are seeing a lower volume of vehicles this year than was projected however the average levy for vehicles as well as for business personal property is higher than expected and then a small increase 2.4 million dollars in transient occupancy taxes we continue to see the recovery in the hotel sector and so we have a higher hotel occupancy as well as a higher average daily room rate than we were seeing a year ago so as we look at the expenditure adjustments as is typical with our

[00:38:57] quarterly reviews we have focused on one-time adjustments primarily related to investments in capital projects as well as i.t projects and our vehicles i'd note overall with this package there are several adjustments that are accelerating some of the adjustments that were recommended for fy 2024 however aside from those there are no new recurring adjustments included in this package and so no additional funding requirements in 24 related to anything in this package also no new positions proposed as part of this package and so as we go through we've broken the expenditure requirements down to some broad categories as i mentioned capital

[00:39:33] projects it as well as vehicle replacement also support for our park authority office of election support as well as some other spending adjustments including some net zero adjustments and some savings. So our capital pay down projects, our largest area where we've proposed some new investments totaling $36 million, $10 million of that is to support the construction costs at the Willard Health Center. Those are anticipated to be requiring an additional $10 to $15 million, and so this funding will be sufficient for that low end. Certainly if the higher cost option is

[00:40:11] chosen with that project, we would identify additional money at a future quarterly review. We've included $8.1 million for the last phase of what's been a many years effort to renovate courtrooms at the Judicial Center, and $6.1 million for infrastructure replacement upgrades at county facilities.

[00:40:29] As is typical with this item, we are looking at the Category F projects, which are those urgent or safety-related projects. $6 million is included in advance of a projected bond sale sometime during FY 2024 for the original Mount Vernon High School that'll support design and development costs there 3.8 million dollars to address some of the emergency system failures at county facilities like where we have roof failures or HVAC failures and we've also included two million dollars for the emergency vehicle preemption program expanding that program currently we have around 100 intersections and so this would be looking for enhancements in Tyson's as

[00:41:08] well as long route 50 and route 29 helping to get our first responders out to scenes faster faster response times information technology an investment of about 23 and a half million dollars a couple of the larger projects that are included there five million dollars is included for the second phase of a three-phase project to replace elections equipment there was a first tranche of funding put in as part of the carryover review last year we're expecting that we'll put in the third tranche as part of this carryover review

[00:41:44] to fully fund that that plan there's also four million dollars included for tax system modernization we four million dollars is included for tax system modernization our Department of Tax Administration is working with the Department of Information Technology to figure out the scope and the timeline for that project and so that is something that we would anticipate to come back to the board as part of a future committee meeting to discuss also as the scope of that is determined, we would look to make potential additional adjustments in the

[00:42:19] future to make sure that that project is funded going forward. We have $10.7 million included with vehicle replacement. Some of the drivers that we're seeing within vehicle replacement increasing our costs, certainly just inflationary pressures driving up the cost of those vehicles.

[00:42:37] Another significant factor recently has been the transition of our police vehicles from sedans to SUVs which is really based on what the manufacturers are producing what we can get for police cruisers then also we have the increased cost related to our transition to hybrid and electric vehicles of particular strain within our vehicle replacement program are the cost related to fire apparatus typically this is something that the fire department is able to put some of the flexibility within their budget aside for in order to continue supporting that apparatus replacement. The costs of apparatus have certainly increased, and also with some of the pressures

[00:43:16] on the fire department budget, that's something that they have less flexibility to do this year due to some of their overtime costs. So an increase here in order to support apparatus replacement. Park authority. So we have a number of adjustments included to support the park authority. The first $5 million to help with their capital projects and to really provide some relief from their bond program this is consistent with an adjustment that we made as part of last carryover where we put in five million dollars primarily related to some of those increased costs were related to the Mount Vernon rec

[00:43:51] center so here as well we are continuing to look for alternate ways that we can get funding into the parks capital program outside of the constraints of the bond program and really here looking ahead to the the cost of some of their major innovation products projects including the Audrey Moore rec center we've included half million dollars to support forestry operations as the parks manages their tree health on their parks properties an initial four hundred thousand dollars to support bamboo mitigation we'd expect that this is going to treat about 20 acres on park property certainly the inventory of what they need to address is much larger estimated about 200 acres and so this is

[00:44:30] something that we expect to continue to need to look to make investments in and And then $350,000 to replace park signage due to the renaming of Route 29 and Route 50. We also have some funding that I'll discuss a little bit later. That's to support the costs of the VDOT remaining of some of those roads named after Confederate figures.

[00:44:51] And then we have a quarter million dollars included for educational initiatives at the Sully Historic Site and the Sully Plantation. Those educational initiatives will highlight the lives of the enslaved people who are at that site. So all told, $6.5 million in increased support for the park authority.

[00:45:11] I might note there's some other adjustments later that includes some support for their personnel costs as well. With Office of Elections, I noted earlier the $5 million that's included for elections voting equipment, but in addition to that amount, I'm sorry, I'm losing track.

[00:45:28] Within the Office of Elections, a little over $1 million in additional support outside of that elections equipment. $0.6 million included for non-merit staffing. This is related to some of the new legislative requirements as well as the additional polling places added as part of redistricting.

[00:45:44] We've also included support based on the cost of the 2023 special and primary elections and then some additional support based on some mailers that they need to send out to voters. And so then I have a couple slides detailing some of the catch-all and a variety of other areas.

[00:46:02] Over $9 million is included for accrued liability adjustments. This is where outside actuaries take a look at our overall risk management portfolio, and this is estimating the eventual total liability related to those programs, including our workers' compensation.

[00:46:21] $4.1 million is included to support personnel costs within the fire department, primarily related to overtime costs. $1.5 million to support our homeless shelters. And then this here as well, the $1.4 million that I mentioned earlier related to the cost for VDOT to replace signage along Route 29 and Route 50.

[00:46:40] And then we have a number of other adjustments included, including furniture at the New South County Police Station, as well as some ADA improvements and security improvements at county facilities. And then our last slide, detailing adjustments, we are recommending, as Supervisor Faust pointed out earlier, $10 million to be transferred from the General Fund Pandemic Reserve into affordable housing projects.

[00:47:07] We've also recognized savings of $6 million in fringe benefits related to ongoing position vacancies, and that's an area that we're able to recognize those savings based on the way that we centrally budget them. We're also recommending a reduction based on year-to-date experience within the Children's Services Act, which results in a net savings of $2.5 million based on how this is funded through a combination of state and local funding.

[00:47:34] And then we have a few net $0 adjustments. The couple that I'd really highlight here, we've included an allocation of $2 million from our hiring incentive reserve. If you'll recall, the board established that as part of the carryover review, and it's currently funded at about $4 million. And so allocating $2 million out of that reserve will support some of the agencies that have been making use of that hiring incentive program that aren't able to absorb the cost of those hiring incentives within their existing budgets, including our police department with the $15,000 hiring incentive for police officers, our park authority, including some of the hiring incentives that they'll have for some of their summer hiring, as well as the Department of Vehicle Services.

[00:48:14] And then as well, we have a net $0 adjustment as we're recommending that we accelerate the benchmark studies and have those go into effect with the May paychecks for our employees who are affected. This is similar to what was done last year to accelerate those based on the recruitment and retention challenges that we're having.

[00:48:34] And so that net $0 adjustment is pulling down some additional savings within fringe benefits in order to get funding into those agencies that are not able to absorb the impact of those benchmark adjustments. So looking ahead of our calendar, third quarter, the public hearings on it will be held concurrent with the public hearings on the advertised budget on April 11th, 12th, and 13th.

[00:48:59] During the course of those public hearings, our staff will come forward with our add-on package, which will include any adjustments that staff are recommending for the FY 2024 budget. Certainly, based on our work on this package, we're expecting that, particularly within the revenue side, that the adjustment for transient occupancy taxes will be something that we'll see an impact in FY 2024.

[00:49:20] Also, based on some of the funding for our reserves in this package, we're expecting that we won't have to put in as much money into reserves in FY 2024. And so we'll see those recommendations come forward as part of that add-on package. And then the board is scheduled to take action on third quarter, on May 2nd, as part of markup of the budget.

[00:49:41] Thank you. Okay. Thank you very much. Good presentation. And we have left some time for questions because item three on the agenda is just a takeaway. Let me just start by asking one question. And I see Jay Doshi is here.

[00:49:58] He may be the one most appropriate to answer this question. But on page six, where we have the information technology upgrades, the modernization for DTA's tax payment system, I guess, do we know if that's the cost that will cover the implementation, or is that a preliminary cost?

[00:50:17] And then also, will some of these customer service, the customer service initiatives part of this? And I know there's a lot of pieces of it, but just the customer service pieces and, you know, making it easier for people to pay their taxes.

[00:50:33] Will those be in place later this calendar year with this revenue? Chairman McKay, members of board, Jay Doshi with the Department of Tax Administration. We've begun the process, which we expect to be a multi-year process of identifying improvements that we can make, both in terms of expanding the options for payments, as well as the user experience.

[00:51:00] And this gives us a good down payment to get the work started. And DIT has been not only partnering with us, but also reaching out to vendors who will offer us services to get us to where we would like to be.

[00:51:18] Here he is. Yeah, do we, and our IT help is here. Do we, in terms of the payment systems, the other payment systems that we're evaluating, do we anticipate more flexibility in that area, at least in time for this fall's personal property tax payments?

[00:51:39] Yes, we're working towards that goal to have some new availability for payment options for this tax season. Okay. I think that's important because, you know, we've relied for a long time successfully on people mailing in checks, People paying an absorbent fee with a credit card or a lot of people standing right outside in this hallway.

[00:52:01] And so I think this is a long-term, it's a short-term improvement that's necessary, but long-term will benefit staffing at DTA and the administrative backroom work significantly. So I'm glad to hear that at least the beginning parts of this, some of the pieces that our citizens will experience will be forthcoming as soon as this fall and something that we can build on.

[00:52:24] So that's very good. Thank you. Thank you. Let me open it up to other questions that board members have, and I see Supervisor Gross first. Thank you. Phil, would you restate – I have a couple of questions, but first, would you please restate our policy on putting money into reserves?

[00:52:42] I heard you say that we may not have to put as much into reserves, and I'm sort of thinking put more in reserves, put more in reserves. We always need that savings account. So would you just reiterate what our policy is on reserves? So our three main reserves, the county, have a 10% target in total with 5% in our revenue stabilization fund, 4% in our managed reserve, and 1% in our economic opportunity reserve.

[00:53:10] So we've pretty consistently been at fully funded with those reserves now for I think a couple of years really since we got the EOR up to its full funding. That was the last one that we got up there. Now that we're at this level, we're constantly just trying to make sure that we stay there, which typically involves putting 10% of any new funding into reserves.

[00:53:30] What we're seeing here with third quarter is with these increased amounts of funding available at third quarter, that the load on new spending in third quarter is going to get the reserves up to the level they need to be for next year. And so we already had some money programmed into FY 2024 to go into reserves, and essentially that funding isn't required to go into reserves now because we'll already be at the 10% target in FY 2024.

[00:53:55] Because these third quarter expenditures are one time. Well, and I recognize that. So I'm thinking, okay, what we just heard from the Human Services Council, I'm thinking, is there a need for another sort of reserve fund that we draw down on a lot? These reserves we try not to touch, but is there something else that we should do?

[00:54:15] I'm not prepared to make a recommendation, but it just occurs to me that maybe there's something more that we need to do. On the $2 million to expand the Emergency Vehicle Preemption Program, this is the county's piece of it. This does not replace the developer proffer.

[00:54:33] Right. This would be new county funding, and certainly the fire department has come forward with three different phases that they're looking at as far as expansion right now. This would be the first one of the highest priority of those, again, Tyson's Route 50 and Route 29.

[00:54:48] Okay, okay, so I just wanted to make sure that it did not replace what we're already asking and proffers of developers are requesting. On the support from Park Authority, I see you've got additional money for forestry operations and bamboo mitigation, and I believe in the budget there was an additional, was it $50,000 for invasives removal.

[00:55:12] Invasives are overtaking our parks. Mason District Park alone has just, every time I go up to the upper parking lot, I just wonder how many more trees will come down or how many more vines will, you know, start eating up the area.

[00:55:29] So I'm wondering if there's, is there an opportunity to put more money into invasives removal, or is it a matter of you can only do so much per year and the contractors aren't available, et cetera, et cetera. And maybe you need to get back to me on that. That could be a budget Q&A. Yeah, we might have to get back. I'm trying to remember how much we had, because it's in part of the 1.3 million that we have in the baseline for environmental, I want to say it's a couple hundred thousand dollars at least for invasives removal. And I think it was a little bit more than... I do think part of it is based on workload and how much they can actually do every year. But certainly we'll work with parks to see if they can accommodate additional, since we do

[00:56:05] have a balance available. Yeah, we need to be able to get ahead of it, whether we use our own staff or whether we had contracted out, we have got to get ahead of this because it's just destroying invasives. And I'm not talking about bamboo. I'm just talking about invasive vines are destroying our opportunities for some of our park lands.

[00:56:26] And they're pulling down trees, tree canopy, and all of the rest of it. It's really bad. And it's making a couple of our smaller parks almost unusable. So I'd like to see us look at that further and see if we can get some more money in for invasive removal.

[00:56:41] Thank you. Okay. Supervisor Walkinshaw. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Just one question. Slide 10, the final bullet, refers to maintenance previously provided by the Community Labor Force. I assume that this is not referring to sign removal.

[00:57:00] Is there money in the county executive's proposal for 2024 for the sign removal? Because as of July 1, we'll be able to use contractors. So have we budgeted for that? And I assume that's not what this is, or is that what this is?

[00:57:16] I think this is primarily for, like, bus shelter maintenance and some of that work that the community labor force would do. Okay. And I just want to confirm that for FY24, we will be budgeted for contractors for sign removal? Because I think, like, July, there might be a need for starting July.

[00:57:39] Probably May. certainly the rest of this year there might be yeah that's where that's that's where may becomes the timeline so obviously we are starting to reconsider a lot of different things and we'll have to get back to you on that topic specific to what you're alluding to okay i i mean i we will have the enabling authority as of july 1 so i think we need to probably bake it into the budget if we haven't already.

[00:58:14] Okay. Yes, sir. All right. Thanks. Okay. And actually related to that, because the hypothermia program is included in there as well, I assume those are funds to close out expenses related to the hypothermia program that we just completed. In other words, those are not down payments on future opportunities.

[00:58:33] That's really to close out the work that happened this past winter. Yes, that's correct. Okay. All right. Other questions? Supervisor Herity. Just real briefly. You know, with good news comes bad news. Interest rates went up, and we got a lot of money there.

[00:58:51] But on the other side of that, we lost a lot of the pension funds. Do we know what the impact was to the pension funds overall in terms of? So for what we included in the FY24 budget was about $24.9 million.

[00:59:06] It wasn't just investment losses. It was also on the liability side because we have vacancies. You have a smaller base that you're actually paying the contributions against, and also some of the pay increases that we had put into place the past couple of years. were a little bit higher than what the actuaries had assumed. But that was the pension impact for the 24 budget.

[00:59:24] Did we consider using any of the one-time money to close that liability? Because I noticed we dropped pretty significantly in our funded ratios. Yeah, we haven't typically done that. I think in order to move the needle, it would require a lot.

[00:59:41] So typically, we've been handling the funding of the pension systems through the employer contribution rate through the annual process. Okay, thanks. Other questions? Supervisor Faust. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I think it's a good package. We're very fortunate to be able to address a lot of issues. The one thing I did want to point out, though, is, you know, when you say net available, 10.7 million, I mean, in speaking to the board, basically we're starting out with 100 plus million available. Staff has recommended how we're going to spend

[01:00:20] 100 of that, but the board has to agree to that. So, I mean, it's all on the table is what I'm say. Vehicle replacements is the only two things I'm going to ask you about. First off, let me get this one behind. Willard Health Center, you tell us what was estimated. What is the projected cost at this point, the total cost of that project? Yeah, so the county share of it originally was $58 million, and we had that included in our fall 2020 bond of our friend in the past for the human services piece and that was just the county share obviously it's a joint city county project

[01:00:58] together so i think right now we're looking at a range all in anywhere between 116 and 124 million dollars 116 and 124 yeah as the county share that's all in total project estimate so of that total either 116 or 124 it's roughly a 60 40 split between the county 60 percent and the city 40 of those costs and i think we clarified in a prior meeting the city is on the hook for their share they're going to sell their own set of bonds to come up with their cost piece we do ours and invoices are paid concurrently through us yeah this question kind of academic or theoretic or

[01:01:36] whatever but at what point do we reevaluate projects i mean they're going to keep going you know up and up and up and i'm not saying we should not do this but how how do we stay on top of this we're reevaluating just it's not adequate obviously and i'm sure you agree to just keep adding yeah so i think to the project a couple of the costs associated this are just given the current times right now a combination of inflation supply chain and i think there are three different options available on this site and i believe it was discussed back in february supervisor walker

[01:02:13] shop if i'm not mistaken at the joint city county meeting and i think those all those options in the respective costs for each were laid out to reps from from both sides so i think the key piece we want to do is make sure we have the additional funds on hand in the form of this cash to kind of get that bird in the hand in advance of construction, which is still, I think, at least a year and a half, potentially two years out. So we'll wait and see where those costs potentially move from there. But I think our whole point was to try to get our share ready to go. Okay. The only other thing I would have then is for the vehicle replacement, you lump a couple things together

[01:02:53] that I think probably should be separated out cost-wise. I mean, basically you say this is additional cost for the police going from sedans to SUVs and for county replacement and for the transition to hybrid and electric. I mean, I think we should know what it's costing us to do the transition to hybrid and electric. I don't think it's near what, you know, at this stage. And how

[01:03:29] much, what are we getting for it? You know, where are we at in terms of the transition? There's too much uh unsaid when you when you do that i think so if you could break out that might even be a budget question i i don't know whatever whatever makes sense in terms of getting us the information but where are we at what's what are we spending to get there we can certainly provide that breakout and some additional information um i believe the the bulk of um that 5.7 the largest share at least is related to the police transition um but we can provide that breakout and with regard to that

[01:04:08] Could you tell us what it's ultimately going to cost to make this transition? Because I'm not sure how we got – I remember when we went to the sedan and how we did that. I don't remember how we transitioned to SUVs.

[01:04:25] So if you could provide that information as well. Yes, sir. Yeah, I think to that point, when we provide that information, if we could also provide the MPG and some of the other stats on that, because as I recall when we last looked at it, the sedan production was being phased out.

[01:04:42] but one of the critical questions we had is the optics of SUVs when we're trying to get some traction on climate change and address those issues, how that was going to transpire. And so I know there was a briefing that we got that showed the MPGs and ranges on those vehicles.

[01:05:00] Are we going to include that in the Q&A? And then also what is proposed in the county executive's budget to further these vehicle replacement initiatives too, just so we can get the whole picture. I wouldn't want anyone to read the budget Q&A and think that the only vehicle replacement issues that we're dealing with are the ones that are in third quarter.

[01:05:20] That's a tiny piece of the overall puzzle. So if we could also include what's projected in the county executive's budget with that, I think that would give us a better picture also of where we're going, or at least what staff's recommendations are for how to move forward. Thank you. And the presentation was very helpful, the way it laid out.

[01:05:39] I mean, third quarter and they can get complicated, but I think you did a nice job of laying it out, so thank you. Okay. Other questions on third quarter? Supervisor Stork to be followed by Supervisor Palchuk. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

[01:05:55] And I have questions on page 11. Two questions. I'll start with maybe these are the two. On the third bullet, the reduction of $5 million mandated Children's Services Act. Maybe just somebody can explain the essence of that, please.

[01:06:12] so the children's services act is a mandated program um that we partner with the schools on and it's really based on our experience year to date so we're not seeing as many kids coming through children's services act as we have previously we do expect because most of our referrals come from fcps we do expect the numbers to return to our pre-pandemic levels but they just haven't yet and the and the state portion that's their their share of that yeah That's about a 50-50 match in terms of the revenue.

[01:06:44] So we get 50% of our revenue from the state. Okay. And the second one, maybe it's just I'm missing something. Hopefully you'll educate me. On the second bullet point, savings of $6 million in fringe benefits, obviously the bigger portion of that is the actual savings on the salary or compensation.

[01:07:01] Where is that in here? So we haven't taken the savings from the agencies. That would fall out as part of carryover. The way we budget for benefits makes it a little bit easier for us to take the savings on the benefit side, because it's all aggregated, we don't have to assume that this agency is not going to be able to fill their positions and this agency is not going to be able to. It's like overhead costs.

[01:07:23] Yeah. We know that we're probably not going to be able to fill all our positions. We can take savings on the fringe side. We know that agencies are still really trying to fill their positions, so we don't want to try to constrain them in any way. But certainly, we know we're going to have some savings at year-end, and you'll see that in the carryover package. Okay. And, I mean, Every organization has a different kind of fringe overhead package per employee.

[01:07:46] This $6 million, if you did the inverse of that, what would that likely represent in the way of overall salaries that have not been? Because I don't know if the ratio is. Fringes are, I mean, I know 10% to 20% fringe for, you know, FICA and obviously unemployment and health insurance, blah, blah, blah.

[01:08:07] I don't know what they are for the county. Some sense of what that reverse number is? Yeah, we can do it as a budget Q&A because it really, we have different fringe rates for the different types of positions.

[01:08:27] But, I mean, it does fluctuate, but, I mean, retirement could be 40%, 50% of salary. Yeah, I was wondering about that too, but I didn't know if that's in, you're including that in the fringe adjustments that you're making here as retirement as well. Yeah, so that includes the retirement contributions, health insurance, FICA, yeah, everything.

[01:08:49] Yeah, we can do it as a budget Q&A. Yeah, and I think overall I've seen in the past what that general ratio was, but I was trying to at least get an order of magnitude number from that. So thank you. Okay. Supervisor Palchuk. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

[01:09:05] Thank you for the presentation. Just a couple of points. I think, number one, briefly going back to the Willard Sherwood Center, I believe that's the top of slide five, if my back of the envelope math is correct, And if I remember correctly, there were three different proposals that were being looked at, and I think we on the county side were hoping for the most cost-effective one that also seemed to be the best fit, which would be, I think, closer to the $10 million you

[01:09:39] have here, maybe around $11.6 million on the lower end, following Joe's math, and $16.4 on the higher end. Number one, do we know yet if when that's finalized, and could we share the proposals with... The full board, because I think only a few of us sit on that joint commission.

[01:09:58] Yep, by all means, we can pass that presentation around. Like I said, I think they're still working through the phase two of that development agreement, which I think they're just trying to iron out the final cost with that. But you're correct. There were three options. I think we were trying to get there at a minimum to make sure we had at least a base level to go on. But I think the one option with the below-grade parking, I believe, was the preferred route of most.

[01:10:17] But I think still to come back and get that finalized. Okay, just remind me, approximate timing on when that decision needs to be made. I want to get back to you on that because I think Public Works, I know, came to the board in December with the second phase of the design agreement. I don't know if the plan was to come back.

[01:10:34] So if I could just follow up with them and go through you with the Q&A on that one, that's okay. Okay, that would be great. Very helpful. Thank you. And then following up, looking back at the NIP that came to us from Deputy Executive Leonard on the Extreme Heat work group and their recommendations.

[01:10:55] And I know there weren't line-item things, and some of them kind of fall more generally in our nonprofit support, as was discussed earlier. It did say in their conclusion that they would work with -- HHS would work with DMB to identify funding for those items and maybe see if there were additional items.

[01:11:13] I know we did receive a letter from NAACP as a response to that, and some of it might be just for us to get some clarity on what funding is going forward or has been targeted or identified for the recommendations, and that way we know if there's anything further that needs or should happen that we can help identify those funds.

[01:11:32] Sure. I mean, my understanding that the fiscal impact of that was going to be relatively small and was going to be able to be absorbed within agency appropriation. So we hadn't included anything, but we could put something together. Okay. I think that would be very helpful. Very much appreciate that. And I think I just had one clarifying question on the item, I think we've talked a little bit about the reserves and the $10 million coming for the housing. And I think, I believe Ms. Jackson mentioned earlier something about ARPA funding as well. If you could just clarify what we're looking at, what exactly that means for the

[01:12:09] housing piece, whether it's coming from reserves or ARPA and what those totals would be. Yeah, so two separate. Right now we would use, we have about $20 million in our general fund pandemic reserve as part of their quarter. We would recommend using 10 of that for affordable housing, and then right now maintaining the 10 that's sitting in balance, and then we'll come forward as part of carryover in terms of some of those initiatives that we talked about earlier with the Human Services Council, food access, emergency rental assistance, whether or not we need to dip into any of those funds for those needs. And then separately, we're working with housing and community development. We know there's a potential opportunity for potential shelter

[01:12:48] space and as well as affordable housing. We're working with them to right size that amount and that would be an additional ARPA allocation. That would be on top of the $45 million that we've already allocated from our ARPA funds that would then go towards affordable housing. But we don't want to put a number out there yet just because we know that HCD is still working towards that.

[01:13:06] Okay. Thank you. Very much appreciate that. And just to clarify, both of those are the one-time funds being moved over. Okay. Thank you. Okay. Yes, Supervisor Alcorn. Just real quick. So I'm not going to ask you for the housing funds from ARPA.

[01:13:22] How much ARPA funds are left overall? I want to say technically we haven't allocated $35 million, although we have things in the works. That are in the pipeline. Yeah, that are in the pipeline. Okay, thank you. Okay, thank you again for the presentation.

[01:13:39] There are a few budget Q&As that came up here that will be circulated as soon as they're available. And then lastly, just as a takeaway, There is a memo everyone should have received from Ed Blum, chairman of ITPAC, which also outlines some of the ITPAC issues, IT issues in the county, including some recommendations for us to consider as part of the budget.

[01:14:02] And so hopefully people get an opportunity to review that. And as always, if they have any questions, refer those to our staff to get any of those questions answered. But again, it's just a memo for us to take away that's included in the agenda today. And with that, the budget meeting is complete.

[01:14:20] Let me just remind a few things to remind folks about. At 3 p.m. in this room, the Dulles Rail Phase I and Phase II District Commission meetings are being held from 3 to 4. And then the rest of the board will report back here at 4 p.m. for our Land Use Policy Committee, which we will go into closed session and we will hold here in this room just for simplicity.

[01:14:48] And then we will, after that, for those who want to go to the environmental wards, those will be following that. So just to give you an idea for schedule. So if you're not here for Dulles Rail, if you can exit to make room for the people who are here for Dulles Rail, that meeting will go from exactly 3 o'clock to no later than 4 o'clock because we want to start the land use process meeting on the dot at 4 o'clock, okay?

[01:15:13] All right, with that, our committee meeting is over. Thank you.

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