Gorman: Trying to avoid layoff angst

Superintendent Peter Gorman emailed Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools employees today to explain why a layoff vote has been delayed two days, to a special meeting at 1:30 p.m. Wednesday in the Government Center (it's open to the public).

If county commissioners approve an additional $26 million, as expected, the job cuts won't be as drastic as what Gorman and the board have been talking about. "We don’t want to notify employees that they are losing their jobs, then have to rescind that," Gorman writes. "We don’t want to put our employees through any more anxiety than is necessary and we’re glad our Board is deferring this vote."

Here's the whole memo:

From: "Peter C. Gorman" <peter.gorman@cms.k12.nc.us>
Date: June 6, 2011 4:48:19 PM EDT
To: cmsmailall <cmsmailall@cms.k12.nc.us>
Subject: Budget update

Dear CMS employees,

As we move closer to the Mecklenburg Board of County Commissioners’ vote on county funding for CMS, the situation continues to be very fluid. The county commissioners will vote tomorrow on our funding and this has led to a change in our schedule.

Our Board of Education was scheduled to vote tonight on the reduction in force, giving us the authority to move forward on it. But last week’s straw votes by the Board of County Commissioners suggest that we may get an additional $26 million over what we originally planned.

We don’t want to notify employees that they are losing their jobs, then have to rescind that. So instead of voting for the reduction in force at its meeting today, our Board will defer the vote on the reduction in force until Wednesday. By then, we expect to know for certain what our county funding will be.

We don’t want to put our employees through any more anxiety than is necessary and we’re glad our Board is deferring this vote. The past three years have been so difficult for all CMS employees, our students and their families -- and this year in particular has been hard because we’re closing some schools. So it seems wise to wait and see what our county funding will be. Our Board will meet in a special open session at 1:30 p.m. on Wednesday.

The county vote will resolve some of the uncertainty for all of us. We are still waiting on a budget from the state, of course, so we don’t know our full budget yet. But we are hoping that we’ll get some good news from the county tomorrow night.

We’ll continue to keep you posted as events occur.

Pete

Peter C. Gorman

Superintendent

Government Center

600 East 4th Street

Charlotte, NC 28202

980-343-6270 -- phone

980-343-7135 -- fax

http://www.cms.k12.nc.us/

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 The indictment is the culmination of a secretive federal probe that has been going on for more than two years. The investigation has centered on allegations that donations to John Edwards were used to support Rielle Hunter, his former mistress and mother of his now-3-year-old daughter.

--------------

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Pending Counts: Conspiracy, False Statements

Highest Offense Level: Felony

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GOP plan cuts tax rate, sends more to CMS

Mecklenburg's four Republican county commissioners rolled out a plan late Tuesday evening to cut spending far enough to lower the property tax rate by five cents. Read the proposal below

The proposal from commissioners Karen Bentley, Neil Cooksey, Bill James and Jim Pendergraph came hours before the county board is set to begin taking tentative votes on the 2011-12 budget. Bentley emailed the plan to the Observer late Tuesday.

The plan includes some $55.9 million in proposed cuts, but also would send an additional $15.4 million to Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools. That could help the district save 260 teaching positions.

Republican commissioners have long said they would not support a budget with a tax rate higher than the so-called revenue-neutral levy. That would let the county raise about the same amount of money through property taxes next year. The GOP proposal sets the tax rate at 78.45 cents per $100 of assessed valuation, which is just below the neutral level. -- APRIL BETHEA

=================================================================

GOP Propose ‘Revenue Negative’ Rate

Right –sized budget cuts tax rate 5.42 cents

Charlotte, NC (5-31-2011) – The Republican Caucus of the Mecklenburg Countybelow the ‘revenue neutral’ rate of 78.83 set by law. Here is a summary of the various proposed budgets: Board of Commissioners is proposing a budget that helps fund CMS teacher positions during the Great Recession while reducing the tax rate 5.42 cents below the current rate and lowering the burden of revaluation. The Republican Commissioners “revenue negative” rate can be achieved with right-sized budget cuts. The GOP budget increases funding for CMS $15,401,620 from the FY2011 budget to fund 260 high priority teaching positions while decreasing the Manager’s Budget overall by $43,523,119. The resulting tax rate is

• Prior Year (2011) County Budget 83.87 tax rate $ 954,844,690
• Manager’s Proposed (2012) Budget 82.49 tax rate Incr of $77,323,005 $1,032,167,695
• Cogdell’s Proposed (2012) Budget 82.97 tax rate Incr of $75,997,406 $1,030,942,096
• GOP’s Proposed (2012) Budget 78.45 tax rate Incr of $33,799,886 $ 988,644,576

So, how does this proposal balance the Mecklenburg County Budget, cut costs and increase funding to schools, while at the same time achieving a revenue negative tax rate? Here’s a summary:

• Manager’s Proposed Budget (without CMS increase) $1,006,078,584
• Increase in staff estimate for Sales Tax $ 3,000,000
• Increase for CMS $ 15,401,620
• Increase for DV and Sheriff $ 145,000
• Decreases in other areas (see below) ($ 55,924,844)
• GOP Proposed Budget $ 988,644,576

Highlights of the cost savings from the Manager’s proposed budget are as follows (speadsheet details to follow shortly):

• Decrease funding for DSS as proposed by Commissioner Codgell, $2,000,000
• Reduce proposed increase for OPEB’s (from $8 million), $2,500,000
• Reduce proposed increase for employee 401k matches, $2,500,000
• Reduce County funding for ‘retiree’ health costs, $2,350,000
• Reduce “pay for performance” (raises) by ½, $2,100,000
• Reduce proposed increase in “Capital Reserve,” $2,350,000
• Reduce “CMC healthcare Contract,” $1,499,016
• Reduce proposed increase for “Libraries,” $1,000,000
• Reduce ”Substance Abuse” prohibiting taxpayer funding of multiple detox/yr, $3,000,000
• Eliminate funding for new Outside Agencies (approx. total), $ 1,220,949
• Eliminate proposed increase in Public Assistance, $2,656,839
• Reduce proposed increase in County Training budget, $550,000
• Reduce proposed increase in Technology Reserve, $500,000
• Eliminate proposed increase in “Homeless Support Services,"$426,936

Items in red are those proposed by Commissioner Cogdell at varying amounts (except the first which the GOP and Commissioner Cogdell agree on – a cut of $2 million to DSS).

Cogdell offers new Meck budget proposal

Mecklenburg commissioners now have another budget proposal to consider as Democrat Harold Cogdell rolled out his own plan Wednesday for how the county should spend money next year.

His proposal would lower the tax rate to 82.37 cents per $100 of assessed value -- 1.5 cents below the current levy and slightly lower than the one recommended by County Manager Harry Jones.

Meanwhile, Cogdell wants to give $34.4 million in additional money to Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools, including a $10 million grant to be used specifically for the Bright Beginnings pre-K program. The program could be downsized under the district's budget depending on how much CMS gets from the county and state.

Other commissioners likely will craft their own budget plans in the coming days. Cogdell's appears to be one of at least four currently under consideration -- Jones', as well as one from Democrat and Chair Jennifer Roberts who wants to give CMS an extra $40 million partly by keeping the tax rate.

Meanwhile, board Republicans have long said they would not support a tax rate higher than the revenue-neutral levy of 78.83 cents.

Cogdell shared details of his budget proposal in an email to commissioners, county staff and the Observer. Here is the full text:


"Fellow Commissioners,

Please find attached my proposed county budget for all to consider. This proposed budget is above-revenue neutral and below rate neutral. The property tax rate needed to support this budget is .8237. It provides $34.4M to CMS above last year’s funded amount; maintains funding for the Bright Beginnings program; provides $1M extra to CPCC; reinstates merit pay raises and 401K matches for county employees; and reduces the current tax rate by 1 ½ cents (1/2 cents below what the manager has proposed). Please find attached a line item by line item spreadsheet of the entire county budget with my proposed changes.

Now that all relevant facts have been provided to our Board, I would encourage each of us to do the same with the straw vote spreadsheets provided by county staff. We are past the point of speaking in general terms about budget goals but each of us needs to be very specific about what line items we would fund, reduce or what revenue modifications or projections each of us would change in order to develop a balanced budget.

Please note that I have no intention of supporting either a tax rate neutral or revenue neutral budget. I am inclined to consider how we could identify further sound and thoughtful reductions that could result in an even lower tax rate. I am willing to meet with any Commissioner that is willing to not draw a line in the sand on revenue or rate neutral understanding that both positions border on the extreme.

It is so easy to say to community stakeholders and partners, if I had four more votes I would support your request. In the alternative, it is so easy to say I am only supporting a revenue neutral budget without identifying where reductions would be made. I am confident that we will all be transparent in this process, make clear where each of us stands on the many budget considerations and remain focused on adopting a responsible budget for Mecklenburg County.

The highlights of my proposed budget include the following:

• 1% increase in sales tax revenue for FY12 above the manager’s recommended amount ($1.2M).
• $1.6M reduction in CMS operating from the manager’s recommended amount.
• $10M Grant to CMS to be used exclusively for the Bright Beginnings program. Please note that the $10M for the BB Grant is placed in line item #2 under CMS debt and does not reflect any desire on my part to add $10M to CMS debt service.
• $1M increase in funding to CPCC above the manager’s recommended amount ($1.2M).
• $300K reduction in funding to for the ASC Center for Arts & Technology from the manager’s recommended amount.
• $2M reduction from the overall DSS budget to be determined by the manager’s office which equals a 3.5% departmental reduction. The proposed budget still results in a $400K increase in the DSS budget from FY11.
• $2M reduction in the recommended OPED funding level.
• $515K reduction in employee training – almost $1.5M remains in employee training funds.
• $290K reduction in the Human Services Finance Division that funds 8 instead of 12 new finance positions.
• $1.75M reduction from the manager’s recommended capital reserve ($8.5M remains in the reserve).
• $350K reduction from the manager’s recommended technology reserve ($4.4M remains in the reserve).
• $450K reduction from the manager’s recommended budget to the Mecklenburg County Sheriff’s Office (reductions to be determined at the discretion of the Sheriff). This equates to a ½ of 1% of the departmental budget.
• $499K of the $1.5M Carolinas Healthcare System Contract for services provided through the Mecklenburg County Health Department.
• No changes to the manager’s recommended funding level to the PLCMC (Library).

Please note that the above listed modifications are the highlights and is not a comprehensive list of every proposed change to the manger’s recommended budget.

Harold Cogdell, Jr.
Mecklenburg County Commissioner At-Large

How high could some Meck tax bills rise?

More than half of the Mecklenburg households facing higher taxes under County Manager Harry Jones' recommended 2011-12 budget would see their bills increase by up to 20 percent, newly-released figures show.

Four percent could see their tax bills more than double, the county analysis shows. See the chart by clicking here.

(Search the Observer's database to find out how much your tax bill could increase by clicking here )

Jones' budget proposes a tax rate of 82.49 cents per $100 of assessed value. That's just over a penny less than the current rate, but would be applied to the new -- and in many cases, higher -- property tax values mailed earlier this year.

Mecklenburg officials previously said 185,127 households, or about 57 percent in the county, would pay more under Jones' proposal.

Of those, about 57 percent, or 105,178 households, would see their bills increase by up to 19.99 percent, according to information sent to county commissioners on Monday.

Another 30,329 households would see their bills increase between 20- and 20.99 percent.

Meanwhile, 4.1 percent could see their bills go up by more than 100 percent. -- APRIL BETHEA

Roberts: $40m more to CMS, flat tax rate

Mecklenburg County Commissioners Chair Jennifer Roberts issued a statement late Wednesday saying she wants to keep the same property tax rate next year and send an extra $40 million to Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools in 2011-12.

Read the full statement, which Roberts sent to the Observer, below.

Roberts said she also wants to give Central Piedmont Community College $2.5 million, and backed a plan to give more to the Charlotte Mecklenburg Library to avoid more branch closings.

County Manager Harry Jones unveiled a budget recommendation on Tuesday that would give CMS $26 million more for operations, which is just over half what the school board requested. His plan would lower the tax rate by just over one penny, but most taxpayers would pay more next year because most home values rose in the county's reappraisal. - APRIL BETHEA

----------------------------------------------

STATEMENT BY JENNIFER ROBERTS IN RESPONSE TO THE COUNTY MANAGER’S RECOMMENDED BUDGET

MAY 18, 2011



I advocate a County budget that keeps our tax rate where it is (83.87 cents per $100 value) to help close a budget gap created by a severe loss in state education funding. I know this will create a higher tax cost for many in our county because of the recent revaluation, but I simply cannot support cutting 1,000 more teachers from our schools, eroding the academic gains we have made, and setting back our education system by decades. I believe that further cuts to CMS will cost our community more in the long run and it is for this reason that the budget I support is strong in education, including increased support for CMS, CPCC, and the Charlotte Mecklenburg Library.

Even by keeping the current tax rate we cannot fully stave off reductions in teachers and personnel, especially in pre-school, but we can at least bring County funding for CMS back to the level it was in 2008, when the system had 6,000 fewer students.

This is an extraordinary time for our community. We have weathered the worst recession since World War II, and for the past three years have made deep cuts to county government and CMS as well as our nationally known community college, Central Piedmont, and our once nationally known public library system.

In the entire time that I have been a commissioner, the Mecklenburg County Board of Commissioners has always placed education at the top of its priorities. In every public forum I have participated in this year, our citizens have told me that education is a priority for them as well. This is because education is essential to the future success of our entire community. It prepares workers for those companies that continue to move and expand here; it provides self sufficiency for residents who can support themselves with employment and avoid government assistance; and it provides the very basis of our democracy and our ability to have strong, accountable, and accessible government.

I propose a budget that funds these three elements at the following levels:

• CMS: $340 million ($40 m increase, $14 million over Manager’s budget)
• CPCC: $26.4 million ($2.5 m increase, $1 m over Manager’s budget)
• Libraries: $ 23.4 million ($2.3 m increase, equal to Manager’s budget)

In addition to the rate neutral tax rate, which will bring in almost $14 million over the manager’s recommended budget, there are other adjustments that can be made to support this CMS amount. For example, we could help fund this education budget by waiting at least one more year to restore the 401(k) match for County employees (up to $5 million saved) or by funding County employee raises at 2% instead of 3% ($1 million saved).

We have made steady gains in academic achievement in our school system over the past 3 years, and have reduced the achievement gap at the same time. Yet we risk losing all that and more if we sustain the depth of cuts that CMS faces with level County funding for the next fiscal year, or even with $26 million more as recently recommended by our manager. A strong public education system benefits everyone, and a weak and declining system will hurt everyone, drive away potential employers, and jeopardize our future. I hope my colleagues and this community will stand with me as I support a strong education budget that puts our children and future first.

Jennifer Watson Roberts
Chairman, Mecklenburg County

Merchant/James email battle: Trying again

Some of you no doubt wonder what's going on with yesterday's blog on the fiesty email exchange between Charlotte-Mecklenburg school board member Trent Merchant and Mecklenburg County Commissioner Bill James. About the time that readers were getting interested and weighing in, comments shut down, then the blog itself disappeared.

No, we didn't censor the item. There have been massive problems at blogger.com that started late yesterday afternoon and are just getting resolved. The site status report promises that yesterday's blogs will reappear at some point. (Update: the original blog has been restored without comments; I hope those will be recovered, too.) For now, here's the background on the issues that sparked the exchange.

And here are the emails, with a response by James that landed in my inbox shortly after blogger.com shut down. -- Ann Doss Helms

From: Bill James [wjames@carolina.rr.com]
Sent: Wednesday, May 11, 2011 11:44 AM
To: Trent Merchant
Subject: CMS nightmare tax increase
CMS Nightmare tax increase

5-4 school board vote would force tax increases on 144,000 additional Meck citizens
Citizens already receiving tax increase at 'revenue neutral' will be hammered harder

CMS district 6 rep Tim Morgan is swing vote for tax increase
District 6 receives most tax increases of all County Commission districts

For some time, there has been a push to 'leave the tax rate the same' at 83.87 cents).

Chairman Roberts and other D's have pushed for it but for the most part there has not been any hard evidence of the pain it would inflict on citizens here in Mecklenburg.

Yesterday, at my request from several months back, County staff outlined how many people would be hammered if the tax rate stayed the same (sometimes called 'rate' neutral).

To begin with, even at 'revenue neutral' 157,966 households would have a tax increase ('revenue neutral' is dropping the rate to 78.83 cents). I think that rate is too high and believe we need a 'revenue negative budget'.

As bad as raising taxes on 157,966 households (630,000 people approx), IF the rate stayed the same (at 83.87 cents) an additional 36,128 households (aboutr 144,000 more people) would receive a tax increase.

On top of that, the folks who received a 'moderate' tax increase (if there is such an animal) at 'revenue neutral' would be hammered into Mecklenburg's red clay dirt.

A 5% tax hike would turn into a 27% tax hike. If at revenue neutral your tax hike is already 30%.... well, you can do the math.

It would be brutal. Revenue Neutral is already a brutal tax increase which is why I believe the Commission needs a revenue negative budget to lower the extreme tax increases within that pool of 157,966 households (630,000 people).

I am still waiting on that report to come in.

The school board voted to ask for $50 million with the District 6 Republican Tim Morgan (brother of Charlotte Chamber head honcho Bob Morgan) casting the deciding vote for this tsunami of a tax increase.

I note that in terms of the number households with a tax increase by District the order is (at revenue neutral):

District 6 38,074 REPUBLICAN
District 5 36,599 REPUBLICAN
District 1 34,813 REPUBLICAN

District 2 17,594 DEMOCRAT
District 3 15,909 DEMOCRAT
District 4 14,953 DEMOCRAT

It makes me wonder why the Republican from District 6 (which already will have the MOST tax increases in the whole county) would vote to make the matter worse for those in his district when almost all of the money raised by giving CMS $50 million more would benefit people in other districts.

There will be those that say he is looking at the bigger picture or helping out the less fortunate. All good qualities but in the end I think it is because the Chamber wants the increase.

Ultimately, Mecklenburg County citizens can not afford what Tim Morgan, the CMS school board majority and the power elite in Charlotte are dishing out.

If you sit on your hands next week at the public hearing (19th) don't be surprised if your property taxes go up 50%.

The link below is a PDF posted on my web site of the info from the County.

________________________________________
From: Trent Merchant
Sent: Wednesday, May 11, 2011 10:38 PM
To: wjames@carolina.rr.com; Tim Morgan
Cc: Eric C. Davis; jennifer.roberts@mecklenburgcountync.gov
Subject: RE: CMS nightmare tax increase

Bill - I want to thank you for your hard work and for yet another installment of your hard-hitting analyses on vital topics via e-blast.

And thank you for reminding me to focus on those things that are most dangerous to my quality of life, rather than simply enjoying said quality of life. Based on your previous missives, I have spent many hours in recent years watching my back, lest African-Americans emerging from the depths of the moral sewer might try to harm me - and watching my backside when I take my children to local parks, certain that I will accosted by marauding packs of gays.

Now I realize that our greatest threat has been right under our noses all along - and its name is Tim Morgan. To think that I believed all of his corn-pone talk about fishing, camping, Boy Scouts, his faith, and his children... Morgan the Megalomaniac has deceived us all as he has found a way to single-handedly raise my taxes, despite the fact that the School Board has no taxing authority. How dare he!

My feeble memory of last night's meeting was that, after 7 months of discussion, a majority of the board voted on an initial budget request to reduce overall funding to CMS by about $64 million. And I could have sworn that when he made the budget motion, Tim Morgan specifically called on state legislators to do their part in protecting funding for public education. And I thought that when he called on the county to restore a significant amount of funding, he was thinking about the schools in the district that you share with him - you know the one where class sizes are already large and will get even larger next year - where your constituents will lose 2/3 of the elementary teaching assistants, many of whom have masters degrees, who have all the qualifications to be teachers except for formal certification - and where 1 key staff member will be cut from every school.

But after reading your clarifying missive, I realize that everything was up in the air until Tim cast his dramatic vote. And I see that Tim has been little more than a sinister puppet controlled by elitists like his big brother. How could I have missed all the signs of the intra-family psychological beat-down that has surely been decades in the making? When Bob Morgan went to head the Gastonia Chamber of Commerce some years ago, we should have recognized that he was going big-time on us... why didn't you warn us then, Bill?

Bill - I understand that before becoming a full-time local politician whose livelihood depends on being re-elected every 2 years, you were a CPA with a reputable firm - so maybe you can help me with a potential cash flow problem that I see developing at home. The recent reval increased the tax value of my modest middle class home by 36%. If the County Commission leaves the tax rate the same, I will pay $108.86 more per year in property taxes than I would if you went to a revenue neutral rate - that is more than $9.07 per month! Sir, this is an outrage! How will we make ends meet in my home? I understand that my children and their peers are important, and that strong public schools lead to a more viable workforce, stronger tax base, and lower crime rate over time - but at what cost? Surely not $108.86.

I look forward to your continuing insight on this and related matters.

And if you do not have insight to share, I remain confident that you will continue to weigh in on other topics on which you feel the urge to incite and inflame. We are all counting on you.

In humble gratitude,
Trent Merchant
CMS Board of Education, At Large

-----Original Message-----
From: William F. James, Jr [
Sent: Wednesday, May 11, 2011 10:52 PM
To: 'Trent Merchant'; 'Tim Morgan'
Cc: 'Eric C. Davis'; 'jennifer.roberts@mecklenburgcountync.gov'; 'Don Reid'; 'tashcraft@bellsouth.net'; 'Jeff Taylor'; mark pellin; Dan Bishop
Subject: RE: CMS nightmare tax increase

Trent -
I think if the guy representing the folks bearing the brunt of most of the tax increases in Mecklenburg wants to vote for that tax increase it is between him and the voters. Who am I to get in the middle of that except to point out that it occurred and he was the lone Republican doing so.

As for your $108.86 potential tax increase - glad you think it is paltry.

I wonder if the public agrees. Using your logic all 194,000 should be pleased with your decision last night.

I got a call from someone in Plaza-Midwood. They had a 117% increase in the value of their house. They are not the only ones.

I think your deficit problem is not with your cash flow.

Tim can defend himself even if his vote isn't particularly defensible.



mailto:wjames@carolina.rr.com]