[0:00] There you go.
[0:06] » You got it. Yep.
>> All right. I guess just to uh get
[0:13] started again here, we had some trouble
with the microphones. Uh the first item
[0:16] we have is an update on the NES
playground and Dr. Leslie is here this
[0:21] evening. [clears throat]
>> Thank you. Good evening. Are you able to
[0:25] bring my PowerPoint up? Um because I
have a lot of numbers in it. So, I'll go
[0:29] ahead and give you some broad strokes on
the playground update, but I'm what I'm
[0:32] really here for um is to request that
we're able to make a 50% payment towards
[0:38] the phase 2 of the playground. We have
already made the 50% um payment for
[0:43] phase 1. Um we are slated to hopefully
break ground September 14th or within
[0:49] that vicinity on phase 1. Phase two, of
course, would be later. The reason I'm
[0:53] here today is we're hoping to get the
payment in for phase 2 as soon as
[0:57] possible because at the end of the
month, some of the running deals and
[1:01] some free shipping will run out for that
phase two. So, we were trying to get the
[1:04] most bang for our buck. Um, if you're
able, could you bring up the PowerPoint
[1:08] or the it's in a PDF file that I brought
that has the numbers in it. It's not in
[1:13] this file.
[1:27] I would do an interpretive dance, but
I'm under the weather, so I'm going to
[1:32] skip it for today.
[1:41] Long as we don't get no artwork, we all
right.
[1:47] » Actually, I think Dr. Pica said she
would try to be the dance.
[1:58] » Well, uh, without the PowerPoint, I
don't know if gentlemen, you have a copy
[2:02] of the PowerPoint in front of you, but I
do not have the numbers in front of me.
[2:07] » Thank you. Um, thank you.
So, in a nutshell, what I put together
[2:14] here was really just um some of the math
to take you through where we are and
[2:19] where we're going um with the playground
project. So, um of course, the board of
[2:24] supervisors had approved the funds of
$310,56524.
[2:30] Um and we had an original phase 1 uh
invoice for $325,789.
[2:38] And as I stated, thank you. Yeah. Um if
you could
[2:42] you know what go keep going we'll we'll
go past that one and come back. Okay
[2:46] we'll start here. Um so we had made that
payment of the 164854.
[2:51] Um bringing the balance down in that CIP
account to 147710.
[2:57] Um since that I have a limited list
here. I want to be clear that I will
[3:00] include all of the names of all of the
donors. Um but I just wanted to give you
[3:04] an overview. the boosters, the
community, the women of the moose, the
[3:07] Rachel Bechum, um, WY Foundation, some
anonymous donations. We've received so
[3:13] many donations from the community
boosters and from a grant um that the
[3:17] boosters took care of. So, we have an
additional $78,000,
[3:20] $78,258
um that has been added as of right now
[3:25] um to that or actually it hasn't been
added right as of right now. U Mr. Tlock
[3:30] is going to ask to transfer those funds
into that account, but that's what's
[3:33] physically here. Could you click the
next slide, please? So, um, what we are,
[3:39] you can go back up. Okay. So, what we're
requesting today would be, um, a payment
[3:44] of 50% for the phase 2, which is
$41,998.96.
[3:50] Um, as I stated, that would get us
started on phase 2. Otherwise, if we
[3:54] wait after the end of August, some of
the prices will go up. the free shipping
[3:58] will probably go away and we'd be
waiting until spring for phase two if we
[4:04] can get it in sooner. The plan is to get
it in um before winter. So um that's why
[4:09] there's such a rush on that. So that is
our request for this evening, but I
[4:13] would like to take you through the rest
of the finances really briefly just so
[4:16] that I'm transparent about everything
that we're doing. Next slide, please. So
[4:21] we do have in hand a check as of today
for $20,885.60
[4:26] 60s from North umberland Elementary
School. This is comprised of funds that
[4:30] they had from doing from some
fundraising. Um we did have a shortfall
[4:35] of $88,516
and NES was willing to post that from
[4:39] their school activity funds. However,
they were even contacted today with
[4:43] somebody that wanted to make a further
donation. So, we're at we're um going to
[4:47] pay back the money that they had used to
give us that 8.8.8516 to finish out the
[4:52] project. In any event, that would bring
our total to $24,85546.
[4:58] I want to clarify that is not in the
account currently. I received the check
[5:02] today. So, it will need to be submitted
to the school board for approval for
[5:05] donation. Um, and once that happens,
then we'll go ahead and bring the check
[5:09] over to have it deposited, but I just
wanted to be clear that it's not
[5:12] physically in that account right now.
Um, so just to kind of bring you up to
[5:15] speed, that's going to bring our balance
back up to 204855. Next slide, please.
[5:21] Um, and that would mean when we go ahead
and pay the remaining balance for phase
[5:25] one of that 162854
again, it'll bring us our balance back
[5:30] down to $42,01.
Next slide, please. And when the time
[5:34] comes, we'll pay the final balance for
phase 2, which is $41,9.98.
[5:38] And we're going to have somewhere
between $25 and $29 left over. And of
[5:44] course, those are rounding errors from
when we split those payments in half to
[5:47] be able to make them. So, I actually had
given you an overview first, but since
[5:51] it took us a minute to get the slides
up, this is the detailed account um of,
[5:55] you know, the exact dollars that we have
going in and out um for the playground
[5:59] project as a whole.
>> So,
[6:04] what are your plans for the $25?
>> You know, I was thinking it wasn't quite
[6:09] enough to get coffee nowadays, so um not
sure. [laughter]
[6:16] Maybe some streamers.
[6:20] Very good.
>> Are there any questions? I did include
[6:25] the the um 3D phases um the 3D um images
for phase 2 um as well as the schematic
[6:31] drawing for phase 2 uh as well as the
invoice that we received for phase 2
[6:36] which is signed off on. So you'll be
able to see those. Of course in past
[6:40] meetings we have presented the phase one
invoices as well as the 3D drawings. Um
[6:45] the thing is we have a really [snorts]
full playground with these two phases
[6:49] combined. We have a lot of play
equipment. We have climbing equipment.
[6:52] We have bars. We have swings. We have um
I don't know when we were young they
[6:57] used to call them merrygorounds but like
spinny things. Um it is ADA compliant.
[7:02] We actually did include with the phase 2
we had had a piece of equipment that was
[7:06] donated to the school a couple of years
ago. It was installed in a different
[7:10] location, but the intention of the donor
was to have it in the playground, and
[7:13] we've been able to incorporate that um
with this phase 2 as well. So, lots of
[7:17] fun stuff for the students to play on.
[7:22] » So, total donations 204,800.
>> So, the total donations um really are
[7:30] going to cap out at n just about 99,000
and change. Um, if we take the 78258 and
[7:36] add the 20,886,
[7:39] and there's really only $2 left because
when I was originally doing the math to
[7:43] calculate, I used 84,83 instead of
$83,998.
[7:48] So, that's where that came from.
>> Any questions, board members?
[7:57] » And you ask today, is it 41,99848?
Yes, that we'd be able to make that 50%
[8:04] payment as soon as possible um so that
we can secure the equipment. I've
[8:09] learned through doing this project that
the biggest issue for time management,
[8:13] just like last time, as soon as we got
approval, we ordered the fabrication
[8:17] takes some time um in order to have the
playground equipment fabricated and then
[8:21] shipped to the person who will install
it. That is where um the biggest time
[8:25] is. So, the sooner I can get the order
in, the better. Good.
[8:30] Board members have any discussion on
this?
[8:35] » If not, how would y'all like to proceed?
>> I'd just like to note that the boosters
[8:40] did a wonderful job and y'all did a
wonderful job raising that money to
[8:43] raise $78,000, I believe, what you had
up.
[8:46] » Absolutely.
>> That amount of time is just
[8:49] » And as I said, there are still people
calling in offering to donate it. The
[8:53] community has just been a huge part of
this project, really getting us where we
[8:57] needed to be.
[9:10] Yes,
>> I've got uh actually three different
[9:12] motions if that's all right. Uh if the
board whenever you all are are ready.
[9:16] » We're ready. Um, the first motion I
would need is authorization to transfer
[9:21] from the school refund account to the
school CIP VIP account in the amount of
[9:27] $78,25844.
[9:31] So second
>> all in favor.
[9:34] » Any opposed? Okay, that's approved. All
right. The second motion we'll need is
[9:40] to transfer from the school CIP
um VIP account to 10-9103-7030
[9:49] in the amount of 41,998.96.
[9:53] » So moved.
>> Second.
[9:55] » All in favor?
>> I. Any opposed?
[9:58] » That's approved.
>> Thank you.
[10:00] » And then the last motion is to authorize
to proceed forward with payment as soon
[10:04] as possible.
>> So moved. Second it.
[10:08] » All in favor?
>> I I
[10:12] » All right, that's all I have for that
one.
[10:14] » Thank you. So hopefully in the first
full week of October, we'll be able to
[10:17] invite folks out to see phase one being
completed. Of course, phase two wouldn't
[10:21] quite be completed yet. Um but keep your
ears open. As soon as we have a finished
[10:25] state, we'll we'll make sure we get that
out. Thank you very much.
[10:29] » Certainly will. Thank you. Thank you.
[10:33] All
[10:38] right. The next item we have is
regarding the school CIP for the school
[10:43] bus. Uh they have received the school
bus and we do have the invoice. Uh so
[10:48] what we are asking for is the transfer
with supplemental appropriation
[10:54] um from the school CIP VIP account to
the 9103-7030
[10:59] in the amount of $161,684.
>> Motion to approve. Second.
[11:06] » All in favor?
>> I.
[11:08] » And also a motion to authorize uh to
proceed forward with payment as soon as
[11:13] possible.
>> Motion to approve. Second. All in favor?
[11:18] I
[11:24] » uh next item we have uh Davenport here
to talk to us further regarding the
[11:31] revenue anticipation note.
[11:41] » Very good. Members, uh Mr. Chair,
members of the board, nice to see you.
[11:44] Um, as always, Kyle Ls with Davenport.
Um, we've got a book in front of you
[11:50] that we'll walk through. It's the same
thing that's up on the screen for
[11:52] anybody watching in the uh audience or
in the public. Um, but we're really here
[11:57] this evening uh with a discussion of
revenue anticipation note. So, um, a
[12:03] little bit of background though before
we get into those details. um again in
[12:07] our role as your financial adviser and
certainly members of the board that have
[12:12] been on for a while. Good to see you and
a new member. Um nice to meet you maybe
[12:15] for the first time in person. Um, but
where we've really been in the last 12
[12:21] to 18 months is in this process of kind
of working uh our way, when I say our, I
[12:28] mean the county way uh through what was
really the end of fiscal year 24 and
[12:33] really fiscal year 2025
when your fund balances and your cash
[12:38] levels had declined to a point um where
you found yourself in a position where
[12:43] those had just dropped too too low. Um,
and they were low enough that given your
[12:48] cash flow cycles, knowing we collect
taxes once a year, which will show you a
[12:52] graph that you've seen before of what
that looks like, uh, really needed to go
[12:57] through a variety of steps to make sure
we could rectify that and make sure you
[13:01] can get the county back on a better
financial footing going forward. Um, and
[13:07] knowing all that, a lot of that was the
activity last year, about this time last
[13:10] year, uh, in the summertime, and you as
a county have taken a bunch of those
[13:15] steps that needed to happen to get
yourself back on [snorts] a much more
[13:20] solid financial footing. Um and so we're
here roughly a year later after those
[13:24] initial discussions um looking at
numbers, seeing your budget, so forth
[13:28] and so on, knowing that you've taken a
number of steps, uh to make sure that
[13:32] you as a county, um again, uh get
yourself back into good standing
[13:37] financially. Um and we think you're well
on your way there. Um but we're not
[13:41] entirely there quite yet. And so given
our cash flow cycles, given that it's
[13:47] August right now, we're really here uh
with a revenue anticipation note. Same
[13:52] thing we did last year. Um as county
staff had reached out to us and as we
[13:56] looked at those numbers, we agreed and
said, you know what, the cash levels are
[13:59] just at a point where they're they're
getting too low uh during the July,
[14:04] August, September, and October time
period uh to feel comfortable with the
[14:08] day-to-day cash flows that you have. And
so I'll just give you that as
[14:11] background. Um but again what we're
talking about here this revenue
[14:14] anticipation note is very much the same
process we went through last year. Um we
[14:21] would really like to be as your adviser
in a position whereby next year at this
[14:25] time we're not having this discussion.
Um and I think you're on your way there.
[14:29] Uh I think out of an abundance of
caution though the thought process is
[14:32] let's make sure you're really truly out
in the clear uh before we sort of get
[14:36] out of the cycle of of doing these
rants. Um so with that maybe we can go
[14:42] to page number one. Um again uh you know
us in terms of uh advisor. Um our role
[14:49] here is to be just that an adviser
sitting on the same side of the table as
[14:52] you. And so as we look at these numbers,
we're looking at those with you. We're
[14:56] not a bank. We're not here to lend you
money. Uh so forth and so on. Uh we know
[15:01] at the bottom of the page there, we went
through this process last year. um given
[15:04] some of the uh things that happened in
FY25, we did a $5 million RAM last year
[15:11] at about the same time period that was
paid off early. And so what we think we
[15:16] see at this point is a time period and a
situation we'll probably be in the same
[15:21] position whereby if we borrow 5 million
on a short-term basis right now um what
[15:26] it looks like should happen we don't
know for certain is we should be in a
[15:30] position to pay that off even earlier
than the balance of the calendar year in
[15:34] December. Uh but again part of our
thinking here is to act out of an
[15:37] abundance of caution. [clears throat] Um
so we'll go to the next page. [snorts]
[15:42] Um you may recall members of the board
uh that late last calendar year in about
[15:48] the December time period um county did
do a borrowing on a long-term basis and
[15:54] so that borrowing was about $2 million
about 2.3 million um and that was
[16:00] primarily to reimburse yourself for
prior [snorts] cash funded capital. what
[16:05] that basically means. In some of his old
years, we fronted some cash for capital
[16:09] projects uh that ended up being too much
and drew the cash levels down too much.
[16:14] And so part of the process last year was
to borrow on a long-term permanent basis
[16:19] um spread those payments out on those
capital projects like you might with
[16:23] your home or home equity line. Um and
make sure that we get the cash back into
[16:27] the bank. And so we've gone through that
process. um that should be over time
[16:31] clearly helping the cash and making sure
you get back to a point where uh likely
[16:36] a year from now uh we will not be having
the same discussion here. Um, also the
[16:42] bottom of the page there will note kudos
to the board. Um, obviously I'm making
[16:46] tough decisions, uh, but making sure
that you are putting some dollars back
[16:51] into the bank, so to speak, of the
county via your budget process that is
[16:56] just further helping, uh, to make sure
that your cash flows, your reserves are
[17:01] back into a good solid position going
forward. But again, we're standing here
[17:05] in August. You collect taxes here in a
couple months. We haven't really seen
[17:09] that cash come through uh the county's
coffers quite yet. And so that's why
[17:14] we're talking right now at the end of
August. Basically trying to bridge that
[17:17] gap comfortably between August,
September into October and November.
[17:24] So you go to the next page.
[17:28] Um so on page number three, this is our
uh graphical depiction, if you will, of
[17:34] the county's monthto-month cash flows.
And so there's a very pronounced trend
[17:38] here. So what this is looking at, um,
think about this as your checking
[17:42] account in your personal life. Uh,
you've got certain dollars that go in
[17:45] and out on a repeat cycle. Maybe it's
your mortgage, your utilities, so forth
[17:49] and so on. Um, the county operates in a
similar fashion with one major major
[17:54] exception. And that being that we as a
county collect taxes once a year, and so
[17:59] our primary revenue source comes in one
time a year. What that means is that we
[18:06] see these very pronounced
uh es and flows or peaks and valleys in
[18:12] the amount of cash you have in the bank.
Um the peak typically occurs late in the
[18:18] calendar year. So that would be in
November, December and January. Those
[18:23] are the peaks. You can see that those
have been going up. That's a good thing.
[18:27] What we worry about though and the real
problem is the valleys on the graph
[18:31] there. And that is when uh we've got to
make it from basically the fall when you
[18:36] collect tax revenue all the way for
another 12 months. Um and what's
[18:41] important in that is that your
expenditures as accounting do not follow
[18:45] the same cycle. And so your payroll, the
various uh other taxes, utilities, so
[18:50] forth and so on you need to pay just
like in your personal life, those are
[18:53] basically coming out on maybe a
bi-weekly, maybe a monthly basis. Uh you
[18:58] have certain other cyclical expenditures
like debt service. Um, and so those are
[19:02] coming out over time, meaning over the
year, uh, versus the revenues that are
[19:07] coming in basically in in big shots, if
you will, uh, at the end of the calendar
[19:12] year when you collect real estate taxes.
And so, we've seen this cycle. Um,
[19:16] again, it's not unusual for a local
government that collects taxes once a
[19:19] year, but what we really worry about
here is the low periods where by the
[19:24] cash gets just so so low, um, that we
need to make sure you got sufficient
[19:29] dollars to operate, to pay payroll, to
do those various things that are
[19:33] basically obligations of of the county
itself. One other point I'll make here,
[19:37] it's maybe a little nuance on this
graph, uh, but if you look at the
[19:41] valley, meaning the low points in those
graphs in 23, meaning 2023 and 2024,
[19:48] um, they were in and around $35 million.
It's not a lot of dollars for a county
[19:53] of your size, but much more comfortable
levels. What we saw as you got into
[19:58] 2025, a year ago, is that valley was
down around a million dollars. So, it's
[20:03] a very low level for a county of your
size. And so, just kind of keep that in
[20:07] your mind. Part of what you've done is
to take some steps to start to rebuild
[20:14] such that those low periods aren't quite
as low. Um, but again, those haven't
[20:17] fully taken root just given the cycle of
when you collect taxes.
[20:26] So, we flip a page to page four.
And so on page four, we're taking the
[20:31] same information that we've gotten from
the treasur in terms of cash on hand,
[20:34] and we've just blown that graph up a
little bit so it's a little easier to
[20:38] see. And we're basically tracking about
the last two or so years. Um, and so you
[20:43] start on the left hand side, June of
2024, you're about $6 million, trends
[20:49] down a little bit to a low of maybe 4
million and some change. You collect
[20:54] taxes again beginning in that October,
November time period. you get up to a
[20:57] much more healthy level and you see that
first red arrow that is a very
[21:01] pronounced downward slide. Um that's not
necessarily a surprise. It's not unusual
[21:06] just given your your tax collection
cycle. Um but the problem and the worry
[21:12] is that there's a little bar there um 81
of 2025. We've drawn an arrow. That's
[21:18] the low period last year of the cash.
It's basically about a million dollars
[21:22] plus or minus. Um
>> can I stop you right there to ask a
[21:26] question? You might not be able to
answer this,
[21:29] » but it's an anomaly to me that 61 to 71,
we dropped that much money last year.
[21:34] » What caused us to drop that much money?
If you look at it last year, all the
[21:38] other years aren't that big of a drop.
What happened to county
[21:44] errors and emissions that went correct?
Was it we spent a lot of money from 61
[21:49] to 7125 last year? Look at that drop.
And if you look back at the history of
[21:54] what you showed, we don't see that drop.
>> Yeah, we're we're working with just pure
[21:59] cash dollars that were given to us. Um I
think there's probably a couple things
[22:02] that could be. Um we we're not the
auditors per se. We know there's a
[22:07] variety of things that were kind of
coming and going last year with some of
[22:09] the ARPA dollars and some things that
have gotten cleaned up as we understand
[22:13] it as the adviser um during that time
period. So my my hunch, I'll use that
[22:18] term broadly, is it was some of those
kind of things. Um, but again, we'd need
[22:22] to dig into that a little bit further in
terms of exactly what that would be.
[22:27] But I [snorts] think to your point, what
we see right now, it's August 24th, is
[22:31] as you look at where the graph was in
uh, it's labeled as June of 2025, and
[22:38] then take your eye to the right, June of
2026,
[22:43] we're about in the same spot we were a
year ago, roughly speaking, in terms of
[22:49] the ending cash of that time period. So,
um, as we sort of think about the
[22:55] typical cycles of things, stands to
reason that we will likely be moving
[23:01] downward in that same general trend
between July and August where we are
[23:06] right now. We've been talking to staff,
talking to the treasur a little bit. It
[23:09] seems like that is indeed occurring. Um,
wherein we've got a certain debt service
[23:14] payment that occurs in July, that's a
big number. You've got payroll that
[23:17] comes through. Those are cyclical
things. And so as we look at this with
[23:21] staff,
um the the thought process here in terms
[23:25] of this rand is the cash levels are at
about the same place they were last
[23:29] year, plus or minus. Um they should
clearly be improving as your tax
[23:34] collection cycle goes through this fall.
Um it doesn't look like they're there
[23:38] yet given the information we have. And
so out of an abundance of caution, let's
[23:43] make sure we get some dollars in place.
You can continue operating the way you
[23:46] have been. Um and make sure that uh
again you've got those operating dollars
[23:51] knowing we'll get to those. You can pay
those back very very easily and very
[23:55] flexibly.
>> Graph is nice but on 6126. What is the
[23:58] cash on hand?
>> 61.
[24:01] » It's about 7 million. Austin, do you
have that exact number?
[24:05] » 78
>> about 7.8 million.8 million. Yep.
[24:09] » Thank you.
[24:20] So that then takes us to page number
five.
[24:24] Um so what we've done uh similar process
as last year is we've gone out surveyed
[24:29] banks done a competitive bidding um
gotten bids back and so Blue Ridge Bank
[24:36] um give a proposal um their local branch
uh for again revenue anticipation note
[24:42] sometimes shorten it to Iran up to $5
million
[24:46] um interest rate here of a 6.23 23. Um,
importantly, and this is I think the
[24:52] really critical point here, the
prepayment provisions on this are very,
[24:57] very flexible. What that means is if we
were to borrow these dollars and you get
[25:01] that in hand to make sure your cash flow
is in good shape again for the next
[25:05] couple months, you can pay this off
early and in pieces, meaning you can
[25:10] partially prepay this. And so if you
find yourself as a county into
[25:15] September, into October, into November,
saying, "Hey, look, the tax collections
[25:19] have come in and we feel like we're in
good shape, then you can pay this off um
[25:24] even before you get to December, which
is the final maturity here." Um that's
[25:28] one of the things we really really like
about this option is you're in the cycle
[25:33] whereby things should be improving from
a cash position. Um we don't pretend to
[25:37] have that crystal ball of exactly what
that's going to look like over the next
[25:40] couple months. And so if we can get
something in hand that is a fixed rate,
[25:43] we know we can prepay it um even in
increments, meaning partially prepay it
[25:48] as you work your way through the next
couple months. That seems to give us the
[25:52] uh comfort, give you the flexibility to
manage your way through September,
[25:56] October, November, December. Um and uh
again, make sure you got those dollars
[26:01] in hand.
>> Sir,
[26:04] » uh quick question just for comparison
purposes. What was the rate that we
[26:07] borrowed against last year? The rate we
were last year was 4 um was that exact
[26:13] number?
>> Yeah, about 4.09. The difference this
[26:17] year is this will likely be done on a
taxable basis. So last year was on a tax
[26:23] exempt basis. This will likely be done
on a taxable basis. In order to uh
[26:29] borrow on a tax exempt basis, there's a
variety of other
[26:33] projections that we're going to need to
show. And I say we the county in terms
[26:37] of how those cash flows are going to
trend. Um and on top of that um to my
[26:45] left here Chris Kulp with uh Hunters K
through bond council um has to certify
[26:49] some of those things in terms of
providing a tax opinion to that. And so
[26:54] to do it on a taxable basis while the
rate is higher it's going to be a little
[26:57] more straightforward in terms of what
you're going to need to show for the IRS
[27:00] purposes in terms of documentation. Um,
it's also more straightforward and less
[27:05] costly for Chris to document um, in
terms of uh, the tax opinion with it.
[27:11] » And, and who was it we borrowed from
last year?
[27:14] » Last year we borrowed from First
Citizens Bank. Um, who during that time
[27:18] period is now out of the business of
governmental lending. Um, just kind of
[27:22] left the business
>> and nobody has taken their immediate
[27:26] replacement.
>> No. No. We would like that they would.
[27:29] They're a good bank to work with, but
they just they haven't.
[27:36] So on the next page
[27:42] um some details and some numbers related
to the proposal itself. Um again so up
[27:48] to 5 million
uh would be what is what is authorized.
[27:53] Doesn't mean you have to borrow the full
5 million but uh we've got up to 5
[27:57] million as as your ability to borrow in
that way. Uh the interest rate is 6.23.
[28:03] Um so the interest cost if that went the
entire 5 million from closing which we
[28:09] would expect to be next Tuesday through
December 18th which would be the final
[28:14] maturity is about $92,000.
Um
[28:19] » are there any other costs associated
slow?
[28:22] » Uh there will be some closing costs
associated with it. Probably about
[28:26] 65,000 in the aggregate.
>> How much? about 65
[28:30] » in closing cost.
>> Correct.
[28:32] » We're going 100,000. So we're gonna pay
$100,000 for this note
[28:35] » roughly. Yep. Yep. But could be less if
you pay it off quicker.
[28:39] » Number two,
as a business, I've always used the open
[28:43] note. We take the money as we need it.
Is that available for county? Can you do
[28:48] this with this rand? Is there any
legality that says we can't do it as a
[28:52] county? I know the interest rate would
be higher, but we wouldn't have to
[28:56] borrow 5 million on it to get a pool as
we need.
[28:59] » It's a good question. Um, those legally
are much more difficult to do, if not
[29:05] impossible, just the way local
government finance works. Um, I get
[29:08] exactly your point where maybe even a
personal finance, if you've got like a
[29:11] home equity line or something like that
where you can borrow a little bit, pay
[29:14] it back, um, that revolving nature of
things, um, just from a tax code
[29:19] perspective and the legal structure of
it is much more difficult. um again to
[29:23] to get done. And so to your point
though, I think what we've tried to
[29:28] accomplish here is get you up to 5
million to borrow, but also be able to
[29:32] pay it down very quickly. If indeed you
work your way over the next couple
[29:36] months, meaning into September, October,
and you find yourself collectively with
[29:40] the treasur in a good cash flow
position, you just pay it down. That
[29:44] makes that 92,000
uh much smaller. So that 92,000 assumes
[29:49] that goes all the way through December
of final maturity. Um if you can pay it
[29:54] off quicker, that number gets smaller.
The other piece of it is um those
[30:00] dollars, we recommend at least you put
those in uh the local government
[30:04] investment pool called LGIP um operates
like a money market run by a state
[30:09] treasurer. Uh that's earning right now
about 3.8%.
[30:13] And so while you're paying out about
6.2, two, you're also earning up the net
[30:17] that money about 3.8. So on a net basis,
if this went all the way from again
[30:22] closing next week through December, the
net interest cost would be about
[30:27] $36,000.
Um, so that's important to keep in mind
[30:31] as well. Rates are higher, meaning on
the borrowing side, but also on the
[30:35] reinvestment side. And so when you take
those two into account, um, the net cost
[30:41] of that is about $36,000 in that range.
And if you can pay it off quicker, both
[30:46] those numbers get smaller.
>> I'm I'm a little bit confused. So,
[30:51] » if we follow through this, we'll have
the ability to borrow $5 million.
[30:55] [clears throat]
>> What What are the determining factors in
[30:59] what we actually borrow? Are you
recommending to county staff and then
[31:03] they're going to come to us with a
number that we're actually borrowing or
[31:06] or how do we come to that number?
>> Well, you've got we've got a proposal to
[31:11] borrow up to five. the resolution that
Chris has prepared allows you to borrow
[31:15] up to five. Given the numbers that we've
seen in the last couple pages, it seems
[31:20] to us that borrowing five and just
knowing you can pay it off early is the
[31:26] safest way to go. Um, and so our
recommendation given the numbers that
[31:30] have been given to us is to go ahead and
borrow the five and then again if you
[31:35] find yourself in a position very quickly
to be able to pay it down, then just pay
[31:39] it down.
[31:51] 6.23. Is that where is that in relation
to current prime?
[31:58] » Um, municipal rates aren't ne based on
prime per se. Um, they're based on
[32:03] different indexes. Um, it's a little bit
above prime. Um
[32:07] uh but again it's a taxable rate on a
shorter term basis.
[32:12] » So it's a little bit above prime.
>> Yeah.
[32:29] We have 7.8 million now.
in let's say
[32:36] » well I think an important point here
just talking to Treasury you don't have
[32:39] 7.8 million now you have that in
>> June
[32:42] » June
>> I think what you have now and I might
[32:44] turn around here you've got
[clears throat]
[32:47] » 3.8 you got about 3.8
>> that blows my question
[32:52] » you got payroll coming out that's about
two or thereabouts
[32:58] » 1.5 so uh again these aren't our numbers
but you're 3.8 8 you got about a million
[33:04] five coming out in payroll on Friday. Um
you know so at that point you're down in
[33:10] the two plus million dollar range. Um,
and so again, that's a pretty narrow
[33:16] margin for a county of your size.
[33:21] » What is the
perception
[33:26] of Northland County by the financial
world that we have we have taken out of
[33:30] and ran? We took one last year and we're
considering doing it again this year. Is
[33:34] that a black eye?
>> Um,
[33:38] it's it's not necessarily a good thing.
Um, you know, I think we and as I said
[33:42] at the beginning, we really not want to
not be in this in this cycle of doing
[33:46] RANs. Um, the other element we have here
is your 2025 audit isn't done yet. And
[33:52] so part [snorts] of the challenge here
and going to get this RAND and work
[33:55] through this process is we're still
waiting on the 2025 audit. And so as
[33:59] we're working with these banks and
bidding these things out, they want to
[34:02] see your most recent financial
information. Um, and 6:30 of 2025 was a
[34:08] year plus ago. Um, and so you're clearly
working your way through. You're getting
[34:13] there. Uh, but we got a challenging
series of discussions we think with the
[34:18] rating agencies. We got a Moody's
rating. We've talked about that in the
[34:21] past. I think with that 2025 audit,
that'll be a challenging discussion with
[34:25] Moody's in terms of the trend,
especially on the reserves and the fund
[34:29] balances from 24 to 25. Um, we're
hopeful maybe as we get to 2026 that's
[34:37] going to be a better situation. It seems
like it should be 2027. [snorts]
[34:40] You've done some things in terms of the
budget to make things just that much
[34:43] better. But I think the numbers we've
got right now, um, you got a challenging
[34:48] picture in terms of what 2025 look like.
Again, we don't even have the final
[34:52] audit yet. So, um, [clears throat] you
know, your term black eye in the short
[34:56] run, you got a black eye. Um, again,
we'll make sure we note publicly that
[35:01] you're doing things as a county to
rectify that. U, but we're still in that
[35:05] position. We got a little overhang from
that 2024 and 2025 time period.
[35:10] » I guess on top of his question, the
black eye,
[35:14] what is it in regard to our credit
reference credit rating? Does it does it
[35:19] affect our credit rating?
>> It it likely will. It likely will. Um,
[35:23] » next year's probably affected it, no
doubt.
[35:25] » Yeah.
>> By making it slow in this year, it's
[35:28] going to affect it again.
>> Yeah. So, I mean, a couple things with
[35:31] the rating agencies. So right now we're
actually on a watch list with our rating
[35:34] with Moody's because we haven't yet
delivered a 2025 audit to them. So what
[35:39] they really rely upon when they're
giving these assessments is they like to
[35:43] look at your audit information and they
also look at your budget. And so we have
[35:47] budgets. We don't have an official
audited set of financials to give them
[35:52] for 2025. So those discussions that
we'll likely have with the folks from
[35:57] Moody's will probably happen this fall
coming up. We need that 2025 audit to do
[36:02] that. Um, but we could see those being
definitely challenging negative
[36:07] discussions. We got some explaining to
do on what happened then uh in terms of
[36:11] 2024 fiscal year in 2025.
[36:16] » So, and I think you're all you're making
very good points which are all rooted in
[36:19] the fact that we'd really rather not be
doing Iran right now. Um, it would be
[36:24] much better. I'll just say that very
publicly if we were standing here next
[36:27] August not doing Iran. Um but again as
your staff treasur have come to us and
[36:32] said look our cash levels are just where
they are. Uh the tax collections by
[36:36] virtue of this year's budget being 2027
don't come in uh for a couple months.
[36:41] And so as we look at those numbers uh
our you know sense of things is better
[36:48] safe than sorry. Make sure you got the
cash to continue operations. you get a
[36:52] surprise, you get an emergency,
something, make sure you got that cash
[36:55] flow. And again, pay the dollars off as
quickly as you can over the next couple
[36:59] months. [clears throat]
[37:11] » So, we'll go to the next slide here and
certainly happy to answer any other
[37:14] questions that we can.
>> Um, in terms of time frame, we're really
[37:18] here this evening. Chris Culp again to
my left has a resolution that can be uh
[37:23] adopted by the board. It's the only
action you as a board need to take. Um
[37:27] and then we really be looking to close
within a week uh again to make sure
[37:31] those dollars are in hand um and
available for funding of of the county's
[37:36] operations. So
with that certainly happy the questions
[37:40] that you have um Mr. chair, members of
the board,
[37:45] » are those interest rates that were uh
the reinvestment rates and the interest
[37:48] rate that we're borrowing against a firm
now. And
[37:54] when you close on the
>> the interest rate on the rand is fixed.
[37:59] We know that rate. The interest rate on
the reinvestment is also known today. It
[38:04] varies with the market and so that
functions like a money market. It'll
[38:08] vary week to week. Um, you know, we've
seen those rates going up a little bit,
[38:13] but that is the most current information
in terms of where that is. It held GIF
[38:16] about 3.8%.
>> How was there only one bank that
[38:19] responded
too short of notice? I mean, that's
[38:25] » Well, I think uh I think a couple
things. I think the fact that uh some of
[38:30] our again financials aren't up to date
makes it just that much more challenging
[38:34] when we're talking with banking
institutions.
[38:40] And my question is why are we up to
date?
[38:50] I know that should something you can't
answer, but we should be up to date.
[38:53] That that that kind of bewilders me
talking about asking us not you, but
[38:57] we're looking at borrowing $5 million of
the taxpayers's money and we're not up
[39:01] to date with some of these numbers
and we only get one bank to respond.
[39:11] Yep.
For context, what I mean what what we do
[39:15] know is your adviser will not the
auditor is uh I think you're close to
[39:19] having that 2025 audit. Um you are not
alone in being uh challenged in getting
[39:27] those done on time. Um that's something
we're seeing across a lot of local
[39:30] governments. It's not a good thing. Um
but it is something we're seeing across
[39:34] a lot of local governments, especially
smaller ones. Um, and [clears throat] so
[39:38] that may not help in the short run.
Doesn't mean that's a good thing, but
[39:40] just to give you that context. Um, and
we do know that what what you as a
[39:45] county have done roughly the last 12
months takes a long time to kind of get
[39:48] caught up in a relative time period. Um,
and so, uh, you've had about a year plus
[39:55] of call it cleanup. Um, and so I think
our hope and expectation is you get
[40:00] yourself out of that and you'll be back
and running again. uh the county prior
[40:03] to that time period um was not in that
situation.
[40:08] We don't know exactly why that happened,
so to speak, but um get some of those
[40:12] processes updated, so forth and so on.
Um again, you've been doing things as a
[40:17] county to to not be in that cycle
anymore.
[40:26] » I got one more question, but it kind of
pertains to this. for now discussions to
[40:31] have our taxes paid twice a year.
[40:35] » How will that help this county if we are
unable to enact that in the next year or
[40:39] two to get our money coming in every six
months
[40:41] » so we can avoid this kind of what I
consider a waste of taxpayers money put
[40:46] $100,000 in the borrowed money.
>> It's upsetting to me.
[40:49] » Absolutely. So if we can go back a
couple slides,
[40:55] go back one more if you don't mind. So,
so you see that very pronounced eb and
[40:59] flow peak and valley. Um, what would
happen if you would collect taxes twice
[41:05] a year is that would all even out. So,
the real problem that you have is not
[41:10] the peak, it's the fact the valley is so
low. And so, if you collected taxes
[41:14] twice a year, the peaks get smaller, but
the valleys get that much higher. And so
[41:20] your day-to-day cash flow in terms of
paying payroll, paying debt service,
[41:25] paying utilities, all those things that
come through, just like in your personal
[41:28] life and a routine cycle, um in the low
months right now, which is right now in
[41:34] your in your cycle, um you'd have just
that much more cash flow. You would have
[41:38] collected probably in June. And so if
we're sitting here in August, we're
[41:42] probably not having this discussion.
June, you got some dollars. You work
[41:45] your way through the summer, the valley
comes down, but not nearly as low as it
[41:49] is there. You probably don't need a ran.
[clears throat] Um the peak of it comes
[41:53] down a little bit, but that's not really
the concern right now. And so it just
[41:56] smooths that whole cash flow um
situation out, makes it much more
[41:59] resilient. Um because the other thing
you worry about is
[42:04] we're in a pretty, you know, normal
cycle right now, but if you had a bad
[42:07] storm go through
and you've got a million dollars in the
[42:11] bank as a county and you had to go out
and clean up trees or, god forbid, hit a
[42:15] school or something like that, that's
the other thing to worry about is where
[42:20] where are those dollars going to come
from if you really have a problem. It's
[42:24] sunny outside right now. Hopefully, it
stays that way and so forth and so on.
[42:27] You get a bad storm, a tornado, that's
the other thing that that we tend to
[42:30] worry about. That's a really challenging
phone call to get in terms of we got a
[42:34] problem, we got to fix it, we don't have
access to funds. Um, that's just that
[42:38] much more challenging to do. And so,
it's both having dollars for your your
[42:43] typical recurring business, your
payroll, so forth and so on, but also
[42:46] making sure you got some dollars for a
contingency that um could happen. I just
[42:50] use a storm as an example, but to answer
your question specifically, would twice
[42:55] your tax collection help your situation?
It would absolutely help your situation.
[42:58] There's no nuance to that. would be
helpful to you in terms of cash flow. It
[43:02] would help your reserve levels. We've
seen that in lots of other counties that
[43:05] have done that. Um it just makes your
finances that much more resilient.
[43:10] » Hypothetical question. I don't know if
this is the letter or who it is, but
[43:14] suppose we were on a 2-year cycle I mean
twice a year tax collection now
[43:20] hypothetically and we were borrowing
this money.
[43:25] Would we have enough money in December
to pay this loan back?
[43:29] If we were on a twice a year cycle,
>> well, I think Mr. Fischer, if you were
[43:33] on a twice a year tax collection cycle,
you probably wouldn't be borrowing this
[43:36] money. You wouldn't have to do this.
>> Should have cash on hand.
[43:40] » Yeah, you got it.
>> Not a question of how much cash flow the
[43:44] county is dealing with. It's when we
have it available to us. [clears throat]
[43:47] » Very well stated.
[43:54] I'm just thinking we'd have less
available if we got part of it in the
[43:57] fall and the other part
February, whatever. You'd have more
[44:02] available. You can be consistently
around a number and you're going to have
[44:06] the carryover from the year. We should
have like five or six million dollar
[44:09] carryover that's sitting there for this
county
[44:13] where something major happens or if we
need new software, we need anything we
[44:17] have the cash to do with it going back
to the taxpayers and saying we need
[44:19] another two, three, four, five cent.
>> Mhm. [clears throat]
[44:23] » Yeah. I think Mr. Williams, I would echo
your point that was very well stated.
[44:26] It's a timing problem is what you really
have as we've looked at your 27 budget.
[44:30] you've done some certain things in that
that are good, that are positive from a
[44:33] financial situation. You've put some
dollars in there to make sure you're
[44:36] burn you're you're adding to your
reserves. That's going to help this
[44:39] whole picture here. Um, but I mean, the
whole reason we're talking right now is
[44:44] not because the 2027 budget wasn't set
up properly. It was. It's because you
[44:49] just haven't collected taxi as a timing
problem. Um, and so we just got to
[44:53] bridge the gap this year to get you from
August through until when those tax
[44:58] collections start to come in. Uh but
again to answer that again specifically
[45:02] and I'll repeat myself. If you went to
twice your tax collection, it would
[45:04] definitively it would help. It would
make all of this likely a moot point in
[45:09] terms of having to borrow dollars to
make it through from uh the lean months
[45:13] which are right now
[45:20] in this loan. If we bought 2.5 million,
can we go back in
[45:25] October and borrow the other two and a
half? Does it all have to be one time $5
[45:29] million loan?
>> It's all got to be onetime $5 million.
[45:33] Um
yeah, there's I don't think there's a
[45:38] way we could set it up so you can kind
of do one piece and then the other. Um I
[45:44] mean so you could borrow less than 5
million right now. You could. Um our our
[45:50] our recommendation here is really just
rooted in the fact that as we looked at
[45:53] if we go one more slide
>> you have to ask like equity or something
[45:58] of that nature do that.
>> Yeah the the 5 million is really rooted
[46:03] in the fact that our cash levels as of
June most of recent information we have
[46:08] outside [snorts] of just sort of our
conversation with treasure here about
[46:10] the same place they were last year. Um,
we borrowed 5 million last year and so
[46:15] kind of keep ourselves in that same
cycle knowing we can pay it back early.
[46:19] » How much of the five did we actually use
last year
[46:23] to the best of your knowledge? I mean,
we're already later than what we were
[46:25] this time last year. I think we had
already borrowed on the board, but I
[46:29] think we had already borrowed. Now,
we're looking at September, October
[46:32] those two months. Do y'all know?
>> I I don't know, Pam. Do you know as far
[46:39] as of that five?
[46:46] I know initially it was 2 million um
[46:54] September October time frame
and then then the the tax money started
[46:59] coming in what October well September
and then October
[47:08] » that's what we actually used it in that
to 5 million last year.
[47:13] » I know that in that VIP account there
was what 2 million that that came out
[47:19] » uh in that September time frame
>> because I know we paid ourselves back
[47:25] different
>> that was a different that that was a
[47:28] separate that was different that was a
separate borrow.
[47:32] » Mr. Chairman, I'm I'm new at this so
please deal with my ignorance here but
[47:36] county has other monies correct.
Can we borrow from our other money or is
[47:41] that illegal
[47:49] pay and back in November? I I don't
know, but I know we just have we Am I
[47:52] correct on that?
>> A lot of our other monies are in the
[47:56] reserve fund. That's why it's
>> Well, you do have other monies like your
[48:02] opioid abatement funds. I would not
touch those because they're very
[48:06] specific as far as what they are to be
used for. Um, you do have your EMS
[48:13] billing monies. Um
certain things like that that uh
[48:28] but I don't know that you've got enough
to as far as covering that type of of
[48:33] cost.
>> That answered my question. Thank you.
[48:35] » What what well for years we went uh what
for years we went we didn't have this
[48:43] type of problem. what uh what brought it
about?
[48:48] » Um Mr. Long, if you recall, Mr. Long, as
we were talking last year, between
[48:54] fiscal years
23, 24, and 25,
[49:00] the county really ended up drawing down
its reserves. And so if you go back and
[49:05] look at those audits and you compare the
revenues to expenditures, there's a
[49:09] couple years in there we had more
expenditures than revenues. And so to
[49:13] your point, the number of years where,
and I think you can see this, go back
[49:16] one more slide if you don't mind.
Uh, so if you see those, you know, like
[49:22] 2023, 2024,
the low periods aren't nearly as low.
[49:27] And then you get to 2025,
and that really is the year, meaning
[49:31] fiscal year, uh, that we would argue
sort of caused the situation whereby the
[49:37] revenues were just not sufficient to
cover the expenditures. And so, uh, the
[49:42] reserves were drawn down. Um, so you're
basically in a position to be
[49:46] replenishing those,
which is what you started to do last
[49:50] year's budget.
[49:54] » Say earlier that the cost of issuing the
loan was $65,000
[49:58] » roughly in the range.
>> How was that determined?
[50:01] » Uh, that's just that's us. That's uh on
this through you guys, not
[50:06] [clears throat] not the bank. Correct.
Correct.
[50:18] That's 65,000. If we bought 2 and a2
million, it's still 65,000. That's
[50:23] correct.
[50:36] Any
[50:50] further questions?
Got any questions? Mr. Tadlock, Mr.
[50:54] Basy?
>> I don't.
[50:58] » Anything else? Mr. Leaves think so.
>> Mr. Fisher, Mr. long.
[51:06] How much money will it take us to run
the next two months?
[51:11] We don't take any collections in
September and October. How much money
[51:15] will it take us to run?
Best estimates.
[51:25] » About $2 billion,000.
[51:33] Four million. We got a million and a
half after payroll. Like a million
[51:37] something. I think it was after payroll
coming out. You say next next week that
[51:42] no next payroll comes out
>> Friday. Friday.
[52:02] tough way to look at it. We don't know
that that $2 million is constant though
[52:07] because it's been the last couple of
months doesn't mean it will be.
[52:10] » According to that chart, it's not. I
don't know why, but according to that
[52:14] chart, there's big drops
in July from last year. I don't know
[52:18] what happened, but there's a huge
[52:23] If it's 2 million, it's two and a half.
We need a bar. That puts us in
[52:28] worse position than we were last year at
this time cuz we only borrowed 2
[52:30] million.
Am I missing something? Maybe we paid
[52:34] off some loans.
>> Say that again that time.
[52:36] » Say that again.
>> We borrowed $2 million last year.
[52:38] » No, we borrowed five.
>> Five. You used two.
[52:43] Now you talking and needed two and a
half.
[52:49] Am I missing something on that? I know
you say we're going in the right
[52:52] direction, but that doesn't seem like
the right direction to me.
[53:01] This is why we need to build the reserve
fund back up to the percentage that been
[53:06] recommended to us.
>> And once we get it there, we need to
[53:10] leave it alone and start putting money
in another account for capital
[53:14] improvements
and be done with it. We can't keep
[53:22] operating like this.
Got to be built back up when we have
[53:26] enough money to sustain the little
months.
[53:39] And how do we do that? Keep raising
taxes on their citizenry.
[53:45] They can't handle it much longer.
[53:50] That's what worries me.
Got to come up with a better plan
[53:54] somehow someway. But you they got to
raise taxes
[54:00] or cut services.
[54:04] See one without the other.
>> Yeah. If I could I'll I'll jump in then
[54:09] you'll cut me off. But to solve this
cash flow problem,
[54:14] the twiceear tax collection does that.
You don't have to raise taxes. You don't
[54:18] you've got the revenues and expenditures
on an annual basis. Twice your tax
[54:21] collection solves that whole problem.
And I get the math. It's we borrowed
[54:25] five, maybe we use two.
We're kind of crystal balling that a
[54:29] little bit. And so
has we don't have any better
[54:32] information. If we had better
information, we' we'd share it with you,
[54:35] but that's the information we have. And
so that what our recommendations based
[54:38] upon abundance of caution. But the twice
a year tax collection would it would
[54:42] solve this whole
this whole sort of ran cash flow timing.
[54:49] Um that would make this concept should
make this concept be largely.
[54:58] Anything
[55:04] else?
>> No, thank you. Appreciate you
[55:08] explanation here.
>> Yep. Thank you, sir.
[55:22] » Where's the end?
Where's the end to it?
[55:30] How soon we got to I know they got a
timeline on this September 1st, but
[55:36] how soon you looking tonight?
>> Uh, preferably.
[55:41] » Yes. Um, just from the standpoint of
knowing that it's going to take some
[55:50] time to go through the closing process
as well.
[56:06] Okay.
[56:11] » Any further discussion on this?
>> Yeah. The figures we have here, I do not
[56:14] feel comfortable. This ought to be
updated to now instead of 61.
[56:21] That's what I'm uncomfortable with right
here. where we actually stand.
[56:27] Figured we're using this two months ago
and we're going to take it another
[56:29] payroll.
[56:33] I just
>> we're at 3.8
[56:38] » 3.8.
Then you had a payroll 1.5 coming. Um
[56:44] so that puts you at 23
[56:49] two men.
Come on. That gets us through September.
[56:55] » Yeah.
>> Then October comes. So you're looking at
[56:58] maybe two million there like last year.
Maybe a little less because you start
[57:02] getting some income back in. You start
getting some tax money in in October. As
[57:06] you said, I think you got a little bit
September.
[57:09] That's good thing.
[57:24] What you think?
Do y'all see anything on the horizon
[57:29] that's going to
help out and bite us in the butt next
[57:32] two months? Any bills coming that we
don't foresee or something looming? Some
[57:37] payments we've got to make?
[57:41] » A lot of our debt service payments uh
have already gone out for July. Um,
[57:49] so as far as any large expenditures on
the county side, uh, I don't know if you
[57:54] know of anything different, but, uh, our
debt service payments really hit us in
[57:59] the July time frame. So,
[58:16] which that's been [clears throat] back
within her 3.8
[58:20] I'm
>> which which that has already been taken
[58:22] out
>> other that three
[58:24] » but you're still looking at two million
to run this county in each month
[58:28] » right
>> we don't have
[58:31] so yeah [clears throat] I hate saying it
but yeah you already know the decision
[58:35] you're going to have to make tonight
whether you want to make it or not you
[58:39] know what the decision is going to be
we're going to have to bar
[58:42] the decision is on how much we bar
number one
[58:46] » that that's
to bar five men to or 5 million. What
[58:50] are we doing? We might be wasting
$10,000 taxpayers money cuz it's $65,000
[58:55] for the loan.
>> This will borrow to 5 million to pay it
[58:58] back.
[59:02] » I don't have any trouble with borrowing
the money tonight, but we need to make
[59:06] efforts to start billing
taxes twice a year. That would alleviate
[59:12] this issue. We wouldn't be here tonight.
Well, we don't need to be here next year
[59:18] because
[59:30] well, it would it wouldn't go in place
[59:37] taxes out
[59:42] talking years.
[59:47] I'll offer just one one additional
point. Chris can correct me if I'm wrong
[59:50] here. I think the the resolution
authorizes not to exceed 5 million. So
[59:55] that's your that's your top level. So
you're obviously here as a board this
[59:57] evening. Um one path you could take is
you could approve that resolution not to
[1:00:03] exceed 5 million and then ultimately the
discretion as to exactly how much is
[1:00:07] borrowed is and Chris correct me if I'm
wrong here is really vested in the
[1:00:11] county administrator to finalize that.
And so if we're here on Monday evening
[1:00:17] and there's some additional discussions,
numbers, so forth, you can authorize up
[1:00:21] to five, not going to be more than five.
Everything we've shown you is up to
[1:00:24] five. And then to the extent there's
some information, you look at treasural,
[1:00:30] so forth and so on and say it's a
different number we're comfortable with
[1:00:33] that's lower than five, um, that
decision could be vested with with Lal,
[1:00:39] I think, and and Drew, but
[clears throat] I think Laly, the county
[1:00:41] administrator, Chris, you can correct me
if I'm wrong. That's correct. That's the
[1:00:44] way the resolution was done. If if the
board is um comfortable with that, it's
[1:00:48] an authorization of up to five with the
delegation to the cat administrator to
[1:00:53] approve the final details within those
parameters of the 5 million uh the
[1:00:59] repayment term, the end of December, and
then uh the interest rate uh at the at
[1:01:04] the taxable rate. Uh, one one additional
piece of information that may be helpful
[1:01:10] for you to at least know is that um it's
not as if you could borrow, you know, 2
[1:01:16] and 1/2 now and then find out that
that's not enough and then go out and
[1:01:20] borrow an additional 2 1/2 or 2 million.
You can't have more than one uh tax and
[1:01:27] revenue revenue anticipation note
outstanding at a time. You'd have to pay
[1:01:30] back the first one before borrowing the
second. So that's a reason why you may
[1:01:36] want to sort of on the side of adding
some cushion.
[1:01:40] » If you do do less than five, would the
interest rate change?
[1:01:47] » We could ask the bank, but I wouldn't
expect that it would.
[1:01:50] » Okay.
[1:01:53] [clears throat]
[1:02:28] How long does it take to get this loan
set up?
[1:02:31] » All right.
Let's just say for a sec. We said let's
[1:02:36] wait 3 weeks from now. How long does it
take you to get this loan set back up?
[1:02:41] » Oh, um it'll just take me five business
days. we got to work out with the bank
[1:02:46] uh and get the papers prepared. I don't
want to incur costs if you know
[1:02:51] unnecessarily obviously from standpoint.
>> Um but it take five business days. We
[1:02:56] got to prepare them and then get them
signed and get them to the bank. So a
[1:03:00] week's time uh would be important. I
don't know how quickly uh the money is
[1:03:07] needed from a cash flow standpoint with
you.
[1:03:11] » Thank you for that answer. Appreciate
it. Thank you.
[1:03:16] Mr. Tadlock, what basically not I see
the treasur what would be the increase
[1:03:24] in revenue this year on the new tax rate
approximately?
[1:03:29] » Well, we go 4 cent 400,000
cent, wasn't it? 1.6 million
[1:03:35] or am I wrong?
>> Um, no. I can look it up for you real
[1:03:40] quick.
a rough I don't need a complete just a
[1:03:43] rough number.
[1:03:50] [clears throat]
[1:03:55] Okay.
[1:03:59] How would y'all like to proceed with
this?
[1:04:06] What I'm seeing and where I'm sitting,
we don't have much choice.
[1:04:16] That's by taking two.
[1:04:29] Well,
gives me heartburn to do this, but
[1:04:35] I'll make a motion that we move forward
with the ran up up to the $5 million
[1:04:43] second
[1:04:47] » and and that's to approve the resolution
as set forth. Is there any other
[1:04:52] specific language that you need uh for
that approval?
[1:04:57] No, just the resolution as presented
unless there's an amendment.
[1:05:01] Okay.
>> All right. All in favor?
[1:05:06] » I I Any oppose?
It's approved. And gentlemen, we thank
[1:05:12] y'all for your time, but it's going to
be our goal not to have this meeting
[1:05:17] with y'all next year. And and please
don't take offense to that.
[1:05:23] Right.
[1:05:32] Thank you.
[1:05:37] » All right. The next item we have is uh
discussion on the county convenience
[1:05:41] center decals. Uh we did receive another
quote for uh decals to be sent out in
[1:05:48] 2027.
total cost uh for the decals and to mail
[1:05:53] those and to have extra is going to be
$5,743.75.
[1:06:00] Um there's also some discussion as far
as what have we seen uh to date compared
[1:06:08] to this time last year. Um so you do
have a comparison for January through
[1:06:14] July comparing 25 and 26. Uh overall the
tonnage has decreased by approximately
[1:06:23] 158 tons. Uh if you break that out uh
over the three sites, it's approximately
[1:06:30] $15,246.93
[1:06:34] as far as savings over the 7 months that
>> again, excuse me,
[1:06:38] » uh $15,246.93.
[1:06:45] uh in the documentation that you have
and it's posted in um Diligent as well.
[1:06:50] It breaks it down by each of the sites.
Um now keep in mind this does not uh
[1:06:57] this is just for 7 months. We don't have
a full year of [snorts] comparison yet
[1:07:01] with the decals only went into effect
January of this year.
[1:07:06] Um,
as far as
[1:07:10] the the tonnage, uh, we did see a
decrease from 24 to 25 as well, but
[1:07:17] [clears throat] there's a a graph, uh,
that shows the tonnage by site, and
[1:07:22] there's a table that also corresponds to
the 25 and 26. Uh we broke down the open
[1:07:29] tops um versus the closed which was the
the compactor. And where that makes a
[1:07:35] difference is that your compactor you
can get about approximately 9 tons on
[1:07:40] average whereas the open tops you're
running more along the lines of about 2
[1:07:44] and 1/2 three tons uh per pool.
So that's why I broke those numbers down
[1:07:49] for you as well as uh the number of
pools. Um, and you'll see that graph to
[1:07:56] the right of that, but the corresponding
table to that is uh at the top of the
[1:08:01] second page there.
Um,
[1:08:05] and then we also broke down I ran some
numbers for you all for the total
[1:08:10] tonnage from 2019 through 2025.
I thought that might provide you some um
[1:08:18] clarification as uh what we did prior to
CO, during CO and then coming out of CO.
[1:08:26] So um I I ran those numbers for you all.
And then the bottom graph there is just
[1:08:34] it I wanted to show what it was doing
over the course of the year. So, of
[1:08:39] course, during the uh winter months,
your tonnage is lower, but then uh
[1:08:44] increases during the summertime.
And then, of course, the 2026
[1:08:51] line drops to zero because we don't have
that data from August to through
[1:08:56] December.
Our projected
[1:09:01] fiscal year savings
got yours for uh 7 months, right? Right.
[1:09:08] That that is just the 15,000 is just for
the seven months. Um we did not project
[1:09:14] it out as far as the the rest of that
time frame.
[1:09:17] » And the the total cost of this decal
project if we were to move forward with
[1:09:21] it again is how much?
>> Uh $5,743
[1:09:26] » everything.
>> That's that's just the the print and
[1:09:30] mail and then ship the remaining of
those decals to us. It does not include
[1:09:34] staff time or anything like that. This
is just the $5,700 is just to print
[1:09:40] print the decals.
>> Is staff time a cost?
[1:09:44] » Um,
>> extra cost?
[1:09:47] » Not
not anything measurable that we could
[1:09:51] grab on to. I mean, it's staff is there
already
[1:09:57] during the day. So,
[1:10:00] we don't know that any of those savings
could be attributed to the decal
[1:10:05] program, although they they all could
be, but we've saved
[1:10:12] $1,000 over 7 months.
>> The building has dropped in the county
[1:10:16] the past two years, too.
>> And corresponded to that. And the one
[1:10:21] thing that catches me is
uh what was it? uh Lotsburg and
[1:10:26] Horsehead
were
[1:10:31] dropped compared to digitally
wasn't much difference and I would have
[1:10:35] thought that would have been different.
>> Well, you got to keep in mind now
[1:10:38] gentlemen, keep in mind there is
absolutely no enforcement here. I mean
[1:10:43] none.
>> How can you even how can you
[1:10:46] » stuff into the dump? Nobody said
anything about it. You're right. Wasn't
[1:10:50] the the understanding that if there was
somebody abusing our system, it was it's
[1:10:54] being done at the digitally
>> in any way, right?
[1:10:57] » I think
>> more so than others. I think
[1:10:59] » I presume that. I don't know it, but I
presume that. And the the the people who
[1:11:04] are working these sites are being paid
as we speak to enforce the decals.
[1:11:11] They've been paying for it every for
years and years. there had been decal
[1:11:15] but to my knowledge nobody has
nobody has uh instructed them even to
[1:11:23] look at the decals cuz we don't have a
set enforcement at at present time maybe
[1:11:29] we have something now we can put in
place I hope but for the last 6 months 8
[1:11:35] months since the decals have been uh
I've got three vehicles and I haven't
[1:11:41] put a single decal on the here. I mean,
I don't mind telling you. I go into it
[1:11:45] and I keep it log and
and nobody ever checks it and I I can
[1:11:51] see why they've never been told to check
it.
[1:11:54] Well, I I think we need to inform the u
the public that we're going to start
[1:12:00] this, but we got to get the word out
there. You know, it makes a big
[1:12:03] difference. A lot of people would follow
that if they knew that the people were
[1:12:08] enforcing, you know, but we got to get
it in paper, get get it other ways to
[1:12:16] the public and majority of them going to
do a disposal. My one of my problem is
[1:12:22] the potholes,
you know, in these sites. I mean,
[1:12:27] they're complaining. I mean,
people complain that it's is it's damage
[1:12:33] to a lot of vehicles still. People
running over these ples within uh within
[1:12:39] the sites.
>> One of the easiest ways to notify the
[1:12:43] public of the purpose of the decals and
is to do the enforcement.
[1:12:50] » Absolutely. Yeah. But you're contradic.
[1:12:57] » But you still you still need to get the
get the word out other ways too because
[1:13:02] if you get it to some people, they're
going to inform others. No,
[1:13:08] but uh
that's something we need to do
[1:13:13] because it's not being enforced. Not
>> have a bar code with a bar reader. When
[1:13:18] you pull up, if it don't click, you
don't get to double.
[1:13:21] Well, then you got then you got a
problem with who's going to enforce
[1:13:23] that.
>> Who's going to enforce that?
[1:13:26] » Well, then why are we doing it? See,
>> why are we doing it? Why are we spending
[1:13:29] the taxpayer money to do it?
>> Well, maybe maybe because maybe we did
[1:13:33] it because we did save some taxpayer
dollars.
[1:13:36] » You might be correct.
>> Mr. Hy would be correct. [clears throat]
[1:13:40] » Put a big sign up there say $500 fine if
you caught dumping their decal. That
[1:13:44] might turn their hits a little bit.
>> Yes, it would. It turned mine. I' I'd
[1:13:51] put mine on right quick. [laughter]
[1:13:59] » So, you're looking for a motion to do
this again is what we're looking for
[1:14:02] right now. What are we looking for?
>> Um,
[1:14:04] [clears throat]
we got to go into close session, too.
[1:14:09] » Yes.
>> Let's decide on this one. We come into
[1:14:12] close session. I want to think on it a
little bit. Yep.
[1:14:17] if that's okay with everybody.
Well,
[1:14:22] my uh
being a school teacher
[1:14:28] I
[1:14:32] classroom kids come there and behave
like they're supposed to.
[1:14:37] One reason
you you give them the rules at first,
[1:14:42] you know, and expect them to help you
follow them and a lot of them will. And
[1:14:46] [clears throat] that's reason I think we
should find ways to
[1:14:51] inform the public. This not put
something on them and they work in that.
[1:14:56] Well, I didn't know this, you know, but
we need to find ways to get that word
[1:15:01] out and I guarantee you have a judge of
them following.
[1:15:08] » Well, I will say we've had a steady flow
at the the window of individuals coming
[1:15:13] in to get decals
um at the county administrator's office.
[1:15:17] So, I word is getting out somehow that
the decals are are required. We did put
[1:15:25] signage up at all three sites um that
decals are required as well.
[1:15:30] » And that same wordage, mark my words,
that same wordage will get it as time
[1:15:35] goes by. They ain't doing nothing to
voters don't worry about. Mark my words,
[1:15:41] » and while people can actually see
[1:15:47] I am
on the fence, it depends. It's on all
[1:15:52] three places. All
[1:16:02] right. What you got?
>> Uh, next item is uh for the anti-litter
[1:16:06] committee uh district 5. We have an
appointment. Mr. Andy Hall has indicated
[1:16:12] that he's interested in sir.
>> I'm make a motion that we appoint Andy
[1:16:16] to the entire second.
>> All in favor? I I stalls on the anti
[1:16:23] committee.
[1:16:44] All right. Uh, next item we have is a
closed meeting. If y'all are ready to go
[1:16:50] into
>> Yes, sir. We're ready.
[1:16:53] » I need a motion that the Northland
County Board of Supervisors convene and
[1:16:56] close meeting pursuant to Virginia
Freedom of Information Act section 2.2
[1:17:00] 3711A1 for the discussion and
consideration of personnel matters. In
[1:17:05] section 2.2 23711A29.
Discussion of the award of public
[1:17:09] contract involving the expenditure of
public funds, including interviews of
[1:17:13] biders or offers and discussion of the
terms or scope of such contract where
[1:17:18] discussion in open session would
adversely affect the bargaining position
[1:17:22] or negotiating strategy of the public
body. invited to attend closed meeting
[1:17:26] as necessary or the county administrator
and assistant county administrator as
[1:17:30] they are deemed necessary and the
presence will reasonably aid the board
[1:17:33] in his consideration of topics to be
discussed pursuant to Virginia Foy
[1:17:37] section 2.2 3712F
[1:17:44] all in favor [snorts] I
[1:18:24] a motion that the Northland Board of
Supervisors return to public meeting and
[1:18:28] certify by roll call vote that only
public mis business matters lawfully
[1:18:32] exempted from open meeting requirements
by Virginia Freedom of Information Act
[1:18:36] and as were identified in the motion
convening the closed meeting were heard,
[1:18:40] discussed, or considered during the
closed meeting.
[1:18:43] » So moved.
>> Second.
[1:18:45] » Okay. Roll call vote. Mr. Harris.
>> I.
[1:18:48] » Mr. Long.
>> Mr. Fisher.
[1:18:50] » I.
>> Mr. Williams.
[1:18:51] » Hi.
>> Mr. Breen's eye.
[1:18:55] » Great.
[1:19:01] Ready for?
>> Yes sir. Several motions here. Um the
[1:19:04] first item is uh motion to approve a
salary adjustment increase for employee
[1:19:11] number 10374
in the amount of $8,756.50
[1:19:17] effective August 1st, 2026.
>> So move.
[1:19:21] » All in favor? I
[1:19:26] » next close meeting item uh was a motion
to authorize the county administrator to
[1:19:32] further negotiate and sign the
engagement of pre- auditing services
[1:19:36] with Cherry Beckard through the Fairfax
County, Virginia Cooperative Procurement
[1:19:40] Contract for professional auditing
services.
[1:19:43] » So move second.
>> All in favor?
[1:19:47] » I.
>> All right. Uh last item that we had, we
[1:19:53] had previously discussed earlier in the
meeting and open meeting about the
[1:19:58] county convenience center decals. Um
just if the board's wishes to move
[1:20:03] forward with that, I just need
authorization to your
[1:20:06] » motion made to move forward.
>> Second.
[1:20:09] » All in favor? I got
>> and that is with the American Solutions
[1:20:15] uh for business uh in the amount of
$5,743.75.
[1:20:21] So,
[1:20:26] » um
we recently done our coverage testing
[1:20:30] for the new radio system.
I'd like to be able to and the rest of
[1:20:35] the board
have um a review of the coverage testing
[1:20:42] maps for the new radio system.
[1:20:48] And basically what that will do, it will
show us the coverage of the county of it
[1:20:53] with the new system.
I think that's something we need to look
[1:20:56] at and um make sure we're getting what
we paid for before we approve
[1:21:03] the system.
>> Percentage of counter do you think we're
[1:21:08] going to get coverage on?
[clears throat]
[1:21:09] » I think it was we were guaranteed 96%
94%.
[1:21:15] And that was on
[1:21:20] believe that was on a portable um with a
pel mic.
[1:21:26] » I hope uh hope the majority of your
coverage lease is located below the
[1:21:31] suffix scar throughout this county.
>> And that's what I want to see the um
[1:21:36] results on too. We know what the dead
spaces were in the county with the old
[1:21:40] system. I want to see how much the new
system has improved the coverage in
[1:21:45] those areas
because now is the time to address it if
[1:21:51] we don't see any uh
progress with the new system to it's
[1:21:57] it's got better coverage.
It's too late after you accept the
[1:22:02] system.
>> Are these are these more powerful units?
[1:22:05] Is that is that how they're going to
overcome this?
[1:22:09] I
>> was no no no no reception transmission
[1:22:12] no reception
>> Mr. fish. I wouldn't say it's what will
[1:22:16] how in the unit. It's it's basically by
design. [gasps]
[1:22:20] So, it's a loop system.
So, if you don't have coverage in one
[1:22:25] area, you got another tower site that it
can ping off of or hit off of to cover
[1:22:32] that those dead spots. And with the
antenna sites being closer,
[1:22:37] um that should help eliminate some of
the dead spots.
[1:22:41] » That's what I'm looking for.
>> Right.
[1:22:42] um when they proposed the system to us,
I believe a coverage map was presented
[1:22:49] to the county and some of the site some
of the area that you um got in you have
[1:22:54] in question um did have a whole lot
better coverage according to their
[1:23:00] coverage map. But since they've actually
used the system to go and test those
[1:23:08] grids, I want to make sure that the grid
testing matches up with the original
[1:23:14] coverage map.
>> Amen.
[1:23:16] » If that makes sense.
>> That would sense.
[1:23:19] » Yeah.
>> So that's I would like to see that
[1:23:22] » in the near future. [snorts]
>> Heard anything from Verizon
[1:23:26] [clears throat] on the two issues? Um
actually the gentleman called today um
[1:23:33] and I had stepped out of the office so
I'll give him a call um related to the
[1:23:38] the lines. Um I the the letter drafted
um getting ready to send that out. So
[1:23:50] » okay what else you need sir?
[clears throat and cough]
[1:23:53] » Well that's all we need.
>> Motion to adjurnn.
[1:23:55] » I been a second. Second
all
[1:24:01] » [clears throat]