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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMINUTES - 10201992 - I.O.4 I .O.-4 TO: BOARD OF SUPERVISORS 6-- �� ��.. Contra FROM: INTERNAL OPERATIONS COMMITTEE Costa County DATE: October 12 , 1992 rq couy'�' SUBJECT: SENIOR TAX WORK-OFF PROGRAM SPECIFIC REQUEST(S)OR RECOMMENDATION(S)&BACKGROUND AND JUSTIFICATION RECOMMENDATIONS: 1 . Accept the attached report from the Senior Tax Work-Off Committee and agree with the Committee' s conclusion that, except as outlined below, there does not appear to be any readily available source of funding for a Senior Tax Work-Off Program at the present time. 2 . Request the Director, Area Agency .on Aging, to determine whether there are any discretionary Title V, Older Americans Act funds available for Senior Employment Programs which might be made available to fund a coordinator position for the Senior Tax Work-Off Program and report back his findings and recommendations before the end of 1992 .. 3. Request the Senior Tax Work-Off Committee. to explore the availability of funding for a coordinator position from the Koret Foundation or other foundations and report their findings and recommendation to our Committee before the end of 1992 . 4 . Request the County Administrator to prepare a letter which can be signed by all members of . the Board of Supervisors and sent to all County Department Heads, urging Departments to do all they can. to hire senior citizens for appropriate positions, within existing merit system regulations and state and federal laws and regulations . This letter should be cleared by the Personnel Director and County Counsel before being presented to the 'Board for signature. CONTINUED ON ATTACHMENT: X YES SIGNATURE: RECOMMENDATION OF COUNTY ADMINISTRATOR RECOMMENDATION OF BOARD COMMITTEE APPROVE OTHER C cid SIGNATURE(S): ROBERT I . SCHRODER. SUNNE WRIGHT McP.EAK ACTION OF BOARD ON October 20., 1992 APPROVED AS RECOMMENDED OTHER VOTE OF SUPERVISORS �J 1 HEREBY CERTIFY THAT THIS IS A TRUE UNANIMOUS(ABSENT ++ ) AND CORRECT COPY OF AN ACTION TAKEN AYES: NOES: AND ENTERED ON THE MINUTES OF THE BOARD ABSENT: ABSTAIN: OF SUPERVISORS ON THE DATE SHOWN. CC: See Page 2 .2 ATTESTED /y9'2. PHIL BATCHELOR,CLERK OF THE BOARD OF SUPERVISORS AND COUNTY ADMINISTRATOR Y DEPUTY M382 (1Q%ir8) B ' I .O.-4 5 . Request the Director, Area Agency on Aging, to recruit through the Council on Aging and local senior citizen organizations for senior citizen volunteers who might be available and capable of managing the Senior Tax Work-Off Program. 6 . Direct the County Administrator, if any new tax credit or revenue source is developed in the near future, to attempt to build into it an opportunity for low-income citizens and senior citizens, in particular, to provide volunteer service to the County in exchange for a credit on the taxes they would otherwise owe the County. BACKGROUND: On August 4, 1992, the Board of Supervisors approved our most recent report on this subject and directed that staff attempt to identify a possible source of funding for the program. As the attached report from the County Administrator' s Office and the attached report from the Executive Director of the Private Industry Council indicate, no readily available source of funding has been located to date. However, our Committee wants to try some additional potential sources . These include federal Older Americans Act funds and private foundations : We also want to explore the possibility of a retired senior citizen who might be interested in managing the program for the County on a volunteer basis . We are asking that these alternatives be explored and reported back to us before the end of this calendar year so we can complete work on this assignment before the end of our term. We are, therefore, making the above recommendations and will report further to the Board following our receipt of the requested reports . cc: County Administrator Kenneth J. Corcoran, Auditor-Controller Alfred P. Lomeli, Treasurer-Tax Collector Perfecto Villarreal, Social Services Director Art Miner, Executive Director, Private Industry Council Harry Cisterman, Director of Personnel Victor J. Westman, County Counsel Sondra Rothwell, Management Analyst Bob Sessler, Director, Area Agency on Aging, SSD I 2 i Contra Costa County OFFICE OF THE COUNTY ADMINISTRATOR 651 Pine Street, 10th Floor Martinez, CA 94553 510-646-2764 Date: October 5, 1992 To: Internal Operations Committee Fm: Senior Tax Work-Off Committee Re: REPORT ON THE IMPLEMENTATION OF THE SENIOR TAX WORK-OFF PROGRAM IN CONTRA COSTA COUNTY RECOMMENDATION: Accept report and approve the recommendation of the Senior Tax Work-Off Committee not to implement a Senior Tax Work-Off Program in Contra Costa County. Approve and authorize the Chair, Board of Supervisors to sign the attached memorandum encouraging all Department Heads to hire Seniors when possible. Remove this item as a referral from this Committee. BACKGROUND: On July 27, 1992, the Senior Tax Work-Off Committee submitted a report on the status of implementing the Tax .Work-Off program in the County. At that time, the Committee had reviewed various questions and concerns of employee organizations and the feasibility of implementing this program. County Counsel reviewed the model program of Riverside and indicated that our County could set up a program similar to it, however the Committee felt that someone would be required to administer the program which would be costly. The Committee began seeking a source of funding of approximately $50,000. It was suggested that we look at the PIC and their Senior Worker Training program and determine whether the Senior Work-Off program could be incorporated in that program. Staff spoke with the Executive Director of the PIC who seemed interested in looking at whether the PIC could be involved. His response which was made directly to the I/O Committee in August states that the funds required to administer the program would not qualify as administrative expenses under their 3% Senior Worker Training program. Staff then met with 'the Tax-Collector to discuss the possibility of setting up a small pilot Senior Tax Work-Off program in that office. Due to budget cuts, the Tax-Collector saw no way to take on the additional workload and expense to administer even a small program. Even if funding for this program is located, it would not be feasible for the County to implement a new program until such time the pool of employees on the lay off list has been exhausted. Therefore, it is recommended that the Board encourage Department Heads to hire Seniors when possible. cc: Auditor-Controller Treasurer Tax-Collector County Counsel Personnel Social Services Department, Area Office on Aging Private Industry Council CAO CONTRA COSTA COUNTY PRTA';'' INDUSTRY COUNCIL 2425 BISSO LANE, SUITE 100 CONCORD, CA 94520 646-5239 DATE: August 24, 1992 cc: TO: Internal Operations Committee (Supe ' or Schroder and McPeak) FROM: Arthur C. 'ner�xecutive Director Private Industry Council SUBJECT: 1/0 Report - Senior Tax Work-off Program After having received a copy of the I/O report on this subject, I am concerned that false expectations may have inadvertently been raised. My cursory review is that a $50,000 budget is not an unreasonable amount for the cost of administering such a program, particularly if assigned to a department where the cost would be incremental rather than free standing. If free standing, $50,000 may not pay for a full time staff person. If the assignment.were to be on a functional basis, .the PIC is not an unreasonable choice since we operate employment and training programs, and this would be anemployment program. However, a much better functional choice would be the County Personnel Department. If the assignment were made on a program basis, I believe the clear choice would be the Area Agency on Aging Office of the Social Service Department. However, the. 1/0 report indicates the Board is really looking for a funding source rather than.an agency to administer the program on a $50,000 budget. For the following reasons, I do not see the PIC as that source.. Our total 3% senior worker training program is funded at approximately $100,000, and about half of that is contracted out. By federal statue we are limited to a 15% administrative CAP; although some of the expenses of program operation probably would not qualify as administrative expenses, I do not think there is any way we could pass monitoring or audit review with a 3% program that utilized half its funds to operate a County senior tax write-off program. DTPA funds, can. only be expended for the economically disadvantaged. This is probably not a good match with a senior property tax work-off program; although some of the potential participants might both own property and be economically disadvantaged - I would speculate that the majority of people interested in participating in the proposed program do not meet our economically disadvantaged eligibility criteria. If DTPA funds were the only source of program operation funds, then the Board would have to restrict participation to only DTPA participants. If 10% of the participants were DTPA participants --not an unreasonable assumption - then we could fund 10% (or $5,000) of the cost ofprogram operation from JTPA funds. There are also maintenance of effort, employee representation and appropriate wage requirements with the use of JTPA funds. It would be difficult to place DTPA participants in departments with layoffs, and a violation to. have them do work previously performed by workers that were laid off. When placed with an organized employer, employee representatives must provide some prior concurrence. JTPA participants are to be placed at appropriate wage rates, and although the establishment of a trainee rate is appropriate, there would be an audit hazard in paying minimum wage to JTPA participants who were performing work previously or currently performed by regular employees at a significantly higher level of compensation. The preceding four paragraphs should give you some idea and appreciation of, the complexity of the JTPA program administrated by this department. If the senior tax work-off program is established, we would be very interested in coordinating our efforts. We would,like to place some of our participants in it as a form of paid work experience, with the goal of placing the participants in permanent private sector employment after the temporary work experience. We would have to operate within the preceding referenced restraints. If the Board wished this department to administer the program and had adequate funding, we would be pleased to do so, but JTPA's share of the cost would be limited, and there might be better selections/match where a department would only need incremental funding rather than have to cost the program as a stand atone operation. However deserving and popular this program may be, the Board has to balance the risk of initiating a new program when. it may lack the revenues to adequately fund the program at a level where it can be successful. It is also my understanding from Department Head budget briefings that the State is contemplating the elimination of property taxes as a revenue source for Counties, rewarding that revenue source to the schools; such an action would eliminate the purpose of this program. cc: CAO Social Service - AAA Director Personnel Director Board Members