Clerk and Controller budget and costs
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So we're ready um first up is Our quirk.
Good morning.
Good morning.
Okay. Nikki Albersol, Pasco County Clerk and Controller, thank you, Commissioners, for holding the workshop. I greatly appreciate it to be able to have the dialogue, as Mr. Carvalho said. And I wanted to thank uh Mr. Carball and also Mr. Brighton Bach and the team that um put this together today and also recognize my team here to record it and make sure that it's For the public records. Um Uh it's this is the presentation up? I just clicked the button?
Please.
Okay.
Okay. Okay. It's fine to product.
All
right, just um uh just a a few words. Um I'm glad Mr. Carbala you mentioned that this is a good dialogue because that was what we prepared for. Um I'm not prepared to talk specific numbers because we're still fine-tuning those, quotes are still coming in, but I wanted to give you an idea of what to expect that to see in in the budget. So I I greatly appreciate that. The first Um So the the first topic, I'll just talk about an overview and then I'm going to kick it off to my team. But
um right now our offices are in settlement negotiations for the multi-agency sieges portion for the declaratory action. And I'm not going to go into detail that other than to say that if we um are not able to get to a settlement in time before the May 1 deadline. of the budget that I will be submitting um the reimbursement amount for the sieges for fiscal years twenty to twenty-one and fiscal year twenty-one to twenty-two. Um but if we are in the middle
of settlement and we've got an agreement going, it's not going to be in the budget. The other items that we're going to talk about, I'm gonna have my my team uh present those to you. Uh one is the increased cost for goods and services. So, probably the simple things that you are seeing in your office for increases are the typical increases that uh we are seeing. Um, there's an issue with inflation for the cost of goods and services, and also um We're trying to focus
on information technology security because there are concerns of local government um getting um uh hacked by Hackers, I guess, is the great word to say it. Um and next we're going to also talk about uh personnel cost increases. Um, you know, the I we've told a five percent increase with the county, so we'll put that in there. There's also increases um to FRS and salaries. So to kick it off, I have um to talk about the good cost for
goods and services and IT. That is Tim Jameson, my director of information technology. Following him will be Heather Grimes, my Chief Administrative Officer, to talk more about personnel cost in the records area of the office, like Board Records. And then Uh finally will be Matt Lazar. He's my chief uh he's my I'm sorry, my information.
He is the director of our finance department and he is also going to talk to you about some personal cost in finance. Alright, so I I've got the controller and the clicker, just let me know if I need to go for it then.
Good morning everyone. My name is Tim Jameson, Information Technology Director, Clerk of the Court. So is
your mic walking?
Yeah. Yes. Okay. So, you know, one of our big challenges is, you know, over the prior years during the early part of the pandemic, we had a lot of discounts and stable prices, but unfortunately that is not held true over the last couple of years. So we are experiencing price increases and and at the same time we're in experiencing need increases, especially in the in the cybersecurity round. I'm sure you've all
heard of the issues in Orlando and Leon and St. John's and it's just seems like it's endless in the in the newspaper. So we are, you know, increasing our capabilities. We're increasing the amount of assistance we receive for those things. Uh so from over the past two years, the increase in cost for cybersecurity is up about ninety-six percent. So the good news is
then, last year at least, we had the state local government cybersecurity grant. We were able to get some assistance for that. We've applied for that again this year. However, their process is not that it's be an ongoing forever thing. Their concept is it's a it's a bootstrap to get local government. quickly up to where they need to be and then they're expecting us to gradually assume that full cost. So in
the application this year, one of the things they were asking for is okay, if this in calendar year twenty five, um what kind of matching funds can you give us? And they're gonna that's part of the scoring mechanism to make sure that Recipients are on board with okay, we're gonna up our cybersecurity level and then we're gonna maintain it eventually through local funding. So that's an important aspect for us. And then you just look at the labor costs. that that
go with that. Security's part of almost every technical position now and every project, every workflow has security concerns, so just the increase in labor in general to get those things done. So those are that's one big focus. The other one is, of course, the the inflation I mentioned. So for instance, it's kind of it's kind of partially inflation and kind of partially improved capabilities, but on our Microsoft Enterprise contract, uh
like the county, now all of our team is on Office 365, which means that we have the ability to operate. In the cloud, which gives us more resiliency and redundancy should things go amiss locally. And those things now cost more money. So for instance, just the Office 365 component from 2021 when the last contract was signed in 2024, February, when we just signed the current one, it's 167%.
Increase for the Microsoft Office cost. And so that was a big jump for us. Also, just general maintenance costs. We're seeing increases where we didn't see them before. Vendors feel free to go ahead and pass those costs on, knowing that it's an inflationary environment. So Factoring in the increases we've already seen over the past couple years and then projecting next year. We're looking at you know a 19% increase
in maintenance costs and contract services. Same thing with the capital expenditures as we as we replace aging equipment, those are up about 15%. And then, of course, we still have the obligation to make things better for the public. For instance, we're streamlining our jury check-in using automation, streamlining their payment process so they can receive their jury payments. Also, the juror
system itself has an upgrade that's a due driven primarily. By DHS and B's plans to change the driver's license number structure. So we want to be compliant with that. What we do not want is to have two different versions of the driver's license in the system and have the public receiving multiple jury summons, one for each version of their license, that would not reflect well on our on our system. Yeah. And finally, we're
talking about also making compliance more efficient and more proactive for our customers. So for instance, having mobile payment options, having auto reminders of text messages that you have a payment that's due, so they can make compliance with payment plans. Compliance is important because it helps them maintain their their driving privileges and not end up with a suspended license. So those are just some of
our our big themes for this coming year. Any any questions? Yes, sir.
Just a generally See you know, percentages can look pretty bloody. I prefer to see whole numbers. Um I think that puts puts the dollar value in in real perspective because you know percentages can be good and bad, but 167% was that truly equate to, right? So sure
I can use
it just just with how I think this is generally across our budget and I'm transparent with with our Staff and what's the percentage really can use just a general comment for your presentation? Okay. Would you think that's a good question?
Um one of the things that I mentioned in the beginning is um I'm not ready to talk specific numbers. We're still fine-tuning numbers, but wanted to kind of give you an idea of um where we're where we are, what's what's happening. But you're right, um 167% on a thousand dollars isn't as much. As 167% on a million dollars, right? But um just so the theme is there's going to be increases, and these are technology increases that you're also going to be seeing and being presented by your staff
as well. Um but I I I hear you, I completely understand. Um we will have those numbers in our budget on May 1. Um, if you have questions after that, I'm happy to meet with you with my team. I'm going to meet with your team, you know, whatever it is that you would like to know about those numbers.
Thank you. And another follow- I guess this would be an error by a Bob question statement. The speech. Yeah. The Constitution Office has their own IT security vendor.
Mm-hmm.
Or is it one procurement county wide?
Seven stuff. They're separate, sir.
They're separate? Would it be more economical for the taxpayer to have one security platform across the entire county versus
I I don't think you have I apologize. Do
you have an icon?
I
wish I did.
Mr. Sana? Yeah. Um w I can't speak for the other constitutional. We couldn't do that at the tax collector's office because we're we have a system that threw the Department of Motor Vehicle um and they were totally object for us to be to share that information with anyone else. Um, you know, so we wouldn't be able to produce
idea. Yeah. I could add at the state level we're somewhat accomplishing that. One of the things that the grant is hopeful to do is as that as we assume local funding we hope to assume it at the headly discounted state contract price that they've negotiated for this. What they're telling us is that they're getting basically a ten to one discount on it. So uh and I'm I'm pretty sure that the county has also received
uh some grant funding in that manner.
Let's hope so. That's sounds like a pretty good coupon to me. So thank you.
Mr. Mariano? So looking at what that ninety six percent increase would be I think is important. And I think the one hundred and sixty seven as well. Are there any other alternatives out there where you can look at for cost reductions? That would go for Ross as well later, but
Yeah, I mean, I guess if
there's
any other grants available. Or even another vendor. Yeah.
Uh I am curious, did we also then see a ninety six percent increase? 'Cause why 'cause if they did then we probably did too. Yeah,
it's my understanding that our we're tracking. Right. Okay.
Yeah, nine the ninety-six percent increase for cybersecurity isn't price increases alone, but they're their added capabilities over the over the prior two years.
So when you're talking about things like you know endpoint detection and recovery and then you have network detection and recovery and then you have collecting the data that's coming in at the border, whether it's the email or this firewall. So there's different systems that are dedicated to doing that, and then the state grant has also helped us and I believe the the it's helped the county as well to pull that data to Together into a single source that's monitored twenty percent.
So you in that cost you have added services coming at the same time. Yeah,
that was not. That was not a hundred percent um um inflationary. It was added services.
So so back to as far as let's say Microsoft and the one sixty seven You get in the cloud, they raise up the price once you're in there. Is there another alternative that's out there?
Yeah, what we used to do is we used to use the perpetual license that was on-prem deployed, didn't have any cloud services, and what would happen is about every four years you would spend about a hundred and fifty thousand. And then you would maybe, if times were really tight, you might try to stretch that until you're like now you're behind a version or two and now security patches aren't flowing
and so that stuff, yes, there was ways to save money on that before. It's probably a little more expensive to be in the cloud versions, but you stay up to date and you have a lot more capability. In the long run you spend
almost as much. Okay. Mr. Kabile. I was gonna add something something similar to that. IT departments constantly look at uh kind of offloading old products and adding new products and and renewals and and that's you know, you can you can take one thing off the books but you end up having to add other things. So they they really work very hard to try to balance that out and taking advantage of the grants. I know that's something that that we've done at the County as well to to leverage cybersecurity to make our system even safer and more resilient. So I Mm I'm here I'm validating what
he's saying here. Yeah question.
Well um I understand maybe it how it's harder to share the same cybersecurity contract, but couldn't we all sh share the same Microsoft contract? And is there um uh savings and maybe we're talking peanuts here, but is there savings if we had one contract for all all the constitutionals in Pasco 'cause Microsoft Um I think three six five is Microsoft three six five for all of us.
I'm not positive, uh, but I'm pretty sure that the Microsoft Enterprise Agreement that we have is from the state level, right?
Okay, so the state gets a discount for all its More all
cheated savings. Yeah.
Yeah. Okay, now we need a US fund.
Okay. Alright. Let's see what else is.
All right. Thank you, Tim. Um next up is Heather Grimes, my Chief Administrative Officer. And one thing I forgot to mention when I was introing was that I had already scheduled an appointment at eleven AM before this one was scheduled, and that's why I asked to go first and I greatly appreciate the opportunity to do that. So I am going to head out a little after ten, but my team will still be here if you have questions for my office. Thank you, Ms. Grace. Good morning, everybody.
Good morning.
Um so I'm gonna talk to you about a position that you'll see in the budget. We're gonna it add it's an entry-level position for a records clerk. um and our board directors team. So Shannon is one of those members. And um and and so you see them very visibly at board meetings, committee meetings, board workshops. There's another component that you probably don't see as much. They also are the clerk to the value adjustment board. So that's where citizens can contest
their property values. Um and in both cases, so board meetings um held in the number of hours, and and when we say board meetings, that's also committee meetings, um uh the number of hours held is um increasing. We've seen that, but um even more in value adjustment board, the number of petitions have just um skyrocketed. So we've seen a 69% increase in um VAD petition. Since 2019 and since 2013, um
that increase is 357%. So um not all petitions make it a hundred percent through the process. So part of the process is um there's a hearing that's held with a special magistrate, um, and our team has to schedule all those, clerk goes. Um and we work in conjunction with the property appraiser's office. Um uh but about the y you have to at least start the process with the scheduling and about on average fifty percent
of those make it to um an actual hearing uh where where um uh the special magistrate uh you know hears what they have to say. So um uh it's caused uh a a huge increase in work for this very small team. So we used to have six people plus or six teammates plus the supervisor, but in two thousand nine when everyone was having to cut. We we cut the position um and
uh it is time to add back the sixth person uh to be able to keep up with the workload. Um you know things are are they often have to decide, especially during the BAV time, you know, do they d who are they sending to a meeting or, you know, someone's out sick, they're they're struggling to to get things done. Um so we will be adding um a a position in the budget. I do think it's important to note though to this board be um because I I think there's a legislative
change that's potentially needed. So there is a filing fee for BAP petitions and it that fee was set in nineteen eighty three for fifteen dollars and nothing that cost uh fifteen dollars in nineteen eighty three still cost fifteen dollars. Um you know, and and so it doesn't cover the cost. I think we um only collected about twenty-one thousand dollars uh this last year and and if if it was increased it would cover the cost of this position. So I I think that that's probably important
to know for the board too. Um but that's really all b all about I have, unless you have any questions.
In questi?
All right. We're good. Thank you.
Oh I I had a question.
Now's the question.
Um how many total employees do you guys have?
In the clerk's office. Yeah. Um we have about three hundred and twenty positions. Um currently you stand about three hundred bills. And you're only at you're adding one new position for next year? One for board records. Matt's gonna tell you about one for finance, but two total.
Those are additional additional impolls, right?
Yes,
sir. Yeah. Okay. Thank you.
And coming up is Matt Lazar, the director of our finance department.
Good morning. Um this is gonna be very strange for me because I am the finance director and I was told not to talk about numbers, so Okay. Yeah.
Well, we probably won't have any questions.
I'm sure officer. Um so I do have some numbers though that you're gonna see on the slides and I don't think anything up there is gonna be new to any of you. Um you're seeing since two thousand nineteen you're seeing an increase in leveraging debt to meet the capital needs of the citizens of Pasco County and what we're looking to add in specifically the Treasury Management Capital Asset Division is a Operations lead and the goal of that position is to manage the expectations of not
only the citizens and the county but the clerk's office, and that is to be that troubleshoot, that frontline uh subject matter expert to work with the day-to-day operational uh individuals as well as the high-end decision makers yourself, the clerk, uh the finance team, because what we are all involved in it. reinvesting funds or managing debt, we do need those experts to be that go between to help us develop those procedures, implement those procedures, and really improve them and can and really have those trainings that are
going to go along with those procedures and development. Big key things we're seeing is as we continue to acquire debt, that is something that is also occurring across the nation, a lot of local governments Are doing that. Outside parties are taking a very close look at that from different auditing standards. So in the past three years, we've seen four different implement pronouncements from the Governmental Accounting Standards Board. And they have three of those have been focused on long-term
debt acquisitions and reporting and the financial transparency that comes with those. It's not an easy process. It could take years to implement. Some of them they're two years out. But then there's a process improvement. It takes a couple years to perfect that. And that isn't just the finance taking the lead. We may help with the implementation, but then county departments need that guidance from the clerk's office to continue whether it's the financial transaction component or simply just how they're going to report it to bondholders. That may have questions.
So the goal of this position, they're not going to be the ultimate decision authority, but they're going to be involved in reviewing those doc the documentation that comes across and helping the leadership team and the day-to-day uh team uh make the necessary improvements and make sure those processes are completed timely, accurately, uh, and ultimately have our the end game in financial services world is to have for the September 30 financial reporting period not. have findings or any issues and continue to appease both bondholders, the citizens and yourselves. That is all
I have before I do start talking numbers. So that is it for me.
Any questions about anything but numbers? Not the numerical chair. Okay.
All right. Thank you.
Thank you. That concludes our presentation. You know, the county is growing and I can tell the volume is growing in your office and in in mine as well and you know cost for goods and services with inflation. So we are seeking, we will be seeking uh to add the two positions and then the added costs for May one budget.
Um a question didn't Nicky. Some of the percentages we were getting were from like two thousand nineteen. What's the percentages look like? for within this year. I mean from twenty four to twenty five. So
So the um the slide with IT was year over year, those percentages? So the ninety-six percent is what's up been over the prior two years, and then there's the year over year for the maintenance and the the capital, um, and then the contract with Microsoft a multi-year contract. So it's up for renewal, and um I don't know exactly how many years that is, but it's up for renewal, and so that is the cost of the increase for the contract.
Started a few years back.
It did. Oh okay.
Right.
We use the I I I'm setting is we did have we were on the state contract for the Microsoft Office three sixty five and um now there's a big increase. I think that the time that it was entered into we'll have to look at into it was the time when COVID hit and there was big reductions in costs uh for that to help um local governments. feet. And now we're seeing that go away with the renewal contract.
I think we find that in a lot of different areas that that we've had contracts in place for two or three years and now they're they're fixing a renew and that renewal has uh escalated quite a bit from the time we did it before. So yes. Okay. Thank you.
Thank you.
That's right.