A total of $38.9 million in funding is sufficient to address critical business imperatives for FY2012, Budget and Finance Director Hyong Yi told the Board. County Manager Harry L. Jones Sr. is currently putting together his Budget Recommendation for FY2012, which begins July 1, 2011 and ends June 30, 2012.

The County currently maintains 468 buildings (including libraries, jails, the courthouse, and Central Piedmont Community College) that comprise more than 8 million square feet – or about six times the size of Charlotte-Douglas Airport. In his presentation, Yi outlined critical capital needs such as repairs for leaking roofs and failing heating and air conditioning systems in some of those buildings, and lower-level needs such as enhancing efficiency and cosmetic repairs.
Of the proposed $29.7 million recommended for capital projects, about 20 percent has been proposed for critical improvements.

Yi also presented a proposed budget of $5.5 million for technology improvements, such as replacement of old computer equipment; a new interface for more efficient arrest processing with Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department (CMPD); call center improvements; and hosting for the County website, among other recommendations. Computer server and storage hardware replacement is ranked as a top-priority need.

In FY2010, the 1,010 vehicles owned and maintained by the County were driven about 11 million miles -- the equivalent of 43 trips to the moon -- and consumed about 744,000 gallons of fuel. A scoring system that takes vehicle age, mileage and maintenance costs into account for each vehicle shows that 172 vehicles (with an average age of 11 years each) should be replaced, according to Yi, at cost of about $3.7 million.