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HomeMy WebLinkAbout08-15-88 WS . CITY COMMISSION WORKSHOP HELD AUGUST 15, 1988 The workshop was called to order by Mayor Pro Tem Hager at 6:13 p.m. in the commission chambers. Commissioner Dabbs led in prayer and pledge to the flag. A quorum was declared to be present. PRESENT: Mayor Ison (arrived at 6:40 p.m.), Mayor Pro Tem Hager, Commissioners Dabbs and Johnson, City Manager Ryan, Acting City Clerk Grafton ABSENT: Commissioner Bateman Present for the Cemetery Board were: Chairman Woodson, Cemetery Board Members Bill Breeze, Betty Hager, Nell Minor; and City employees Buddy Elmore, Garry Smith and Deputy Clerk Marian Green -- Chairman Woodson advised that the Cemetery Board had requested a meeting in order to determine several things: (1) whether the city is going to buy land for the cemetery, (understanding that the city owns land that is not adjacent that may be available,) and (2) whether the city will provide a caretaker (possibly by contracting the job out). Chairman Woodson then asked Member Breeze to speak. Mr. Breeze stated that the response from the City Commission at their last meeting was possibly negative and the consensus of the board was that they needed guidance before making plans for improvement. He said that if the City Commission decides to not stay in the business they should make that decision while there are still lots enough to make it attractive to a buyer. Both Commissioner Dabbs and Commissioner Johnson surprise that there was a question about staying in the business. expressed cemetery Chairman Woodson pointed out that the board needs assurance as well as direction. Does the City Commission intend to buy land, use only what they have, or what? He said that the word was that there were no funds available to purchase more land, or that possibly the adjacent land would not be available. Mayor Pro Tem Hager said that approximately 100 to 150 more lots in the existing cemetery were available than originally thought. He then directed a question to City Manager Ryan regarding progress toward purchase of land. City Manager Ryan responded that preliminary discussions that were no more than feelers had taken place, as we were waiting for the cemetery board to be organized. Both Commissioner Johnson and Board Member Betty Hager mentioned that the Eckles property has been proposed as possibly available and Commissioner Johnson said he had talked to the Hawthorne family about their property as well. . Chairman Woodson suggested that a portion of the sale price of cemetery lots be set aside for maintenance. He added that possibly the recipients of the benefits of the Over 65 Program would be interested in donating something toward perpetual care since they will be receiving the lot free. He also noted the fact that, although the survey showed that a particular number of . e e Page 2 City Commission Workshop August 15, 1988 people who were on the Over 65 Program were interested in reserving a burial space, the number of people reaching eligible age continues to grow. City Manager Ryan suggested that if the purchase of additional property becomes necessary it may be that the program should be curtailed in the future, as it is not feasible to buy land in order to give it away. Mayor Pro Tem Hager noted that the sale of the remaining 300 or so lots will not finance perpetual care, but that in the future a portion of the sale price (40% to 50%) should be put in a fund for perpetual care. He also felt that someone should be in attendance to protect the site from vandalism. Chairman Woodson mentioned that if a funeral is scheduled earlier or later than our normal hours then someone should be paid overtime for tending to it. Mayor Pro Tem Hager said that the person requiring the service should be required to pay extra for the accommodation. Member Betty Hager asked approximately what the time frame is for the purchase of land, as the price of land will not be going down. Mayor Pro Tem Hager suggested that we should obtain an option on land for one year hence. Commissioner Dabbs asked for the results of the survey of those on the Over 65 Program who were eligible vs those desiring lots. Deputy Clerk Green replied that well over one-half of those eligible desired lots. Commissioner Dabbs asked for the projected time the available lots will sustain the death rate in the community. City Manager Ryan responded that there is a three year window. Commissioner Dabbs then asked what approximate amount of land would be necessary to supply the needs of the Over 65 Program and the needs of the community. Board Member Betty Hager remarked that, since in the beginning only water and garbage were provided and then cemetery lots were added later to the program, possibly the program should be modified to exclude cemetery lots now. During the ensuing conversation, Commissioner Dabbs asked what would be a reasonable time to stop giving cemetery lots and he asked for the dates involved in the adoption of the Over 65 Program to be provided. Other points that were discussed were: (1) that a section for cremains would be an efficient use of space, (2) that the little fences and other non-conforming decorations should be dealt with, (In response to this City Manager Ryan asked just how forceful Commission wants administration to be regarding gravesite decoration, as the lack of clear direction from city hall to the citizens regarding this matter in the past has caused some enforcement problems, and no solution in this sensitive area was given.) (3) that a legal survey of the available lots is necessary, (4) that the City should have first refusal on resale of the lots, (5) that the $10,000 budgeted for maintenance at the cemetery is scheduled for upgrading the entrance and general upkeep, e Page 3 City Commission Workshop August 15, 1988 (6) that Member Betty Hager will contact the Eckles family and Hawthorne family regarding the availability of the adjacent property and report back to the board. (7) that buying 5 acres would possibly solve the problem for a while, considering the raised rates. City Manager Ryan suggested that once the price per acre and number of lots per acre were determined the cost of the lots and the development could be put back into paying for it and the city subsidy could be the perpetual care, and in order to generate the money for the purchase, the cost of the lots could be pledged to the bank. e Mayor Ison arrived at 6:40 p.m. and was briefed by Mayor Pro Tem Hager regarding earlier conversation regarding the size of the cemetery and that Chairman Woodson suggested that the City already owns property that could be used for additional cemetery space. Mayor Ison advised that the Tri City Airport Authority had sold the property Chairman Woodson had referred to. Board Member Breeze advised that the City bought back a portion of the land. Mayor Ison noted that the East/West Expressway will come close by that portion. RECESS: Recess was called at 6:57 p.m. RECONVENE: Workshop reconvened at 7:13 p.m. Mayor Ison announced that the purpose of this workshop is to give the Commissioners an opportunity to discuss, and make further revisions to, the budget that was presented at the last meeting by City Manager Ryan. He further stated that after City Manager Ryan gives an overview of the budget and the Commissioners give their responses the citizens will have an opportunity to comment. The budget will be tentatively adopted at a later meeting. Mayor Ison noted here that all Commissioners are present with the exception of Commissioner Bateman, who is absent due to an illness in his family. e City Manager Ryan, after expressing his appreciation to Mayor and Commissioners and citizens, advised that he had submitted a 5. mill levy at the last meeting and after surveying the surrounding cities' millage had asked our department heads (even though their proposed budgets were considerably less than last year) to reduce their budgets by 10% which would have eliminated the need for tax increase. As a point of reference he indicated that the printout of the proposed budget prepared for this meeting is identical to the one prepared for the August 2 meeting with the exception that the expenditures are adjusted to date to provide a better trend line. City Manager Ryan noted that, on the first page, the cash carry forward amount has been increased by $10,900. On page 3 an - e - Page 4 City Commission Workshop August 15, 1988 anticipated increase of $25,000 has been noted as the occupational license ordinance is about to be on the agenda for 2nd reading and approval, and as the fees have been raised, that item should be increased. Building permits were re-evaluated and raised by $15,000. A small adjustment of $500 for alcoholic beverage licenses was made. The item for public safety was in error and should have been $16,000 (the $14,000 listed was scribbler's error) . On page 5 the item on comprehensive land use amendment should have been $6,000 instead of $12,000. On page 6 fines and forfeitures should be increased by $18,000. These adjustments give an overall adjustment to revenues of $65,400. On the expenditure side, on page 4, City Manager Ryan suggests a decrease of $4,800 in finance and administration for equipment. On pages 6 and 7 the item on comprehensive planning should be increased by $3,525 due to errors in aggregating data for levels of staffing proposed. On page 10 the items amounting to $63,700 for Public Works Director can be transferred to the Bond Fund. Bowness Road, Clark Road and other projects that are on line can all be used to pay the salary of the Public Works Director. On page 13 a summary of the reduction of $61,450 includes $40,300 in personnel (loss of 2 dispatchers due to attrition) and elimination of $21,250 in vehicle replacement. On page 15 items for fire control can be reduced by $3,000 for reserve salary and $52,000 in vehicle replacement for a total reduction of $55,000. City Manager Ryan suggested a fire impact fee be initiated in order to build a fund for replacement of vehicles. On page 20 there were no reductions, but rather an increase of $2,000 for training for the maintenance garage personnel as this item was omitted in the original printout. On pages 22 and 23, items for parks and recreation, the suggested adjustments resulting in a total reduction of $11,000 are as follows: electric - reduce $5,000, bus repair and fuels - reduce $1,000, youth center maintenance - reduce $1,000, park/beach - reduce $7,000, Peach Lake - reduce $1,000, J. Vignetti Park - reduce $7,000, Foxfire Sr. League field - increase $25,000, park improvements - reduce $11,000, equipment - reduce $3,000. City Manager Ryan then advised that with reallocation of $52,725 from reserve for contingency and with the adjustment in revenues of a reduction of the mill levy from 5 mills to 4 mills the budget would be in balance. e Page 5 City Commission Workshop August 15, 1988 In summation, the foregoing represents an overall reduction in expenditures of $190,425. The mill levy would be reduced by $187,350, personal property tax would be reduced by $15,750 for a total of $203,100 in property tax reduction. City Manager Ryan advised that he had looked at revenues and could see no way to increase them, and expenditures cannot be reduced any further without reducing services. There are no new personnel included in the projected budget except for a new finance person. e Mayor Ison said he had a challenge to present to City Manager and staff and that was to reduce expenditures and/or increase revenues enough to amount to another 236,400 in the budget in order to keep the millage at 2.8. Mayor Ison said that all municipal government budgets are going into a crunch for three reasons: (1) because Federal Revenue Sharing is gone, as well as CETA, (2) because of the mandated programs the State of Florida has put on municipal governments without providing funds, and (3) because of the cost of providing services for the citizens. He further stated that growth should take care of itself and the City should be able to make up the shortage by reducing expenses rather than raising millage. He noted the progress made in that the problems that used to confront us in the past with water and flooding are no longer there because of improvements that have been made. Mayor Ison asked Finance Director Poston if there were any other revenue projections he could make that could be considered at this time, and if not, would he explain to the citizens how he arrived at the figures that have been presented. Finance Director Poston advised that the figures are based on a trend from the recent years, and, except for the ad valorem tax and cigarette tax, the figures provided by the Florida League of Cities less 5% are used, because the law permits only 95% of projected income to be budgeted. Mayor Ison stated that in 1975 the State of Florida passed stringent growth regulation laws and by 1992 cities will begin to fold, because those cities that do not make capital improvements as required in those laws will no longer receive the revenue sharing funds which make up a large portion of their income. City Manager Ryan cautioned Commissioners that, regarding cash flow, if they reduced to no tax increase, they would be in a position to have no cash next year as the $137,000 cash brought forward which represents the 10% water utility tax that had not been transferred for several years before would not be there to transfer again. We have also spent our savings account. - Mayor Ison pointed out that we need to hold off on spending until the third quarter each year. After futher discussion on revenues Mayor Ison remarked that a special tax will be initiated to cover the cost of caring for new development which will appear only on ~ . Page 6 City Commission Workshop August 15, 1988 the tax bills for those new residents, and that will cover the cost of mowing and taking care of drainage for the new areas. e As attention was turned to expenditures, Mayor Ison said that community promotion should be cut to zero, and that when citizens call city hall requesting to be put on the agenda to ask for funds they should be advised that there are no funds available. This includes the fair which the City has in the past supported with a cash donation. Ultimately, the consensus was to leave the fund at $3,500 in order to have placques to award, etc. However, Mayor Ison requested that a score card be kept for the year so that all would know exactly the amount left in the fund at all times. This budget request was decreased by $3,700. The next item considered was books/subscriptions which was decreased by $600.The employee Christmas party was decreased by $6,500 with Commissioner Dabbs' assurance that he will be looking for a sponsor. The next item decreased was equipment on page 4, which was reduced by an additional $18,200. Legal expenses were decreased by $40,000. Commmissioner Hager drew applause at this point when he suggested limiting the meetings to 9:30 p.m. in order to keep this cost down. There was extended discussion regarding the planning position which has not yet been filled, but no changes in the proposed budget resulted from the discussion. City Manager Ryan pointed out that future plans call for a percentage charge to developers for projects which will bring in substantial revenue. A car allowance was also proposed for the planning director rather than purchasing a new vehicle, and City Manager Ryan indicated that he was trying to set up a management pool of vehicles to reduce expenses. There is no sick leave buyout scheduled. There was budgeted however, provision to bring to C step all those eligible employees and a 2.5% across the board increase, and City Manager Ryan recommended that, if a choice had to be made, the C step move should take priority. On page 8, the Maguire House renovation amount of $100,000 was moved to reserve for contingency. The plan is to approach private businesses for painting, windows, etc and enlist the aid of citizens for renovation. The $90,000 reserve for salaries was retitled "reserve for salaries contingency." The law enforcement reductions have already been listed except for the $5,000 reserved for crack crime program which was deleted from the budget at this point. On page 20, the projected use of the electronic tuning machine was determined to be too limited to justify keeping it, so the training monies were left in the budget but not for that machine. Mayor Ison noted that it's time to have a surplus sale which will bring in some money and also free up some space. On page 22, the house at J. Vignetti Park was reduced $11,000. As consideration of the Senior League field came up Mayor Ison thanked Tom Hendrix, who was present in the audience, for the many hours of work he put in the Senior League field last year. The $30,000 designated here was reduced by $5,000. On page 36 vehicle replacement was decreased by $10,500 and reserve for e e Page 7 City Commission Workshop August 15, 1988 contingency was increased a like amount for the water department. It was determined that about 5% increase in sanitation fee over the $1.00 increase already projected was needed to build a contingency fund of $28,000 for the sanitation department. Mayor Ison instructed City Manager Ryan to handle the sanitation department like the other enterprise funds and check with the county to see how they anticipate handling solid waste disposal so that we can be prepared. The wastewater department is reported to actually have positive cash flow. There were no budget cuts in this department, but considerable discussion about re-evaluating the billing for service for private lift stations. RECESS AT 9:50 P.M. RECONVENE AT 10:20 P.M. e When Mayor Ison reconvened the meeting he pointed out that they were $68,000 away from being able to keep 2.8 millage. He then noted that there were several things necessary to do soon: (1) bond refinancing, and (2) restructure sanitation rates. He also said that the expenses incurred by the City should be passed on to the people who cause the expenses with lawyers, engineering, public works director, etc.; ie: (1) new developers (2) potential developers, and (3) those who came before City for work and have not developed. He felt that the City should add a 3% administrative cost. Mayor Ison stated that he was comfortable with what had been accomplished and asked City Manager Ryan to find another $100,000 to cut. Mayor Ison advised that he would like to see a mini-budget review on the agenda each month for discussion. He would also prefer that a policy be adopted whereby all purchases are deferred until the third quarter and only salaries, insurance, raises to take care of employees, and utilities are paid until then. Commissioner Dabbs asked about the Charter provision that funds cannot be carried over. City Manager Ryan advised that allocated funds not spent go into general fund and can be redesignated. Mayor Ison asked if any Commissioner had a problem with the proposed policy. City Manager Ryan stated that he had already asked the supervisors to delay the purchasing of anything possible. Mayor Ison said that the budget has been cut and it will be possible to keep the 2.8 millage, but it will be necessary to say no to requests. CITIZENS COMMENTS - Mr. John Linebarier said that he was surprised that he hasn't heard more comments on budget cuts, particularly those involving police cars. He believes the police department does need one more vehicle. Mr. Linebarier stated that he did call Commissioner e e - Page 8 City Commission Workshop August 15, 1988 Bateman and Commissioner Hager when he received the proposed tax bill because he thought 5 mills was too high, but 2.8 is extreme in the other direction. He is familiar with state surprises with mandates and requirements and we never know when they will come in with new demands. However, Mr. Linebarier did not feel that 3.2 mills would be out of line, because he remembers when it was 10 mills. He said if you can make a good budget and meet unexpected expenses then that's wonderful, but something like Lake Moxie could come up. He feels that a modest increase in millage rate will be all right with citizens in order to maintain the level of service that has been established. Mr. Roger Freeman expressed his appreciation for the Commissioners' attempts to cut the budget and hold the millage down. He said that he has a year to go with new developments and he has new acres coming in to the City. He has talked to other developers and he knows that the City will be in great shape in two years. Mr. Freeman suggested that the attorneys use lower priced people to do research. He said that he is not opposed to developer's fees, but to please give some slack to developers. He also suggested considering using high mileage vehicles as pool cars. And regarding the Maguire house, he knows that money can come from the private sector with himself, Mayor Ison, and City Manager Ryan to ask for funds. As for parks, things like blocks and dirt can be scrounged for. Mr. Freeman thanked the Commissioners for their time and efforts and promised to help scrounge. Mayor Ison thanked Mr. Freeman for his words and his promise to help scrounge. Mrs. Deborah Bracknell, 408 Hager Drive, said she does not understand where the money went. Mrs. Bracknell quoted several different lines in the budget report which showed expenditures considerably less than budgeted and yet the word is that there is no money left. She felt that someone should be accountable for the scrambling that happens every time the budget comes around. City Manager Ryan explained that, even though the budget shows that ten months into the budget year some funds still show moneys available, unexpected and unbudgeted expenditures have drained the reserves. Mrs. Bracknell pointed out that, in order to leave the ad valorem tax at 2.8 mills, commissioners were discussing raising water/garbage tax, and she felt that tax is tax. Mayor Ison explained the difference in ad valorem tax and a user fee designed to pay for the cost of providing a service to the citizens. Mrs. Bracknell raised a question regarding the people who use the parks and recreation facilities paying for their use. Mayor Ison advised that the children who use the recreation system are not required to pay traditionally, but that the league teams do pay a fee that helps to cover the expense incurred by the City for lights and upkeep on the fields. Mrs. Bracknell asked why the e Page 9 City Commission Workshop August 15, 1988 Planner could not use the figures reported in 1985 for the beginning of the comprehensive plan which is due to be submitted in 1990, as that would save money and time. She was advised that the ground rules change each time the legislature meets. Mrs. Bracknell asked that the City inform the citizens regarding the things that are going on in government so that they could write letters and possibly influence the State governing bodies before the votes are cast. Mayor Ison advised that, though good in theory, in practice that would be very difficult as the electronic letter he received on Monday referenced the items that were to be voted on the next day. Mayor Ison expressed appreciation for the interest shown and City Manager Ryan said that staff had attempted to do a quarterly news letter this year, but that staff time and funds just were not available. Mayor Ison said that it would be possible and timely to use the fifteen minute breaks during regular meetings to give a legislative overview for the first six months of the year. Mrs. Bracknell said that she would like to see the records for the receipts and expenditures of the parks and recreation department and was advised to come in the next day and see Finance Director Poston who would make the information available to her. e Ms Cathy Pollack, 613 Spring Lake Circle, cautioned commissioners to raise ad valorem tax if necessary, but to please not cut down on police and fire protection. She said that, since all the socially redeeming features had been cut from the budget, at least the commission should take care of those departments. Mr. John Linebarier, 1308 Center Street, inquired about the status of the fire/police impact fees. City Manager Ryan advised that the fees were fixed but left in limbo, as state legislators were to come out with rules on impact fees that would negate anything the City had programmed. Mayor Ison asked City Manager Ryan if he understood Commission's direction for the budget, and his response was he would crunch dollars and meet again. the that ADJO~ENT The workshop adjourned informal~ p~ ~ Thomas R. Ison, Mayor . A