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HomeMy WebLinkAbout08-11-10 Budget WSBudget Workshop OCOEE CITY COMMISSION Ocoee Commission Chambers 150 North Lakeshore Drive, Ocoee, FL August 11, 2010 MINUTES 6:00 p.m. i. CALL TO ORDER Mayor Vandergrift called the meeting to order and said we will have a briefing from the Finance Director. II. Introduction -City Manager Frank and Finance Director Horton Finance Director Horton said she would review the proposals that are contained in the budget for fiscal year 2011 and then turn it back over for discussion. She stated the proposed budget for the City of Ocoee for fiscal year 2011 is $51,220,085.00. The city's budget is a compilation of budgets from several types of funds. The General Fund is the largest fund and has the biggest variety of revenue sources: property taxes are revenue of the General Fund so this fund is impacted by the millage rate. Ad valorem is the biggest revenue source for the General Fund, the city saw a 13.6% decrease in taxable value again this year which resulted in about a $1.5 million dollar revenue decrease with the millage rate remaining the same. The inter-governmental revenues have a slight overall increase while interest earnings are expected to continue to slump. She demonstrated on PowerPoint the required voting levels to set a millage rate, the revenue that will be generated by that millage rate, and the difference in the revenue compared to the current year millage proceeds. The current year millage rate is 5.4974 which is less then the rollback rate for the upcoming year of 6.3755. The Commission has tentatively set a proposed millage rate of 6.4174. The expenditure budgets for the funds consist of four main categories: Personnel, Operating, Capital and Transfers. Personnel represents the largest expenditure for the General Fund. The proposed General Fund budget for personnel includes the elimination of three positions, the addition of 1'/a position. There is a proposed 5% increase for Police Union employees and 6.8% for Fire Union employees. The fire union has agreed to a 3% decrease, however. There are no pay increases for non-union employees proposed. There is no proposed increase to employees for health care for next year and the retirement contribution increase slightly for general and police 1.78 for general and 2.57 for police and fire. The operating budgets decrease 3% overall for the general fund. The operating funding include cost for the health center, the communications contract with Apopka for the police department ,the contract with ATS for the red light cameras, funding for grant for digital radios for police, and the contract with Orange County dispatch for fire. The general fund capital budget decreased 48% from the current year. Now that is due primarily to the grant of 1.6 million for Clarke Road. The equipment budget proposed for next year is a $123,245.00 and it includes air conditioning at the Beech Center, eight digital radios for police, and a reflect meter for signs. The software budget being proposed is $42,000 and it includes wireless access point controller and manager, digital software for the Police Department to be used for fingerprinting and software for the Parks and Recreation Department. The vehicle budget proposed next year for general fund is $44,310.00 that includes a Ford Escape for the Fire Department; which will replace a 1997 Explorer, an activity bus for the Recreation Department and apick-up truck for Parks. There is also $450,000 August 11, 2010 Page 2 of 8 City Commission Budget Workshop of improvements that are proposed which include paving, Clarke Road right-of--way, and improvement to Vignetti Park. The existing principle and interest payments on the outstanding loans and bonds for General Fund is $1, 251, 800.00 for next year. The Storm Water Fund is in good shape they are operating in the black and they have accumulated funds to pay for some improvements and purchase some equipment. The final payment on the storm water loan is included in the proposed budget. Some of the major expenditures being proposed for next year: The Peach Lake Manor drainage system upgrade, an out-call system for the Prima Vista subdivision, the tractor, there's 3 pick-up trucks, the wash rack, outfall replacement for the Marlene dried pond, also a outfall system design study for the Forest Oaks subdivision. The proposed Waste Water /Utility fund decreased overall by 3%. There are no new personnel positions; however there is a realignment of personnel within the division that is being proposed for next year. Although there are no major capital projects funded for utilities next year there are several maintenance projects and some equipment purchases that are slated. Among the capital projects there is the alternative water supply study, the virus inactivation implementation, the homeland security for both the utility plants, a bio feedback post-chlorination for both the South water plant and the Forest Oaks plant, four pick-up trucks and a sludge truck. The utility fund has about $20 million in outstanding bonds and loans. They paid $1.5 million in annual debt service on this. The bond covenants require that the fund has its rates set to where they are receiving enough revenue to not only pay the cost of operations and maintenance but 10% above that plus they have to have funds available to pay the debt service. This coverage ratio has been declining the last few years, mostly due to the decline in the impact fees that we've been receiving because of the housing decline. In order to meet the required coverage for this year the administrative fee that the general fund charges to the utility fund we reduced that by a $100,000. The solid waste fund has a total proposed budget increase of $5,000. There is no staffing increases that are proposed and the major capital items are routing and GPS software, the lease purchase of a rear load garbage truck and transferring of $85,000 back to the General Fund for the years when the sanitation franchise fees (of the General Fund) were given to the solid waste fund. The Impact Funds have no major projects scheduled for next year and the principle and interest payments for the outstanding debt are included in the proposed budget. Finally, we have the 2010-2011 wish list; a copy was emailed today and alarger-print version is included in the presentation packet distributed on the dais. City Manager Frank stated that all the departments worked very hard to bring the balanced budget at 5.4974 which is the same millage rate as last year and equals a 14% reduction in the budget. We knew you wanted to look at additional projects so we created the wish list of items as in the past. At this point staff is here to answer any questions that you may have. August 11, 2010 Page 3 of 8 City Commission Budget Workshop II. Staff Presentation and Discussion regarding FY10/11 Budget Mayor Vandergrift advised the public that they can look at a copy of the budget book in the commission chambers, or for the viewers at home it is available online at www.ocoee.or~:. He stated this is a workshop, there will be two workshops in August and the Public Hearings will take place in September and will be open for public comments. Commissioner Wilsen and Commissioner Johnson stated that do not feel the need to go page by page. Commissioner Keller said he would like to do a general overview of the sections rather than page by page. Commissioner Wilsen said she thinks they should trust that City Manager Frank has analyzed the budget and balanced it at last year's rate which is quite an accomplishment; there is not much money to work with. The Mayor stated if they don't review the whole budget to see what is in there, we won't be able to know what can be removed in order to add items on the wish list. Commissioner Johnson said we could do the same as in past years where we ask staff to go back and make some cuts for a specific amount of money if that becomes necessary. He further thanked the Fire Department for doing their part by taking a 3% cut in the proposed pay increase of 6.8% that was negotiated in the bargaining agreement. He stated that he wished the police department would have done the same thing. Mayor Vandergrift clarified that the 3% cut from the Fire Department is not reflected in the current proposed budget because it just happened. City Manager Frank stated the savings from the Fire Department pay reduction is $70,000. Additionally he said they found another $100,000 in Capital Reserve Fund from projects rolling over from one year to another. He explained that there is $170,000 of items that can be purchased on the Wish List and still remain at the 5.4974 millage rate. Mayor Vandergrift stated that the first thing that he thinks should happen before the wish list is considered is to see what it would take to restore the pay raise to all city employees that we would normally give them, including giving back the 3% ($70,000) to the Fire Department voluntarily gave up. Commissioner Wilsen said she disagrees with salary increases in a tight budget year and is not in favor of most items on the wish list as well. Commissioner Hood asked about the Education Reimbursement Program. City Manager Frank said we have $40,000 in the fund as opposed to $30,000 in past years. We have tightened down some of the criteria for receiving the funding, but we may need to tighten it down more. The board has been looking at eliminating certain things such as one person using the funding for two masters degrees, etc. He said a couple of commissioners have expressed an interest to him in favor of leaving the fund at $30,000. Commissioner Johnson said the board has also discussed the rental book program instead of buying new books. Last year we had to ask for an additional $7500 to cover shortfalls. Commissioner Hood clarified that there is no raise for employees in the proposed budget and asked what it would cost to give them 3%. Finance Director Horton stated in would be $276,000. City Manager Frank reminded them a mid year or merit would be almost half of that because it wouldn't be given immediately on October 1, 2010. Commissioner Hood asked the finance department to email them the amount it would cost to give 1.5 COLA and 1.5 merit increases to employees. August 11, 2010 Page 4 of 8 City Commission Budget Workshop Commissioner Hood asked about the air conditioner replacement on the wish list for the police department. Public Works Director Krug stated that the units are 16 years old and they are in need of replacement in the near future, we had to replace one this year for $8,500. Commissioner Keller asked about Page 3-16, 17 where there are two extra positions in the city Manager's Office. City Manager Frank explained that there are no extra positions, the positions where rearranged by downgrading the Assistant City Manager Position to Assistant to the City Manager, and adding additional responsibilities to the Development Services Director and putting him in as Assistant City Manager. This will save approximately $50,000 and it will be the same number of positions. There was discussion about the salary listed for the Assistant to the City Manager position and it was found the salary information was $25,000-$30,000 higher than it should be. There was another conversation regarding employee salaries and City Manager Frank said 3% effective April 1St would be half of the $276,000 mentioned earlier. Mayor Vandergrift said he would like to discuss hybrids. Commissioner Johnson asked about a vehicle in the fire department that is used only to go back and forth to city hall. Chief McNeil said fleet maintenance suggested they change that vehicle because of the age of it and the problems that they have been having. He added that it is also used for firefighters to attend local conferences and meetings. City Manager Frank said there is also a Battalion Chief Vehicle (1999 Expedition) that has close to 100,000 miles as well and that may be the more logical one to replace. This vehicle is used by the Battalion chief of all three shifts. There was discussion about where to purchase vehicles and possibly purchasing used vehicles. Chief McNeil said they can work with whatever is decided; they picked the least expensive vehicle to replace when planning the budget. Commissioner Wilsen asked City Manager Frank to re-explain the changes in the City Manager's Office and clarified that the person who will be the Assistant City Manager will still have the responsibilities that he had as Department Director. City Manager Frank stated that this will save approximately $45,000-$50,000 over what we had last year. Finance Director Horton said on Page 3-10 it shows the organizational chart for the City Manager's Office. Commissioner Johnson said he has now realized that we need another person in the City Manager's Office to be involved in economic development stuff, special projects, and to find grant money. Commissioner Wilsen agreed that there needs to be a lot of effort put into looking for money for the CRA and other projects. Mayor Vandergrift asked if they could get a job description for this position and the city manager said he would provide that. Mayor Vandergrift asked about multi peril insurance on page 3-53. Human Resources Director Carnicella said for all of the insurances we have been looking for ways to reduce the costs. He stated multi peril insurance has only increased a fraction. from $230,000 to 243,000 dollars. City Manager Frank said some of that increase is because we did not have the coverage that we needed on city buildings. Mr. Carnicella said we have increased our risk in order to keep costs low. We have been analyzing various buildings such as the Maguire House to make sure we have the correct amount of insurance. City Manager Frank said now that we have switched over our health insurance we can evaluate going in the direction of self insurance on other types of insurance. Mr. Carnicella said that it is a risky strategy and he is not sure we are ready to do that at this time. There was discussion about the reconfiguring the Beech Center air conditioning system, Page 3- 62. Publix Works Director Krug stated that the original quote was for $70,000, but the major August 11, 2010 Page 5 of 8 City Commission Budget Workshop overhaul that is needed requires an additional $50,000. Commissioner Wilsen asked that we don't always go to the lowest bidder and then have to pay for it later. Commissioner Wilsen asked about the Senior Program, Page 3-53. Finance Director Horton said they do verification every other year and confirmed that there is not much adjustment. Mayor Vandergrift said that will eventually go to zero because no new people are going on the program. Commissioner Wilsen stated she just wanted to make sure there was a process to make sure everyone benefitting from this program is eligible. Commissioner Wilsen said she would like the Commission to reconsider the money that we spend in the community. We need to rethink how we have been doing it. Commissioner Keller stated that we have gone from the high of approximately $100,000 to approximately $15,000. Commissioner Hood stated that we have given almost $36,000 to Ocoee High School over the past three years and there is an individual stating that we have not supported them. Commissioner Wilsen asked about the CMA award budget and confirmed it was $10,000 for next year. She added that she would like to determine how much we are giving to boards such as HRDB so that they will not come back and ask for money throughout the year. Commissioner Keller agreed that we need to look at real needs of the board because there are some boards that legitimately need a lot more funding such as HRDB. There was discussion that the HRDB Board Chair had submitted a budget to Commissioner Hood. Commissioner Wilsen said we need to determine what we are funding now and rather than have them come back for more money later in the year. Commissioner Keller mentioned they are now doing a Hispanic Heritage Festival and if they are going to do both events, they could use a $5,000 - $7,000 budget. Commissioner Hood said he supports giving them $7,000 for both events. Commissioner Wilsen said we are reducing the contingency fund and there will not be room for additional funds later, everyone will have to work within the determined budget. There was further discussion regarding the contingency fund. Commissioner Keller stated we placed money in the contingency fund fora "holding place" and never went back and pulled it back out. City Manager Frank stated he thought that was what everyone agreed on at the Final Budget Hearing this year. Commissioner Keller questioned if $50,000 will be enough in the contingency fund because if we have any major unexpected costs it will wipe out the fund. He felt the correct number should be closer to $80,000. Commissioner Wilsen stated she would also like to resolve the issue about pay increased because she is more concerned about keeping jobs than increasing pay during lean years. Commissioner Hood asked for consensus from the Commission regarding placing $7,000 in the HRDB line item for support of their two events. The consensus was that there is $1,000 in the budget so they will place $6,000 on the wish list for HRDB if we decide to spend the additional funds. Commissioner Johnson asked for a raise to the general employees of 2% at mid-year ($92,000) to also be placed on the wish list. There was discussion that the firefighters will still get 3.8% raise, to cover the 3% that they gave up would cost an additional $70,000. Mayor Vandergrift 11.01 under the Fire Department, asked about "Other Pay." City Manager Frank explained that it is car allowance that all directors receive. Mayor Vandergrift asked about 3400 Contractual Services and 3606 Equipment Maintenance Contracts in the Fire Department. He asked if all directors are reviewing these items. City Manager Frank said most of the contractual services is for Orange County Dispatch services; equipment is for portable and truck radios, LifePaks, equipment in the trucks, copiers, etc. August 11, 2010 Page 6 of 8 City Commission Budget Workshop Commissioner Johnson confirmed that the Fire Department personnel figure on Page 3-72 included the entire 6.8% raise for the firefighters and it will be reduced by $70,000. Mayor Vandergrift asked what a reflectometer is. Public Works Director Krug said we have to comply with government regulations and test the reflectivity on all of our signs and keep a log. Mayor Vandergrift asked about miscellaneous road paving for $200,000. There was discussion about whether a list should be prepared at budget time although it will not be implemented for several months and will change. Commissioner Keller felt there should be a long term plan. Mayor Vandergrift said there needs to be criteria for how we evaluate paving needs that the residents can understand. Commissioner Hood said there is a grading criterion because he has dealt with this issue several times. City Manager Frank said they will not determine a list until they know how much the commission is going to budget to repaving. Mayor Vandergrift said he would like definitive figures quoting the cost of asphalt paving and length of various roads that need to be paved. Commissioner Keller said he is in favor of leaving the $200,000 there and possibly increasing it because the need is there. There is $200,000 more on the wish list. Mayor Vandergrift asked about 5-7 under utilities; City Manager Frank said this is not a general fund item. There was discussion about reorganizing staff within the divisions of the utility department. Commissioner Johnson asked about the facilities manager; what is the pay of the job we are doing away with vs. the one we are adding. Utilities Director Smith stated what they are doing with the reorganization is to be more pre-emptive maintenance philosophy. They want to elevate one of the positions to make that person completely responsible for all of the facilities; and downgrade the other position's responsibilities so they are a working operator during most of the week and fill in for the facility manager in his absence. Discussion ensued regarding the cost savings of approximately $50.000 cost savings with this reorganization of positions. Commissioner Johnson said he thought we already had people in place to accomplish what Mr. Smith is describing. City Manager Frank said they are constantly evaluating the management and operational procedures to make the utilities department the most efficient to protect the city and get controls in place and to avoid fines from DEP and other such agencies due to constant changing Federal regulations. Commissioner Hood asked about the duty cycle on the north waste water plant. Mr. Smith advised they have a ten year maintenance program on it. There was discussion about a recent incident where replacement of a small part saved a larger failure of the system. Mr. Smith clarified that we are asking for a decrease in personnel costs; there are no planned pay increases. Commissioner Johnson said he finds it hard to believe that we don't have people in place already watching the system and didn't feel the reorganization was needed. Commissioner Wilsen said it sounds to her as though we are trying to be proactive rather than reactive. Utilities Director Smith gave an example of bearings that had not been replaced in twenty years and regular maintenance and replacement needs to be done on these items to keep the system efficient. There was discussion about the electronic meter reading system and the cost to implement 10000 meters. Mayor Vandergrift clarified that all new homes are getting the new technology meters at the homeowner's expense. Mr. Smith said the full change out should take eight years to implement. Mayor Vandergrift asked for guidelines to be set where the city could not transfer any funds from any of the enterprise funds. He described how Orlando operates with a Utilities Commission and would like to explore doing that in Ocoee. Utilities Director Smith explained the capital outlays. The alternative water study is a central Florida initiative; it is not anticipated to be spent but if SJRWMD decides to do it, we will have August 11, 2010 Page 7 of 8 City Commission Budget Workshop the money available. Mayor Vandergrift asked if that has anything to do with the inter connectivity of the various utilities to each other to which Mr. Smith advised if SJRWMD decided to study that then that would be where the funding would come from. There was discussion with regard to the water tower on Clarke Road. The Mayor asked if we have the inter-connect at Winter Garden. Mr. Smith said we are negotiating with them with the work they are doing on Plant Street. Engineer Wheeler has a meeting with them this week with regard to interconnecting for use in emergencies. Utilities Director Smith further explained other Capital outlay items. Commissioner Keller said he likes that they are being proactive. Mayor Vandergrift asked about a rear load garbage truck on Page 6-7, for $52,000 per year. Public Works Director Krug said those new trucks costs over $200,000 and they are looking to see if they can get a used truck; we need a spare truck. Commissioner Keller asked about the school on Hackney Prairie Road and the county will have to do something with that road. He said he would like us to consider a roundabout placed now on our side of it on Hackney Prairie Road which will assist in that intersection. The other item he would like to add to the wish list is two more motorcycles for the Police Department at approximately $30,000. City Manager Frank stated that these were replacement motorcycles, we were not adding two more; he stated they felt they can get another year out of them so it was taken out of the budget. Commissioner Keller would like them on the wish list. Commissioner Wilsen stated she would like to consider drainage issues at the intersection of Orlando and Bluford because the flooding is so bad. General consensus was that it would be too costly for this year. Commissioner Wilsen felt that item for Clarke Road Landscaping for $40,000 should be removed from the wish list. Commissioner Wilsen asked the City Manager if there was anything on the wish list that was imperative. City Manager Frank said anything imperative would be placed in the budget, the wish list items are additional items to consider. Break: 7:51 p.m. Return from Break: 7:59 p.m. Finance Manager Brosonski recapped the items to be changed on the wish list. General employee salary increase, 2% at mid year, $92,000 Fire salary increase (reversing the decrease), $70,000 Transfer from projects, $100,000 HRDB Board, additional $6,000 Assistant to the City Manager, decrease by $30,000 Total savings is $32,000 for those items, with a millage rate of 5.4789 (currently 5.4974) Commissioner Hood asked what it would cost to add one officer per shift. City Manager Frank said approximately $250,000 with salary, benefits, cars and equipment. Commissioner Johnson confirmed we are currently at the required standards for officers per capita. He asked if it was necessary to add one more officer during peak times, and Chief Brown stated that additional officers would always be an improvement but does not feel it is urgent at this time. Mayor Vandergrift asked where we are with cameras for speeders and stop sign runners. The response was that they are still not legal in the state of Florida so we are not pursuing them. August 11, 2010 City Commission Budget Workshop Page 8 of 8 Mayor Vandergrift said he would like to do something about the bad echo in City Hall Lobby. He felt we should put out red carpet runners so citizens would feel they are getting the red carpet treatment when they come to city hall and it would reduce the noise. He said we should look into renting them or purchasing them. He said Ison Center has the same noise problems. He would like staff to look into costs for carpet runners in City Hall. Mayor Vandergrift announced the next budget workshop is August 31, 2010 at 6:00 p.m. IV. ADJOURNMENT The meeting adjourned at 8:09 p.m. Attest: 1 r /1 ~, ~._.. Beth Eikenberry, City rk APPROVED: City of Ocoee ~~ S. Scott Vandergrift, May