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HomeMy WebLinkAbout08-31-10 Budget WS Budget Workshop OCOEE CITY COMMISSION Ocoee Commission Chambers 150 North Lakeshore Drive, Ocoee, FL August 31, 2010 Minutes 6:00 P.M. Mayor Vandergrift called the budget work session to order at 6:00 p.m. in the Commission Chambers of City Hall. City Clerk Eikenberry called roll and declared a quorum present. Roll Call: Commissioner Hood, Commissioner Wilsen, Mayor Vandergrift, Commissioner Johnson and Commissioner Keller. Also Present: Finance Director Horton, Finance Manager Brosonski, Chief Accountant Briggs Finance Director Horton advised there were several items discussed at the last workshop; monetary amounts were associated with those items. A copy of those were sent to the Commission via email as well as placed before them on the dais. Also placed on the dais is a copy of the latest wish list. City Manager Frank stated that the budget was presented at the last meeting balanced at 5.4974; there has been some fine tuning and we are balanced at 5.3229 mils as you begin the evening tonight. Commissioner Hood asked what the contingency fund was with this new millage rate and Finance Director Horton answered that it was $50,000. She added that the wish list has an additional $50,000 for the contingency fund. Commissioner Hood asked if the $150,000 for additional projects was no longer there and City Manager Frank confirmed it is not included in the lower millage rate of 5.3229. Commissioner Keller asked about the blown engine on a fire vehicle recently? He said with that being considered he would like to move the $6,078 from the wish list into the regular budget to get that vehicle replaced. City Manager Frank said that vehicle is 10 years old and needs to be replaced. HR Director Carnicella said the multi peril insurance will not help in this case. Commissioner Johnson asked about the use of this vehicle. Chief McNeil advised the budget discussion last meeting included $15,910 to purchase and Escape for the Administrative Vehicle. There was discussion that it would be better to replace the old Battalion Chief vehicle currently being used by the Training and EMS officer. That is why there is the additional money on the wish list. As it turns out that was a good discussion because since that time the motor blew on the vehicle on the way to a training class. That vehicle has 139,000 miles on it and now a blown motor. The new Taurus would go to Chief Stanley and his SUV would go to the Training and EMS Officer. He added they looked into hybrid cars but it was not cost effective. Public Works Director Krug said fleet found that the cost of a hybrid was about $6000 more than a gasoline engine. Chief McNeil said they are not opposed to a hybrid at all, just trying to keep costs down. Commissioner Johnson mentioned that an Escape is cheaper than a Taurus. Mayor Vandergrift asked if we have anything in the budget this year that would pay for the car. Chief McNeil said no. Commissioner Johnson said if the car it going to the Assistant Chief it will not be going to calls so we should look at ways to save money like possibly purchasing a second hand car at the auto auction. Commissioner Keller asked for agreement on a type of vehicle so August 31, 2010 City Commission Budget Workshop he can figure it into the budget. Discussion followed regarding costs on different types of vehicles, use of pool cars, liability insurance on employees with car allowance, Fire and Police Chief's vehicles, take home vehicles, auto brokers for the auto auction, etc. City Manager Frank said we have not looked into used vehicles vs. new vehicles as far as what the cost savings would be. We would need to consider extended warranties, etc. Mr. Krug said we use the state sheriff's bid list as a barometer to see what the costs would be and then we see how much better we can do. City Manager Frank stated we were purchasing used police vehicles from Longwood because they would only keep them for a year, but now they have changed their purchasing strategy. Finance Manager Brosonski explained that the money is budgeted to buy the Ford Escape; the additional money is to purchase a Taurus instead of an Escape. Commissioner Johnson said we have $325,000 in an account that we put aside for a Fire Station and an additional $301,000 in adjustments that were made since the last meeting, which gives us approximately $625,000 to use for projects and wish list items and still keep the budget at 5.4974. He said he would like to do 1.5 to 2 percent salary increase to general employees. City Manager said costs would depend on whether it was merit or COLA. Finance Director Horton confirmed the amount for the Fire Station was $320,000. Commissioner Johnson asked if we are getting complaints regarding calls or response time to the Northwest area of the city. Fire Chief McNeil said this year we have had 117 calls with an average of 6 minutes and 35 seconds, which remains under the five minutes when you back out the 1 -2 minute turn out time out of the station. He said they are on track for 140 calls for the year in that area, and department wide for 4400 calls. He said he is not aware of anyone complaining about the service. There was discussion about running ALS units with Winter Garden and Winter Garden should be going ALS soon. Chief McNeil agreed that we will need a station on the north end in the future, but we cannot financially support it at this time. Other agencies are also delaying new stations. There was discussion about the geographical boundaries for different agencies running fire calls; Deputy Chief Stanley explained. Mayor Vandergrift announced to viewers that our video cable is temporarily down although audio is still working; you can get the live stream on the city's website if you want to continue to watch. Commissioner Wilsen asked why we need new motorcycles. Police Chief Brown said the main issue came from fleet based on frequency of repair. The average life cycle is three years and we are going into the fourth year where maintenance costs will get more expensive. The Mayor confirmed that the Sheriffs Office is 2 -3 years, depending on mileage. Commissioner Wilsen asked why this is not in the normal budget. City Manager Frank said that the money to cover personnel caused less money to be there for capital expenditures. Chief Brown added that the police department has vehicles they can use if the motorcycle does not last all year. Commissioner Keller said he wished we would have received the same support from the police for the salary reduction agreement; however they need to be on the safest equipment. Commissioner Johnson said he will not vote for anything for the police department other than what they need for safety. There was some discussion regarding value of the existing motorcycles and the cost of new motorcycles, etc. Commissioner Wilsen noted the items on the wish list regarding air conditioning; she felt there should be money in a fund that would be used only if the air conditioner needed to be replaced. City Manager Frank stated that is the same theory we used with computers; it is always a good August 31, 2010 City Commission Budget Workshop idea to have a reserve account like that rather than just replacing them when they reach a certain age. Commissioner Keller said there is $190,800 on the wish list for new air conditioners. Commissioner Wilsen continued to review items on the wish list. She said she is in favor of demo of building of the Dr. Scott building. She was not in favor of the sign for the police department for $10,000; she would rather make a sign in -house until we have more money. She would rather spend money on street resurfacing or concrete that we need rather than a sign. Commissioner Hood - had no comments. Mayor Vandergrift - asked about what we are doing for Founders' Day. City Manager Frank said we have to square up from the last two years; the proposed budget has $50,000. If we leave it at that we will probably find ourselves in the same situation as the last two years if we continue doing the same type of celebration. We need to either increase the contingency, or consider more for Founders' Day, or come up with some parameters on the dollar amount we want to spend. Mayor Vandergrift confirmed we are short approximately $39,000 for the last two years. Commissioner Johnson said we give away $13,000 to the charitable organizations that we could keep if we handled the beer sales in house. Commissioner Wilsen asked if that should go on the agenda for the next meeting to clean up the $39,000 deficit and start new going forward. City Manager Frank said that we need to either add money to contingency or consider spending less on the event. Mayor Vandergrift stated that we should consider "right- sizing" it, and keeping it local. Commissioner Johnson stated that we have to think about what type of event we want to have and fund it accordingly. Commissioner Keller felt that downsizing this event would not be well received in the community. Commissioner Johnson said we have been getting approximately $70,000 worth of sponsorship, but that has been difficult in these times. This is one of the things Ocoee is recognized for all around the state. Commissioner Wilsen agreed this is one event everyone seems to look forward to; she would hate to try to alter it. Commissioner Vandergrift felt it should be right -sized and use more local talent. Commissioner Johnson said they should vote on continuing the event or not doing it any more after this year; downsizing it is not a good option because it will not be a successful event. Consensus of the Commission was to discuss the deficit for the Founders' Dav events on the next regular commission meeting agenda. Finance Director Horton clarified that there are two issues; one to clear up the deficit from the last two year's Founders' Day events which will be handled at the next regular commission meeting and; add $25,000 to the budget next year to fund the Founders' Day event. Commissioner Keller said we have to determine what we are going to add to next year's fund. Commissioner Wilsen suggested placing $150,000 into the air conditioning fund, rather than $190,000 and free up some money for Founders' Day. City Manager Frank suggested if you are going to start a capital fund and hard needs are for $190,000, we should probably only place 1/2 of that this year and then do the same next year. There will be units this year that will go another year. He suggested taking $25,000 and adding it to contingency and dedicate it to Founders' Day and have a workshop in after we get the final numbers for the event in November. Commissioner Wilsen said she prefers to just place the money in the Founders' Day item. She felt they could save money in other places such as the leaving Education amount at $30,000 and save $10,000 there. Commissioner Wilsen, Commissioner Johnson, Commissioner Hood, August 31, 2010 City Commission Budget Workshop and Commissioner Keller agreed that an additional $25,000 should be added to the budget for Founders' Day. Commissioner Wilsen asked about the designated fund for air conditioners and how to do that. There was discussion regarding the amount needed for a reserve fund to cover all the air conditioners for $190,800 and the carpet is additional $18,000. Commissioner Johnson reminded them that the $320,000 is sitting in the Fire Department fund that we will not be using for a while. There was discussion regarding salary increases: merit increase at 1.5% is $64,000. Commissioner Wilsen stated she is not in favor of salary increases when so many citizens are suffering, she feels happy that we are laying anyone off. Commissioner Johnson mentioned that the firefighters drive their own vehicle to work as opposed to police who have take -home vehicles. Mayor Vandergrift said he had some research done by the Finance Department and there are 21 employees making over $80,000 and 9 employees making over $100,000. He said if we give any of those employees a raise it should be a one time amount and not added to their salary. He said the $80,000 cut off was picked because it was equal to the average household income in Ocoee. Development Services Director Shadrix and the commission had a lengthy discussion about the socio economic and average salary information used to promote the CRA. Commissioner Hood mentioned that you can go to the Florida Housing or HUD site and get that information broken down by counties and cities. He said the average in Brevard County was $52,000 and he is quite certain the average household income in the City of Ocoee would fall under $80,000. Mayor Vandergrift felt that the Commissioners should look at the numbers to figure out how to distribute a COLA fairly. Commissioner Hood asked what millage rate we are looking at that gives us an additional $300,000 to spend. City Manager Frank explained that the wish list included reductions that brought the millage rate down; we could still spend approximately $300,000 and stay at last year's millage rate of 5.4974. There was discussion as to what needs to be done to arrive at various millage rates. City Manager Frank noted that if the millage rate went up to the rolled back rate (6.3755) it would actually be reported as a zero increase because that would bring in the same dollar amount. Right now they are at 5.3229 mils. Commissioner Keller stated that millage rate would not leave any additional funds for Founders' Day, contingency, or a/c repairs. Commissioner Johnson said if we keep it at 5.4974 we have some additional funds without raising the taxes. Discussion regarding the salary increases for employees and it was confirmed that the budget was balanced with no raise for the general employees and 3% for the firefighters. Options for salary increases were 1.5 COLA and 1.5 merit which equals $201,900, or a 2% increase at mid year which is 92,000, and 1.5% at mid year which is approximately $64,000. Additional options were discussed regarding bonus, longevity, and merit increases. Commissioner Hood said he does not think they need to go all the way to 5.4974; he has spoken to employees and they understand the possibility of no increases this year. Commissioner Keller said we found additional funds (fire department salary, personnel adjustments, projects) that brought the balanced budget from 5.4974 to 5.3229 mils and thinks we could now balance the budget back at the original rate (5.4974) and put some necessary funds in place for contingency, air conditioning repairs, etc. He added that if they do not do that one large emergency expenditure could wipe out the contingency fund. Commissioner Hood preferred to leave it at the lower millage and give the money back to the tax payers. Commissioner Keller stated he does not want to go the roll back rate of 6.3755 which represents a zero increase in dollars, but he would like to add funds to cover emergency August 31, 2010 City Commission Budget Workshop expenditures. Commissioner Keller and Commissioner Hood agreed they would rather leave the $320,000 in the budget for the fire department without using those funds. There was discussion about using some of the 12 million in the reserve funds. Finance Director Horton said that they have been using reserve funds for the last few years; in the current year we budgeted 2.5 and in the proposed budget for FY 2010/11 there is approximately is 2.6 or a little over 2 million dollars. City Manager Frank reminded them that whatever is not used is placed back in the reserves. He stated that after this year, the reserve fund will probably drop down into the 11 million range. Finance Director Horton was asked if that will affect the bond rating, to which she replied that we are still okay at that level; if we drop below 10 million with our current amount of debt there may be an issue. Commissioner Wilsen stated she is leaning toward Commissioner Hood's concept, although she thinks 5.3229 is too low. She stated the items on the wish list she is interested in keeping; a $150,000 fund for the air - conditioning and carpeting items on the list, $15,000 for demolition of the Scott Griffin building, $6000 additional funding for HRDB, $25,000 additional funding for Founders' Day. Commissioner Hood said he would like to see the $4,000 for Christmas lights. Public Works Director confirmed that is to rent lights for Bluford and McKey; at this time we just have banners. Commissioner Johnson stated that he thinks the installation of tennis courts at Tiger Minor should be reconsidered because the only one using them is the tennis instructor who is selling lessons. Most don't live in Ocoee. The kids who live here prefer the basketball courts; that is what they like to play. He asked how much it would cost just for basketball courts. CIP Manager Butler said the $75,000 cost would cover basketball courts where the old treatment plant was, modifying parking area, lighting, access walks- a trail through the woods to connect to the courts, and amenities. He stated just for the courts would cost $60,000. There was discussion about type of lighting. Parks and Recreation Director Hayes stated that the figure has to include access, parking, and security. Commissioner Johnson suggested that the courts are built inside the park instead of outside where additional money needs to be spent; he stated there is additional land inside Tiger Minor Park on the backside by the bathrooms for two courts. There was discussion about the two activities not mixing well because of language used, etc. Commissioner Hood said the other sports (baseball, football, and soccer) don't get any financial assistance and those people spend countless volunteer hours to make those sports happen. They are not getting paid like the tennis instructor is. Commissioner Johnson said we need to consider basketball at Tiger Minor Park. Mr. Butler said we will have two new half courts at Prairie Lake Park and Coventry Park. Commissioner Keller said he thinks we should have had basketball courts at Vignetti as well. We have tennis courts all over the place and lost some basketball courts and that is not what the residents wanted according to the survey we did recently. He stated the dog park was higher on the list of priorities than. He said we need to put basketball courts back in. Commissioner Wilsen asked Finance Director Horton where we would be if we added in the Founder's Day - $25,000, Capital a/c carpet fund $150,000, Demo $15,00, HRDB $6000, Tiger Minor Basketball Courts- $50,000. Finance Manager Brosonski said those five items add back $246,000 and would create a millage rate of 5.4652. Commissioner Keller said he agrees with August 31, 2010 City Commission Budget Workshop those items but thinks they need to consider more than $50,000 in the contingency fund. Commissioner Wilsen asked about cutting the Educational Reimbursement Fund by $10,000 to stay with $30,000 rather than go with $40,000. She discussed allocating funds to each commissioner for those who come before the Commission and ask for it. Once you finished with that funding you are done. Mayor Vandergrift said that was tried at the County level, but the newspaper ate them up. Commissioner Johnson reminded them the items discussed would not include raises for employees. Mayor Vandergrift said he would still like to leave that option open. There was discussion regarding pool vehicles. Commissioner Johnson asked about the possibility of general employees going to a union if it appears only union employees are going to get a raise. HR Director Carnicella said if a small amount of money could be freed up; they could come back with some recommendations on how to allocate that money across the general employees. He said it is tricky because they have to worry about pay equity, etc. Commissioner Hood said he was going to suggest that City Manager Frank go back and try to find $92,000 for the 2% increase at half year. City Manager Frank said there is not much, but he can give them a dollar figure of what are able to find at the first budget Public Hearing. Commissioner Keller confirmed that we had added $236,000, which is $246,000 minus the $10,000 from the Educational Reimbursement Fund. He asked how much more money we would need to find to add in $92,000. Finance Director Horton advised $26.385. Commissioner Keller said for that and the additional $50,000 in contingency, we would need to find approximately $76,000. City Manager Frank said he will see what he can do. Mayor Vandergrift said he would like to consider looking at the uniform fund for the commissioners and see if there is anything left over. Commissioner Wilsen said what ever is not used will be carried over into the next budget year. Mayor Vandergrift announced the Tentative Budget Public Hearing will be held on September 15, 2010, at 7:00 p.m. The meeting was adjourned at 8:08 p.m. APPROVED: te st: City of Ocoee ii - iken Derry, City Clerk di S. Scott Vandergrift, Mayor