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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMinutes BOC 032306i BUDGET OVERSIGHT COMMITTEE March 23, 2006 Minutes The Budget Oversight Committee held a meeting on March 23, 2006 in the Council Chambers of the Municipal Complex, located at 10500 North Military Trail, Palm Beach Gardens, Florida. The meeting was called to order at 8:37 AM. I. ROLL CALL Members Present: John Chaplik Martin Cohen Harvey Goldberg arrived at 8:42 AM. H. PENSION REPORT UPDATE Allan Owens informed the Board that the Committee's report regarding the pension boards was sent out to Council approximately 2 weeks ago. As of the date of this meeting, Allan has not heard back from any of the council members. The City hired an independent actuarial firm. The firm of Bolton Partners is based out of Baltimore but they have an office in Boca Raton and will be moving to the West Palm Beach area in the next few weeks. This firm has a lot of experience with pension boards and Allan feels they will be a good fit. They will have an initial report in the next two to three weeks. III. APPROVAL OF MINUTES The Committee talked about a few changes to the minutes and the committee approved the minutes from January 11, 2006 and February 23, 2006. IV. CAPITAL PROJECTS BUDGETING PROCESS Allan Owens introduced Angela Wong, Operations Manager, to the Committee. Angela gave the Committee an overview of how the City handles the capital outlay and how capital improvements are approved. Angela explained that the City uses the CIP as a multi year planning instrument. A capital improvement plan is developed by all departments for a 5 year period. She explained that all departments fill out a form which is reviewed and ranked by criteria. There is a committee whose purpose is to monitor the progress of capital improvement projects. There was discussion about maintenance of the projects, and Allan added that there is a facilities committee that works with these issues. The Committee talked about grants and Allan stated that since the Grant Coordinator position was created, the City collected over 6 million dollars in grant money. John Chaplik asked if there is a cap on the amount spent on capital projects. Allan stated there is no specific cap and that management decides what an acceptable level of taxation will be. There was discussion about what capital improvements are eligible for impact fees. Allan stated there is a strict legal test to determine if an item or project is eligible. The Committee talked about what will happen to capital projects when impact fees slow down. Allan stated that in theory, there would be no additional expansion of facilities and the general fund would have to absorb any other funding for projects that need to be done. s' The Committee discussed the status of the building expansion and buying another facility. There was a question about the possibility of having employees telecommunicate as opposed to expanding the facility. Allan stated that there has not been any serious discussion among staff regarding employees working from home, but there is ongoing discussion about space needs and building expansion. V. COMPARATIVE BUDGET DATA Mary Anderson gave an overview regarding the upcoming budget. She stated that the finance department will be getting each departments this week and this information will be available the next meeting. In the meantime, she put together a presentation that shows how Palm Beach Gardens compares with other municipalities. The cities that were selected in the comparison had similar services and population. This study was based solely on comparing the general fund items. In most of the areas, Palm Beach Gardens ranked in the middle range. However, the City ranked highest in relying on advalorem taxes for revenue and the seconded to lowest in salary increases for general employees. There was discussion about the process for merit increases for general employees and Allan explained the evaluation process. There was also conversation about employee benefits and if there is a way to save money on such benefits. Allan stated that staff looks at this each year during the negotiation process with the insurance companies. There was continued discussion about the rapid growth of the City including the long term expenses and long term tax revenue. Allan acknowledged that he would like to see the Committee look into and make recommendations on diversifying revenue sources since this City relies so much on advalorem taxes. Allan pointed out that the residents do not pay for trash/sewer services. The City starts paying for these services from the day the resident moves in but does not collect the taxes until up to 18 months later. There was discussion about putting a package together that includes lowering taxes but incorporates residents paying for user fees. Martin Cohen brought up the fact that tax exempt businesses would have to pay for services if this was implemented. This would be a way for the City to collect money from these businesses that do not pay taxes. There was discussion about Scripps and other biotech companies. John Chaplik stated that he doesn't feel start-up companies are going to be coming into the City because the real estate and taxes are too expensive. He feels the City should secure a large anchor company because they have more money for land and taxes. There was also discussion about the possibility of building new homes on the Vavrus property and the potential money that it will bring in. The Committee continued the discussion about the Cities that were used as a comparison in the presentation that Mary gave. John Chaplik asked for a comparison regarding what other Cities are doing as far paying for services and revenue sources. Allan stated that the auditor's report will be done and will be presented to the Council at the April 6a' meeting. He said this is the first year that there are no manager's comments 2 P and the Committee congratulated Allan on this accomplishment. There was discussion about the auditor's function. VI. NEXT MEETING John Chaplik reminded the committee that they can call Allan if they have any topics to put on future agendas. For the next meeting the committee would like to discuss the auditor's reports, the preliminary department budgets, and discussion about alternate Revenue sources. VII. ADJOURNMENT With no further business to discuss the meeting adjourned at 10:07 AM. John Chaplik, Chairman 7:ohen V 4ce-E -i rn a a arvey 14 ldberg, Be V _, Attest: 3