HomeMy WebLinkAboutMinutes BOC 042706BUDGET OVERSIGHT COMMITTEE
April 27, 2006
MINUTES
The Budget Oversight Committee held a meeting on April 27, 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 8:35 AM.
I. ROLL CALL
Members Present: Martin Cohen
Harvey Goldberg, Vice Chair
Members Absent: John Chaplik, Chairperson
Also Present: Council member /Council Liaison Hal Valeche
Finance Administrator /Staff Liaison Allan Owens
Deputy Finance Administrator Mary Anderson - Pickle
II. Approval of Minutes
The Committee approved the minutes from the February 28, 2006 and March 23,
2006 meetings. Harvey Goldberg noted that he was the Vice Chair as opposed to
Martin Cohen as stated in the minutes. The recording coordinator made the
change and the Committee signed the minutes.
Mary Anderson - Pickle noted that the March minutes stated that she will have
reports from the Department Head available at this meeting. She wanted the
Committee to know that they are just starting to meet with the Department Heads
and they will have individual department information available for the Committee
in the near future.
III. Review of Comprehensive Annual Financial Report (CAFR)
There was discussion regarding the Comprehensive Annual Financial Report
(CAFR) and Martin Cohen stated he felt that foot notes were inadequate
regarding the pension plans. There was conversation regarding the report and
what the independent Actuary will be doing. The Committee does not feel that an
8 '/2 discount rate is a reasonable rate to work with. Allan Owens stated that the
independent Actuary will be reviewing the percentages and the rates and this
information will be available in the near future. Discussion ensued about the
report and there was explanation about individual parts of the report.
IV. Staff Liaison Update
Allan Owens presented more information about the Actuary and the study they
are doing. He stated that Bolton Partners are well into working on the project.
The two components in the study are analysis and assumptions. The report will
also compare the benefits, salaries and pensions of employees in other cities.
There was discussion regarding the General Employees Pension Fund and Allan
stated that staff is currently looking into the possibility of opening a new pension
fund to all general employees. The general employees would have a choice
between the 401 and the pension plan.
V. 200612007 Revenue and Expenditure Projections
Allan Owens gave a PowerPoint presentation regarding the upcoming budget.
He discussed the upcoming budget which included projections of taxable
valuation for upcoming year and showed a comparison between the years 2000
and 2007. He spoke about the figures for new construction, prior year permit
values, ratio of new construction to permits, increase from re- assess and the
percentage increase from re- assess. He also talked about the total estimated
taxable value and the ad valorem revenue at 5.928 rates.
Allan went over the projected ending undesignated fund balance, which is money
that was not used last year and can carry over to next years budget. This
included the fund balance, project revenues, projected expenditures, estimated
fund balance as of 9/30/06. The estimated undesignated fund balance as of
September 30, 2006 will be $8,031,218. The presentation also included factors
that will affect the new budget including Police pension enhancements, the City's
pledge of three million dollars toward Scripps, the final year of the Police
bargaining agreement, projected increase in electric utility charges of 30 %,
recent increases in fuel charges, estimated 10% increase in health and property
insurance, and requested new positions in Police and Building Departments.
Allan added that In order to submit a balanced budget with no increase in tax rate
requires approximately $2.1 million to be cut and to achieve an 8% increase will
require about $4 million be cut. He also went over the timeline of the budget
preparation.
Martin Cohen stated that he feels it does not make sense to have two pension
plans and two pension Committees. He suggested putting everything together
which would save a lot of money in the long run. There was conversation about
the pension plans and Councilmember Valeche discussed the feasibility of
turning over the pension plans to Florida Retirement Systems. The Committee
would like to discuss this again after the report from the independent Actuary is
completed.
Councilmember Valeche told the Committee that he has been formally appointed
as the Council Liaison to the Budget Oversight Committee. He thanked Allan
Owens and Mary Anderson Pickles for their hard work and feels that this year's
budget process is going to be more transparent. He asked the Committee how
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they felt about adding more members to this Committee and the members
welcome the idea of expanding the Committee to five members.
Councilmember Valeche spoke about the budget process and that City Council
will be doing a line item review of each department. He does not necessarily
agree with this concept because he doesn't feel that Council should be making a
decision on items or personnel that a Department Head feels they need. He feels
that Council should set overall policies and the Department Heads, City Manager
and the Finance Administrators should work out the details. He stated it would
be nice to know what is going on in each department but he would feel
uncomfortable to set controls over individual departments as opposed to setting
overall policy. Harvey Goldberg agrees that it would inappropriate to tell a
Department Head what there needs are, but from an educational standpoint this
is a worthwhile exercise. There was discussion about the difference between a
Council Meeting and a workshop, the budget review process and the Committees
role in the budget process.
VI. Adjournment
With no further business to discuss the meeting adjourned at 10:08 a.m.
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Approved:
) 01,�' U
Jo n Chaplik, thairperson
Harvey qoldberg, Vice Chairperson
Martin Cohen, Committee Member
Attest: ........ ....
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Susan Bell, Public Information /Recording Coordinator