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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMinutes Council 070899• 0 0 CITY OF PALM BEACH GARDENS CITY COUNCIL WORKSHOP MEETING JULY 8, 1999 The July 8, 1999, workshop meeting of the City Council of the City of Palm Beach Gardens, Florida, was called to order at 7:30 P.M. in the Council Chambers of the Municipal Complex located at 10500 North Military Trail, Palm Beach Gardens, Florida; and opened with the Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag. ROLL CALL The City Clerk called the roll and the following elected officials were found to be in attendance: Mayor Joseph R. Russo, Vice Mayor Lauren Furtado, Councilman Eric Jablin, Councilman David Clark, and Councilman Carl Sabatello. CITY MANAGER PRESENTATION Mayor Russo thanked everyone for their work on the budget, and recommended that the City Council accept the changes as offered by each department or reject the whole budget. Councilman Sabatello expressed his opinion that certain areas might need to be changed. Vice Mayor Furtado expressed concern whether the proposed budget changes were something the City could live with.. City Manager Herakovich reported the City would be on Good Morning America Monday morning in a positive report showing how efficient the Police Department was, and that the City's ALS team had placed 2nd out of 62 teams statewide. The City Manager reported that staff had identified budget alternatives to increase balance available in reserves, Department Heads had identified reductions in their respective areas, resulting in a millage rate increase from 3.7265 to 3.9088, which combined with debt service reflected a 6.17% increase. Assuming property values remained stable, a taxpayer with property assessed at $100,000 would experience an additional cost of $25.09 annually -- no more than the cost of a pair of tennis shoes. The City Manager reviewed items remaining in the budget after cuts had been made, and explained this was a tight budget with no room for flexibility, but that the level of service had been maintained. The City Manager expressed concern there was no flexibility in administration in order to help departments during the year when they needed money, and commented she would like to have a survey in the next issue of City Line to find out if residents were willing to pay enough to recover • CITY COUNCII. WORKSHOP MEETING, 7/8/99 2 the cost of a RV/Boat storage lot. Finance Director Olson reviewed budget cuts proposed by various departments. City Council Contingency was requested to be cut by $20,000. Vice Mayor Furtado questioned whether franchise fees discussed at the last meeting had been lost, to which the Finance Director responded he believed those funds had been lost but could be collected going forward and he was unaware of other fees of this type which were not being paid. Councilman Sabatello suggested that the City Attorney review the franchise agreement and require proper payment of fees. Vice Mayor Furtado questioned the necessity of two people attending a conference at the same time. This item was discussed. A written policy on attending conferences was requested. It was clarified that the funds discussed the prior year for Engineering had been removed before the final budget. The Fire Chief explained the proposed refurbishing of rescue vehicles and bidding one new vehicle, keeping the older vehicles in reserve; and explained that delaying refurbishing one year would mean two vehicles would need refurbishing next year. The City Council agreed that one vehicle should be refurbished this year. • The City Manager reviewed cuts made to the Administration budget, recommended using privatized services wherever possible, and suggested business sponsorship of neighborhood services projects. Amounts budgeted for appraisals were discussed. Consensus was to check with the City Attorney regarding the legality of having developers pay for appraisals and if so to change the code to accommodate that. It was decided to reduce the budgeted appraisal amount by $10,000. Secretarial requirements for Administration were reviewed, and a proposed cut in the secretarial staff was added back into the budget. Discussion ensued regarding other budget items, including engineering fees to residents and ways of reducing engineering costs. The need to have flexibility in order to hire an employee to replace the computer technician who recently left was discussed. It was decided to add $6,000 into the Administration budget to provide flexibility. During discussion of time to process development applications, it was suggested applicants might wish to subsidize consultants hired by the City to speed their applications in order to allow staff to maintain the current level of service to residents. During ensuing discussion regarding level of service to residents, it was pointed out • that requests from City Council made during the year to the City Manager should be carefully considered regarding time required and • CITY COUNCIL WORKSHOP MEETING, 7/8/99 3 cost. The City Manager suggested that if she did not attend the Florida League of Cities conference, approximately $200 could be saved. The Finance Department budget included one additional staff person. During discussion of the General Services budget, Mayor Russo commented that next year the City should decide whether to stay in the golf course business and if so to re -do the bonds to realize a savings. The Police Department had cut the number of bullet proof vests requested, however, every officer would still have a vest. During discussion of the Fire Department budget, Councilman Sabatello commented that the new fire station had provided a dollar amount which could be used for future stations for new development negotiations to assure that the City was collecting enough dollars to build stations and provide equipment for those stations. Mayor Russo expressed concern that there must be concurrency for fire protection with 5 minute response time for new communities. Councilman Sabatello expressed his opinion that projections were needed of when new fire stations would be needed so that taxes could be raised in small amounts over time instead of • a drastic increase in the year a station needed to open. Growth Management Director Roxanne Manning expressed comfort with the department's budget which allowed for hiring consultants when necessary. Classifying professional staff to exempt status was anticipated to reduce overtime. Councilman Sabatello expressed his opinion that more staff was needed for building inspections. Director Manning compared the City's inspection procedures to other municipalities. During discussion, it was pointed out that the cost of a new building inspector would be covered by fees paid by developers, and that a trainee was in the process of certification. There were no questions regarding the Recreation Department budget. During discussion of the Public Works budget, Public Works Director Bob Patty explained that two positions would be eliminated and some roadway maintenance would be contracted out. Vice Mayor Furtado stated for the record she was not in favor of a utility tax. Following a break, the meeting was reconvened. • The City Council Contingency Fund was discussed again and the • CITY COUNCIL WORKSHOP MEETING, 7/8/99 4 decision was made not to reduce it by $20,000. The necessity of keeping the surplus account over a certain amount was discussed. It was pointed out that this year and next year were going to be difficult years Level of service to residents was discussed. Finance Director Olson listed additions and deletions to the budget and recalculated the budget increase at $106,000 not including a building inspector since that would be offset by increased building permit fees. A report of income and expenditures under the forbearance agreement was requested for a future meeting. Finance Director Olson reported total millage rate would change to 4.3484% or $434.84 per $100,000 home, a 6.95% increase. Total increase over rollback rate would be 10.136 %. Finance Director Olson was requested to break out the percentage attributable to the new fire station. Mr. Olson calculated the tax increase would be 4.8% over rollback if the fire station was not being added. Mayor Russo commented that the original budget showed $1.7 out of reserve but now only $1.1 would be taken out. Mayor Russo stated if residents came in and felt a 101/6 increase was too high he might not vote in favor of this budget, although he believed it was needed, and stated he was not comfortable with a double digit tax increase. The Mayor explained that he would meet with the business community, neighborhood association, and homeowner associations. Dates for budget hearings were set for September 9 and September 21 at 7 p.m. Utility Tax Mayor Russo expressed his opinion that the proposal for a utility tax should be explored by the City Council. City Manager Herakovich commented there were several options for utility tax: electric, telephone, water, gas, and telecommunications. A source of revenue would be needed in future years to operate two new fire stations, and continue capital improvements. Finance Director Olson commented that property taxes would need to be raised every year by virtue of hiring more employees. The Vice Mayor commented once a utility tax was instituted it would never go away and property taxes could still rise every year. The City Manager commented the most obvious source of additional funding for operations and capital improvements was a utility tax, which was why it was being proposed, and that in the future revenue would be needed from some source. Mayor Russo recommended the Finance Director present a proposal to be explored showing pros and cons • of a utility tax. It was the consensus of the City Council to explore and understand a proposed utility tax. CITY COUNCIL WORKSHOP MEETING, 7/8/99 to explore and understand a proposed utility tax. 5 ADJOURNMENT There being no further business to discuss, upon motion by Councilman Jablin, seconded by Councilman Clark, the meeting was adjo d 10• P. APPROVAL: /14A'%J068APH R. RUSSO LAUREN FURTADO A MAN PINE ERIC JABLIN COUNCILMAN DAVID CLARK COUNCILMAN CIARL SABATELLO ATTEST: I. KOSIER, CMC, CITY CL RK