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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMinutes - City Council - 07/06/2006CITY COUNCIL 6 JULY 2006 The South Burlington City Council held a special meeting on Thursday, July 6 2006, at 8:00 a.m., in the Conference Room, City Hall, 575 Dorset St. Members Present: J. Condos, Chair; C. Smith, M. Boucher, D. O'Rourke Also Present: C. Hafter, City Manager; and D. Gravelin, Assistant City Manager 1. Announcements & City Manager's Report: C. Hafter: · Having previously distributed a draft letter to the Council to be sent to City's property owners with the upcoming tax bills, the City Manager pointed out that the school estimates were left blank as the City was awaiting the states education rates, expected by the end of the week. He also noted the 4-year prebate amount was adjusted to include prebates only. Councilor Boucher offered an edit to the lead-in paragraph for clarity. Discussion continued on the Prebate and the perception of its fairness and concerns about the process in general. · Manager Hafter reported that he would like to reconstitute the City Charter Committee to re-evaluate the proposed City Charter change recommended earlier this year with regard to adopting Local Sales, Meals and Rooms Taxes. The Council would like the Charter Committee to evaluate whether a one-vote process would be more efficient rather than going to the voters twice, once to approve the charter change and then vote again on implementing the tax. He targeted the meeting in August to review a Charter Committee recommendation. · He reported that the Airport Committee plans to meet on Monday, July 10. (This meeting subsequently was postponed) · He expects at the July 17th Council Meeting that the Public Works-Storm water Division will outline the capital work plan and cost estimate for continued improvements to the City's storm water runoff. 2. Request for approval of tax rate to support FY 2007 budget, special assessment districts, user fees for sanitary water and sewer, and storm water services; approval of tax due dates and fiscal year budgets. Discussion began on the process of computing a revenue-neutral tax rate in order to provide the necessary tax revenue and maintain the level of City services. Referencing the memo distributed to Council, Manager Hafter noted that to insure revenue neutrality, the voter approved 1-cent Open Space levy would be reduced to 0.6 cents for this fiscal year only. On motion by C. Smith, seconded by D. O'Rourke, the Council voted to set a tax rate for City Services as follows: City operating .342 Bonded debt .025 Other entities .020 Open space .006 Total City Services .393 On motion by C. Smith, seconded by M. Boucher, the Council voted to adopt a levy for the following special sewer districts: Spear Street Northeast - .159 per hundred dollar value of the property values within this district Spear Street South -- a fixed amount of $732.81 to each property within the district Chairman J. Condos reviewed the recommended utility rates for sanitary Water, Sewer, and Storm water services. On motion by D. O'Rourke, seconded by C. Smith, the Council voted to adopt the following user fees for services billed after July 1, 2006: Sewer User Fee -- $19.85 per 1,000 cubic feet of water usage Sewer User Fee -- $20.93 per 1,000 cubic feet charge to Colchester, VT Water Fee - $19.53 per 1,000 cubic feet of usage (5% increase) Storm Water Fee - $4.50 per Equivalent Residential Unit of 2,700 sq.ft. of impervious service On motion duly made and seconded the Council voted to set the tax due dates as follows: 1st installment August 15, 2006 2nd installment November 15, 2006 3rd installment March 15, 2007 Pursuant to a warned Public Hearing on April 6, 2006, and the City Services Budget for fiscal year ending June 30, 2007 presented at that hearing, on motion by D. O'Rourke, seconded by C. Smith, the Council voted to adopt the 2007 City services budget as presented. Discussion turned to having a series of public meetings to discuss the future capital needs of the City, in light of the recent police station vote, with a suggestion for a committee to look at the future infrastructure/building needs (i.e.: police station, library, recreation facility, Airport Parkway WWTF upgrade, city hall). Manager Hafter noted that he has had a good response from citizens wishing to participate in the re-evaluation of a police facility needs. On motion by C. Smith, seconded by, M. Boucher, the Council adjourned the meeting at 9:00 a.m. Secretary Published by ClerkBase ©2019 by Clerkbase. No Claim to Original Government Works.