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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMinutes - City Council - 01/05/2011CITY COUNCIL 5 JANUARY 2011 The South Burlington City Council held a budget work session on Wednesday, 5 January 2011, at 6:00 p.m., in the Conference Room, City Hall, 575 Dorset St. Councilors Present: M. Boucher, Chair; S. Dooley, J. Knapp, F. Murray; M. Emery (via speaker phone) Also Present: S. Miller, City Manager; R. Rusten, Assistant City Manager; J. Rabidoux, Public Works Director; Chief D. Brent, Fire Department; K. Murphy, City Hall staff; M. Young 1. Budget Workshop to review FY2012 budget: a) City Council: Mr. Rusten indicated that the advertising budget had been reduced by $3600. Legal Services were also eliminated from the City Council budget and included as part of a Legal Services budget. Additions to the City Council budget include $5000 for the Triathlon, which the City Council approved, and $3900 for Front Porch Forum, which the Council agreed to pay for. Mr. Miller noted that the city is forming a technology group and may be able to get some of the Front Porch Forum services free. He asked the Council whether or not to continue to pay for this. Mr. Boucher said he is concerned there is so much use by schools and government groups that Front Porch Forum is losing the “neighbor to neighbor” feel. Mr. Murray said he is open to Mr. Miller’s suggestion for more economic means to communicate with the public. Mr. Miller said he didn’t think there would be an answer in the next 3 weeks, but he would add it to the list of alternatives when the Council is ready to address things. Mr. Murray cited the importance of communication with the public. Mr. Miller added that people expect to be fed information. He also noted that different generations are “technologically different,” and the city wants to reach different segments of the population. b) General Government: Mr. Miller noted that this budget still includes an ICMA match for some personnel, but the budget is $25,000 less than the previous budget. Mr. Rusten pointed out that the Vision Plan has been broken out from medical insurance and that they have gone from a $500 to a $2500 deductible for property insurance. Mr. Miller added that they will do a study to see if this really saves money. Ms. Dooley questioned the line item “Disability Income.” Mr. Miller explained that this is short term disability and was negotiated as a benefit with all bargaining units. Mr. Rabidoux said it covers 2/3 of a salary, and the employee has to cover the other third from a “sick bank.” Members agreed to change the designation to “Short Term Disability.” Ms. Emery joined the meeting via speaker phone. Mr. Rusten noted that a considerable amount of money is being saved on group health insurance (coverage for Library personnel has been removed from this category and added to the Library budget). The total proposed Administration budget is $603,627. c) City Manager’s Budget: Mr. Miller noted the budget includes 2 additional personnel. Janice Ladd has been put full time into the City Manager’s budget and Kelly Murphy has been moved to this budget. Mr. Miller also noted that they have added back in the amount to deliver meeting packets, etc., which had been removed from the last budget. Leave time turn-in has been zeroed out. The “vacancy savings” line has been eliminated. Mr. Miller explained that there is actually an expense when a person is replaced as vacation and comp time are “cash valued” and there are payouts. Postage has been increased to be in line with what is being spent. Mr. Rusten said they will be looking at ways to reduce these costs. Mr. Miller noted they have challenged themselves to save $150,000. Cleaning Services has been increased to $35,000 to be in line with what is being spent. Street Lights and Capital Repair have been moved out of the City Manager’s budget to Administrative Services. The total City Manager’s proposed budget is $385,547. d) Legal Services: Mr. Miller explained that the costs for actuaries, and pension plan administrators had been paid out of pension assets. The city has been told that this is not advisable, although it is legal. Legal services have been moved from various departments, except for storm water. This will provide a better idea of what is being spent. Mr. Miller felt it should be possible to reduce these expenditures in a number of ways. Mr. Rusten added that there were other legal expenses that were never budgeted. Ms. Dooley asked about bidding for legal services. Mr. Miller said a municipality usually stays with someone they are comfortable with. He added that there would have to be a better plan than just getting RFPs for legal services. Mr. Murray said there should be good communication between management and the City Council regarding what is going to be litigated, especially very big issues. Mr. Boucher noted that the city’s position used to be to defend every lawsuit; however, a few years ago the Council said not to do this. Mr. Miller said it seems that order was followed. He added that monthly reports to the Council will be provided so they can track what is being spent. e) Administrative Services: This category includes street lights, electricity for City Hall, and heating for City Hall. These items are now budgeted separately. Other costs in this category include City Hall maintenance, Stormwater user rent, Computer services (a composite from various parts of the budget), and Sewer user rent (which, it appears, hadn’t been paid at all). The total proposed budget for Administrative Services is $674,500. f) General Ledger/Payroll: A reduction in salaries is the result of shifting ½ a position to the City Manager’s budget. The equipment line has been zeroed out. Travel/Training has been substantially reduced but allows for training for a new person. The total proposed budget for General Ledger/Payroll is $69,715. g) Assessing/Tax: Mr. Miller noted that reappraisal costs have been zeroed out. Mr. Rusten said that at the end of the budget, there is $70,000 proposed to start building up the reappraisal account again. This money won’t be spent in FY2012. Mr. Miller stressed that this fund will be segregated and those funds not used for any other purpose. Mr. Young asked when the next appraisal will be. Mr. Miller said it is not yet scheduled, and the city is well within the limits at this time. The total proposed budget for Assessing/Tax is $162,386. h) Comparative Revenue General Fund: Mr. Rusten noted there is more detail provided. He also noted that the city is paid $74,000 by the state to collect the state education tax. Mr. Boucher noted that the Rooms & Meals Local Option Tax is for the specific purpose of capital improvements. Mr. Rusten said they will have to be sure they are not “double­spending” these funds. Mr. Young asked if the shortfall in the pension plan shows up in this budget. Mr. Miller stressed that the pension plan does not have a shortfall; it has an unfunded balance. $759,000 is proposed to begin to address this. Mr. Boucher noted this is up about $220,000 from what was anticipated. Mr. Miller said that since there are fewer employees in the plan for FY 2012, that figure is more like $300,000. i) Debt Projections By Fund: Ms. Murphy said this includes all notes. In addition, all borrowers were contacted to be sure everything was accounted for. Regarding the shortfall for the Airport Parkway Project, Mr. Miller said they now believe this to be $2,500,000. This could be addressed by going to the bond bank or to state revolving funds which would be cheaper at 2%. Mr. Miller noted that increases in water and sewer rates will actually be lower than at first anticipated. Mr. Boucher suggested that in the future there be a column called “Balance.” Mr. Young encouraged the city to get as close to a $402,000 increase as possible. He added that he truly appreciates the efforts that are being made. Mr. Miller noted they are actually reducing the budget after they take out the false numbers that were in the budget such as “surpluses” that didn’t exist. Mr. Young stressed the need to make a concerted effort to live “within our means.” As there was no further business to come before the Council, the meeting was adjourned at 8:30 p.m. ______________________________ Clerk Published by ClerkBase ©2019 by Clerkbase. No Claim to Original Government Works.