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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMinutes - City Council - 12/14/2013CITY COUNCIL 14 DECEMBER 2013 The South Burlington City Council held a budget workshop on Saturday, 14 December 2013, at 9:00 p.m., in the Conference Room, City Hall, 575 Dorset St. Members Present: P. Mackenzie, Chair; R. Greco, H. Riehle, P. Nowak, C. Shaw Also Present: K. Dorn, City Manager; T. Hubbard, Deputy City Manager; D. Kinville, City Clerk; P. Conner, Director of Planning & Zoning; J. Rabidoux, Public Works Director; Chief T. Whipple, Police Department; Chief D. Brent, Fire Department; L. Murphy, Librarian; I. Blanchard, Project Manager; S. Dory, Finance Officer; T. Goodwin, Recreation Department; J. Ladd, Human Resources; M. Simoneau, S. Swanson 1. Introduction: Mr. Dorn and Ms. Mackenzie thanked Mr. Hubbard and Ms. Dory and the entire staff for work on the budget. Mr. Hubbard noted they were given the charge of producing a level funded budget, and that is what is being presented. Mr. Hubbard then enumerated areas of increased funding including: Mr. Hubbard then enumerated the budget impacts of these increases, including: Supplemental requests that were not funded include: Individual department budgets were then reviewed as follows: A. General Fund Budget: 1. City Council: Interim Zoning funding was eliminated. Travel and training cut by half. Mr. Hubbard explained the sick bank calculation. Ms. Mackenzie suggested a conversation regarding insurances, possibly self-insuring instead of going with VLCT. It was noted that the pension plan is now fully funded and doing very well. Fees are coming out of the pension fund, not the budget. There is a slight increase in payroll services due to the new system. The switch to ADP is working well. An HR program is being purchased which will streamline things even more. Payroll preparation has gone from 2 days to 2 hours. Ms. Greco expressed concern with cutting the entire Energy Efficiency amount. 2. General Ledger/Payroll: This is now part of financing, assessing and the tax departments. 3. Debt Service: Debt service for the Brand Farm park land and for emergency communications have been eliminated. 4. General Fund Revenue: A slight increase in the local option sales tax is anticipated. 5. City Clerk: Ms. Kinville noted the Clerk's office is funded by what they take in. The proposed budget increases by $9000 due to a part time person (8 hours per week) and the more scheduled elections in the coming year. This still leaves the department expenditures under the revenue. Ms. Kinville said the department is at the bare minimum and could use more than 2 full time positions in addition to the Clerk. She stressed that the "zero budget" takes a toll on services that can be provided. 6. Enterprise Funds: A. Sewer: Mr. Rabidoux stressed that the city needs to comply with operating permits. The Airport Parkway Treatment Plant has just been upgraded, which needs to be done every 20 years. Technology evolves rapidly, and the aim is to have sufficient funds when the Bartlett Bay Plant is due for upgrading in 2022-23. Mr. Rabidoux explained that the Hadley Road neighborhood discharges to the City of Burlington, for which South Burlington pays Burlington. With the new rates, this will cost South Burlington $200,000 a year. Mr. Rabidoux said the city will need to spend money to save money. The department is now scoping and researching the possibility of getting state money at a low interest rate so that this neighborhood can discharge to the Bartlett Bay Plant. The proposed budget includes a 2% increase in sewer rates. This will cost the average homeowner about $7.00 more a year. B. Water: Meter replacement will continue to be funded. The proposed budget includes a 1.59% rate increase which will cost the average homeowner about $4.32 a year. Mr. Rabidoux noted South Burlington has the second lowest water rate in the County. C. Storm Water: It is anticipated that the city will be required to make $40,000,000 in improvements over the life of the storm water permit. The budget includes a 2.5% rate increase which will cost residents about 15 cents a month. Ms. Greco asked if projections for future developments have been done. Mr. Rabidoux said there will be a need for a new water tower in the Southeast Quadrant. Storm water can be managed on a case-by-case basis. The city can also get grant money to help keep homeowners' costs lower. 6. Highway Department: No increases are projected other than personnel expenses. The Department can still fund fleet replacement at an adequate level. The Department is seeing an increased demand for services: development, new parks, Community Garden Center, Red Rocks Park, Veterans Memorial at Dorset Par, recreation paths, etc., and is doing this with the same number of people who are earning less due to inflation. They had hoped for a seasonal person, which was cut from the budget. Ms. Greco expressed concern with a future huge increase. Ms. Nowak cited the benefit of the previous budget system with automatic tax increases as the city grew. Mr. Rabidoux noted the City Manager has convened a series of meetings regarding changes. He said he was comfortable that for FY15 they can do what they need to do. 7. Library: Ms. Murphy cited a slight increase in the cost of books and in the fee for use of the space (due to security issues). Budget decreases include: travel/training, furniture (there is no place to put more), bookmobile, and computer upgrades. Ms. Murphy cited the need for additional staff, especially a young adult librarian. 8. Planning & Zoning: Mr. Conner enumerated budget deletions include: legal reviews (not going through the budget because they are paid for by the developers), planning grants (switched to a 200 fund), and GIS services (now a part time position). 9. Fire Department and EMS: Chief Brent said Fire Department goals include: replacing a pumper, properly categorizing personnel (i.e., fire and ambulance), and sustaining levels. No new services are projected. He stressed that the budget is lean, and this can't be sustained. Revenues are forecasted to stay level. The Chief noted that 532 inspections have been done since June, resulting in income of $125,000. A huge amount of information is being gathered from this program. Regarding EMS services, the budget includes replacement of the 2004 ambulance. The Chief noted there is now a joint purchasing agreement with the City of Burlington, resulting in savings. Projected revenues are up slightly. The Chief cited a problem with publishing proposed budgets for fire trucks. Bidders see these numbers and "bid to the amount budgeted." 10. Police Department: Chief Whipple explained the use of grant moneys for staffing. He noted they are still down one officer from 2 years ago. Budget changes include: moving the per diem dispatcher and drug task force officer to personnel; a slight increase in gas/oil; decrease in magazines/subscriptions (can be obtained online), slight increase in uniform cleaning (dispatchers are now in uniform), slight decrease in computer connection system; drug forfeiture funds used for training, if needed; tuition reimbursement down slightly, purchase of vehicle deferred. The Chief explained they are entering the area of "evidence based policing." This can result in slightly longer response time to some calls. The Chief also noted there is a "prescription return box" which has been ordered and will be located at the police station. People can come in any time to deposit old prescriptions. Chief Whipple said there are times of the day when call volume exceeds staffing. In an emergency, they can rely on mutual aid. 11. Recreation & Parks: Mr. Goodwin noted that budget decreases include staffing changes (reallocation of salary items including seasonal hires), signage and "way-finding." He stressed that everything in the programs offered by the Department is offset by user fees. Ms. Riehle asked if there is any offset to administrative costs. Mr. Goodwin said sponsors of brochures cover printing costs. 12. Social Services and Operating Entities: Mr. Hubbard reviewed the history of Social Services Funding. Requests were received for $60,000 in funding. A level-funded budget of $36,000 is being proposed. Priority is given to organizations that provide services to South Burlington residents. Members discussed individual appropriations. They agreed to level fund and to make final appropriations at Monday night's City Council meeting. Summation: Mr. Hubbard stressed that budget changes will have significant impacts and cited the following: He said a spike can occur in FY16 due to a spike in the C.I.P. Vehicles need to be replaced, and the city can't continue to rely on "carry-over" funds and it needs to plan for contingencies. Mr. Hubbard emphasized that this budget is not sustainable. He noted that last year's budget had a 4.9% increase (2 cents) and the previous year just under that. Ms. Greco said she is now totally against the level-funded budget and felt it is jeopardizing the city which will have to pay the bill eventually, resulting in "sticker shock." She specifically cited the Public Works, Police, Planning/Zoning, and Energy Efficiency areas. Ms. Riehle cited the increased public interest in crime/safety and the city's commitment to do something about it. She felt there is need for additional funding for Police/public safety and energy efficiency. Ms. Nowak said the level budget is "what could be done if necessary." She did not like the idea of future sticker shock, but was not ready for specific increases at the moment. She felt the School budget also has to be considered and noted the proposed increase in the state education tax. Mr. Shaw felt the Schools did a tough job in savings last year and the city has to try to do the same this year. He felt increases for the Police need to be evaluated and questioned not having consultants for City Center. He also felt very strongly about energy efficiency. Ms. Blanchard noted the city is in Phase I of an energy audit of city buildings. Next year's fund would be for higher ticketed items (e.g., replacing heaters in the Fire Station bays with more modern equipment at a 5-year payback of $30,000). Mr. Swanson, representing the Energy Committee, appealed to the Council to help them find a way to save the city huge amounts of money through energy efficiency. He felt it was a "silly discussion" to eliminate $40,000 from the proposed budget. He said that anything with a 5-year payback is a "no-brainer." Council members wanted to know a process by which this could be done, possibly via a loan. Ms. Mackenzie suggested looking at 2 projects, looking at the capital expense, borrowing money to fund the projects, and paying the loan back from the savings. Ms. Blanchard noted that this is how the solar array at Dorset Park was accomplished. Mr. Dorn asked if the Energy Committee were to identify $400,000 in projects, the city could bond or find some other source for funds, is there a plan for what to do with the money. Ms. Blanchard said there is not, but there are some projects identified and there are many different models to do this. It would require staffing to accomplish. Mr. Dorn said a long-term, carefully thought out program that results in institutional savings makes more sense that a one-time/one-year thing. Mr. Swanson felt the city could get help from Efficiency Vermont. He felt a modest budget for technical assistance and clear direction to move forward would be all that is needed. Ms. Riehle said she would support a small tax increase to accomplish this as it would be paid back in spades. Ms. Mackenzie suggested asking the Energy Committee to draft a policy for public facilities, including needed technical assistance, and asking the administration to come back with the impact of this on taxes. She felt the Council should also discuss the need for an additional police officer to address public safety concerns. Mr. Hubbard said a final budget agreement is needed before the Steering Committee meeting. Council members agreed to rank their choices for Social Services for Monday night's meeting. As there was no further business to come before the Council, the meeting was adjourned at 1:40 p.m. Clerk Published by ClerkBase ©2019 by Clerkbase. No Claim to Original Government Works.