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HomeMy WebLinkAboutCCMin_04Dec06CITY OF FALCON HEIGHTS MINUTES December 6, 2004 Mayor Gehrz called the Truth in Taxation Hearing to order. PRESENT: Mayor Sue Gehrz, Council members Robert Lamb, Peter Lindstrom and Richard Talbot Also present: City Administrator Heather Worthington ABSENT: Council member Laura Kuettel COMMUNITY FORUM: There was no commentary from the audience. PRESENTATIONS: None Scheduled PUBLIC HEARINGS: Truth in Taxation Hearing Mayor Gehrz explained to the meeting attendees and viewing audience that there will be two City Council meetings this week. The meeting this evening is the annual Truth in Taxation Hearing to present the proposed budget and levy for 2005. It also provides an opportunity to present some information about the impact on proposed taxes and what some of the other impacts are that affect people’s proposed taxes. The City’s fiscal year begins in January. The City Council has been working on the 2005 budget since June, 2004. She explained the public hearing protocol that would be followed. An oral presentation will be made by Administrator Worthington, with assistance from Finance Director Olson. Members of the audience will be given the opportunity to ask questions. The Council will not take any action on the budget tonight; that will be done at the regular Council meeting on Wednesday evening, December 8. Administrator Worthington explained that the budgeting process begins in early June. Periodic workshops were held with the Council throughout the summer, with the final workshop occurring in September. She utilized the LCD projector to present information about the -1.07% decrease in the Falcon Heights’ levy for 2005, the proposed general operating budget of $1,580,237, and the Special Revenue Fund Budgets for the year 2005 totaling $88,084. The Truth in Taxation Hearing was opened to the audience for questions and commentary. Mr. Thomas Lageson, 1740 Pascal Street, thanked Administrator Worthington for sending him the general fund budget. He asked the following questions: Revenue – Mechanical Permits. $8,000 more than in previous years. Is this a sustainable revenue? Administrator Worthington said this is very difficult to predict. In terms of sustainability, staff believes they have been conservative in the past with estimates. Staff is seeking to budget a little closer to actual and she believes that figure is a reasonable number. FALCON HEIGHTS CITY COUNCIL MINUTES -2- December 6, 2004 Truth in Taxation Hearing (continued) Mr. Lageson asked about Court Fines and Revenue. The figures used for estimated and budgeted for 2004 are the same. That seems a bit odd. What is going on there? Administrator Worthington said the City has not collected all of the fine revenue through the end of the year. Mr. Lageson asked about the transfer of $204,315 that is coming from Reserves. What is the level of our remaining Reserves right now? Finance Director Olson said that Reserves are made up of all of the other funds that are not statutorily controlled, so you are specifically looking at the Infrastructure Fund; you are specifically looking at the Enterprise Fund; you are not looking at any money in the Debt Service Fund. In the Infrastructure Fund, $570,000 has been reserved for debt service. When you take and look at a very specific number, it is very difficult to come up with that number, if that is what you like. But specifically in this instance, the money is coming totally from the Infrastructure Fund, which has a large balance. Administrator Worthington said that Mr. Lageson can get a copy of the City’s 2004 CAFR, if he wants one. Mr. Lageson asked about Expenditures – Regular Salaries. This shows a big increase of 25% or $53,705. What is that for? Are we adding additional staff, giving everyone big raises or something? Administrator Worthington said the City added the equivalent of a half-time person and there are also some costs related to fire relief. The rest of it is probably for insurance costs that have increased. Mr. Lageson asked about the addition of half a person. Administrator Worthington said the employee was half-time this year and will be full time in 2005. Mr. Lageson asked what she will be doing. Administrator Worthington said that individual will primarily be doing two separate roles: One is recreation supervision and the second will be administrative or citizen service. Mayor Gehrz said this position is also heavy weighted in the communications area. One of the requests the City has received is to increase the number of services that can be offered online. In order to do that, you have to have people, you can’t just do it. That is one of the new items in the 2005 goals to try to expand what we can offer to residents to make it more convenient for those people who have access to online services and the ability to utilize them. Mr. Lageson said he is someone who uses the online website so he would welcome that. Mayor Gehrz said she wanted to make a comment, too, on salaries. For 2005, the City did an analysis of a couple of the positions. Every year the City compares its positions and salaries with other cities around it. The City Council wants good people and wants to stay competitive. We discovered that we are underpaying people in a couple of positions so we made some adjustments for the Finance Director and City Administrator positions, based upon how much lower our salaries were than similar size cities in this area. FALCON HEIGHTS CITY COUNCIL MINUTES -3- December 6, 2004 Truth in Taxation Hearing (continued) Mr. Lageson asked about Legislative Expenditures—Commissions, Memberships and Associations. What are we getting for our money from the League of Minnesota Cities and the Association of Metropolitan Municipalities? Administrator Worthington said the City has been a member of the League and the AMM for at least 20 years. They provide advocacy services, informational services, etc. The City is also part of the League of Minnesota Cities Insurance Trust. They represent cities in the State of Minnesota. They represent the municipalities at the Legislature and provide research on various issues. The AMM is primarily the advocacy group for the municipalities in the seven county metro area. Council member Lindstrom commented that 2004 was the first year the City broke this information out in the budget. Before, it was included in a separate category. Mayor Gehrz said it was broken out to make it more understandable. It is not a change in the membership. Mr. Lageson asked about Cooperative Services. One of the things approved earlier was the Housing Resource Center. How are we going to let the residents know what services they provide? What’s the expected interaction between residents and the HRC? $5,000 represents a big commitment. Administrator Worthington said the City publicizes the HRC on the cable channel, the web site and in flyers. The same thing applies to Northwest Youth and Family Services. They also provide quarterly reports and, for the first time, the City exceeded the value of that cooperative service agreement. They have provided more services than we have actually paid for. Council member Talbot said he had asked Administrator Worthington for more expansive coverage and advertisements of the HRC. As the years go by, word of mouth spreads. They provide terrific services to the City and its homeowners, i.e. when you are going to buy a new roof. How often do you buy a new roof? They will come to your house and look at your bids. They will tell you if you have good bids. If you are talking about an expansion, they will help you with the plans and help make it happen. It is a good value, same as Northwest Youth and Family Services. We pay $5,000 and Roseville is paying about $13,000 or greater. We are getting a good deal and will be getting an even better deal as people find out what valuable services they offer. Mr. Lageson asked if the City will get some sort of a report next year. Mayor Gehrz said the City gets reports now and they are broken out, not only in terms of how many Falcon Heights residents have used their services, but which specific services. We are able to track what people are doing. Mr. Lageson asked about Finance Expenditures. How many people are being accounted for? Finance Director Olson said that specific line item includes not just the Finance Director’s salary; it has some of the City Clerk’s salary in it, and stuff like that. Administrator Worthington said that because we are such a small staff, we all wear many hats and we may allocate between four funds for one person’s salary. FALCON HEIGHTS CITY COUNCIL MINUTES -4- December 6, 2004 Truth in Taxation Hearing (continued) Mr. Lageson said he noticed there is a part-time accounting intern. It looks like they did a little bit of work in 2003. In 2004, $6,000 was budgeted. Did something change at some point that we needed to have additional accounting help? Finance Director Olson said the workload was too excessive and he was looking for another job. He asked specifically for some relief and the best part-time relief that could take place was, in his opinion, an accounting intern from the Carlson School of Management. The applicant that he got for 2004 was absolutely superb. They come from the Carlson School of Management with the most up to date spreadsheet knowledge, word processing knowledge, access knowledge, etc. The first one had a GPA of 3.8 and the one he has now has a GPA of 3.999. He is graduating and has a landed terrific job. They are absolutely the best people and bring such a knowledge base to the City, plus they are extremely dedicated. Administrator Worthington said she wanted to mention that in 2003, the City didn’t have an accounting intern. That position was added. Also, the City was making the transition to the GASB 34 statement, a Federal mandate, which required a total overhaul of the way the City keeps track of its finances. Falcon Heights was the second City in the State to comply with GASB 34. Mayor Gehrz said GASB 34 is one of those unfunded mandates required by the Federal government because someone messed up in California. Everyone has to pay the price and it has been a huge time consuming venture for the City to shift everything to a whole different system. Mr. Lageson asked if this is something that will probably continue and he was told yes. Mayor Gehrz said the main reason the City wanted to jump on this and not delay was because the City had just brought its infrastructure—streets, sewers and everything up to a point where it was a good time to start making the accounting changes required by GASB, rather than wait for a few more years and then get into all of the additional complications of how you value your infrastructure for accounting proposes. Finance Director Olson said that Falcon Heights is two to three years ahead of the other cities in the State. They have to comply this year. Mr. Lageson commented that he thinks it’s good sometimes for the television audience to hear this. Council member Talbot suggested that this might be a good time to mention the accounting awards the City has received. Administrator Worthington said that for eleven years, the City has received the Certificate of Achievement for Excellence in Financial Reporting from the Government Finance Officers Association of the United States and Canada. Mr. Lageson asked about Election Expenses-Repair of Equipment. It looks like the City has signed a contract to repair equipment. Who is the contract with and how many machines does the City own? Was this buried in the budget before? Administrator Worthington said that it wasn’t buried in the budget; it is the result of purchasing new voting machines in 2002 as part of a consortium of Ramsey County cities. The City leases two machines on contract from Ramsey county and there is a budget line item for repair and maintenance. FALCON HEIGHTS CITY COUNCIL MINUTES -5- December 6, 2004 Truth in Taxation Hearing (continued) Mr. Lageson asked if the City owns the machines and Administrator Worthington said the City leases them from the County but is responsible for repair and maintenance. Mr. Lageson asked if this is really maintenance or the lease? Is the lease covered in another part of the budget? Administrator Worthington said the lease was paid up front as a capital expense for the life of the machines. Mr. Lageson asked about Special Events. What are welcoming events, informational park gatherings, business meetings, community initiatives and miscellaneous others? Some of them he knows, for example, the ice cream social and the Dead of Winter, but he was a little puzzled about welcoming events. Administrator Worthington said that occasionally the City has special events to welcome new residents to the City, like the SE Corner, where there are new residents coming in, or for a certain part of the community that we would like to get together with, like the business community. The City allocates a very modest amount of money to cover the expenses for community initiatives and special meetings or public hearings that require the allocation of funds. Mr. Lageson asked about Telephone. There is a decrease from last year. Are we seeing the use of the new IP system? Are we paying Roseville the $4,800? Administrator Worthington said the City has a contract with the City of Roseville to provide IP Telephony and the $4,800 does represent City toll charges and line charges each month. Mr. Lageson asked about Web Site. There is quite a big increase on that. What are the plans? Are we going to get more software? Are we going to hire another person to keep on top of it? Administrator Worthington said the City is looking at improving the interface of the web site in 2005 and will also probably be redesigning it in 2005. It is hosted by the City of Roseville on the network the City shares with them. The City is also looking at some online bill pay or online e-commerce type functions that can be added to the web site to make the City Hall open virtually 24 hours a day as we go through this initiative. It won’t all happen in one year. Mr. Lageson asked what the $6,000 covers. Administrator Worthington said it covers software upgrades, in particular for the e-commerce function, which is very expensive. The first thing that the City hopes to roll out for 2005 is online recreation signup. Mr. Lageson asked about the Network Support cost of $8,570. That is a big increase too. What is involved in that? Administrator Worthington said that in the past the City had its own computer network and paid a consultant to provide those services. The City didn’t have any day to day services provisions, it was an emergency situation. If something went down, the consultant would come in and fix it. When the system was the subject of a computer attack in 2002, that put the server and web site down for several days and the City began to look for other alternatives. FALCON HEIGHTS CITY COUNCIL MINUTES -6- December 6, 2004 Truth in Taxation Hearing (continued) Administrator Worthington said the City of Roseville is able to provide those services--total network services, at a very reasonable cost. They have day to day support, training and the latest upgrades. It allows Falcon Heights to share with another municipality and there are recognized savings. Mr. Lageson asked about the $10,250. Administrator Worthington said that represents a full year’s expenditures. The IP Telephony is separate from that. Mr. Lageson asked about GIS Support-Planning and Inspections. There is a $900 user group fee. What’s the other $4,100 going for? Administrator Worthington said that in 2005, the City will need to upgrade the GIS system. The City’s software is about five years old. The City will be adding a lot of additional layers to the GIS system. The City is mapping all of its infrastructure so it can plan infrastructure maintenance more carefully and plan for future capital spending for maintenance and restoration or reconstruction. It is a tool for us to get a handle on what we have. Mr. Lageson asked if the City owns its own GIS software and Administrator Worthington said yes. Mr. Lageson suggested contacting the Ramsey County Soil and Water Conservation District. They have a person on staff who is dedicated to GIS. The City might be able to work with them and maybe achieve some savings too. Administrator Worthington said the City works quite closely with him. He is also part of the GIS Users Group. Mayor Gehrz said that before we get off GIS, on Saturday, December 4, she and some other residents participated in a conference on emergency management. They saw public safety uses for GIS that the City doesn’t currently have. It isn’t something that will be expensive. Right now the City uses a big map with colored dots that fall off. Administrator Worthington said that as part of GASB 34, the City has to do what is called a pavement management plan. The pavement management plan rates the condition of the streets. The City can actually put that data into the GIS and tell you, from year to year, how streets are wearing and where the City needs to do maintenance. Right now, staff has to go out, physically look at the streets, and determine which areas need seal coating or crack sealing. It is a tool that will help the City control spending and provide a better tool for anticipating what the spending needs will be in future years. Mr. Lageson said he has used the Ramsey County GIS and found it very helpful. Mr. Lageson asked about Inspections. What is going on? Why are we seeing such huge increases in the fees? Who does this go to and how are they paid? Administrator Worthington said that in 2002, the City went a year without a Fire Inspector. That is why there is a zero in the budget. It has gone up because the City had to play catch up and get current with inspections. The other issue is that with building inspections, mechanical and plumbing inspections, those are primarily related to the SE Corner development. The City is anticipating permits for the next year that will generate revenue. Again, this is an estimate, a very conservative estimate, on the City’s part. Fire inspections also used to be allocated in a different fund. They used to be in Fire Services. Fire inspections are provided to businesses, multi-family buildings and daycares. FALCON HEIGHTS CITY COUNCIL MINUTES -7- December 6, 2004 Truth in Taxation Hearing (continued) Administrator Worthington said the business license fee helps to offset the cost of the fire inspections each year. The Building Official is employed by the City of Little Canada for Building Official services. The mechanical inspector is a private contractor who provides those services. Our plumbing inspector is Steve Westerhaus through Little Canada. Electrical inspections are provided through the State Board of Electricity and are not noted in the budget. Mr. Lageson asked about Emergency Preparedness expenditures-$4,600 for supplies. This seems like one of those mushy little buckets where you can put stuff in. Do we really need that much? Last year the City used $2,400. Administrator Worthington said there are some additional expenditures that the City needs to make in the next year to make sure the City is ready for disaster situations. For a long time the City did not do any planning or expenditures on emergency preparedness, so again, the City is playing catch up in that area. This is for emergency preparedness, disaster preparedness planning, and supplies to make sure the City can respond in the event of a major disaster or emergency. This would be complementary to police and fire. One of the things the City spent money on this year was a mobile EOC (portable Emergency Operations Center) that can be used anywhere. The City needs to add some equipment to that item. Some of the instrumentation is very old. The City needs to add a computer next year; very minor but important items. She explained the EOC is a movable work box. The City also needs to do some work in the back part of the City Council Chambers to provide network and electrical connections so that end of the room can be utilized as an emergency operations center if need be. Right now the City doesn’t have a dedicated space, just a work box. Mayor Gehrz said the City didn’t have a budget for this before. After September 11, that changed and the City Council said it is our responsibility to better protect our residents by making sure we are putting some money into emergency preparedness. Mr. Lageson asked about Fire Relief Expenditures-Minnesota State Aid. What’s the Fire Relief Association? Administrator Worthington said the Fire Relief Association is the retirement fund for the firefighters. The firefighters are paid on call and receive $8.00 per callout. This is not a money making venture on their part. They can contribute to the retirement fund and the City puts the Minnesota State Aid into that fund each year, but no other money. The fire aid is a pass through. The City gets the revenue from the State of Minnesota and it is based on insurance premiums from the State. It is a tax or fee the State imposes in order to provide fire services statewide. The money is passed to the Fire Relief Association and they invest it through a broker. When they retire they can draw on it, depending upon their years of service. Mayor Gehrz said it is one incentive to encourage people to stay with the Fire Department. It helps to have that incentive benefit because it is very expensive to train and equip firefighters. We want them to stay. FALCON HEIGHTS CITY COUNCIL MINUTES -8- December 6, 2004 Truth in Taxation Hearing (continued) Mr. Lageson asked about Tree Program Expenditures. There is a big increase in tree planning. Where are we going to plant these trees, in the City parks, Curtiss Field? Administrator Worthington said that last year the City was hit with Dutch elm disease pretty hard. The year before that the City was also hit. Last year, because the City was hit so hard, we weren’t able to do any tree planting. The City will be doing two years’ worth of tree planting. Boulevard trees that were lost to Dutch elm or other diseases will be replaced. The City tries to maintain its shade tree plan because trees make the City a much more pleasant place to live. People enjoy having trees. There is also an increase in tree removal costs because of Dutch elm disease. Mr. Lageson asked about Storm Damage. Administrator Worthington said that in years past, the City did not have a storm damage line item. Last year, the City spent $4,600 because there was a pretty bad wind storm at the beginning of May and two trees had to be removed because they were going to land on a house. Emergency tree removals are very expensive. This year, just to be prudent and more planful, the City has put a modest amount of money in the budget to cover storm damage. Mr. Lageson asked about the expenditure of $285,000 for a new fire truck. Is it in that bad of shape and costing us quite a bit? Administrator Worthington said the fire truck the City has right now is a 1978 LaFrance pumper with a 1,500 gallon tank body on it. The power train on the truck is failing. It has been rebuilt once. It is not worth putting more money into it. We are hoping a collector will take an interest in it and purchase it so the City can offset that $285,000 a little bit. The City purchased a new pumper two years ago and it cost $205,000. Council member Talbot said the City has been anticipating this for years and has been setting money aside in the Public Safety Capital Fund. Mr. Lageson encouraged the City Council to be careful. There is a 3% increase in spending. Once you spend that level up, it is difficult to get it down. He thinks the City is doing a pretty good job of keeping the value of the services being provided to the residents, but be careful about increasing spending too much. Mayor Gehrz kidded Mr. Lageson by asking him if he wasn’t complaining that the City decreased the tax levy this year. Mr. Lageson said that people in Falcon Heights do value the services that the City provides, and as long as the city provides a good value to cost ratio, the people will support that. Overall, the City is doing a pretty good job. Mayor Gehrz thanked Mr. Lageson for taking the time to go through the budget and that is wonderful because it does take time away from other things. There was no further commentary from the audience and the Truth in Taxation Hearing was closed. FALCON HEIGHTS CITY COUNCIL MINUTES -9- December 6, 2004 Truth in Taxation Hearing (continued) A brief Council discussion followed. The Truth in Taxation Hearing was adjourned at 8:06 PM. Respectfully submitted, Mary Shea Kodluboy Deputy Clerk