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4-23-14 Pre-Budget Workshop MINUTES OF THE PRE-BUDGET WORKSHOP OF ATLANTIC BEACH CITY COMMISSION HELD IN COMMISSION CHAMBERS ON TUESDAY,APRIL 23,2014 AT 5:00 PM. City Commission Members present: Carolyn Woods, Mayor Mark Beckenbach, Mayor Pro Tern Jonathan Daugherty, Commissioner Jimmy Hill, Commissioner Maria Mark, Commissioner Staff present: Nelson Van Liere, City Manager Jeri Benjamin, Deputy Finance Director Donna Kaluzniak,Public Utilities Director Rick Carper, Public Works Director Mike Classey, Police Chief Keith Randich, Information Technology Director Jeremy Hubsch, Redevelopment and Zoning Coordinator Timmy Johnson, Recreation and Special Events Director Donna L. Bartle, City Clerk The meeting was called to order at 5:04 p.m. by Mayor Woods. Base Line Budget 1. Introduction and Opening Remarks: City Manager Nelson Van Liere summarized how this Pre-budget meeting will be different from previous Strategic Planning meetings. He stated this meeting will be for development of the 2015 Operating Budget. A. Budget Calendar Mr. Van Liere explained the Department Heads are to be finished with their budget inputs to him at the end of this month; therefore, this truly is pre-budget, as he doesn't have a budget to talk about because he is going to get direction from the Commission as to what they want to see in the budget. He further explained the budget calendar, stating the budget workshops will be held in August. He asked that the Commission let Yvonne Calverley know of any times they will not be available. 2. Budget Assumptions and Guidelines A. Budget Policy Mr. Van Liere explained the General Fund and balancing the budget. He answered questions from the Commission. 3. Operating Revenues A. Taxes Mr. Van Liere stated one of the things he wants to get from the Commission tonight was if they have ideas about things they want to do that are going to require additional revenues, are they willing to raise taxes to fund anything or is their directive to have the same millage rate, make it work no matter what. He stated that will determine how he will prepare the budget. B. User fees Mr. Van Liere stated he is going to make every effort to propose a budget that has no increase in water rates, sewer rates, stormwater rates and sanitation rates. He stated his goal is to fund all of the existing operations with no rate increases, explaining how he proposes to do this. Minutes—City Commission Workshop April 23,2014 Page 2 He stated they may see an increase for the water and sewer revenues because of system development charges for some of the new developments that might tie in. C. State Revenues Mr. Van Liere explained the sales taxes, cigarette taxes, etc. have been very flat year to year and he doesn't expect to see much there. He stated if they can budget in the way to create some savings in the water and sewer fund, they may be able to transfer more to the general fund. He stated they can work with the gas tax fund again. He stated that revenue has not changed much year to year. He stated they have projected out the ten-year capital expenditures realizing that those are not changing that much. He further explained when people talk about a balanced budget, what that means is you take the beginning cash and all of your revenues and add those together and they need to equal your ending cash and your expenses. He stated within that they want to balance the operating revenues with the operating expenses. He stated the fund balances are very healthy; the 25%reserve will continue to be kept in tact. He answered questions from the Commission. D. Grants Mr. Van Liere stated they will take advantage of whatever grant resources they have and match them up with whatever program they find money for. 4. Operating Expenses A. Pay and Benefits Mr. Van Liere stated we have had a lot of turnover this year and some that they know will happen next year. He stated he can project out the salaries and help compensate some increasing costs in other areas by those changes. He stated Human Resources Director Cathy Berry talked to our health insurance carrier and said to plan on a 20% increase, which will be approximately $160,000. Discussion ensued and he answered questions from the Commission. He stated they will try to budget a 3% merit increase. He stated in the past, budgets have been proposed without wages in them, leaving it up to the Commission to decide what it should be. He stated he is going to propose upfront an increase and work it into the numbers so they don't have to try to figure out in the workshops later how to squeeze in that extra percent or whatever. He stated the employees went a long time without an increase and it will help move them through the pay plan. He stated they just tried to eliminate some of the compression in the pay plan and if they keep going back to not doing anything they will just recreate the problem again. He answered questions from the Commission. B. Operating Expenses He stated a lot of the budget is already set in stone. He stated fire services, landscaping, maintenance, etc. roll year to year with not much change; the fire contract has a built-in increase in it. He stated the sanitation contract will be a big contract and they also have professional services and chemicals. He answered questions from the Commission. C. Capital He stated this is generally where the Commission has spent more time talking about what they want to see done; however, the water and sewer master plan and stormwater master plan are a large part of the budget that is pretty much programmed out into the future. He stated street resurfacing and sidewalks are things the Commission typically debates as to where they want to have them done. He stated Rick Carper has a Minutes—City Commission Workshop April 23,2014 Page 3 pavement management system and can tell them what the next streets on the list will be for next year. He stated he annually reviews those ratings. D. Debt He stated they are looking to refinance our utility debt which will lower their cost for water, sewer and stormwater over the next 20 years by $1.4 million or approximately $125,000/year split between water, sewer and stormwater. He stated that kind of savings allows them to work on the health insurance. E. Transfers He stated he usually balances those out with what is available. 5. Cash Balances A. Restricted and Unrestricted Balances He stated these are things that are ongoing, have been talked about recently, or are already in the strategic plan. He stated some of these items will just be a lot of staff time. He discussed each item below as they affect the budget. Items needing special attention: Charter Review Committee Organizational Chart Turnover Citywide Software Phone System Pension Cultural Arts and Recreation Facility Maintenance ROW Maintenance Paving and Sidewalks Beautification Park Maintenance Sanitation Tipping Fees Annexation Marsh Master Plan Town Center Parking Mayport Corridor Police Building Pedestrian Safety Beach Renourishment Reuse System Discussion ensued regarding turnover issues. Mr. Van Liere explained the various upcoming vacancies and current positions that they are proposing to combine. He stated they have funded the community application this year with One Solution,which will be phased in, and are looking at a new digital phone system. He stated they spent a lot of time last year discussing pension benefits and trying to make the City's liability come down. He stated he believes they have done enough on the pension for now, for the sake of the employees. He stated he did authorize an impact study on a 30 and out provision to contemplate what that would do. He explained this provision to the Commission. He stated the study indicated that would be pretty expensive but they have closed the plan so the number of people this option would become available to was 13 or 14 employees and you have to take into account that not everyone would exercise that option. He stated the cost was about $95,000 the first year down to $75,000 after that for about 10 years, so over a 10 year period it would be $700,000-$800,000 to do that. He stated it is a common benefit to have in your pension plan but until they asked the question about cost they didn't know. Mr. Van Liere stated they currently have a budget of$23,000 for special events through the Cultural Arts and Recreation Advisory Committee and including that with the events that are in Timmy Johnson's budget and the supplies, rentals, etc., they are spending about $60,000 on events. He stated if they want to add events, that will be a level of service change. Discussion ensued and Mr. Van Liere and Mr. Johnson answered questions from the Commission. The Commission further discussed several other issues including Minutes—City Commission Workshop April 23,2014 Page 4 keeping lifeguards on for a longer period/or for special events, adding more events at the parks, possibly increasing the budget for Cultural Arts and Recreation Advisory Committee and the possibility of permitting food trucks at Tideviews and Dutton Island. Mr. Van Liere reported on Facility Maintenance, ROW Maintenance, Beautification and Park Maintenance, stating they were doing really good 6-7 years ago but they have systematically chipped away by reducing staff, reducing supplies, mowing less often, no flowers, etc. He stated he would like to see it come back to how it was when he came to work here. Commissioner Mark stated if they go back to that, she would like to see them use native plants for the foundation of the landscape, more groundcover, xeriscaping, etc. Discussion ensued regarding purple pipe and reuse water. Mr. Van Liere stated he would like to increase the budget to either hire additional maintenance workers or a contractor to maintain the various areas. Mr. Carper stated there are three areas he would like to focus on: the five-way; Seminole and Atlantic; and Mayport Rd. at the Welcome Sign. Mr. Van Liere stated his goal is to find other areas in the general fund to cut in order to afford these things that are coming back up in importance. Mayor Woods stated he has support for this type of thing and directed him to show them how they can make it happen. Mr. Van Liere discussed Facility Maintenance, stating they don't have a plan other than a spreadsheet with a rolling list of items that need repair. He stated to his knowledge there is not a facility maintenance plan. He stated they have one and a half maintenance workers who fix things and a painter. He stated he would like to create a maintenance division with two of those employees, the full maintenance position and the painter, and put them under Mike Jones, our Building Inspector, and let him run a facility maintenance division with a schedule and a budget to take care of our buildings. He explained most of the budget would come from the budgets they are in now. He addressed paving and sidewalks, stating they have a priority list for those. Discussion ensued. Mr. Van Liere stated he spoke with the City Attorney regarding annexation and he stated he is waiting on Jacksonville to come back to him. He stated he encouraged Mr. Komando to draft something and get that ball rolling. Related to Town Center parking, he is not sure how much they can do in that area but they will take advantage of any opportunities that come their way during the budget year. Mayor Woods stated she believes the Town Center Agency has taken this issue under their wing and believes they should allow them to take care of it. She stated they have a few different members on their board and they are taking it upon themselves to solve their own problem they have created. She stated until they come to us with a real solid plan to consider, she doesn't believe it is our issue. Mr. Van Liere stated, regarding the Mayport Corridor, he believes the best thing we can do is maintain what the City owns and encourage and facilitate in any way they can a good environment for the businesses. He stated Redevelopment and Zoning Coordinator Jeremy Hubsch is tasked with moving forward with that but he just got fully staffed Monday. Mr. Hubsch explained what he is working on. Discussion ensued. Mayor Woods stated she believes the next step should be that we send a letter to Governor Rick Scott, because he is all about helping small businesses, and let him know what we are trying to do. She stated the basic problem is that the DOT has a certain amount of their budget, approximately 2%, that they must spend on landscaping; but the definition of landscaping does not include hardscape. She stated for urban environments like ours, it doesn't help. She stated she would like to draft a letter to the Governor asking that he help DOT change their language. She stated she would also like to get members of the Duval Delegation to sign that letter with us, so we could have help with the hardscaping. Commissioner Daugherty stated we can't rely on the State alone to change Mayport; we have to make a serious investment there ourselves. He believes we need to commit a dollar amount in the budget for Mayport Road. Further Minutes—City Commission Workshop April 23,2014 Page 5 discussion ensued. (Commissioner Mark left the meeting at 7:16 p.m.) Commissioner Hill stated he believes the issue is whether we can do anything about the traffic flow; because none of the businesses are going to make it with one direction of traffic. He stated more openings in the divided road need to be created. He further stated they need to look at the pedestrian crossing situation and ask the DOT to address that. Commissioner Beckenbach stated he doesn't want to spend money on something until they see what they come back with from the business community, the neighborhood and the DOT. He stated the DOT is the most important thing to him, as well. Further discussion ensued and Rick Carper answered questions from the Commission. Mr. Van Liere stated he and Mr. Carper attended a meeting related to beach renourishment which will happen in 2016. He stated they will have reuse rates implemented this year so there will be some revenue coming out of that. Public Utilities Director Donna Kaluzniak gave an update on the status of the reuse system. Discussion ensued. Mr. Van Liere stated the following are items that aren't ongoing but are of interest to him since he has been in this job. Items of specific Interest: Park Improvements Welcome Signs Public Works Yard Atlantic Beach is Special Public Information/Public Relations Officer Community Visioning Emergency Preparedness Access to Hanna Park Tree Ordinance Mr. Van Liere stated one of the first things he did was walk around Russell Park with ABAA and Public Works and there are a number of things in the park that have been let go, i.e. fencing, drainage is bad, the field conditions, the concession stand, bathrooms, basketball court, security lighting, wind screens, safety netting, etc. He stated he has approved some maintenance money that was available from other things in Mr. Carper's budget to fix a few things but he wants to get the Commission's support for a Russell Park renovation project. He stated if they call it a renovation project and phase it, they turn some of that long past due maintenance into capital improvements. He and Mr. Carper explained in detail what they want to complete. Discussion ensued. Mr. Van Liere further discussed the appearance of the Public Works Yard stating we look like the junk yard. He stated we are not setting a very good example for the community on how we should take care of our stuff. He stated he would like to see the facility scraped, some storage buildings put in, roll-up doors, paved, and get all the equipment under a roof. He stated we need to act like we want to take care of it. Discussion ensued. Mr. Van Liere stated emergency preparedness is not a budget item but he believes it is a staff time item that we need to spend more time on. He stated they have never formally trained as a departmental group on how they will handle things and wants them to spend time on that this year. Mr. Van Liere discussed the issue of access on Seminole Road to Hanna Park. Commissioner Daugherty stated this was something he asked to be on the agenda. He stated it would be a huge amenity for the north end of Atlantic Beach to have a pedestrian-only access gate to get into Hanna Park. He stated they have received approval in the past from Hanna Park to do something like that. He stated it would vastly improve Minutes—City Commission Workshop April 23,2014 Page 6 the park access for our citizens on that end of Atlantic Beach. He stated it could tie in to the Safe Routes to School pedestrian path going up Seminole Road in 2017. He stated it also could tie into the federally funded bike path down Seminole. Discussion ensued. Mr. Van Liere asked if the Commission wants to revisit the Tree Ordinance. Commissioner Beckenbach stated the tree canopy is getting older and we need to continue to replant trees. He stated he would not want a tree board but more of a beautification or long vision board for growth. Discussion ensued about underground utilities. Commissioner Hill stated they might look at a program that assists homeowners in getting trees back into their yards. He stated he would like to make the community tree-friendly in the sense that the homeowners who appreciate the trees they have will have the option, if they lose a tree, to have the City assist them in getting a large tree back. Mayor Woods stated one of the most effective ways to get people to put trees in is to have a robust Arbor Day event. Discussion ensued. Mr. Carper stated the welcome signs are ready and they are waiting on the DOT permit. He stated they are trying to iron out the glitch of whether he has the authority to sign the DOT permit for the City. He stated otherwise he has to come back with a resolution. Mayor Woods discussed the Atlantic Beach is Special program. She would like to see the City give them $5,000 or so to show them we support the program if they can get it up and going. She stated it would not be our program,we would just support it. Discussion about the funding ensued. Mr. Van Liere stated every year we have the conversation about whether or not we are going to contribute to the fireworks. He stated he believes the contribution is $5,000 and if they don't put it in the budget they would need to fund it later or say no. Mr. Van Liere asked if the Commission would want to sell the property where Buccaneer plant used to sit. Public Utilities Director Donna Kaluzniak stated it is about 3 acres and is zoned commercial general. Discussion ensued. Commissioner Hill stated he would like to add to the budget the process of adding signage and required traffic control elements and to adopt a cart-friendly policy for our City. Related to the Community Visioning item, Mr. Van Liere stated to go through the process to do a formal strategic planning visioning mission would take about 18 months. He stated it would need to be updated on a regular basis, need community involvement and consultants. He asked if the Commission wants staff to put together an outline of such a program that would take them through the process to see if it is what they have in mind. He stated they want to use staff as much as possible to knock out what they can. Commissioner Hill stated a visioning process would be really important for a community that is looking to make changes but he believes that is the exact opposite of what our community is. He stated he believes they are really looking to stabilize what they know is right and add smaller bites of little things that might make it better. Mr. Van Liere stated we may just need to document what we have and just focus on the things that need improvement. Minutes—City Commission Workshop April 23,2014 Page 7 Adjournment There being no further discussion by the City Commission, the Mayor declared the meeting adjourned at 8:36 p.m. Carolyn Woods Attest: f/144e6. Mayor Donna L. Bartle, CMC City Clerk