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HomeMy WebLinkAbout1991-01-04 MinutesMINUTES OF A RETREAT OF TEE CITY BOARD 08 DIRECTORS A Retreat Meeting of the Fayetteville City Board of Directors was held on Friday, January 4, 1991 at 8:00 a.m. in Room 326 of the City Administration Building at 113 West Mountain Street, Fayetteville, Arkansas. CALL TO ORDER The meeting was called to order by Mayor Vorsanger. He pointed out that no official Board action can be taken at the retreat meeting. COURT RULING INIE City Manager Scott Linebaugh reviewed the ruling by the Court concerning the petition to change the form of city government which was filed by Robert Reus. The Judge ruled in favor of the City on every point that was made. The Judge commented on the efficiency of the City in preparing its case and in trying to give every benefit to the petitioner. Jerry Rose commented on the fact that. the. City had an exceptional client in City Clerk Sherry Thomas. The Board congratulated him on a job well done. GENERAL BUDGET Julie Nash expressed her concern over the Hot Check Program. She felt it could be postponed for the time being. Vorsanger responded by saying this item would be on the agenda for further discussion. Michael Green expressed his desire to concentrate on balancing the budget and not having a deficit. He suggested making across-the- board reductions to help reduce the deficit. It was suggested that the Air Museum be funded through the A&P. Linebaugh addressed the Board concerning the salary, increase that has been budgeted. The employees are eligible fora raise from 0 to 13 per cent. The amount of increase depends on how long an employee has been with the City and their job performance. The total overall budgeted salary increase is $123,000, which is the smallest increase budgeted in years. This is an average increase of 3.5% and will be given to the employee on his/her anniversary date. Linebaugh further explained that a lot of work was done in,choosing the firm to help with the salary studies. In order to get a raise the employee goes through a performance evaluation, and ,that is graded as to their performance. Their raise will be based upon where they sit on the pay matrix comparing comparable positions in the region. Mayor Vorsanger explained to the Board that a decision should be made as to whether or not to keep present employees at their present salary, hire new people, or forego some new positions to • 16 17 help present employees. Mr. Rose is requesting It was pointed out that raises for at least 10 • January 4; 1991 Mr. Rose's office was used as an example. an attorney to assist him with his duties. the salary for that one attorney would make people. Linebaugh addressed the Board regarding the fund balance. He stated that at the end of 1991, the City will end up with a fund balance of $2,938,000 which is above the 10 percent margin that is maintained. He emphasized that unless something is changed by the end of 1993, going into 1994, there would be a deficit situation in the budget. Further, there have been numerous cuts made. He proposed that across the board cuts not be made because it would drastically affect the efficiency of the entire operation. To come up with an additional $370,000 this year is going to be difficult. It would mean eliminating some programs and raising some revenue such as the pool fees, lakes fees, or decrease money given to the Youth Center, ambulance service, animal services, etc. These are areas that really cannot afford to be reduced financially. According to revenue sources, we are not competitive with other cities. Mayor Vorsanger stated that 1990 was a record year for building permits in Fayetteville. There was $15,000,000 in new buildings. He wanted to know if this money has been reflected in the budget thusfar. Linebaugh responded by saying the Budget Staff would review the major categories of revenues and how the estimate was made. Growth is included in that study. Judy Cohea, Budget Coordinator, stated that when the property tax was calculated, a final 1990 final assessed figure was not available from the assessment office at that time. The new building debt was completed in 1990 and the City would receive money on it in October of 1992. This calculation was based on last year, and there is a 90 per cent collection rate built in. The County did a little better than 90 per cent last year as far as collecting property tax. The 1991 figure has not changed significantly since the figures were obtained. The sales tax has a built-in four per cent increase. The franchise taxes have a two per cent growth increase, except for Warner Cable, which went from a three per cent franchise to a five per cent franchise. OPEN CHANNEL Mayor Vorsanger asked if all of the Warner Cable franchise was dedicated to Open Channel. Cohea responded by saying that it was not dedicated to Open Channel. She explained that the Board did enter into a contract with Open Channel that will use this increase, and the Open Channel contract is budgeted on the expenditure side. Cohea stated that the Board is not obligated to m January 4, 1991.04 give that five per cent to Open Channel,'but it should be. spent for public information. The contract that the City has with Open Channel is for $75,000 and runs from November 1, to October 31, 1991. Mayor Vorsanger asked if there would be any increases because of the Alcohol Beverage Tax. Cohea responded by saying that unless there is great growth in population, and additional establishments, the Alcohol Beverage Tax is based on sales. Franchise taxes are figured upon population growth also. Mayor Vorsanger asked about the low figure on the state insurance turnback for fire and police on the intergovernmental revenue. Cohea explained that a portion of that goes into the local pension funds. CHARGES AND SERVICES The HMR administrative charge is a percentage of collections. The county municipal court fees are what the county contributes for half of our Judge's salary and half of our Clerk's salary provided by state law. The boat stalls, and daily fishing permitsare all based on previous years' revenues. Administration building•rent is what the general fund charges other divisions that are - in this building or funded from another source, which include building maintenance, janitorial, utilities, etc. Cost allocation'is the cost center for the general fund to all other funds for general administration, finance, accounting, city attorney, etc. This is the first year for the fire station allocation. This is an allocation to the Airport Fund for Fire Station #3, and each year we plan to increase this until we get to the actual cost of Fire Station #3 being charged to the airport. . . • Cohea explained that the Airport Fire Station has to be dedicated to fight just the airport fires. Even if there is a fire across the street,• it cannot go across the street to fight the fire. BUILDING MAINTENANCE REVENUES Cohea explained that this department's revenue is an accounting function. If the Building Maintenance Staff does something for another fund, the charge for the service is put into the general fund revenues rather than taking it back against their expense accounts in 1991. This is not a new practice, it's just a new way of accounting for it. The planning office fees are basically flat, and based on last year's fee structures. For any parking meter on or next to the street rather than in a parking lot the general fund receives the revenue. • 18 :15 January 4, 1991 The administration fee is the fee the City charges for off-street parking. The traffic division writes all the tickets and does all the maintenance on the parking meters and all of the parking lots. The gross revenues from the swimming pool, gross revenues from the pool concession and gross revenues from the park concession are all in the budget. The tennis court fees are the revenue from the coin-operated lights. The prosecutor fee is a fee that is required by state law that the prosecutor's office collects. The Hot Check Fees are $70,000, and the Hot Check Postage Fees are $23,000. This is the revenue that we have from the Hot Check Program. Total revenues would have to be reduced if this program is deleted. The Municipal Court fees are fees charged for postage. The Fire Contract outside the City is for any home or association within two miles of the city limits that choose to have an outside contract with the city. These fees go into the General Fund and then the Fire Department is funded from the General Fund. Cohea explained that cost allocation is where user departments are charged for services rendered by the central service areas which is the city manager, city attorney, finance, administrative services, postage, overall phone lines, etc. It brings money out of an enterprise fund, into the general fund, which supports these functions. These figures dropped due to the cutback in Staff. FINES AND FORFEITURES This estimate is based on previous years' experience. There are two new fees that are added for 1991. They include a court cost and a warrant fee, which are planned to be implemented. MISCELLANEOUS REVENUES The transfer of excess HMR and CEC was budgeted at $300,000. This is the excess above the debt service requirement in the Continuing Education Center Bond Fund that is returned to the City General Fund. At this time it is pledged to the debt service of the Arts Center and to Advertising and Promotion. The transfer from off-street parking is the part of the collection of the parking fines. The other transfer would be for the maintenance of the meters. The other categories included are: interest categories for the general fund, bad debt revenued that are collected through our collection agencies, etc. • January 4•, 1991 Mayor Vorsanger asked the Board if they had any questions about the subjects discussed, and if they had any proposals for areas to be cut back. Director Nash asked about each department's travel and training budgets. Kevin Crosson, Administrative Services Director, responded that the City was trying to increase the capabilities of its staff, and without training, it would be harder to achieve that goal. Mayor Vorsanger explained that the Board would have to have a good justification for raising taxes if it is determined that is what is needed. The Board does not anticipate this happening. There was discussion about the fact that maybe more was being spent on better equipment when a cheaper brand would work just as well. VEHICLE MAINTENANCE PROGRAM Mayor Vorsanger discussed that the greater expense in this department could be due to the inflated cost of fuel. He explained the use of personal city cars could be an area where money could be saved. Coody asked how it was determined who drives a city car. Linebaugh responded by saying that there are only a limited number of people who are allowed to take a car home. Primarily, only people who are on call take cars home. The Ford Taurus was chosen because of the efficiency of this vehicle (front wheel drive, fuel efficiency, etc.) The number of vehicles that are being driven home by employees has been cut by 50 percent. HOT CHECK PROGRAM The major reason this program is being proposed now is that the hot check problem has 'been neglected for many years. There are constant complaints from businesses that hot checks are not being handled. We are trying to solve that problem by implementing this program and starting a Hot Check Division, where there are police officers to serve the warrants, etc. The total net effect of the program for the first year is a cost of $30,000. After that, the program will generate revenue for the General Fund. At the same time, it will cause the merchants to not have the problems that they are currently having. This year there is an expense of around $10,000 to implement the Hot Check Program in this budget. This would, in essence, create a monopoly in the hot check collection. Local collection agencies will have a decrease in their hot check transactions. Vorsanger asked if there was a need to pass an ordinance to enforce the Hot Check Program. City Attorney Jerry Rose responded by 120 • 21 January 4, 1991 saying that approving the program in the budget would be all that was needed to start the program Possibly the collection fee would have to be established by ordinance. It was pointed out that Springdale seems to have a very successful hot check program currently in operation. Vorsanger asked if the Board would like to vote on keeping the Hot Check Program in the Budget. The consensus of the Board was to leave the Hot Check Program in the Budget. ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT In the past, until this past year, the Advertising & Promotion Commission did fund $10,000-$12,000 per year in Economic Development advertisements. When the Board got involved in doing the same, A&P stopped their funding. There was no need for it being done from both places. At this time there is a partnership agreement with A&P. Director Coody stated that he was not against Economic Development, but he felt there were other ways to attract industry. He stated that there are plans to budget $1.5 million over the next four years to buy land in the south industrial park. He expressed his desire to make Fayetteville a more visually attractive town, thus, attracting more people to the area. He was not in support of buying industrial park land. Economic Development Coordinator Richard Shewmaker stated that in regard to the new industrial park, the benefits will be recognized in the future in the way of improvement of the tax base, improvement of sales tax, more jobs, more revenue circulating in the community, etc. if only the Board will proceed, and support the industrial park development under City ownership. The industrial park should have access to all modes of transportation, although rail is rarely used these days, in order to make it marketable. The industrial park is being bought by the City from a non-profit organization. Coody stated that there are people that think we do not need this industrial park. Seventy five percent of the people polled said they would like to see Fayetteville have more parks and greenspace land, but we can't have parks and green land because we are buying industrial park land. Mayor Vorsanger addressed the Board regarding the operating budget that is being proposed for economic development. The whole budget is $7,000 more than the budget of 1990, because the Program was not in full force in 1990. The Board was asked for a consensus of how they felt in regard to continuing this program. It was the 1 • • r a,. January 4, 1991, consensus of the Board to target the industrial park and cut back on Economic Development. Blackston voiced his opinion on the need to target industries that could not only help the City solve one problem, by buying industrial park land; but can solve other problems such as the Solid Waste situation. His opinion was that the City try to recruit people using recyclables and make their goods into a marketable product. It was the general consensus of the Board that the problem could not be solved by just batting the subject of where cuts could be made back and forth among the Board members. Crosson suggested that his department take the figures, study them, and make a new proposal to the Board at a later date. REGIONAL PLANNING COMMISSION Director Green addressed the Board concerning the regional philosophy that has been developed. It is not known exactly what role the Regional Planning Commission will play as this process evolves. There are various other entities that are getting started, and they all have their areas of expertise and weaknesses: The whole role that they play in Fayetteville has changed considerably since the City's planning office has been developed to do most of the expert consulting. The main fearhe expressed, is that since their dues are on a per capita basis, Fayetteville will be the largest entity of their membership. It's going to take a considerable amount of revenue out of that organization, and it would greatly impair their ability to keep staff and data together. They support several successful programs, but it is difficult to put a monetary value on the programs that they support. There was discussion about the fact that the Regional Planning Commission thusfar has not presented to the Board a reason why they are an effective, viable organization. The Board expressed concern regarding justifying the city's contribution to this organization. Mayor Vorsanger voiced. his support of the Regional Planning Commission and the role that they play as a viable organization. He suggested that the Board continue their support this year, and warn the Commission that they should re-evaluate the effectiveness of their Program and suggest they play a more active role in the future. Planning Management Director John Merrell commented on his concern about the Regional Planning Commission's lack of communication and inactive role in viable regional planning. He stated that it was his perception that they don't really like to deal with the City Staff. ,.22 G3 January 4, 1991 It was suggested that a vote be taken on the issue of continuing to support the Commission in the 1991 budget. Upon roll call, it was decided to exclude the Regional Planning Commission from the 1991 Budget by a vote of 4 to 2, with Vorsanger and Green voting in the minority. The next meeting of the Board will be inclusive of the Police and Fire Departments, to be held following the Agenda session on Wednesday, January 9, 1991. Vorsanger commented that he had received letters from fifth graders at Washington Elementary School pertaining to a visit made by the Mayor. He said the consensus of the fifth graders was that they were all pleased with the program that was presented by the policemen. The following sentence was contained in every letter received by Mayor Vorsanger: "Please give them (the policemen) a raise." ADJOURNMENT The meeting was adjourned at 11:50 a.m. 1