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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMinutes 07-11-2001 Budget Workshop Meeting1 1 1 CITY OF CAPE CANAVERAL BUDGET WORKSHOP MEETING CITY HALL ANNEX 111 Polk Avenue, Cape Canaveral, Florida Wednesday, July 11, 2001 5:30 P.M. MINUTES Council Members Present Burt Bruns Richard Treverton Buzz Petsos (Arrived 6:00 p.m.) Rocky Randels Larry Weber Others Present: Bennett Boucher, City Manager Virginia Haas, Administrative Assistant to the City Clerk Ed Gardulski, Public Works Director Walter Bandish, Water Reclamation Superintendent Morris Reid, Building Official Andrea Bowers, City Treasurer Nancy Hanson, Recreation Director Major George McGee DISCUSSION: 1. Discussion: General Fund Mayor Randels called the meeting to order at 6:05 PM. Mayor Randels requested that the City Clerk call the roll. Mayor Randels stated that a quorum was present and Mayor Pro Tem Petsos would be arriving shortly. Legal Services Mayor Randels reported that there has been $22,800 in legal services used through 6 months. Mr. Bruns questioned who would be acting City Attorney. Mr. Boucher advised Mr. Bruns that Kohn Bennett would be the primary City Attorney and Mark McQuagge would be the Assistant City Attorney. 1 City of Cape Canaveral, Florida City Council Budget Workshop Meeting July 11, 2001 Page 2 Garbage Services Mayor Randels questioned line item 5251, which is a solid waste fund, otherwise the contract with Waste Management is identical to the previous year. Mr. Treverton questioned the contract with USA Waste regarding changing their name to Waste Management as well as the contract amount increasing each year. Mr. Boucher stated that Waste Management would receive a cost of living increase next year based on a CPI Index. Mr. Treverton requested a copy of the contract with Waste Management. In addition, Mr. Treverton expressed concern that Waste Management could be in the process of consuming the smaller company competitors and may later increase prices so tremendously that the City would have to go out for bid. Mayor Randels assured council that the contract with Waste Management would be maintained at $7.41 /month throughout the five -year contract. Business & Cultural Development Board Mayor announced the Wednesday/Friendsday at the Radisson Resort on July 12, 2001 and expressed that this board's budget was identical to the previous year. Discussion followed about this department's budget, as they did not manage to use all their funds the past year. Ms. Bowers commented that there was a library display project ongoing that would consume most of these funds. Code Enforcement Mr. Bruns requested from all boards that any agendas containing legal descriptions of properties also include the street address of the property. Mr. Treverton concurred. Non - Departmental Funds Mayor Randels explained this fund was a catchall fund and is identical to last year. Mayor questioned line item 3112 - Grant writing. Mayor Randels stated that only $5,000 is allocated to this fund and $21,000 of these funds have already been depleted this fiscal year. Mr. Boucher explained that funds could be re- appropriated to cover any grants needed and further this was only the draft budget. Police Education Ms. Bowers explained that she has not received any reports and the education fund is a general estimate. Mr. Bruns requested that Cmdr. McGee continue distributing reports to the council so they are aware of what training is occurring. 1 City of Cape Canaveral, Florida City Council Budget Workshop Meeting July 11, 2001 Page 3 Fire Protection Fund Mr. Bruns requested increasing fire impact fees. Ms. Bowers stated that she had spoken with Mr. Burton and he is generating a proposal. Mr. Bruns questioned if this could be increased by Ordinance. Ms. Bowers stated that she would contact Mr. Burton for updated information. Council requested that the fire protection fund be revisited once pertinent information had been gathered. Library Fund Mayor Randels questioned ground maintenance reduction of 50 %. Ms. Bowers explained that the Library has a contingency fund as well as a reserve fund set aside in the event of an emergency. Discussion followed regarding the mill rate. Beautification Fund Mayor Randels questioned the carrying forward of $73,000. Mr. Boucher explained that $50,000 was Bennix funds and the rest reserves. Mayor Randels expressed that Mr. Bennix would very much like for the City to use this money for beautification. Mr. Bruns suggested using these funds on beautification to the beach ends and Manatee Park. Mr. Treverton requested that the Beautification Board move toward a beautification project plan to utilize these funds. Mayor Pro Tem Petsos requested that Mr. Boucher add this item to the next agenda. Mr. Petsos suggested these funds be used for Washington Park Sidewalk. Discussion followed on several different projects that could occur. Council requested that Mr. Boucher develop a plan for implementing several new projects with Mr. Bennix's fund. Mayor Pro Tem Petsos queried the increase in the overtime budgeted. Mr. Gardulski responded that the past two fiscal years they had been short 2 positions, which resulted in increased overtime. Council requested the line item be checked for accuracy. Mayor Pro Tem Petsos requested budgeting for more training and actual utilization of the training dollars for the City persons as well as board members. Capital Expansion Fund for General Government (Impact Fees) Mayor Randels explained that these funds are from impact fees and used for future expansion. Mayor Randels queried the General Govemment contingency fund. Ms. Bowers explained that this is money being brought in but not spent. Mayor Randels replied that this fund could be used for the City Hall remodeling. Ms. Bowers expressed that a conservative estimate per year was $17,000. City of Cape Canaveral, Florida City Council Budget Workshop Meeting July 11, 2001 Page 4 Law Enforcement Trust Fund Mayor Randels reported that this fund is collected from contraband income obtained by the Sheriffs Department. Traditionally this has been used to pay for the School Resource Officer. Five Year Capital Purchases Administration Mayor Pro Tem Petsos questioned the increase in budgeting in the technology area. Mr. Boucher responded that $16,000 was budgeted for the computer imaging system. Mayor Randels questioned the Ford Taurus. Mr. Boucher responded that a replacement vehicle was needed due to current vehicles being unsafe. Mayor Pro Tem Petsos commented that the Ford Taurus was not in the previous five -year plan. Sheriff's Department Mayor Randels commented that the Sheriffs Department was requesting three replacement vehicles -two cars and one Ford Explorer. Mayor Randels commented that the Ford Explorer purchased last year has faired extremely well in carrying items that are needed during a shift. Cmdr. McGee expressed that the Ford Explorer was a 4-wheel drive, which allowed access to the beach as well as access during hurricane season and allows all items needed to be stored in the rear for easy access. Mayor Pro Tem Petsos inquired about the ATV. Cmdr. McGee responded that the Polaris that was previously purchased has survived better than expected and he would like to purchase another ATV in addition to keeping the Polaris so they would have two ATV's patrolling the area. Discussion followed about the lack of manpower to enforce the fireworks on the Fourth of July. Mr. Bruns questioned why the County allows the fireworks to be sold near the shores of Cape Canaveral. Mayor Randels responded that the State allows them to be sold due to Agricultural uses. Mr. Bruns questioned whether an ordinance could be drawn up to ban the sale of illegal fireworks within the county. Cmdr. McGee responded that the State Attorney's office is looking into the issue. Mayor Randels suggested this might have to be a legislative action. Mayor Randels questioned the Sheriff's 5-year plan as varying from last year reporting they need one Ford Explorer, and one replacement vehicle. Cmdr. McGee responded that one of the cars had Ieft t with a previous employee and would have to be replaced. Mr. McGee also stated that there is a new employee in community policing. City of Cape Canaveral, Florida City Council Budget Workshop Meeting July 11, 2001 Page 5 Mr. Bruns questioned the $11,000 for video cameras and whether this was only for the new vehicles. Cmdr. McGee responded it would be for all vehicles and that the initial 3 purchased needed to be replaced. Mr. Treverton commented that these are all electrical products that last two to three years and then call for replacement or must phased out. Mr. Treverton suggested keeping the video cameras for the Sheriffs car in the budget for an extended length of time. Mr. Bruns agreed. Fire Department Mayor Randels commented that the Fire Department's budget is the same as the previous year with the exception of the purchase of a ladder truck using tax exempt financing. Mr. Bruns questioned the $60,000 for the radio replacements over a 4- year period. Cmdr. McGee explained that radios break easily and parts cannot be replaced. Discussion followed. Mayor Randels explained that the Fire Department purchased the GE product due to the lesser price, however wanted to purchase the Motorola. Now GE no longer makes the product. Mayor Randels questioned if Cocoa Beach was still on a dissimilar system. Cmdr. McGee responded that Cocoa Beach was now on the same system. Mr. Boucher commented that the ladder truck would be purchased once the finance agreement had been drawn up. Mayor Randels requested that this item be discussed at the next council meeting. Building Department: Mayor Randels stated that the Building Department has requested replacement of the 1992 Oldsmobile and would like to purchase a Dakota Extended Cab 4 -wheel vehicle. Mayor Randels questioned whether a copy machine was purchased for the building department. Mr. Reid replied that the copy machine was bought last year. Mr. Bruns questioned the possibility of another copier in 2004. Mr. Reid responded that he deliberated the copier might need to be replaced by that time. Code enforcement: Mayor Randels stated that the Code Enforcement Department is requesting a laptop as well as the software for that position. Mr. Weber questioned the new truck planned for purchase next year. Mr. Reid responded that there is a truck budgeted for the next three years. Mayor Randels stated that is the purpose of the 5 -year plan to prepare for capital purchases in advance. 1 1 City of Cape Canaveral, Florida City Council Budget Workshop Meeting July 11, 2001 Page 6 Street Department Mayor Randels questioned why there was no maintenance building design. Mr. Boucher responded that there is $40,000 budgeted for this item in this year's budget. Mayor Randels questioned the request for the heavy -duty truck. Mr. Gardulski responded that this heavy -duty truck will replace the 1987 Chevy S -10 that is unsafe. Discussion followed regarding the sidewalk construction program. Mayor Randels questioned how much sidewalk would $18,000 purchase. Mr. Bandish stated that is would purchase approximately 1,500 feet. Mayor Randels and Council suggested 1,500 sidewalk feet per year. Mayor Pro Tem Petsos stated that he had not envisioned a dump truck in the plan for next year. Mayor Randels stated that the City had just given a dump truck away. Mr. Bandish replied that a dump truck was to be sent to the salvage yard and requests a replacement dump truck due to the type of work performed. Council suggested that $18,000 be set aside each year for the sidewalk construction program. Ms. Bowers stated there was also $40,000 for the Pedway Bridge Project. Parks and Recreation Mr. Weber requested that Mr. Bennix's funds be used for some of the beautification projects and landscaping. Mr. Boucher stated that he had no issues with allocating that money to the beautification budget. Ms. Hanson requested that a Landscape Designer make plans. Mayor Pro Tem Petsos and Mr. Bruns agreed that a Landscape Designer be brought in. Mr. Treverton agreed with Ms. Hanson regarding the maintenance of any landscape project and requested an allocation of funds through an interest bearing account and that the interest be used to cover any maintenance fees. Mr. Weber stated that Ms. Hanson should pursue a landscape architect to begin a design on Manatee Park. Mayor Pro Tem Petsos suggested that the designer look at more than just one project as we may obtain a better price. Mayor Pro Tem Petsos left at 7:10 pm Budget Summary Sewer Enterprise Fund Mayor Randels questioned that no money is in contingency. Mr. Boucher responded that would be dependent on how much council would like to expend on the reuse 1 City of Cape Canaveral, Florida City Council Budget Workshop Meeting July 11, 2001 Page 7 system. Mr. Boucher stated that council would have to make some value judgments as to where they would like to allocate these funds. Mr. Boucher stated that the utility operating revenue incorporated a 3% increase along with growth to a total projection of 4% for the year and $826,000 includes reserve money and impact fees to facilitate all capital projects. Impact fees are expected to increase drastically due to projected building activity. Budgeted figures are conservative. Operating revenues are in line with operating expenditures. Mr. Boucher requested that council consider seriously how tot appropriate these funds. Mayor Randels stated that the City took a reduction in operating income between 1999 and 2000 when the port left. Mr. Treverton questioned the impact fees of $250,000 and questioned them decreasing. Mr. Reid stated that when dealing in construction economic factors make projection uncertain. Ms. Bowers stated that as of May of this year the sewer assessment fees were at $313,000, which is $63,000 more than budgeted last year. Mr. Bruns agreed with the conservative approach at this point in time. Mayor Randels reiterated what Mr. Boucher said in that our sewer fund revenues are extremely favorable as compared to the sewer fund expenditures. Mr. Boucher stated that the operating revenue totals $2,916,000 and the sewer operating fund, which includes operating capital, totals $1,576,000. Mayor Randels responded that part of this was a cash carry forward of almost $1,000,000. Mr. Bruns expressed concern about the cash forward dropping a half million dollars. Mr. Boucher responded that the sewer fund is still healthy. Mr. Bruns expressed that the City is fairing well, but would like to see it continue doing so. Mayor Randels read from the notes left by Mayor Pro Tem Petsos as follows: Item 1200 - please note that salary and wages are up 5 %. He questioned a 5% increase when the City gives a 3.5% increase in salary. Overtime is down 4 %, however year to date is 11%. Mr. Gardulski explained that not having positions filled has caused an increase in the overtime. Once the vacancies are filled the salary and wages would increase and the overtime would decrease. Worker's Compensation is up 145 %. Ms. Bowers responded that each council member had been given a revised copy. Have we overestimated the sludge disposal fee? City of Cape Canaveral, Florida City Council Budget Workshop Meeting July 11,2001 Page 8 Safety supplies are $3,400 year to date, however budget is asking for $7,000 next year. Mr. Bandish responded this was due to the new employees and safety equipment to be purchased for them. Mr. Gardulski also reported that included the gas masks required by OSHA chemical regulations. Chemical Budget is $21,000 year to date however budget is requesting $49,000. Operating Fees & Licenses: $12,600 is already depleted year to date and the budget is only requesting $7,900 for next year. Mr. Bandish responded that these licenses are renewed on a bi- annual basis. Mr. Boucher requested that Mr. Bandish and Mr. Gardulski re- evaluate the sludge disposal fee and chemical fees. Sewer Enterprise Fund Mr. Bandish gave a presentation on the reuse system currently in tact as well as options and altematives to planning for reuse in the future. Mr. Gardulski suggested a new line item: Reuse Capital Improvements $200,000 is set aside for capital improvement and maintenance involving the reuse system. Council agreed to set a date and time following budget hearings to schedule a special reuse capital improvement meeting to discuss reuse in detail and agree upon a 5-year plan. The meeting adjournevdat 8:05 P.M. s® e Virginia .Haas, ADMINISTRATIVE ASSISTANT To the CITY CLERK, 1