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HomeMy WebLinkAbout1993-08-11 - City Commission Budget Workshop Meeting MinutesCity Council Budget Workshop Meeting. 8/11/93/KJ Page 1 CITY COUNCIL BUDGET WORKSHOP MEETING WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 11, 1993 CALL TO ORDER: Mayor Bender called this meeting to order on Wednesday, August 11, 1993 at 9:00 a.m. in the Conference Room #1 of City Hall. Mayor H. Larry Bender Vice Mayor Irving Katz Councilman Norman Abramowitz Councilman Henry Schumann Councilman Joseph Schreiber John P. Kelly, City Manager Dina McDermott, Assistant City Manager Mary Blasi, Finance Director Thelma Fagelbaum, Deputy Finance Director Karen Willard, Comptroller Michael Couzzo, Director of Public Services/Assistant City Manager Roberta Bonavia, Public Service Office Manager Glenda Christian, MIS Director Kline Jones, City Engineer Gordon Sparks, Assistant City Engineer Angie LoSasso, Customer Service Office Manager Karen Jackson, Secretary ***************************************************************** HIS - Page 354 Mr. Kelly said the salary line remains the same but there are employees starting on longevity pay. He reviewed the benefits. C/M Schreiber questioned the increase to $10,400.00 on Item 340. Ms. Christian said the additional $10,000.00 was for a study for a computer system in the Utilities Department. She said this is to coordinate the various systems currently in place throughout the Department. Discussion was held regarding this. Mayor Bender said there are many companies that provide this type of service. Ms. Christian said this is a company which is independent of any hardware or software vendors. She said there have been other companies who have attempted to sell their own product. Mayor Bender asked why the information needed is not provided to the City from the people the City purchased the equipment from. He said it behooves the City to get free consultation and test the market. Further discussion was held regarding this. C/M Abramowitz said cheapest is not always the best. He said if the equipment is needed to improve the department, then it should be done. Ms. McDermott said when Utilities presented their original budget, they had a list of various types of computers and software that they wanted. Mayor Bender said he would like the market tested for this. C/M Schreiber questioned the increase in Item #515-Minor City Council Budget Workshop Meeting 8/11/93/KJ Page 2 Equipment. Ms. Christian said many of these items were previously included under office equipment. C/M Schreiber asked about the $9,000.00 increase in the Purchase Requisition Account and Ms. Blasi said MIS took over the purchasing of all computer hardware and software for all departments. C/M Schreiber stated that MIS is an excellent candidate for privatization. He recommended that the City Manager's Department look into private organizations handling this type of work. Ms. Blasi said MIS is an intricate part of Finance and work daily with the Department to do accounts payable, payroll and the requisitions system. She said the City would need the same number of employees if the City went with a private company. She said it would not be cost effective or efficient to have a private company handling the work from outside. She said the MIS Department currently does 99% of the programming for every system in the City. C/M Schreiber asked if the City investigated the opportunities to do this type of service and the cost. Mr. Kelly said he would have an analysis done. Ms. Christian said the City would lose a lot of response time using an outside service to have someone on call when there is a problem with a system or other type situation. C/M Abramowitz said the Department has a young man who handles all the computer problems immediately. He said he has nothing against privatization and there is nothing wrong with inquiring about it. C/M Schumann questioned Items #463 and $641 regarding office equipment. Ms. Blasi said Office Equipment Repairs - #463 was reduced more than $5,000.00. She said Council approved a maintenance contract on the McDonnell Douglas mainframe which is $26,400.00 per year, including 100% coverage for parts, labor and everything on the mainframe. Ms. Blasi said MIS purchased all of the hardware and printers for the computers for the Utilities Department and all of the other departments. She said the original request of $95,000.00 was brought down to $32,000.00, which is for required hardware. C/M Schumann asked if these are different than #518 - Computer Supplies. Ms. Blasi said computer supplies includes paper, ribbons, diskettes and other such supplies. C/M Abramowitz asked if 59C is for a change of accounting procedures and Ms. Blasi said, yes. C/M Abramowitz recommended that the $10,000.00 remain in the budget. FINANCE - Page 53 Ms. Blasi said the Finance Department's budget has decreased. She said there was a proposed $20,000.00 budgeted for miscellaneous audit work under Item #340 - Other Contractual Services, which was stricken. C/M Schreiber questioned Item #515 - Equipment. City Council Budget Workshop Meeting 8/11/93/KJ Page 3 Ms. Blasi said the major item is $3,300.00 for 20 replacement cabinets for the file room in the department. Discussion was held regarding the cost and accessibility of the file cabinets. Mayor Bender asked if Staff checked into what is available through the State contract. Ms. Blasi said Staff will research all avenues for the best prices. C/M Schreiber suggested checking into used file cabinets. CUSTOMER SERVICE - Page 278 Ms. Blasi said the City has eliminated a part-time 30-hour file clerk position and a part-time position in Finance to make it into one, full-time position. C/M Abramowitz referred to the Water Management District proposal and asked how the City will handle billing the multi -family units. Ms. Blasi said this will be added to their water bill, just as is done for the single-family units. Discussion was held regarding the billing of the upcoming Water Management District proposal. Ms. Blasi said the only property which is left to bill independently are those who have commercial property with separate meters and the owner will need to be billed, instead of the individual renting the property. C/M Abramowitz said the City needs to review the method the meters are read. He said there are always problems with this. He said it is impossible for someone to use 170,000 gallons of water when the usual amount utilized is 90,000. Angie LoSasso, Customer Service Office Manager, said she had an account this past week that normally uses 80,000 gallons and was read to be using 472,000 gallons and it was found that there is a leak under their foundation. She said this was in a one -month time period. Discussion was held regarding this. C/M Abramowitz said it behooves the City to look for wet spots and do some preventative investigations to avoid this from happening. Ms. LoSasso said there are many people who are unaware that there are problems. Ms. Blasi said it is not the City's responsibility to detect leakages. C/M Abramowitz requested that someone on Staff write an article for the Tam -A -Gram regarding leakage problems. Further discussion was held regarding the method of reading the meters. Ms. LoSasso said the City sends out educational messages on the back of the water bills for saving water. C/M Abramowitz asked how the City is sending out the water bills and Ms. LoSasso said by bulk mail and there will be more billings going out with the new single-family homes being built. Ms. LoSasso said she contacted the post office and they do not anticipate any rate increases. Mayor Bender said any printed matter which is not a personal letter should be sent out on bulk rate. City Council Budget Workshop Meeting 8/11/93/KJ Page 4 Ms. LoSasso said all of Customer Service's mail is sent out at bulk rate with the exception of the out -of -country mail. Mayor Bender recommended that all notices of meetings and other printed matter be mailed at the lowest rate possible. Ms. LoSasso said the City has a permit stamp which can be used for mailing if there is a minimum of 200 items, the mail can be sent for 17 cents as opposed to 29 cents. Further discussion was held regarding postage. REVENUE - Page 23 Mayor Bender asked if All Service Refuse is satisfying the customers. He said he has received a number of complaints. Ms. McDermott said in the new Tarn -A -Gram, there will be instructions printed for the single-family homes to educate the residents. C/M Abramowitz said most of the complaints he has received are regarding the time of day the garbage is picked up. He said the only thing that All Service did wrong was that he would have insisted that they go out on Waste Management's routes. Ms. McDermott said All Service is currently doing that. Further discussion was held regarding this. PAGE 2 C/M Schumann asked what the City is doing about delinquent ad valorem taxes. Ms. Blasi said the ad valorem taxes are part of the proceeds the City has received from Broward County. She said these are taxes that had been paid which were due in previous years. C/M Schumann asked who receives the penalty when they are paid delinquently and Ms. Blasi said the City receives its portion. C/M Abramowitz asked if Mr. Markham gets a portion for collection and Ms. Blasi said she is sure that they do. C/M Abramowitz said these people need to be watched carefully. C/M Schumann said if the City is looking at $40,000.00 in delinquents and projecting only $2,000.00 in penalties, something is wrong somewhere. Mayor Bender said there is also something wrong in the amount of taxes. He said $40,000.00 is a very small percentage. Ms. Blasi said the City has no control over this. She said the City is remitted monthly by a wire transfer, unless the City does an audit of all of their collections for taxes. Further discussion was held regarding this. Ms. Blasi said the State allows the City to discount its total ad valorem revenue proceeds by 5%. She said every year when the City budgeted the 95%, the City usually came right in line with the dollar amount. She said this year, since the 18 million dollars was taken away from the City by the Value Adjustment Board, the City will not meet the 6.2 million dollars. She said July's wire was significantly less than last year. Ms. Blasi said it is good that the City's permit fees are coming in greater than what was estimated, which will more than offset the figures. C/M Abramowitz asked if the Value Adjustment Board sends the City copies of the decisions they made and the properties that they had devalued. L 1 1 City Council Budget Worki 6p' Meetin4`''� 8/11/93/KJ Page 5 Ms. Blasi said they do not but she contacted their office and requested that information. She said it is an injustice to the cities, the County and the School Board, because they are not able to adjust their millage at C/M Schumann asked how the the end of the year. City can show a $600,000.00 increase. Ms. Blasi said the 18 million dollars that was decreased, the current 1993 property assessed value comes out to be 18 million dollars higher, which is a wash. She said then the City has the new construction which went up 14.2 million dollars, which was 1% of the City's total. Further discussion was held regarding this. Mayor Bender asked if the City falls under the category within the 5% and Ms. Blasi said she always budgets 95%, but this year, the City will not reach the 95%. Ms. Blasi said over the last five years, the City has collected 95% of the total tax levy. Discussion was held regarding the delinquencies. C/M Schumann asked if the City has access to a printout from Mr. Markham's office as to all of the figures of all the Tamarac tax bills and Ms. Blasi said the City Clerk's office receives that annually. C/M Abramowitz asked if there is a way that the City can make a determination whether or not the City is receiving the franchise taxes without paying consultant fees. Ms. Blasi said all of the commercial haulers submit quarterly reports, but in order to verify whether or not the numbers are correct, the City would have to do an audit of each of them. C/M Abramowitz asked if Finance reviews the tax bills for errors and Ms. Blasi said, yes. Discussion was held regarding the reviews. Mayor Bender said when the City took in the unincorporated area of 3,000 people, there were no taxes collected, because they were never placed on the tax rolls. He said at the end of the year, the income was increased to compensate for it. He said the following year, the unincorporated area was dropped off the tax rolls again. He said he was told that these names were removed from the computer. He said these are the types of things that need to be checked into. Further discussion was held regarding this. Mayor Bender said he has reservations as to whether or not the amount of money currently being collected from the franchises is accurate. He recommended that these be given to the attorneys for review. V/M Katz said he reviews his electric bill every month and consistently, this year, his bill has increased due to the heat throughout the summer. He said the franchise fees that can be expected should be higher than last year. Mayor Bender said the City has records of this. He said people leave for the summer but the amount of electricity being consumed is steady. Further discussion was held regarding the franchise fees being collected. Ms. McDermott said Council needs to consider the fact that with all the new construction, there are more units being built with a heat -recovery system, which cuts down the electric bill dramatically. She said even though there are new users corning in on the system, it will be at a lower rate. Mayor Bender said he found one year, a considerable drop in City Council Budget Workshop Meeting 8/11/93/KJ Page 6 revenue which cannot be accounted for and he cannot get an answer from FP&L. He said he has given it to the attorney for review. Ms. Blasi said this is a problem of every municipality in South Florida at present. She said meetings are being held regarding the franchises because it is so costly for each individual municipality to have in-house people do this, plus the expertise is not there. She said this should be done every five or ten years. Mayor Bender said he has been reading the recommendations from MAS as to how the City can improve the City's financial position. He suggested that the City examine the recommendations made by MAS on every one of the utilities companies. Further discussion was held regarding this. Ms. Blasi said the utility tax for propane is coming in very well. She said the estimated amount for building permits was $602,000.00 but is being changed to $750,000.00, which will offset the top line of the decrease in the ad valorem. Ms. McDermott said all new development is projected when the budget is created, which shows a lag in planning and a lead in building because the planning process occurred prior to the budget being prepared. Ms. Blasi said the sales tax half -cent estimation has increased considerably, which was a nice surprise. She said she is expecting 1.95 million dollars to be coming to the City this year and the State gave her an estimate of 2.187 million dollars for next year. C/M Schreiber asked about the prospect of increased gasoline tax within the County, with the possibility that the City may see some revenue with this. Ms. Blasi said that is not figured into the budget because it has not been approved by the County. C/M Abramowitz said there is a movement to discard the proposed County increase in gasoline taxes, but there is also a move afoot for a 1% increase in sales tax. He said this was brought before the Broward League of Cities for their thoughts on the matter. He said the League has taken a positive position, with a stipulation that the current money be 50/50. He said they are trying to increase the sales tax by one cent with a guarantee that 62-1/2% will go to the construction of schools and the balance will be split between the municipalities and Broward County. He said this is in lieu of the County gas tax. Further discussion was held regarding this. Mayor Bender questioned Item #369 - Administrative Service Fees. Ms. Blasi said that is the fee the City charged Utilities West for the administration of General Funds. She said since Utilities East and Utilities West are basically an Enterprise Fund to be handled like a regular organization, they do not pay for any of the Fire or Police Services. Discussion was held regarding this. C/M Schumann asked about Item #381-251. Ms. Blasi said this money represents the City's franchise fees from Southern Bell. She said the City had allocated these revenues when the City went out for the Fire Station loan and any excess of those revenues is a transfer back to the General Fund. She explained the franchise funds. C/M Schumann asked about the request by the Fire Department for a fan and Ms. McDermott said it is for the bunk room where the firefighters sleep. City Council Budget Workshop Meeting 8/11/93/KJ Page 7 Ms. McDermott said the diesel fumes go into their living area. Mr. Kelly said their health requires this and he agreed with the request. Ms. McDermott said NFPA, Code 1500, requires this fan and the room is already air-conditioned, but does not exhaust the quantity of fumes that exist in this area. She said this year the NFPA Code was changed to include this. Further discussion was held regarding this. V/M Katz referred to Item #383-100 and asked what the $1.00 is for and Ms. Blasi said that is just to keep the line item open to allow for the Council to provide for a lien/purchase for equipment and vehicles, which are currently in the budget. C/M Abramowitz asked if Council is going to discuss the revenue from the City's investments and Ms. Blasi said, yes. Herman Gross, member of the Investment Advisory Board, said there are 3 million dollars worth of securities coming due in February, 1994. He said the City cannot expect to receive the amount of interest the City is currently earning to be repeated. He said the City may drop $50,000.00 to $60,000.00 of interest income in the upcoming fiscal year. Ms. Blasi said that would just be in the General Fund. She said the majority of the City's investments are through the Utilities Fund. Ms. Blasi said the 3 million dollars is in the pool system and is not allocated just to the General Fund. She said the majority of the interest revenue goes to the Utility and Impact Fee Fund because that is where the reserve and impact monies lay. She said the General Fund, at any one time, averages 2-1/2 to 3 million dollars maximum. C/M Abramowitz said he wants to be sure that the City is not overestimating and giving a false sense of security as far as income is concerned. Ms. Blasi said she would discuss this further with the Investment Advisory Board. She said the Investment Advisory Board has been very helpful in determining where the money should be placed once the securities become due. She said in the past couple years, the City has made some very good investments, prior to the interest rates changing. MATCHING GRANTS - Page 170 C/M Abramowitz referred to the Nob Hill Beautification and questioned the matching funds on Part A - Commercial Blvd. He said Part A lists $116,202.00 and the grant the City received gave the City $40,000.00. Ms. McDermott said there are two grants in Part A. She said one is from the Broward County Tree Trust for trees only, which is to buy trees equaling $39,624.00. She said the other grant is from the Sawgrass Expressway Authority, which is approximately $43,000.00. She said when this project was started, the costs were lower, but since then, the industry costs have increased significantly. TAPE 3 Ms. McDermott said if the City chooses to do this project, it is going to cost the City more because of the cost of the trees involved. C/M Abramowitz asked how much the City will need to spend and Ms. McDermott said it will cost the City $96,174.11 for Project A. She said there are two different companies and the company being quoted is not the company the Staff is recommending for bid. City Council Budget Workshop Meeting 8/11/93/KJ Page 8 C/M Abramowitz asked how much the City received in grant funds and Ms. McDermott said $82,953.00 and requesting $9,616.00 for matching grants. Further discussion was held regarding the matching grants for this project. C/M Abramowitz said he agrees with Part A, but is opposed to Part B. C/M Schreiber asked what the City is going to do regarding Part A and Ms. McDermott said this is total median construction, consisting of ground cover, trees, shrubs, irrigation, curbing and pavers. C/M Abramowitz said this would mean that the City is going to take over the maintenance instead of the County and Ms. McDermott agreed. C/M Abramowitz asked whose responsibility it would be for the balance of McNab Road and Ms. McDermott said she will speak with the City Attorney regarding this for an interpretation. C/M Schreiber asked if the County would be responsible if in the future Nob Hill Road is expanded to three lanes and would have to reduce the median. Ms. McDermott said DOT is working with the City and, if the City wants to remove certain trees, the City can keep the trees and DOT will demolish the rest. Further discussion was held regarding the road widening and funding. Ms. McDermott said she estimates spending most of the money in the matching grants account to complete Nab Hill Road and the Boulevards. Ms. McDermott said there are other projects, such as the Street Tree Inventory, America the Beautiful, etc. She said the City applied for grant funding for additional training for the Fire Department, handheld computers for the Fire Department, Urban Forestry Landscape Master Plan and others. She said she would like to have the ability to maintain money in the budget for grant possibilities. She said the money which is not spent will go back into the General Fund. C/M Abramowitz said Ms. McDermott has been very successful in achieving the grant funding. He said it is most important to be able to state that the money is available for application approval. Ms. McDermott said additional points are gained on the grant applications if a drug -free workplace applies. She said this is being discussed during the labor negotiations. BONDS/LOAN FUNDS - Page 211 Ms. Blasi said this is the budget for refinancing the City Hall and Public Service Administrative Complex (PSAC). She said it is a little higher this year because the City took a greater savings last year when the refinancing was done. She said there was a decrease in the millage rate. C/M Schreiber asked what the cost was in 1991/92 and Ms. Blasi said for the G.O. Bonds that the City refinanced, the net present value savings was $396,000.00. C/M Schreiber asked what the payment was in 1991/92 and Ms. Blasi said the City is probably saving approximately $30,000.00. 1 1 Ms. Blasi said the transfer from Contingency of $100,000.00 needed for the Berkowitz case was not taken into consideration when City Council Budget Workshop" Meet ing•f + 8/11/93/KJ Page 9 planning this budget. She said this will completely deplete the Contingency Account for this year with this transfer to Non - Departmental Legal. C/M Abramowitz said this City should have more money in the Contingency for emergencies. Ms. Blasi said the City budgeted $350,000.00 this year and with this transfer it will reduce it close to $70,000.00, then there will be another request by Public Services, which will deplete the Contingency in the current year. V/M Katz said this is why the City must maintain 5% of the budget in the Contingency. He said it is not known what will happen in the future. He said the money must be available and if it costs another quarter in taxes, then so be it. C/M Schreiber said if the City runs short on money it can be borrowed. Ms. Blasi said the only thing this effects is her estimated ending fund balance of 1.8 million dollars. She said at present the City is using 1.5 million dollars to reduce the budget revenue requirements, leaving the City $300,000.00. Further discussion was held regarding the income sources. UTILITI$3/ENGINEERING -- Page 67 Discussion was held regarding the Draftsman position. Mr. Kelly said there is a 15% reduction due to the salary changes. He said Engineering falls under the General Fund. Mike Couzzo, Director of Public Services/Assistant City Manager, said there are no additions to the Engineering Department. He said the City is eliminating the Public Services Operations Manager position, which was split -budgeted from Engineering and Utilities. Mr. Couzzo said there are overall decreases in the costs to run Engineering. He referred to Page 70 regarding Special Equipment and said there is an appropriation this year, which has not been expended, for an approval of a bid to purchase special hanging files for plans in the Engineering Department. He said this will be presented to Council in a couple of weeks. STREET LIGHTING - Page 140 C/M Abramowitz asked if the City has a list of which light poles will be 15 years old and ready for replacement. V/M Katz said even though the City may have a pole which may fall into the 15 year bracket this year and it conforms to the present Code, there is nothing that FP&L will do to it. WATER TREATMENT - Page 258 Mr. Couzzo said this budget is primarily for the operation, maintenance, and production of water that comes out of the water treatment facility on NW 61 Street. Mr. Kelly asked for the rationale for the Water Plant Operator position which is being added to the budget. Mr. Couzzo said this is due to the difficulty the City has been having with the lack of personnel on the night shift and complying with safety standards and procedures. He said this position is to assist with the night shift operation because at present, there is only one individual. He said for safety and to comply with OSHA standards, it would be to the City's advantage and then the City would be able to do some additional maintenance work at night. He City Council Budget Workshop Meeting 8/11/93/KJ Page 10 said if something were to happen to the one individual currently working, there would be nobody to help. Further discussion was held regarding this. C/M Schreiber questioned Item #310, Professional Services and the increase from zero to $17,500.00. Mr. Couzzo said $10,000.00 is for engineering services to maintain that the City is in compliance with the changing regulatory standards and rules. C/M Schreiber asked if this would fall under Other Contractual Services. Mr. Couzzo said Contractual Services is normally for performance base services if the department needs modifications to a plan or other such situations versus a professional service. He said one of the problems with the infrastructure of the utilities system in the City is that there was a model done 25 years ago, but now the model is inadequate to the service being given. Mr. Couzzo said the City is coming into some systems that require changes but the model should reflect it. He said it is hopeful that the new developers will cost share in the changes because they are causing the impact. C/M Schreiber inquired about the $20,000.00 increase in Item #340- Other Contractual Services and Mr. Couzzo said that is specifically designated for the demolition and removal of the old purchasing/customer service building located at NW 61 Street, which is used now for nothing more than storage. Discussion was held regarding the funding for this. Mayor Bender asked about Item #462-Building Repairs and Mr. Couzzo said that is for the installation of a new roof and support beams for the lime area. He said this is a continued maintenance and modification to the plants. He said it will provide an overhang which has deteriorated. C/M Schumann referred to the $25,000.00 in the Beautification. Mr. Couzzo said this is for landscaping at the Water Treatment Plant. He said the plan is to eliminate the Australian Pines on the north side of the property which abuts the golf course and put in a barrier and the landscaping at the plant needs to be improved. C/M Abramowitz asked why the foliage from the nursery cannot be used. He said it is necessary to find a way not to spend $25,000.00 to beautify the water plant. He suggested something be worked out with the owner of the golf course. Mr. Couzzo said he would check into it. TAPE 4 C/M Schreiber asked if the budget for beautification at the Water Treatment Plant is going to be changed from $25,000.00 to $15,000.00. Mr. Couzzo recommended that Council reduce the budget on item WE from $18,000.00 to $8,000.00. C/M Schumann asked about Item #4RX and Mr. Couzzo said the other problem will be when the building is removed, landscaping will need to be done there also. C/M Schreiber questioned Item #503. Mr. Couzzo said there is a wall plan which is being proposed for this location. He said the plan is to remove the Australian Pines which run south to north on the west side which abut a residential City Council Budget Workshop 'Meeting'4 8/11/93/KJ Page 11 development and replace it with a CBS block wall for security. C/M Abramowitz asked for clarification. Mr. Couzzo said one building is going to be removed and that area will be landscaped, which is on the east side of the property. He said the wall will be built on the west side of the Water Treatment Plant and will run from the south end of the property line going north. Further discussion was held regarding this proposal. C/M Abramowitz suggested that the City place a cyclone fence in this location instead of a wall, rather than beautify Green Thumb's property. He said the cost will be much less. Discussion was held regarding this. C/M Abramowitz said the removal of the trees is a cost-effective move and should have been done some time ago. He recommended that Mr. Couzzo get pricing on a fence for this location. Mr. Kelly said Items #4RX, WE and #503 will be readdressed. C/M Schumann suggested that the City just sod the area where the building is being demolished rather than beautify it. Vernon Hargray, Public Services Operations Manager, said the wall was proposed for containment of the sludge but if a fence is installed, the sludge will run through the fence onto Green Thumb's property. Further discussion was held regarding the dredging and sludge. C/M Schumann suggested a berm be placed there and Mr. Hargray said there is not much space for a berm to be built. He said the sludge piles higher than the building at times. C/M Schumann asked what contains the sludge at present and Mr. Hargray said nothing. Mr. Hargray said when it rains the sludge runs. He said the City had to pay $60,000.00 to pump the running sludge from Colony West. C/M Schumann asked why there is a proposal for beautification if this is only for sludge removal. Mr. Hargray said the beautification is not in this particular area, but in'the front and side of the property for the residential areas. Further discussion was held regarding the location. C/M Abramowitz said the South Florida. Water Management District will not allow sludge ponds within the next year or so. He said they will be looking for holding tanks which will cost $300,000.00 easily. He suggested that the Department do whatever needs to be done at present but do not expend a lot of money. Mr. Couzzo said if there is enough room, possibly a berm can be placed here. He said it will be researched. C/M Schreiber asked about Item #648-Lab Equipment. Mr. Couzzo said the equipment was purchased in 1978 and needs to be replaced. He said the Water Treatment Facility is regularly inspected. C/M Schumann asked if the equipment is giving inaccurate readings. Mr. Hargray said the City has failed tests due to the equipment. He said the parts required for the City's current equipment are very difficult to obtain. He explained the functions of the new equipment and the testing required. Discussion was held regarding City Council Budget Workshop Meeting 8/11/93/KJ Page 12 this. Mr. Hargray said the current equipment has been giving the Staff many problems throughout the year. Mayor Bender asked how the City handles the current requirements and Mr. Hargray said the tests are sent out to private labs. C/M Schumann asked if this is sole source procurement or does the City need to go out for bid. Mr. Couzzo said the City would need to go out to bid. C/M Schumann said he would not want to purchase from the same vendor or manufacturer if they cannot keep the parts in for more than 15 years. Mayor Bender said even if the parts were available, the equipment is obsolete. Mr. Couzzo said not every city can provide an in-house laboratory analysis. He said,other cities have requested that Tamarac consider running their lab samples and this will be looked at as a revenue generating source. Further discussion was held regarding the lab equipment. TRANSMISSION AND DISTRIBUTION - Page 266 C/M Schreiber questioned Item #643. Mr. Couzzo said there is $1,950.00 for (3) 12-volt submersible pumps which will pump out areas in which the City is preparing to remove the water. He said there is $3,000.00 budgeted for a sod cutter, which will eliminate the cost of having to purchase the sod and eliminate the inconvenience of the homeowner. He said there is also a $25,000.00 jack and bore piece excavating equipment budgeted, which gives the City the availability to go under a pavement surface without destroying and having to restore the pavement surface. C/M Schreiber asked about Item #6HK and Ms. McDermott said this has been reduced and should now be $110,000.00. C/M Abramowitz asked what the $110,000.00 will be spent on and Mr. Couzzo said the City is currently in litigation on a couple areas of land. Mr. Couzzo said there are approximately 40 meter locations that the City needs to secure easements for and arrange agreements with the individual property owners to relocate the meters, which means the City needs to remove the meter boxes, change the meters and possibly change the deteriorating water lines. Ms. McDermott said this is under litigation and recommended that this discussion be monitored carefully. C/M Abramowitz said he would like to find out if anybody spoke with the County to see if the City can mitigate some of this. Mr. Couzzo said he would discuss this with the City Attorney. WATER ACCOUNTABILITY - Page 365 Mr. Couzzo said the only change is the meter reader position, which now not only reads the meter but changes them out and analyze the needs. Mayor Bender asked about Item #505, Repair Service Lines, and Mr. Couzzo said these are service lines to the person who has a meter. He said the City has accelerated the meter change -out program. City Council Budget Workshop Meeting»:s 8/11/93/KJ Page 13 Discussion was held regarding this. V/M Katz questioned Item #668, Back Flow Preventers, and asked where the City is placing back flaw preventers. Mr. Hargray said the City has some back flow preventers located in some of the condominiums and on all City property. He said the City is responsible for all the back flow preventers on its property. He said the $7,000.00 is for installations at City facilities. Discussion was held regarding this. Mr. Hargray said the Staff has been making a list of all hazardous locations in the City, which includes City -owned and private properties. V/M Katz asked if there is a revenue item in the budget for this money and Ms. Blasi said, yes. C/M Abramowitz said the Law states that the back flow preventers must be inspected annually. Discussion was held regarding this. Mr. Kelly said the exact locations of these back flow preventers will be provided to Council. WASTE WATER COLLECTION - Pago 284 C/M Schreiber referred to Item #640 and asked what it is for. Mr. Couzzo said it is to replace a vehicle with a four-wheel drive vehicle in order to provide certain emergency services. C/M Schreiber asked about Item #643 and Mr. Couzzo said this is provide emergency backup power sources in the event of a power outage with these generators. C/M Schumann referred to Item #6HK and Mr. Couzzo said these are capital projects, including a force main which services Shaker village and Sunflower Heathgate. He said there have been five breaks in the line over the last year. He said there were two lift stations planned for renovation. He said 60% of this will be funded out of the Operating Account. V/M Katz asked what the City is doing to the lift stations on Nob Hill Road. He said the City is requiring another lift station in Land Section 8 and asked if it is in this budget. Mr._Couz-o said that is not coming out of this budget, but is coming,out of the Capital Replacement Fund. Further discussion was held regarding this. TAPE 5 Discussion was held regarding the utility taxes. C/M Schumann recommended that the ad valorem be reduced and a 5% Utility tax be implemented. He said this way, all residents will be paying it. He said at present, there are many single and multi- family residences that pay no taxes at all. Mr. Couzzo said Council is not discussing ad valorem at present, but utilities and the mechanism to accomplish what is being suggested is under an Enterprise Fund. C/M Schreiber referred to Item #647, Special Equipment. Mr. Couzzo said the City has the ability and expertise to do the repairs in-house and this piece of equipment will provide the means to accomplish this. Discussion was held regarding the location of various lift stations. City Council Budget Workshop Meeting 8/11/93/KJ Page 14 Ms. Blasi explained the document describing the charges to Utilities East and Utilities West for water and sewer. She said this report breaks it down between single-family and multi -family. V/M Katz asked where the break is between the 12% and 4%. He said the City has three different water purveyors and asked where the break is in the sewer. Ms. Blasi said Utilities East has the water and sewer services provided by the City of Ft. Lauderdale. V/M Katz asked where the dividing line is based on the three purveyors. He asked if Broward County and Ft. Lauderdale are considered the 4% and Ms. Blasi said, yes. Further discussion was held regarding this. Ms. Blasi said the sewer is treated by the County and Ms. McDermott said there are two separate rates. Ms. Blasi said next year, the City will index 3% on all rates, fees and charges. She read from Resolution R-92-110. Mr. Kelly said the City Attorney's budget and all additional information requested by Council will be discussed at a meeting next week. He said there are a number of capital items to be discussed, along with a possible short-term loan. Mr. Kelly said the relocation of the Social Services Department is being handled this weekend. Mr. Kelly said he met with FP&L regarding permits and summarized the outcome of this meeting. He said there is some concern regarding franchise fees and permits with FP&L. With no further business, Mayor Bender ADJOURNED this meeting at 12:20 p.m.