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HomeMy WebLinkAbout1993-09-21 - City Commission Special Meeting Minutes1: City Council Special Meeting 9/21/93/KJ Page 1 CITY OF TAMARAC CITY COUNCIL SPECIAL MEETING TUESDAY, SEPTENZR 21, 1993 CALL TO ORDER: Mayor Bender called this meeting to order on Tuesday, September 21, 1993 at 7:00 p.m. in the Council Chambers of City Hall. PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE; Mayor Bender called for the Pledge of Allegiance. Mayor H. Larry Bender Vice Mayor Irving Katz Councilman Norman Abramowitz Councilman Henry Schumann Councilman Joseph Schreiber John Kelly, City Manager Mitchell Kraft, City Attorney Mary Blasi, Finance Director Patricia Marcurio, Acting City Clerk Karen Jackson, Secretary ***************************************************************** 1. of the percentage increase in the proposed millage rate over the rolled -back rate necessary to fund the General Budget for Fiscal Year 1993/94. SYNOPSIS Off' ACTION: Announcement was made. The tentative General Fund budget of $18,503,980 is $1,203,613 greater than the current Budget of $17,300,367. Council has proposed to retain the current millage rate of 4.8293 mils which is a 1.36% increase over the rolled -back rate of 4.7645 mils. Mr. Kelly announced the percentage increase in the proposed millage rate as indicated above. 2. on the final millage rate for Fiscal Year 1993/94. sYNopsls OF_ACT,IM Public Hearing was held. Mayor Bender OPENED the Public Hearing. Jo Wright, representing the Tamarac Presidents Council, questioned the StormWater Management Utility District. Mr. Kelly said the appropriate time to speak on specific items in the budget is during the next item. Ms. Wright asked if the StormWater Management Utility District is included in the proposed budget and Mr. Kelly said, yes. Ms. Wright asked if there is an inclusion in the proposed budget for the payment. Mr. Kelly said the revenues and expenditures are provided in the proposed budget. He said it is in the Enterprise Fund provided by the funding coming from the people within the City. He said it is $2.00 on residential and $3.18 on vacant property. Phong Nguyen, resident and student at Florida Atlantic University, said he is learning the budget process in City Government. He said he had read the City Manager's budget message in the September Tam -A -Gram referring to cost-cutting measures in preparing the City Council Special Meeting 9/21/93/KJ Page 2 budget. He said he had been researching the budget and found that the City saved approximately $86,000.00 by eliminating positions, which is a small cut compared to the total increase and total budget. He requested a response regarding these facts. Mr. Nguyen questioned the increase in the total budget of 14% as compared to the past couple of years. He questioned the Drainage Improvement Fund and tying this into the income level to make it fairer instead of charging a flat fee of $2.00 per month per residential unit. Mr. Kelly said there is a higher increase in the budget, partly due to the StormWater Utility, which had to be factored into the total budget. He said the Drainage Fund, as a user fee, is the most appropriate way because the City does not pose Utility taxes on the usual services, such as cable, electricity, telephone and most of the other cities do. Mr. Kelly said two years ago there were 1,400 units in the City that paid no taxes at all because of the Homestead Exemption. He said it is inequitable to keep adding to the property tax burden to those who do pay because those burdens fell to those paying taxes all along. He said by doing it this way, by spreading it out, some people who have never paid before, will be assuming some of the tax burden. C/M Abramowitz said due to William Markham's figures in the City of Tamarac, the City has increased 18 million dollars in assessed valuation which costs the City that amount in ad valorem taxes. Mr. Nguyen asked if Mr. Kelly foresees a future increase in the Storm Drainage Utility and Mr. Kelly said it depends on how much is generated the first year and will be determined on the quality of the water. Mr. Kelly further explained the Storm Drainage Utility. Mr. Nguyen questioned the minimal cost-cutting measures versus the large increase in the budget. Mr. Kelly said it would be very easy to reduce the budget significantly. He said the question is whether or not the City wants to provide a certain level of service. He said services have increased dramatically in the Recreation Department. He said the budget can be cut, but there will be a significant reduction in the level of service. Further discussion was held regarding the increase over the last few years. Mayor Bender CLOSED the Public Hearing with no further response. C/M Schreiber said this is a small increase to the actual millage rate; however, in reviewing the increases in the upcoming year, such as water, sewer, recycling, garbage and the Storm Fund, the individual increased cost for the next year equals $73.60, exclusive of any tax increase. He recommended that Council seriously consider giving the residents in the City a break by not raising the millage rate, but to maintain it at the current rate. C/M Schreiber said the City has $250,000.00 in the FP&L Escrow Fund, which could very well cover the 3.7% of $231,000.00. He said there is a debt service increase of 6.2%, the gasoline is going up 3% to 6%, the Federal Government is going to increase, and the interest rates on the CD's and savings are currently at 3%. He requested that Council give the residents a break by not raising the millage rate. C/M Schreiber said the problem in this City is that increasing revenue is always being sought, but the City needs to look to reduce expenditures. He said since 1988, this is the sixth budget the City will adopt and five out of the six years, the City experienced a tax increase. He said it is time that the Council realize that they were elected to represent and help the people, not themselves. 1 1 1 City Council Special Meeting 9/21/93/KJ ::t•ti,ti€�xi Page 3 C/M Abramowitz said the $250,000.00 from FP&L does not belong to the City yet. He said the contract states that if FP&L decides not to build a substation, the City has to give the $250,000.00 back, with interest. He said if EPA tells FP&L they cannot build at the proposed location due to being environmentally incorrect, the City must give the $250,000.00 back, with interest. He said the City has held that money in an interest -bearing account for three or four years. He said this money will not belong to the City until FP&L pulls a permit and cannot be spent because it is not the City's. Mr. Kelly said he has reviewed the StormWater proposal with Finance Director Mary Blasi carefully. He said the City received three proposals on the canal cleanup, two were unacceptable. He said there was one which was applicable providing for mechanical harvesting. He said the City is currently negotiating with that company to get an acceptable proposal to present to Council. Mr. Kelly said possibly a Special meeting can be held on Friday to review this proposal. He said Council would need to work quickly this week, otherwise, this particular vendor will not be available for approximately one month. Mr. Kelly said if the Council does not approve this proposed budget, the City will not have the money for the mechanical harvesting being proposed. He said the budget has been identified for canal cleanup, such as the truck needed for the harvesting, the salaries involved and all other needs, but there are no monies for $250,000.00 for a company to do mechanical harvesting. Mr. Kelly said the City has a couple options to provide the money for mechanical harvesting. He said the City could get a short-term loan and pledge the user fees to collateralize it or the City could use the FP&L monies and budget it under Miscellaneous Revenues under the General Fund, Exhibit A, with a corresponding $250,000.00 in Communications Services, because Finance will have to create a new line item in the budget under Non -Departmental as a transfer to the Drainage Fund. Mr. Kelly said in order to provide for the proposal for the canal cleanup on Friday, the Council must provide the funding for it. He said this $250,000.00 may be the source for the funding. He said the argument that was made is that the City does not have the money yet, but the City is not spending it yet either. He said the City has identified $125,000.00 in the budget and the balance is expected to come along, but in the meantime, the City has $125,000.00 that can be spent. He said the City would have to trade off, such as the money budgeted for the carp, and utilize that money for the mechanical harvesting. Further explanation was held regarding the transfer of monies. Mayor Bender said the City would have to modify the Canal Cleanup Program to coincide with the funds available. He said this is a project that will take at least a year to complete. Mr. Kelly said the company proposing the mechanical harvesting is expected to complete it in about four months. Mr. Kelly said if the City does not have the money budgeted for the project, it cannot be done. Discussion was held regarding the current money in the budget. C/M Schumann said when talking about taking out a short-term loan, and collateralizing the loan with incoming revenues, the City will always be behind. Mayor Bender said there is $250,000.00 in an escrow account. He said the City is permitted to use $125,000.00 at present according to the contract. He said the other $125,000.00 cannot be used until the other portion of the contract is taken care of. He said the City does not need the entire amount of money to begin this program, but can be utilized on a month -to -month basis. City Council Special Meeting 9/21/93/KJ Page 4 Mr. Kelly said if a contract states a quarter million dollars, the City has to have a quarter million dollars available. Mayor Bender said the City needs to contract for what the City has. He said he understands that the most important part of this waterways cleanup is to get the equipment to sweep the canals and waterways, which costs approximately $200,000.00. He said the City has $125,000.00 budgeted, $45,000.00 from the shopping center on . McNab Road. Mr. Kelly said that money is pledged to the Utilities Fund. C/M Schumann asked if that is an Enterprise Fund and Mr. Kelly said the Utilities is not an Enterprise Fund. Mayor Bender asked if the money was originally Enterprise Fund money. Ms. Blasi said the shopping center owned guaranteed water and sewer revenues to the City and the City set up a receivable accounting for the revenues, but they never paid, which turned into a bad receivable. She said this receivable remains on the City's books. She said when the City receives this money, the debt will be decreased. C/M Abramowitz asked why creative bookkeeping is being started. He said there is an amount of money that the City cannot spend. He said the City does have the gasoline tax. He said revenues will begin to come in when the City begins the StormWater Drainage Program. He said this would be the City's source of funds. Mr. Kelly said if the City does not have it budgeted, Council cannot agree to the contract on Friday morning. C/M Abramowitz said there is a certain amount of money budgeted in this proposed budget as receivables in the StormWater Fund and Mr. Kelly agreed. C/M Abramowitz said the City cannot spend this money because the City does not have it, but the City can pledge that $250,000.00 because there is a guaranteed source of replacement if there is a problem. He said he would be against spending the $125,000.00 extra of that money and take it out of Contingency if there is a problem. C/M Schumann asked how money can be pledged out of an Escrow account. C/M Abramowitz said he does not know the correct terminology. He said the City has the knowledge that the City will be receiving that money in the course of time, so there does not have to be the concern of replacing it if there is a problem. C/M Schreiber asked if this vendor's fee of $250,000.00 is to be paid up front. He asked if the entire $250,000.00 is needed prior to the work being done. Mr. Kelly said once the budget is approved and Council attempts to factor in the $250,000.00, which is not now factored into this budget, the budget will need to be amended to provide for the money which is not currently provided in the budget. C/M Abramowitz recommended that Council not budget the $250,000.00 presently. C/M Schreiber requested that the City lower the millage, not raise it and utilize the $250,000.00. C/M Abramowitz said if the $250,000.00 in the budget is used to lower the millage rate, it will not be available to use it for drainage. City Council Special Meeting 9/21/93/KJ Page 5 Mr. Kelly recommended that the City not touch the $250,000.00 for reducing anything because it is going to be needed and if Council intends to use the money for the contract being discussed, the budget will need to be amended. He said the City currently does not have this money budgeted. V/M Katz asked what the anticipated revenue per month would be based on $2.00 per unit and $3.11 per acre and Ms. Blasi said it is estimated close to $750,000.00 for the year. V/M Katz said that would be approximately $60,000.00 per month and it would take four months to do this process and any legitimate business would take a note from the City over a four -month period. He said the revenue is guaranteed over the four months and he can not understand why this cannot be included in the contract. He said it would be a 90-day pay out anyway. Ms. Blasi said if the mechanical harvesting was included in the budget at $250,000.00, there would be no problem, but currently, the $750,000.00 was already spoken for with different projects. She said the $250,000.00 project would have to either increase the user fee for Storm.Water Management or find the revenues from somewhere else. She said perhaps the FP&L contribution may be used for the mechanical harvesting. V/M Katz said he understood that part of the $750,000.00 was going to be used for mechanical harvesting. Ms. Blasi said there is only $73,000.00 that is not allocated for any special project. She said there is no money for mechanical harvesting in the proposed budget. C/M Abramowitz asked what the $750,000.00 is allocated for and Ms. Blasi said there is $87,000.00 budgeted for carp, the salaries and benefits for five employees for working on the canals and the canals chemical treatments. Mayor Bender said the chemical treatments which the City originally was going to contract out can be done in-house and also the carp, which can be taken out of the budget. He said the City only wants to contract for the mechanical harvesting in order to show some immediate results, then the City can pick up on the maintenance of the canals. He said if this is in the budget and the total amount of the budget is $700,000.00, then the budget needs to be refined. Mr. Kelly asked how the budget can be refined. V/M Katz said the City has $72,000.00, and can postpone the carp costing approximately $80,000.00 and there is a guaranteed revenue of approximately $60,000.00 per month, therefore, the City can come up with $250,000.00 to pay for the mechanical harvesting. He said the City will need to look at projecting the income for the carp. Ms. Blasi said the City would have to reduce the other line items in the budget in order to have the mechanical harvesting. She said the Council would have to eliminate the carp, chemicals or positions to provide for the harvesting. C/M Abramowitz asked why the budget needs to be amended if the City wants to do mechanical harvesting as a priority. He said there is an Enterprise Fund. Mr. Kelly said the money in the Enterprise Fund is identified for what it will be spent on. He said if the money in the Fund is used for the mechanical harvesting, it will not be available for the carp at a later date. Further discussion was held regarding the funding of these procedures. C/M Schumann asked how many people the City currently has working on the canal cleanup program and Mr. Kelly said there are five in an accelerated program. City Council Special Meeting 9/21/93/KJ Page 6 Ms. Blasi said this Fund not only covers canals and drainage, but also covers street cleanup and drainage. She said $150,000.00 was allocated to cover the salaries for street drainage programs, $135,000.00 for a jet vac, $25,000.00 for a street sweeper, $100,000.00 for a one year payment on a boat and motor, and $30,000.00 in chemicals. C/M Abramowitz said there are five or six expenditures which, under normal conditions, would have come from the General Fund. He said if this money was to be placed into the General Fund, the taxes would not be increased at the rate proposed, but two and a half times as much. He said the difference is now, for the first time, everybody shares equally in one of the major problems in the City. He said the City has not spent any money on roads in the past fifteen years. He said the $750,000.00 can only be used for drainage, roads and waterway maintenance. He said the taxes will increase if this is placed in the General Fund. TAPE 2 V/M Katz said the entire discussion evolved because Council began looking at $250,000.00 that the City does not have. He said if and when the $250,000.00 becomes available and the City utilizes the money for mechanical harvesting and there is no money left out of the $750,000.00 to pay for a street sweeper, carp or a couple other items, the $250,000.00 will have an amended budget at that time, if and when it becomes a part of the budget. V/M Katz said the immediate project is to clean up the canals and utilize the money that is available for what is immediate. He said if the $250,000.00 is received and the City needs the money for a street sweeper, then amend the budget. Mr. Kelly said he wanted to make sure that Council was aware of this option. V/M Katz MOVED to APPROVE the millage rate of 5.0083 for Fiscal Year 93/94. Mr. Kraft said this is not the time to make this Motion, Council is in the Public Hearing. 3. on the final Budget for Fiscal Year 1993/94. SYNOPSIS OF ACTION; Public Hearing was held. Mayor Bender OPENED the Public Hearing. Phong Nguyen, resident, requested clarification of the budget calculations. Ms. Blasi said the difference of the $75,000.00 is a lease/purchase agreement for a street sweeper. She said the City had to budget $100,000.00 for the street sweeper and offset it by $75,000.00 in financing for the lease agreement, which costs the City $25,000.00. She said the revenues from the user fee is $750,000.00. C/M Schreiber said he is opposed to the tentative budget because of the increase of $1,438,000.00. He said the Council should be endeavoring to reduce the expenditures rather than to continue raising them. He said at this time and age when everything is going up, people are hurting. Mayor Bender CLOSED the Public Hearing with no further response. 1 G City Council Special Meeting 9/21/93/KJ Page 7 4. MOTION TO ADOPT Tomfl. ReeQ_ 46524 adopting a final millage rate for Fiscal Year 1993/94. SYNOPSIS OF ACTION: RESOLUTION R-93-111-PASSED APPROVED the final millage rate as amended for Fiscal Year 1993/94 of 4.8293 which is a 1.36% increase over the current rolled -back rate of 4.7645 mils and the overall millage rate increase including the debt service is .6%. V/M Katz MOVED to ADOPT the proposed millage rate for Fiscal Year 1993/94 of 5.0083 mils which is a 5.1% increase above the current rolled -back of 4.7645 mils. Mr. Kraft read Tamp. Reso. #6524 in its entirety. C/M Abramowitz SECONDED the Motion. V/M Katz said Council has a job to do servicing the people in the City and this budget does not include a pay raise for the employees for the first time in three years, but includes consolidation of the departments and personnel and should be passed. VOTE: C/M Schreiber - NAY C/M Abramowitz -- AYE V/M Katz - AYE C/M Schumann - NAY Mayor Bender - NAY Mayor Bender said the first time the budget was read, he had voted against it and was alone voting against it. He said the time has come that the City be downsized. He said there many vacancies available at present and it is appropriate at this time not to appoint too many Chiefs and not enough Indians. He said the efficiency of the City can be improved by making some organizational changes which is the purpose of his negative vote. Mr. Kelly said the final millage rate must be resolved prior to proceeding with the final budget. Ms. Blasi said the final budget holds the dollar figures if Council wants to decrease the amount of the budget and then revisit the millage rate. Mr. Kraft said this is the time to make changes. Ms. Blasi said the Council needs to approve two resolutions, one is the millage and one is the budget. She said it needs to be approved or modified and then approved, but something must be done. Mr. Kraft said there are provisions under Subsection G which the City needs to follow. Ms. Blasi said the budget needs to be approved by a certain date and the millage has to be given to the Property Appraiser to be given to the State Department of Revenue. Further discussion was held regarding the procedures. Mr. Kraft said if the City does not do anything with the proposed budget, or if it is rejected, the City would go to the previous year's budget. C/M Schreiber MOVED to APPROVE a millage rate of the current 4.8923. Mayor Bender said Ms. Blasi would need to make an adjustment on the budget to make this millage rate. He said the City's records show that the City always has an approximate million dollar carry- over from one year to another. Mayor Bender RECESSED and RECONVENED the meeting at 8:12 p.m. with City Council Special Meeting 9/21/93/KJ Page 8 ALL PRESENT. Mayor Bender relinquished the gavel to V/M Katz and MOVED to APPROVE reducing the amount of $364,735.00 in the Contingency Account by taking out $319,761.00 to be used for balancing the budget. He said this will establish a rolled -back rate of 4.7645 and relates to a decrease in the current ratio of 1.4%. Ms. Blasi said this is a 0% increase over the rolled -back rate and is the rolled -back rate for 93/94. Mr. Kelly asked what the balance of the Contingency Fund is with this reduction and Mayor Bender said approximately $44,974.00 and the Contingency Fund will be supplemented throughout the year as it gathers the revenues. Ms. Blasi said if the Council wants to increase the Contingency above the General Fund, in total, the budget process will need to be reopened and two public hearings will have to be held. She said there will be no increase over the rolled --back rate. Mr. Kraft read Temp. Reso. 6524 as amended in its entirety. C/M Schumann SECONDED the Motion. C/M Abramowitz asked if there is a normal amount of money that should be held in the Contingency Account and Ms. Blasi said the amount currently in the Contingency Account is what most cities maintain. Ms. Blasi said most cities look at what money they have needed in the past to be transferred from Contingency for emergencies and projects which come up during the year that are not budgeted. C/M Abramowitz said the City has an $18,338,654.00 budget. He asked what would be a prudent amount of money to have in Contingency. Ms. Blasi said the City should maintain 5% in undesignated funds, but based upon what the City has used in the past, the City has used close to $350,000.00 every year in the last three years. C/M Abramowitz said if this Motion is passed, the City is left with approximately $40,000.00 in the Contingency Fund. He said this is not prudent. Mayor Bender OPENED the Public Hearing. Herb Hayes, resident, expressed his support in the City's request for a 4% increase based on the fact that the City added personnel to the operations of the City. He said he would not recommend utilizing the FP&L funds. He said at a previous meeting, $100,000.00 was removed from the Contingency Account for a lawsuit and the City should maintain a legal reserve in the budget. Mr. Nguyen questioned taking the $390,000.00 to balance the budget. Ms. Blasi explained the budget balancing process. Allan Karden, resident, expressed his concerns regarding rate increases. Bruce Hoffman, resident, asked what happens to the user fees which were proposed if the budget is passed using the Contingency funds. Mayor Bender said the user fees will still apply. He said approximately 28% of the people in the City pay no taxes at all and approximately 30% pay less than $100.00. Mr. Hoffman said the residents who do pay the taxes will be hit with the user fees in addition to the current taxes being paid. He asked how much will be saved by cutting the ad valorem. 1 City Council Special Meeting 9/21/93/KJ Page 9 C/M Schreiber said this additional ad valorem would be an increase of approximately $13.00 in addition to all the other expenses. He said the City needs to reverse the trend of escalating increases and start reducing. Further discussion was held regarding this. V/M Katz said the people are taking some of this out of context. He said the City has a quarter million dollars dedicated for putting in water retention. He said the City has a Social Services Board which has been made into a paid Social Services Division and there are more and more services that are dictated by not only the electorate, but by the County, State and the Federal Governments. He said the Federal Government is now going to allow the States to take over the maintenance of the roads, which is going to be passed on to the cities. He said these are the things that the cities have to pay and there is no way to get around it. V/M Katz said the only thing that happens is by not passing this increase in millage, it will begin inhibiting the growth in the City and the City will slide backwards. He said the roads and infrastructure have not been touched in the past and this City will disintegrate. He said the City will not only be losing the growth in the City, but will be directing the people currently living here to be moving out. He said there is no way that the City can avoid creating slum areas unless the money is placed back into those areas. He said this type of increase is predicated on need and this budget has been discussed over and over since June. Mayor Bender said the Council has been working feverishly to establish additional revenues in the City, which has been accomplished. He said the City is collecting franchise fees for the garbage collection, commercially and residentially. He said he is counting on additional revenues to continue the City moving forward. Jo Wright, resident, said she is not opposed to the millage increase. She said it is recognized that deferred maintenance is much more expensive than continuing maintenance and it costs money to keep it up but less in the long run to have continued maintenance. Ms. Wright said the Council would be remiss to take money out of the Contingency Fund, which is an emergency fund. She said it is not known:.'"�t might happen in the future. She suggested that the City contUi�e the maintenance and keep the City beautiful and pay for it. Shy :maid this is not an extravagant budget. Mr. Kelly .said the proposed increased would affect a person with an $80,00-0:00 home approximately $1.00 per month. He said there are some lawsuits coming up in the future and the Contingency Funds which is left will not cover those lawsuits. Mayor Bender CLOSED the Public Hearing with no further response. C/M Schumann said if the City holds the millage at the current rate of 4.8293, it will put $85,000.00 back into the Contingency Fund. Ms. Blasi said if the Council goes to the current millage rate, it would give the City an additional $85,000.00 in the Contingency. Mayor Bender amended his Motion to 1.36% above the rolled -back rate. Mayor Bender RECESSED this meeting at 8:35 p.m, and RECONVENED at 8:45 p.m. with ALL PRESENT. TAPE 3 Mr. Kraft read Temp. Reno. #6524 as amended in its entirety. Mayor Bender MOVED to APPROVE Tamp. Reno. #6524 as amended adopting a millage rate of 4.8293, SECONDED by C/M Schumann. City Council Special Meeting 9/21/93/KJ Page 10 C/M Abramowitz said the Contingency Fund and the way the money has been removed from it is not a catastrophic occurrence. He said Council sat through many months of preparing and amending this budget, line by line. He said there were certain items in the budget that were discussed, corrected and voted upon. C/M Abramowitz expressed his dissatisfaction with the budget results. VOTE: V/M Katz - NAY C/M Schumann - AYE C/M Schreiber - AYE C/M Abramowitz - AYE Mayor Bender - AYE 5. MOTTON TO ADOPT Temn_^. adopting a final Budget for Fiscal Year 1993/94. SYNOPSIS ,4F.„ AGIZON: RESOLUTION R-93-112--PASSED APPROVED the final Budget as amended for Fiscal Year 1993/94 of $41, 789, 204 . Mr. Kraft read Temp. Reso. #6525 by title. He said there were some revisions made to Exhibit A and reviewed the revisions. C/M Schumann MOVED to APPROVE Temp. Reso. #6525, SECONDED by C/M Schreiber. VOTE: C/M Abramowitz - NAY V/M Katz - NAY C/M Schumann - AYE C/M Schreiber - AYE Mayor Bender - AYE With no further business, Mayor Bender ADJOURNED this meeting at 9:00 P.M. H. BENDER MAYOR {s( CAROL A. EVANS CITY CLERK W CITY OF TAMARAC APPROVED AT MEETING OF / a L 7 9.3 1