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HomeMy WebLinkAbout1985-09-18 - City Commission Workshop Meeting MinutesL� 1 MAIL REPLY TO: P.O. BOX 25010 TAMARAC, FLORIDA 33320 5811 NORTHWEST 887#1 AVENUE & TAMARAC, FLORIDA 33321 TELEPHONE (305) 722-5900 September 13,1985 NOTICE OF BUDGET WORKSHOP MEETING CITY COUNCIL TAMARAC, FLORIDA There has been a City Council Workshop Meeting scheduled for Wednesday, Se tember 18 1985, at 10:00 A.M. in the front of the Council Cham ers of C ty Hall, 5811 NW 88th Avenue, for continued review of Proposed Budgets for Fiscal Year 1985/86. The public is invited to attend. �F> kew- �-' Carol Z. Barbuto Assistant city Clerk AN EOUAL OPPORTUNTTY'EMPLOYER POLICY OF NONDISCRIMINATION ON THE BASIS OF HANDICAPPED STATUS CITY COUNCIL WORKSHOP REVIEW OF PROPOSED BUDGETS FOR FY 1985/86 SEPTEMBER 18, 1985 Tape CALL TO ORDER: Mayor Philip B. Kravitz called the meeting to 1 order on Wednesday, September 18, 1985, at 10:50 A.M. in Council Chambers. Mayor Kravitz stated the purpose of the workshop was the continued review of proposed budgets for Fiscal Year 1985/86. ROLL_ CALL PRESENT: Mayor Philip B. Kravitz Vice Mayor Helen Massaro Councilman Arthur H. Gottesman Councilman Raymond J. Munitz ABSENT: Councilman Sydney M. Stein ALSO PRESENT: Larry Perretti, Acting City Manager Jon Henning, City Attorney V. Diane Williams, Secretary MEDITATION AND PLEDGE GF_ALLBgIAAL: Mayor Kravitz called for a Moment of Silent Meditation followed by the Pledge of Allegiance. Mr. Richard Kip, Manager of Corporate and External Affairs of Southern Bell, 8601 West Sunrise Boulevard, Plantation, Florida, stated his purpose in attending the meeting was to share with Council information on options available to municipalities regard- ing tax on telecommunication service. He said municipalities have had limited options in the past which essentially revolved around a franchise fee on the telephone company for the right to do business within the City. Mr. Kip said the City of Tamarac has a 1% fran- chise fee which yields approximately $37,000 annually and is payable each year in September but the City has no municipal excise tax on telephone service. He said, however, that prior to July, 1985 State law provided a range under that taxing option of from zero to ten percent and informed that most cities in Broward have opted to take that tax and are taxing at various rates within the allowed range. Mr. Kip said this year's Florida Legislature passed. House Bill 1340 which provides additional options for both the State and municipal- ities in regard to tax on telecommunication service; he said this law was very broad but he wanted to highlight a few of the options which pertain to municipal services. He said the law essentially retained the original option on local exchange telephone service on a range of zero to ten percent but in addition the law also gave municipalities the option of taxing on a range from zero to seven percent on the local monthly recurring revenue as well as intra- state toll calls. Mr. Kip said many municipalities are exploring those avenues and the revenue alternatives that would be resultant, and he indicated that Southern Bell had made studies regarding what those two,alternatives would lead to in August if they were in ef- fect within the City. Mr. Kip stated if the City had a 10% City tax on local exchange service effective August, the net tax revenue paid to the City by Southern Bell would be $31,815 monthly. Mr. Kip defined "local exchange service" as the monthly recurring revenue for the line, touch tone service and custom calling which is essentially covered in the monthly bill. He said under the new option to tax both local exchange service and toll intrastate on a range of zero to seven percent, if the maximum seven percent had been in effect, the resulting tax revenue from Southern Bell would have been $29,064.99 which is based on an manual compilation of revenues. Mr. Kip pointed out under the second option, which included the ability to tax intrastate toll, that Southern Bell is one of many 1 9/18/85 /vdw long distance carriers and their long distance market in Florida is essentially from Key West to Vero Beach. He said Southern Bell does not serve statewide but stated that there were approximately 46 long distance companies in the State who do. Mr. Kip said that second option would entitle the City to tax intrastate toll calls provided by all companies doing business in the State who are providing service to customers in the City of Tamarac. Mr. Kip said Southern Bell has no position with regard to either the first or the second option and stated if it were their choice, they would prefer not to have any tax on telecommunication service in excess of any other essential service. C/M Munitz asked the taxing situation prior to the breakup of AT&T. Mr. Kip responded that prior to January 1, 1984 when the Bell System was restructured, the local exchange revenue included any charges for leased or rented telephone sets; in other words, all the telecommunications terminal equipment from the individual set in the home to the most sophisticated of business systems, if leased on a monthly basis, that monthly revenue would have been taxable under the first and only option at the time which was of the range from zero to ten percent. He explained that when dives- titure occurred in January 1, 1984, municipalities who had a municipal excise tax in effect experienced a rather substantial decline in revenue when the equipment rental was no longer taxable as it instantly transferred to the ownership of AT&T. Mr. Kip estimated the loss of revenue to the municipalities as a result of this was approximately 25% to 40% depending on each municipality. C/M Munitz asked if the residents would be paying more to the City of Tamarac compared to what they were paying prior to the divesti- ture of AT&T. Mr. Kip said there was never a municipal excise tax in Tamarac; however, he stated that the 1% franchise fee paid an- nually covered local exchange revenue but the figures were very, very minor. C/M Gottesman asked for a definition of "local exchange". Mr. Kip answered that "local exchange" is the City's local toll free calling area but added in the sense of revenue, he was referring to the monthly recurring charges for the telephone line, touch tone, etc. Mr. Kip said under the second option intrastate would include any call made to or from any point in the State of Florida and billed to a Tamarac resident. C/M Gottesman asked the tax situa- tion regarding out-of-state calls. Mr. Kip said the interstate or out-of-state calls are only taxable at the Federal level not to the State nor municipalities so the only concern would be for calls within the State of Florida. V/M Massaro asked who would be billing the City for the two op- tions. Mr. Kip explained that the first option to tax on local exchange revenues would be only a tax on Southern Bell's customers since they are the only ones providing local exchange service. He said Southern Bell would be the only taxpayer. Mr. Kip stated that the second option would include everyone who is in the long- distance business and Southern Bell would bill the customer. He exampled that if the City chose the second option to tax on a range of from zero to seven percent on local service and toll calls that rate would apply to local service provided by Southern Bell. Mr. Kip said one other item in this bill that would be of interest to Council would be the effective date of implementation. He said State law provides a 120 day effective date from the passage of the bill to the billing of the tax and that is to provide all the com- panies involved sufficient time to develop the billing mechanism. Mr. Perretti stated that Option #2 has already been included in the proposed budget and he recommended.this option to Council. UTILITIES Mayor Kravitz asked Frank Etheredge, Finance Director, to explain under Regular Salaries - 120, how they can spend more than was allotted in the budget. Mr. Etheredge answered that people were 2 9/18/85 /vdw hired who were not authorized by Council or they were authorized by Council but Council never approved a budget transfer. Mayor Kravitz asked what was the need of a budget if people were going to act as if it did not exist. Mr. Etheredge said if it was left up to him this will not happen in this calendar year because the department heads will be held to the line items. He said this coming year will be hard and department heads may get to the eighth month and be completely out of money. Mayor Kravitz asked if the City anticipated spending $313,000 and the proposed budget was $403,000 and recommended by the manager $355,000, why was the salary increasing by that much. Mr. Etheredge answered there were some people shifted and salary increases were built in. Mayor Kravitz said he was very concerned with the overall proposed budget. Mr. Etheredge said it was not an increase in cost to the City but a transfer of costs from one divi- sion to another. V/M Massaro stated that Bill Greenwood, Utilities Director, had indicated that it might be worthwhile to consider a reduction in meter readers and instead of reading the meters as often as the City does, he suggested the use of an estimate invoice read quarterly. The Acting City Manager said they are in the pro- cess of revising the job description now and the meter readers will have more diversified duties than just reading meters. Mr. Perretti explained that they will now be under the direction of Field Superintendent, Bob Woelke, and will be given additional duties because it was learned that the meter reader's day-to-day operation was not basically a full-time operation. Mayor Kravitz said he understood that originally the charges to Finance were incorrect and should have been charged to the Water Utility and that what Mr. Etheredge is doing now, in effect, is taking it out of Finance and charging it to the Water Utility. Mr. Etheredge stated that he has a division within the Water Utility for the billings, collections, customer service and the meter readers were there and were being paid out of the Utility Fund. He said he was transferring control of the meter readers to Bill Greenwood. Bob Woelke, Field Superintendent/Utilities West, reported that the meter readers will be transferred to Account #364 - Transmission Distribution which deals strictly with water transmission, measure- ment and so on. V/M Massaro asked the duties of the meter readers. Mr. Woelke said the meter readers' duties included a number of things that the meter readers have not been doing and if they do their jobs properly, it will take eight hours a day. He said they have only been reading the meters but their job also includes keeping the meter boxes clean; occasionally, they will have to replace meter box outlets and the meter box. Mr. ke will cross -train the meter readers and, consequently, on said they he meter reader positions can be eliminated. He said ifone ooftthe regular meter readers was out sick, another could substitute. Mr. Woelke stated that this is a very important job as it provides the income for utilities. Mayor Kravitz questioned who did the cleaning and repair work of the meters before if it was not the meter reader. Mr. Woelke answered no one had been performing this task on a regular basis. A field crew would go out every once in a while when the situation became impossible; he said because of the failure to maintain the meters it resulted in misreads and guessing because they did not want to get down into the mud and these things would not continue to be tolerated because it was not fair to the customers nor the utility. Mr. John Taribo, Superintendent of Plant Operations, said the meter readers were performing these duties when the City took over and then they became part of administration, under Finance, and it got to the point where the meter readers would only go out and read. Mr. Etheredge said there was a backlog of meters to be replaced. V/M Massaro asked why they were not required to do this. 3 9/18/85 } /vdw J Mr. Woelke replied that the replacement of meters had not been included in the previous budget. He said the replacement of meters is an ongoing program which required the full time of a couple of people which meant that any meter over ten years old should be replaced. He said if it were not replaced, in his experience with testing meters, the City stands to lose at least 2 1/2% of their total revenue which would include water and sewer because the water directly affects the sewer bills. Mr. Woelke estimated approxi- mately 8800 meters would have to be replaced and the revenue saved by the City due to the replacement was figured at approximately $60,000 to $62,000 a year. V/M Massaro asked how much the meters would cost. Mr. Woelke said the cost for a new meter was $27 and that a lot of them could be repaired with replacement of the meter heads. He said this program was ongoing and would not be accom- plished within one year. Mayor Kravitz said the cost for replace- ment was a lot more than the revenue even at 2 1/2%. Mr. Woelke explained that they do get worse and once it passes ten years it always gets slower and never speeds up. C/M Gottesman stated if the meters were read every three months in- stead of monthly what would happen to the 240 hours to be saved under this proposal. Mr. Woelke said the meter readers would be reduced because the entire memo given to Council tied in the three projects; the replacement program, the mandated backflow prevention program, which is a must, and the meter readers. C/M Gottesman said there has to be an excess of manpower someplace. Mr. Woelke said they are proposing a crew of nine meter readers instead of eleven. V/M Massaro asked the time constraints for the backflow prevention program. Mr. Woelke answered that the time was contingent upon the first time a person gets sick or dies because of bad water. He said the Federal Government and DER are for it completely and they are updating the South Florida Building Code to include that now. The Acting City Manager suggested that he be allowed the opportun- ity to investigate the increases in Regular Salaries and report to Council. V/M Massaro requested additional information about the backflow prevention program. Mayor Kravitz suggested that this item be discussed at the Northwest Council of Mayors. Mr. Woelke informed that for single-family homes the cost for in- stallation of a meter has been increased to include the back -flow preventer. V/M Massaro asked Bob Jahn, Chief Building Official, if they had backflow devices installed on all new construction. Mr. Jahn said they are trying to get the Code changed but there is an air gap preventer on all hose connections. Mr. Woelke said the backflow devices attach directly to the meter. Mayor Kravitz asked who per- formed the inspections. Mr. Jahn answered from the meter site to the house on private property his department inspects but from the meter backwards to the street, it is the responsibility of the City Engineering Department. Mr. Woelke said Utilities installed the devices with the meter up to a one -inch meter; he said his depart- ment furnishes the device but the developer pays for it in the installation fee. Mr. Woelke clarified that his department in- stalls the backflow prevention devices with dual check valves on single-family homes and any meter up to one -inch in size. He said in regards to commercial use if another check valve is in- volved, they are required to do it and it is decided in the developer's agreement. Mayor Kravitz asked if the developers installed the device, who would check the inspection. Mr. Woelke said his department would inspect them on an annual basis. He said upon the installation by the Utility Department the utility inspector and the person who performs final inspection for the CO would also check it out. V/M Massaro asked if the City was paying for all this and Mr. Woelke informed that the City was only paying for the single-family dual check valves and meters one -inch and under. He said for meters one -inch and over the developer has to put them in and his department inspects and checks them after they are installed. 4 9/18/85 /vdw Mr. Jahn explained that the backflow prevention device, which utility companies are required to obtain, is not required by City Code. He said they are now installing them on the back side of the meter on the public utility side because by State law, Mr. Woelke's department is required to do the installation. Mr. Jahn said he and Mr. Woelke have been to the Board of Rules and Appeals and asked them to insert this requirement in the South Florida Building Code and they have agreed which would allow installation on the proper side of the meter enabling the Building Department to do the inspection. C/M Gottesman asked if the City would have to pay for the meters and their installations. The Chief Building Official informed that all new water and sewer agreements include this additional cost. Mr. Woelke asked that Account #301, 941s and D'esel, be increased from $20,000 because of the acquisition of additional vehicles. He said needed to be increased due to the ad- dition of another leased copying machine to $1000.00 from $600.00. V/M Massaro asked Acting City Manager Larry Perretti to determine the necessity of such a sophisticated copying machine. Mr. John Taribo referenced page 125, Meetings -and Sinars - Accounts #401 and #402 and asked that those accounts be increased to $1000 due to their ongoing program of cross -training the em- ployees. He said Account #430 - Electricity reported their estimated actual for this year was over $160,000 and asked that it be increased to $162,000 because of the deep well injection pumps will increase the use of electricity as well as the installation of the biofilter system, Mr. Taribo said they are spending on the Wastewater Plant alone approximately $28,000. Mr. Etheredge said that he will try to help the Utility Department plan for the future that whenever a new building is built or equipment is bought that their budget must also include costs for maintenance and electri- city. Mayor Kravitz stated if the average monthly electricity cost for the Wastewater Department was $28,000 then the budget would be short of $160,000. Mr. Taribo reported that they received vari- ables during the summer with the heat and the rain. V/M Massaro asked why last year's budget did not reflect this cost. Mr. Taribo answered that they have added new equipment. Mayor Kravitz asked him to check the figures with the Acting City Manager. Mr. Taribo stated that Mechanic 1 u' nt�- 4464 should be increased to $20,000. He said the equipment is getting older and the rule of thumb is that every five years they will lose an exist- ing piece of equipment. V/M Massaro asked if this item was covered under Repair and Replacement Funds. Mr. Taribo said some repairs go through R&R; however, many repairs are done in the plant. Mayor Kravitz asked Mr. Perretti to check into this account. Mr. Taribo requested increases for Accounts #401 and 402 - Meetings and Seminars on page 138. He also asked for increases in Account #440 - Rentals and_Leases, #464 on page 139 and #527 C eMic4ls. He concluded that their premise is to provide the best quality water and wastewater treatment at the lowest costs possible. Mayor Kravitz adjourned the meeting at 12:30 P.M. tJZ CI CLERK This public document was promulgated at a cost of $��.a5 or $�_ per copy to inform the general public and public officers and employees about recent opinions and considerations by the City Council of the City of Tamarac. 5 9/18/85 /vdw