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HomeMy WebLinkAbout1989-09-12 - City Commission Budget Workshop Meeting Minutes7525 NORTHWEST 88TH AVENUE 9 TAMARAC, FLORIDA 33321-2401 TELEPHONE (305) 722-5900 September 11, 1989 NOTICE OF CITY COUNCIL BUDGET WORKSHOP MEETING for FISCAL YEAR 1989/90 There will be a Budget Workshop Meeting of the City Council held Tuesday, September 12, 1989 at 9:00 a.m. in the City Council Conference Room, City Hall, 7525 N.W. 88th Avenue, Tamarac, Florida. The purpose of this meeting is to finalize the Fiscal Year 1989/90 budget. All meetings are open to the public. Ll CAE/nr L] 01"�MIOIN /El Carol A. Evans City Clerk AN EQUAL OPPORTUNITY EMPLOYER POLICY OF NONDISCRIMINATION ON THE BASIS OF HANDICAPPED STATUS CITY OF TAMARAC. CITY COUNCIL BUDGET WORKSHOP MEETING TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 12, 1989 CALL TO ORDER: Mayor Abramowitz called this meeting to Order on Tuesday, September 12, 1989 at 9:00 A.M. in the City Council Conference Room. ir PRESENT: Mayor Norman Abramowitz Vice Mayor Dr. H. Larry Bender Councilman Bruce Hoffman Councilman Henry Rohr Councilman Jack Stelzer ALSO PRESENT: John P. Kelly, City Manager Ken Burroughs, Finance Director Dina McDermott, Assistant to the City Manager Pauline Walaszek, Special Services Secretary The purpose of this meeting was to review the proposed Budget for Fiscal Year 1989/90. V/M Bender said he has been advised that the Rock Island Road project would not be started until next year. He said the proposed budget contained $440,000.00 for this project and he recommended that the budget be reduced by $200,000.00. He said there would be $240,000.00 allocated to the project in case it was started in the near future. C/M Hoffman asked if $200,000.00 would be transferred to the General Fund budget and Ken Burroughs, Finance Director, replied, yes, providing the tax rate was reduced. Mayor Abramowitz said $440,000.00 was indicated as an expenditure in the Utilities Department Budget and Mr. Burroughs agreed. C/M Stelzer asked if the funds came from expenditures or was transferred from one construction fund to another and Mr. Burroughs said the funds were transferred from the TUW Operating budget. C/M Stelzer asked how the funds were placed in that budget and City Manager Kelly said he and Bob Foy, Director of Utilities/Engineering, recommended the expenditure for the budget. Mayor Abramowitz said the City Council was trying not to expend the funds and he asked what would be done with the accounts. Mr. Burroughs said the line items in the Utility Budget would be reduced by a total of $200,000.00 and this money would be used to reduce the tax rate by being transmitted to the General Fund budget. Page 1 9/12/89-pw C/M Stelzer said when these funds were previously discussed, it was asked if the money could be taken from the construction fund for the Public Works/Utilities Administration Complex and used for the Rock Island Road project. He said the City Council was informed that the money could be transferred from one construction fund to another. He asked if the money could be taken from the construction fund and used for the operating expenses of the City. Mr. Burroughs said there was a Utilities construction fund of approximately 1 million dollars from a previous Bond Issue. He said if and when the Rock Island Road project was started, the money could be used from that fund. He said the TUW Operating Fund has approximately $440,000.00 for the Rock Island Road project. C/M Stelzer said the City Council had asked about transferring money from the Bond Issue to a construction fund to build an infrastructure and Mayor Abramowitz said the City Council asked this question in case they wanted this to occur. C/M Stelzer said the City Council was informed that this would be legal and Mayor Abramowitz agreed. C/M Stelzer said the money should not be touched if the City Council did not want to build an infrastructure. Mayor Abramowitz said $440,000.00 was not being charged against the Bond Issue and C/M Stelzer asked where $440,000.00 came from. Mr. Burroughs said the money was coming from the operating revenues of the TUW budget. C/M Stelzer asked if $440,000.00 originally came from the Bond Indenture and Mr. Burroughs disagreed. Mayor Abramowitz said the City Council wondered if $440,000.00 could come from the 1 million dollar Bond Issue for the Rock Island Road project. C/M Stelzer said the City Council received a legal ruling that this could be done and Mayor Abramowitz agreed. Mayor Abramowitz said the funds from the Bond Indenture were not being used. He said the City Council was informed that the Rock Island Road project would not be started this year; therefore, $440,000.00 was being reduced to $240,000.00. C/M Stelzer asked if the City Council received legal opinion regarding taking money from the Utility Budget and putting it into the operating budget of the City. Mayor Abramowitz said this matter was discussed last year and C/M Stelzer said Ray Munitz was going to sue the City because of this type of action; however, he asked Mr. Munitz to withhold his suit unless the City did not repay the money to the Utility budget. He said the City Council never investigated this matter to see if it was legal. Mayor Abramowitz said the City Council was informed last year that this was legal. He said the issue last year was that TUE paid funds which were of benefit to everybody and this was done several years prior to last year. S V Page 2 9/12/89--pw C/M Stelzer said he did not remember this ever occurring in the past and Mayor Abramowitz said past documents indicated that this had been done. City Manager Kelly said approximately $350,000.00 was transferred in this manner in the past. C/M Stelzer said approximately $100,000.00 was allocated in the past to cover the City expenses and the fund was slowly increased to $350,000.00. it Mayor Abramowitz asked if the transfer was legal at $350,000.00 but not at $500,000.00 and C/M Stelzer said no one questioned the transfer at that time. Mayor Abramowitz asked why the transfer was being questioned now and C/M Stelzer said more than $350,000.00 was being transferred. Mayor Abramowitz asked who limited the transfer to only $350,000.00 and C/M Stelzer said the accounting procedures were not as thorough when the transfer of $350,000.00 was done. City Manager Kelly asked if the City Council agreed with reducing the Rock Island project by $200,000.00, which would be transferred to the operating budget. The City Council agreed. C/M Stelzer said when the shortfall in the budget became known, Mayor Abramowitz stated that everyone would have to bite the bullet. He said when the budget was presented by the City Manager, he was pleased with it because of how the Departments tightened their expenditures. He said Mayor Abramowitz took over the budget process and slapped the Department Heads on the back stating they did a good job and then, cut their budgets. C/M Stelzer said the City Council undermined the feelings of every Department Head, City Manager, Finance Director and employee by taking away benefits and not providing wage increases. He said the entire budget process was political propaganda. C/M Stelzer said he did not object to the City Council reducing items in the Budget until the City Council reviewed the Utilities Budget and treated the Utilities/Engineering Director as if he were a criminal. He said the Utilities/Engineering Director had more knowledge than the City Council together; however, the City Council undermined him. He said he would not be surprised if the Utilities/Engineering Director terminated his employment with the City next year. C/M Stelzer said during the 17 years that he has been involved with the City, he has never argued with the Finance Director on projections of revenue; however, if he felt the projections were too high, he would complain. C/M Stelzer said the City Council suddenly became experts and V/M Bender found $100,000.00 more in the franchise fees. He said the budget process has become political by using the ad valorem tax. He said there was no legitimate purpose for taking money from the Police Facility Account, applying it to the ad valorem tax for a reduction of $.20 and then adding $.20 to the Debt Service. Page 3 9/12/89-pw C/M Stelzer said the residents were not aware of the procedures of the Debt Service; therefore, they would not question it. He said the residents were aware of the ad valorem tax, which reflected a decrease of $.20. C/M Stelzer said he was not in favor of this budget; however, to prevent problems, he would be submitting a request for a leave of absence to the City Council. He said he would not be attending the Budget Public Hearings and would not be returning until October 2, 1989. He said he did not want to vote on this budget. C/M Stelzer said he worked on the budget for 17 years and everyone he worked for had the interest of the people at heart. He said no one worked on the budget for political reasons. Mayor Abramowitz said he appreciated C/M Stelzer attending every Budget Workshop meeting since he was not feeling well. He said he would not comment on C/M Stelzer's remarks; however, he felt that C/M Stelzer was incorrect. Mayor Abramowitz said he did not intend to abrogate his responsibility as the Mayor. He said 50% of the residents stated that the City Council has always listening to staff and 50% stated that the City Council was abrogating their responsibilities as Councilmembers by not running the City. Mayor Abramowitz said he respected C/M Stelzer for his feelings and he thanked C/M Stelzer for his comments. He said he was not the same person that reviewed the budget last year because he has had the opportunity to learn about the budget. He said he was very proud of the City Council regarding their time and effort in reviewing this budget. He said the City Council reviewed the entire budget, not just the Utilities budget, line by line. C/M Stelzer said the City Council cut the legs off every Department and Mayor Abramowitz said the City Council did what they had to do in the best interest of the City. V/M Bender said he did not agree with C/M Stelzer's comments and he could substantiate any recommendation that he made regarding the budget. He said he worked on the budget day and night; therefore, he took exception to C/M Stelzer's comments. C/M Hoffman said he disagreed with C/M Stelzer's comments and he would not debate with C/M Stelzer because he felt that C/M Stelzer has lost his ability to understand what was occurring. C/M Rohr said this year he really understood the budget process and he did not feel that the residents would look at the City Council's actions in a negative manner. He said the City Council insisted on a lean budget; therefore, they had to be sure that every dollar spent was needed. C/M Stelzer said he did not object to cutting expenses because this was the City Council's responsibility; however, he objected to the City Council second guessing the income. He said last year when the proposed Utility 11 rJ Page 4 9/12/89-pw Tax was denied, he recommended that 1 million dollars be borrowed from the Utility Budget; however, the City Council decided to use the Interim Fees. C/M Stelzer said the City lost 1 million dollars of income last year because the ad valorem tax was not applied properly. He said if the projected revenues were not factual, the City would have the same problem next year. Mayor Abramowitz asked C/M Stelzer to personally call the City Councilmembers and apologize in 6 months, if in fact he was incorrect and C/M Stelzer said if the budget -revenue was correct, he would do this. Mayor Abramowitz said C/M Stelzer was stating that the City Council did not care about the employees or Department Heads; however, his sleepless nights have been because of the denial to the employees. He said at the Budget Public Hearing he would be recommending that the City Council receive a 90 day review of the budget revenue and, if the funds were available, the matter would be corrected. City Manager Kelly said there were rental payments due to the new owner of the Public Works property. He said originally the City was billed at 11-1/2% interest plus sales tax three weeks later than they should have been. He said the August, 1989 and September, 1989, rental payments were due; therefore, two accounts needed to be created for the payments. He said the City would not be charged sales tax and the City was challenging the interest rates. C/M Hoffman said the contract of the sale prohibited the owner from using his bank's interest rates and City Manager Kelly said this matter was being investigated; however, the City Council needed to direct the Finance Director to create two accounts and pay the rental fees to the new owner of the Public Works property. Mayor Abramowitz said the City received 1.9 million dollars for the sale of that property and the interest was to be used to offset the rental payments. He recommended that the outstanding payments come from this money. Mr. Burroughs said $7,900.00 was due from the Fiscal Year 1988/89 budget and the budget for Fiscal Year 1989/90 had to allocate $38,000.00 for the rental of the property. C/M Hoffman asked when the City Council would meet regarding vacating the Public Works property and Mayor Abramowitz said next week he would be calling a meeting so the City Council could make this determination. Mayor Abramowitz said he would like to inform the new owner of the City's intent to vacate. C/M Stelzer asked the City Council to consider naming the Multi -Purpose Complex the "Irving Vitrofsky Center". Mayor Abramowitz said this matter was recommended to the City Council several months ago and C/M Stelzer asked if the City Council made this recommendation public. Page 5 9/12/89-pw Mayor Abramowitz said the City Council felt that this matter should be announced by the City Manager during the ground breaking ceremony. C/M Hoffman said he was going to recommend that the gymnasium be named in memory of Irving Vitrofsky. With no further business, Mayor Abramowitz ADJOURNED this meeting at 9:50 A.M. CAROL A. EVANS, CITY CLERK "This public document was promulgated at a cost of $49.80 or $6.23 per copy to inform the general public, public officers and employees of recent opinions and considerations of the City Council of the City of Tamarac." 0 Page 6