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HomeMy WebLinkAbout03182013BUD MinutesCITIZENS BUDGET REVIEW ADVISORY BOARD MINUTES 6:00 P.M. MONDAY — MARCH 18, 2013 CITY COUNCIL CHAMBER, 1225 MAIN STREET, SEBASTIAN Chairman Herlihy called the meeting to order at 6:00 p.m. 2. The Pledge of Allegiance was recited. 3. ROLL CALL: Present: Ed Herlihy Christine Vicars Dionna Farmer Gary O'Hara Not Present: Tim Slaven (excused) Bruce Hoffman (excused) Harry Marshall (unexcused) Also Present: Don Wright, Vice Mayor Al Minner, City Manager Debra Krueger, Administrative Services Director Ken Killgore, Finance Director Jeanette Williams, Recording Secretary 4. Approval of Minutes: a. Meeting of February 24, 2013 MOTION by Ms. Vicars and SECOND by Ms. Farmer to approve the February 24, 2013 minutes passed with a voice vote of 4 -0. Comments by City Manager The City Manager stated the quarterly report looked good so far. 6. Review First Quarter Financial Report The Finance Director directed the Board to the transmittal and resolution he plans to submit to City Council outlining the budget changes in a new format. He explained the graphs depicted areas of interest based on public comment; the fund summaries included three years of comparison; the current City projects were listed in the capital project status report; and next week there will be some maturities to invest even though there isn't much offered right now to get a good rate of return. He said the balance of the report was each Department's activities and offered to answer any questions. Citizens Budget Review Advisory Board March 18, 2013 Page Two Ms. Farmer complimented him on the easy to understand new format. In response to Chairman Herlihy, the Finance Director said the new format will assist in expediting the quarterly reports but cautioned the annual audit will always delay the first quarterly report. MOTION by Ms. Farmer and SECOND by Ms. Vicars to send the budget amendment to City Council passed with a voice vote of 4 -0. 7. Discussion of any topics /ideas for upcoming budget 6:14 pm Mr. O'Hara noted the City provides a lot of police service to the County and Roseland and suggested the annexation of Roseland. The City Manager stated he did not know where Council stood on that, but the initial wins would quickly balance out the negatives. He noted the police services are reciprocal; it goes with the territory with safety being the number one concern. Mr. O'Hara explained if there was a serious crime on US 1 and our officers were injured in the response, the City would be responsible; he did not want to abandon Roseland but if they had to solely rely on the County, they would have problem. The City Manager offered to pass Mr. O'Hara's comments along and report feedback. Chairman Herlihy reported that Chief Morris would like to address the Board on the number of police cars within the department and how their system operates. Mr. O'Hara said he too spoke with Chief Morris, who said each officer is assigned a car per their union contract and if taken away, they will lose officers so he wasn't sure how much money they would be saving by sharing police cars. The City Manager offered to have Chief Morris and Fleet Superintendent Greg Schmidt at the next meeting to provide detail on the car policy and their thoughts behind the take -home cars. He said the DST fund has helped with the police car change -out system. 6:25 pm Mr. O'Hara asked if money could be found to stop the furlough days. The City Manager said that will probably be a key negotiation with PEA; it will be a struggle to replace the 5% budget gap; a good number of PEA folks have accepted the furloughs; the biggest weakness will be the Building Department with the increase of contractor demand. In the upcoming PEA negotiations, he would like to discuss a shorter work week, not call it furloughs but a 1980 work week versus a 2080 work week. The City Manager said the Police Pension Board would be meeting tomorrow and they want to discuss additional benefits in the pension plan. He said furloughs should be probed on the police side if the work weeks are changed which will affect all retirement plans. He said a decrease in salary with a normal work week could offset the increase the officers would like in the pension plans. He cautioned that he did not know how the PBA or Council will react to this suggestion. 6:33 pm Citizens Budget Review Advisory Board March 18, 2013 Page Three Vice Mayor Don Wright said there are a lot of things that will impact the budget to include what the State is proposing for the retirement system that will affect the police pension plans; and he expects the property tax revenue to be close to what it was last year. 6:38 pm He said they should be careful about the spending plan without increasing taxes because he didn't see the economy rebounding; there are a lot of maintenance items that need to be included; everyone is concerned about the employee furlough days and lack of raises but during the upcoming months the Board will need to be careful about where the income is coming from. 8. Discussion of next meeting date (Tuesday. June 17, 2013) Chairman Herlihy suggested adding a meeting at the end of April /early May to discuss the Vice Mayor's comments, some budget ideas, the police cars or other topics. The City Manager offered to get a meeting scheduled for the first part of May and draft a memo with Chairman Herlihy to the Board with some ideas and topics so they are proactive in the process. 9. Being no further business, Chairman Herlihy adjourned the Citizens Budget Review Advisory Board meeting at 6:40 p.m. U� r7 ens Budget Review Advisory Board Dat