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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMin - City Council - 1988 - 06/30 - Special CalledALLEN CITY COUNCIL CALLED - SPECIAL SESSION JUNE 30, 1988 Present: Joe Farmer, Mayor Council Members: Rex Womack Jerry Wilson, Mayor Pro Tem Bobby Glass Jim Wolfe Jim Pendleton Gary Edstrom City staff• Jon McCarty, City Manager Marty Hendrix, City Secretary With a quorum of the Council Members present, the called - special session of the Allen City Council was called to order by Mayor Farmer at 7:15 p.m. on Thursday, June 30, 1988, in the Council Chambers of the Allen Municipal Annex, One Butler Circle, Allen, Texas. Budget Workshop - Staff Presentation of Preliminary Budget (Agenda Item II -A) City Manager Jon McCarty provided opening remarks on the budget preparation and what the Council would be reviewing during this meeting. He also advised who would be making the presentations and what was contained in the budget materials. Using overhead transparencies, Charlotte Smith, Finance Director, reviewed the budget document with the Council beginning on page 1 and continuing through page 4. Those pages contained information on the general fund revenues and the general fund revenues comparative analysis. There was discussion by the Council on if the sales tax figure estimated for Southwestern Bell Telephone had taken into consideration any additional monies that could be made if Extended Area Service is approved. There was also discussion on the estimated single family dwelling unit permits and how they were calculated; and the estimated recreation fees, especially those shown for baseball and why they are going down. Mrs. Smith then reviewed page 6, showing the calculation of current tax revenues for 1988 - 89. The Council requested the same figures shown on that page for the FY 1987 - 88 budget year for comparison. Mrs. Smith then reviewed pages 7 through ll with the Council. Those pages showed the 1988 effective tax rate worksheet, the 1988 rollback tax rate worksheet, and the notice of effective tax rate. She pointed out this year's effective tax rate of $.52139 per $100 valuation, the maximum rate unless unit publishes notices and hold hearings being $.53703 per $100 valuation and the projected year's rollback rate of $.55928 per $100 valuation. The Council discussed with city staff when the certified tax roll will be received by the city from the Central Appraisal District. The Finance Director went on to review page 12, showing the assessed value comparison for the general fund. ALLEN CITY COUNCIL CALLED - SPECIAL SESSION JUNE 30, 1988 Page 2 Budget Workshop - Staff Presentation of Preliminary Budget (cmnt'd) (Agenda Item II -A) Michael Stanger, Assistant to the City Manager, then reviewed the general fund expenditures by department and pointed out overages. Mr. s Stanger advised that the City Secretary's budget was over budget by approximately $4,000 and this some of this amount was shown to be in the Council Expenses line item. The Council briefly discussed the overages and asked that further information be provided on this item. Mr. Stanger then reviewed the general fund comparison of 1987 - 88 revised budget to the 1988 - 89 base budget. There was discussion by the Council on the new buildings that were coming on line in the next budget year, and the increases in the Engineering Department's base budget. Mr. Stanger reviewed the general fund new programs - capital outlay and other requests for the 1988 - 89 budget. The Council discussed the vehicles that are being requested by the Parks and Recreation Department and the Police Department and if these were replacement vehicles or actually new additional vehicles. Mr. Stanger then reviewed the general fund new programs - personnel requests for the 1988 - 89 budget. There was discussion by the Council on the paramedic program indicated in the Fire Department and if the amount being requested was to just begin a program or did the amount indicate a fully developed program. In further discussion, the Council requested that additional information was needed on this item to include what a fully operational paramedic program would entail, what it would cost and what was involved in getting into a fully operational program. The Council also discussed what the buyer position was in the Finance Department. There was discussion by the Council on the new library building and if the request for the additional personnel was due to the fact that they would be adding additional hours of operation. The Council then discussed the proposed base budget and the amount that the proposed $.559 tax rate could fund. The Council also discussed the estimated tax roll. Finance Director Charlotte Smith reviewed with the Council the general fund revenue and expenditure recap showing the amount of revenues, expenditures, the over/under amounts, the transfer from the water and sewer fund and the net revenues for the current budget year, the revised figures for the current budget year and the estimated budget for 1988 - 89. The Council discussed the water and sewer revenues. Mrs. Smith continued her review on the projected general fund balance, the fund balance policy statements, the debt service requirements for 1988- 89, and the projected debt service fund balance shown on pages 19 through 22 of the budget document. Mrs. Smith explained to the Council the water and sewer revenues, the water and sewer revenues comparative analysis, the water and sewer fund expenses, the comparison of 1987 - 88 revised budget to 1988 - 89 base budget, the new programs - capital outlay request for the 1988 - 89 budgets, and the new programs - personnel requests for 1988 - 89 budget. City Manager Jon McCarty spoke before the Council on the water and sewer budget and the operation of the Stacy Road Pump Station. He advised of a recommendation from Texas Power and Light Company about when the pumps should be run in order to get a better electrical rate. He advised that a schedule would be worked out for the pump station and when the new overhead water tower was brought on line. ALLAN CITY COUNCIL CALLED - SPACIAL SESSION NNE 30, 1988 Page 3 Budget Workshop - Staff Presentation of Preliminary Budget (coat'd) (Agenda Item II -A) There was discussion by the Council on the implementation of the electronic meter reading system and if figures were included in the working papers on the budget to show how the city would save with this type of program. The Council discussed how this program would work and expressed an interest to have figures produced that would show the cost benefit of doing this program. There was additional discussion by the Council on the need to raise the water rates again. The Finance Director then reviewed the water and sewer fund revenue and expense recap and debt service requirements shown on pages 29 and 30 of the budget document. Mrs. Smith advised of the debt coverage factor of 1.03 which was taking into consideration all of the factors. Council Discussion and Input (Agenda Item II -B) There was discussion by the Council on the status of the refunding of the water and sewer revenue bonds and what action the Council needed to take to be ready with that plan when the time is right. The Council reviewed the dates shown on the budget calendar and the events relating to those dates. At this time Mayor Farmer moved on to Agenda Item III for a report from the Council's ad hoc subcommittee on the budget retreat. Report of the Budget Subcommittee and Consider Related Action Items (Agenda Item III) Councilman Jim Wolfe, Chairman of the Budget Subcommittee, spoke before the Council on the details of the plans for the budget retreat. Councilman Wolfe advised that the subcommittee was recommending that the budget retreat begin early Friday morning, with those who could arrive on Thursday evening to meet for dinner at 8:00 p.m. Mr. Wolfe explained that the plans were for a full day of budget presentations and work on Friday, Saturday and most of Sunday. Mr. Wolfe explained that more details and the outline of the budget presentations would be presented at the Council meeting to be held on July 7. Council Discussion and Input (cont'd) (Agenda Item II -B)) The Council discussed with the economic conditions, the loss in land appraisal values, and the need to raise the tax rate to support the existing budget, there was a need to: • Look at the operation of the water and sewer department and the personnel needed for that department. • Look at excess property owned by the city and consider perhaps selling off sites and buildings that will not be needed upon the completion of the police and courts building and library building. • Look at adding in additional monies in the proposed budget for economic development. • Look at the telecommunications study and determine if there is a need to include additional monies in the budget for the implementation of the communication system for the municipal complex site. There was further discussion on the focus by the city towards economic development for next year and how this will be approached in the next year's budget. The Council discussed the amount that had been included by the city ALLEN CITY COUNCIL CALLED - SPECIAL SESSION JUNE 30, 1988 Page 4 Council Discussion and Input (cont'd) (Agenda Item II -B)) staff in the budget for this purpose, being a total of $15,000, the status of the work of the Economic Development Alliance at this time, the studies that are being conducted, the use of consultants, and if new membership is being solicited to raise additional monies. The Council also discussed the amount of money available for the implementation of the communications equipment, based upon the results of the communications study, and what funds were planned to be used to fund this communications system. Items of Interest to the Council (Agenda Item IV) *Mayor Pro Tem Jerry Wilson advised of the work of the Telephone Subcommittee in anticipation of receiving the final order from the Public Utility Commission. He advised that several subcommittees that have been developed from the Council's subcommittee to work on the Extended Area Service campaign and promotion. Mayor Pro Tem Wilson was in charge of the advertising subcommittee and he advised of other committee members. Those members included a local printer, Karen Cage with DLM, Sarah Chumbley, a real estate agent, and a reporter and editor with "The Allen American". He advised of the various methods of advertising and promotion that are being planned for this promotion, such as advertising staffers, signs, a logo design, etc. He advised of Ms. Cage's expertise in the advertising and promotion field and what an asset she will be to the advertising process. He advised that $3,600 had been raised to be used to fund this process. The Council discussed how the "street walkers" portion would be used in this process. There was further discussion on the balloting process for EAS and when it will be initiated, if a calendar had been originated for the process, and the holding of a public foram and if it was to be one event or multiple events. -Mayor Farmer advised the Council of the status of the development of the process and procedure for the "City Chat" column to be in "The Allen American". Mayor Farmer distributed to the Council the procedure and the calendar list of suggested articles that had been developed for the entire year. There was discussion by the Council on how the articles should be written and what type of position should be taken in the articles. The Council reviewed the list of articles and discussed the upcoming articles and if they were appropriate during this time frame. Adjourn With no further discussion, Mayor Farmer adjourned the called - special session of the Allen City Council at 10:33 p.m. on Thursday, June 30, 1988. These minutes approved on the 21th day of JULY , 1988. APPROVED: �j XzAooltk_ oe Farmer, MAYOR ATTEST: Marty Hendrix, C C, CITY SECRETARY