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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMin - City Council - 1988 - 11/14 - WorkshopALLEN CITY COUNCIL CALLED - SPECIAL WORKSHOP SESSION NOVEMBER 14, 1988 Present: Joe Farmer, Mayor Council Members: Rex Womack Jerry Wilson, Mayor Pro Tem Bobby Glass Jim Wolfe Gary Edstrom Absent: Jim Pendleton city staff Jon McCarty, City Manager Marty Hendrix, City Secretary With a quorum of the Council Members present, the called - special workshop session of the Allen City Council was called to order by Mayor Farmer at 7:24 p.m. on Monday, November 14, 1988, in the Conference Room of the Allen Municipal Annex, One Butler Circle, Allen, Texas. Planning Session Regarding the City's Tax RoHBack Effort (Agenda Item II) Mayor Farmer advised the Council of the items that he felt needed to be discussed during this workshop session and outlined them as follows: 1. To review calendar of events regarding rollback petition and election. 2. Review of conditions or events that everyone is aware of or have information on regarding the rollback petition. 3. Identify some facts that the Council needs to know and be aware of to communicate to the public about the issues involved in the rollback tax issue. 4. Discuss strategy options Mayor Farmer reviewed the various phases of the tax rollback effort, with Phase I being the time period between now and the last day for the petition to be filed. Phase II is the time between December 16 and January 4, 1989, the 20 days for validating the petition signatures. Phase III is the time period between January 5, 1989 and election day. The Mayor then opened the floor for input from the Council Members as to if any of them had heard or seen anything about the rollback petition being circulated. The Council Members provided comments on any information that they had seen or heard about the petition. The meeting was recessed at 7:42 p.m. in order that the City Manager could finish with a presentation to the Parks and Recreation Board and return to this meeting. The meeting was reconvened at 7:55 p.m. City Manager McCarty spoke before the Council on the information that he had gathered regarding this issue. He advised of the concerns that he had heard from the Allen Independent School District regarding this matter and how it will affect the community. ALLEN CITY COUNCIL CALLED - SPECIAL WORKSHOP SESSION NOVEMBER 14, 1988 Page 2 Planning Session Regarding the City's Tax RollBack Effort (cont'd) (Agenda Item U) The Mayor then opened the floor for the Council to identify some facts to be placed on a fact sheet for the City Council to use as a reference when providing information on this issue. The following facts were listed: 1. List the enact amount of the rollback tax figure and how it will effect a property value. 2. How signatures can be withdrawn from the petition. City staff to obtain letter from the State Property Tax Board regarding this issue. 3. That the loss in valuation of properties created a 3.5Q increase in the tax rate in order to generate the same amount of taxes that the city collected in the previous year. It was pointed out that this fact is to be used with caution, due to trying to calculate the figure. 4. Determine the dates that the contracts were let for the library building and the police and courts building and the infrastructure. 5. Place concentration on the revenue reduction of $99,010 (or appropriate figure after rechecking figures) and point out that according to facts gathered, the residential tax payers will not benefit from the $99,010 reduction. They will only be credited with a certain amount and determine what that amount is and the other classification of taxpayers. 6. Provide for the date the city initiated the Substance Abuse Prevention Program and date the city stared providing financial support to the program. 7. Provide for the date that the paramedic goal or objective was made a part of the city's Comprehensive Plan. 8. Research the amount of the tax increase needed during the five year capital improvement program for bond indebtedness as outlined in the bond preposition information. 9. Identify the bond propositions, where we are with them at the present time as to completion, and how much we have spent on them to date, and how much is left to spend. 10. Obtain the number of citizens that participated in the following citizen involvement groups: a. Comprehensive Plan b. Main Street C. Citizens Committee on Police/Courts Building d. Volunteers for EAS Balloting Process e. Greenbelt Linear Park Study I. City's Boards & Commission g. City's Capital Improvement Program Committee 11. Identify where $99,010 will come from in the calculation of the tax rate. Point out that it will be taken out of the M & O and not the I & S. 12. Identify the dollar amounts placed in the budget to fund the following items: ALLEN CITY COUNCIL CALLED - SPECIAL WORKSHOP SESSION NOVEMBER 14, 1988 Page 3 Planning Session Regarding the City's Tax Rollitack Effort (cont'd) (Agenda Item II) a. Computers b. Compensation package for employees C. Occupancy costs for new policelcourts building and library d. Remaining balance being in new programs -- breakdown by department. 13. Obtain tax rate for cities the size of Allen in the state and surrounding cities. (Note: Research can be obtained from the Texas Research League Tax Study) There was further discussion by the Council on the need to list other revenue sources, however, it was determined that this was not necessary since the issue was the tax rate. There was further discussion by the Council on the various types of strategies to be used in this process. Mayor Farmer pointed out that he had written an article for the "City Chat" column in the local newspaper, "The Allen American". Mayor Farmer suggested methods for communication were making presentations to the local organizations/associations, developing a support group and providing for a privately funded letter to mail out to all Allen residents, an article in the "Municipal Messenger", the use of con- sultants that were used in the EAS balloting process, a telephone bank, street canvassers, public forums, letters to the editor in "The Allen American", letters to the signers of the petition informing them as to the real facts of the issue, contact with the organizers of the petition to meet with the Council at a workshop, and development of the support group from list of registered voters in the city. There was discussion on the use of the suggested strategies in the various phases of the petition process. City Manager McCarty pointed out an observation on the rollback issue and that was whether the City Council should take an aggressive or passive approach to this situation. He pointed out that the city has been passive up until this time and if more emphasis is placed on the issue will this additional attention be in the best interest of the city or not. There was considerable discussion by the Council on the approach to be taken in this matter. There was further discussion by the Council on the various strategies proposed to get the correct word out to the citizenry on the issues involved in the rollback matter. The Council discussed sending out a letter to all residents, what the letter would say and who would sign the letter; if a town meeting should be held and when it should occur and what should the agenda contain; and what position the Council should take at this time. There was lengthy discussion on what should be done in the first phase of the petition process, and gathering support from the business community, civic organizations, and homeowners associations to sign the letter to the residents. The Mayor recessed the called - special workshop session at 9:28 p.m. The meeting reconvened at 9:38 p.m. The discussion continued on the various strategies that should be implemented by the Council. The discussion centered around talking to the various civic associations and organizations and having the city staff schedule Council Members to speak before these groups. In further discussion, it was concluded that the City Secretary would prepare a list of the city's civic organizations and associations, their meeting times and places, and contact them to see if a City Council Member could speak to them at their next regular meetings regarding the rollback tax issue. It was also concluded that the city staff would prepare, as soon as possible, a fact sheet from the list of facts outlined by the Council earlier in the meeting that could be used by the City Council at these presentations. ALLEN CITY COUNCIL CALLED - SPECIAL WORKSHOP SESSION NOVEMBER 14, 1988 Page 4 Items of Interest to the Council There were no items of interest to discuss at this time. Adjourn With no further discussion, Mayor Farmer adjourned the called - special workshop session of the Allen City Council at 10:01 p.m. on Monday, November 14, 1988. These minutes approved on the 1st day of December, 1988. APPROVED: JqO Farmer, MAYOR ATTEST: iMarty Hendrix, 1C, CITY SECR