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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2004.0302.TCOM.PacketNOTICE OF PUBLIC HEARING FOR THE FOUNTAIN HILLS TOWN COUNCIL Mayor Wally Nichols Vice Mayor Rick Melendez Councilwoman Kathy Nicola Councilwoman Leesa Stevens Councilman John Kavanagh Councilman Mike Archambault Councilwoman Susan Ralphe WHEN: TUESDAY, MARCH 2, 2004 TIME: 6:30 P.M. - 8:30 P.M. WHERE: FOUNTAIN HILLS COMMUNITY CENTER (Ballrooms 1,2 & 3) 13001 N. LA MONTANA DR., FOUNTAIN HILLS, AZ PROCEDURE FOR ADDRESSING THE COUNCIL Anyone wishing to speak before the Council must fill out a speaker's card and submit it to the Town Clerk prior to Council discussion of that Agenda item. Speaker Cards are located in the Council Chamber Lobby and near the Clerk's position on the dais. Speakers will be called in the order in which the speaker cards were received either by the Clerk or the Mayor. At that time, speakers should stand and approach the podium. Speakers are asked to state their name prior to commenting and to direct their comments to the Presiding Officer and not to individual Council Members. Speakers' statements should not be repetitive. If a speaker chooses not to speak when called, the speaker will be deemed to have waived his or her opportunity to speak on the matter. Speakers may not (i) reserve a portion of their time for a later time or (ii) transfer any portion of their time to another speaker. Individual speakers will be allowed three contiguous minutes to address the Council. Time limits may be waived by (i) discretion of the Town Manager upon request by the speaker not less than 24 hours prior to a Meeting, (ii) consensus of the Council at Meeting or (iii) the Mayor either prior to or during a Meeting. Please be respectful when making your comments. If you do not comply with these rules, you will be asked to leave. E:\Clerk\AGENDAS\REGULAR\2004\Public Hearing Civic Center Phase II Funding 3-2-04.doe 3/1/2004 0 CALL TO ORDER AND ROLL CALL — Mayor Nichols 0 PLEDGE TO THE FLAG — Mayor Nichols AGENDA ITEMS 1.) PUBLIC HEARING to receive comments on what funding source should be used for the Civic Center Phase II project. 2.) DATED this 1" day of March, 2004 The Town of Fountain Hills endeavors to make all public meetings accessible to persons with disabilities. Please call 837-2003 (voice) or 1-800-367-8939 (TDD) 48 hours prior to the meeting to request a reasonable accommodation to participate in this meeting or to obtain agenda information in large print format. Supporting documentation and staff reports furnished the council with this agenda are available for review in the Clerk's office. E:\Clerk\AGENDAS\REGULAR\2004\Public Hearing Civic Center Phase II Funding 3-2-04.doc 3/1/2004 Fountain Hills Town Hall Funding Alternatives John McNeill, March 2, 2004 1. What is the cost? • June, 2003 - $1.5 million planned for fiscal 2004 (June `04 to June '05) and fiscal 2005 - $3.0 million total • January, 2004 retreat - $3.5 million • February 19, 2004 Council meeting - $4.5 million used when pay as you go looked at, somehow grows to $5.3 million if bonds used • WHAT IS IT? 2. Staff Proposal — Pay as You Go — Is it in accordance with Council policy? • Council adopted a "Debt Policy" on May 1, 2003, amended on August 21, 2003 to pay for some capital project on an "as you go" basis • Minutes reflect that the town should still have "Bonding alternatives for `Big Ticket' items", and should be "building up and maintaining fund balances" 3. Moody's • Moody's primary concern, as cited in the town's most recent quarterly report and Staff's 2-19-04 report is that the town's cash fund balances be increased • Pay -as -You -Go DECREASES the cash available to the town, compared to borrowing a substantial portion of the cost — would likely cause more concern to Moody's than borrowing • Moody's rating of the town's credit doesn't actually reflect the rating of the bonds issued by the town in recent years, ALL of which are rated Aaa/AAA because they are insured. 4. Why borrow and how much? • Long term borrowing for a town hall spreads the cost to future users — not just people who pay sales taxes over the next 2 years — It is FAIR. • If a property tax is used, it would help diversify the town's tax base • Even a sales tax based bond would spread the cost and reduce cash flows • The town SHOULD use all available cash from development fees (now $400,0000, because if they aren't used after 6 years they must be returned (over) Mayor Nichols and Council members: I would like to give you some further thoughts on the financing of the new town hall/senior center. I urge you to reconsider the idea of spending down our cash reserves to build a project that will be used by generations of residents. Just as many people have refinanced their home mortgages to improve cash flow due to the current record low lending rates, the town should use this opportunity to finance a large portion of this large expense with long-term bonds (whether based on sales taxes or a property tax). All concerns regarding the town's Aa3 rating (with negative watch) from Moody's could easily be resolved by obtaining insurance for the bond, which at relatively low cost would boost the bond rating to the highest AAA rating. (By the way, I have found that another major ratings service, Fitch, rates FH Aa3, with NO watch warning) My bonding/financial experience During my over 25 years in public utility law, I have been a key member of the negotiating teams for several municipal bond issues ( for pollution control revenue bonds) that totaled in excess of $150 million, a leveraged lease of generating facilities (which included a municipal bond component) for over $500 million, as well as numerous other financial transactions including long term mortgage loans of several hundreds of millions, a commercial paper program for over $50 million, long-term and short-term credit facilities, etc. I've spent plenty of time in meetings with Smith Barney, Merrill Lynch and other Wall Street investment bankers — and have also dealt with both S&P and Moody's on behalf of my client. Policy issues There was no way I could cover in my 3 minutes at your last meeting all of the issues raised by the proposed immediate construction of a town hall and payment with current cash; however, foremost is what I believe is an immense credibility issue with the town's citizenry — by proceeding with little public input, without adequate examination of the alternatives and by spending current cash just months after laying off a large number of town staff, declaring fiscal emergency, refusing to buy even the 30 acres of trust land that our Parks staff says would be needed because "we can't afford it", etc., etc., etc. — and even flying in the face of the foremost point of Moody's criticism — that FH should, above all, build its fund balances. The cash funding proposal would deplete our reserves and leave less cash to address future needs or any emergency. I don't dispute that even there are issues with the existing facility, though the lease rate is one of the lowest rates/square foot available in FH, and that a town - owned facility would make long-term economic sense. As millions of homeowners know, it is better, if you intend to be in the same place for a long time, to own than to rent. In fact, when I met with Mr. Pickering a couple of weeks ago, I volunteered to work for the passage of a property tax based bond if council chose to seek such funding. I am glad that you have put off the funding decision for a short period of time to allow additional facts to be presented and for the public to comment. I hope that you will do that in at least 2 steps — first a session where information on ALL the potential methods of funding are explained to the public — and second a session where the public can have input on the choices that are available. At the first information session, it would be useful to have the town's bond counsel, from the Gust Rosenfeld firm, and perhaps a financing expert from the Arizona League of Cities and Towns, available to answer questions from council and the public. It would certainly be unreasonable to expect significant public input if options and facts are not made available to the public beforehand. For example, no one should be surprised that only about 5 persons spoke to the town hall issues last week when the first notice most citizens had of it was in the Times article one day before the meeting. I would hope you would have meetings/hearings spaced so that the Times, Republic and Tribune can report the information on the choices, allow reasonable time for the public to digest it, then have a hearing for public input on the financing method. Debt costs are at all-time lows We currently have the lowest rates available for municipal borrowing in my memory. Why you would choose not to borrow 2, 3 and 4 percent money for town hall instead of spending down your reserves, raiding dedicated funds, and further delaying skate park construction and other worthy projects that could proceed sooner if the cash flow needs for the town hall were reduced by financing at such low rates is absolutely beyond me. These rates may not be available in a few years if the town needs a bond to pay for road reconstruction or other projects. The cash you save now could be better used then. The Town's Pay as You Go policy doesn't apply to Big Ticket items I come from a public policy perspective that says that long term capital projects, like the mountains, the community center, the library and the "picture postcard" land should be paid for over a long time because they will be used by several generations of citizens. I had THOUGHT that the Council and Town Manager came from that same perspective because even while adopting a financial policy that endorsed the accumulation of reserves so that certain projects could be paid for on an "as -you -go" basis, the policy also recognized the need to examine bonding alternatives for "big ticket" items. The resolution that was before you last week referred to a "pay-as-you-go" philosophy promoted in the "Debt Policy" adopted by Council on August 21, 2003. However, that item was a consent item and was not the subject of any council policy discussion. The August Policy amended the much more extensive "Debt Policy" adopted on May 1, 2003 after extensive discussion by Council and staff. The minutes of that meeting reflect that "the most important element of the financial policies" and the "area... most criticized by Moody's" was "the fund balance". The minutes go on to reflect discussion of "the importance of developing a "pay as you go" system, bonding alternatives for "Big Ticket" items, and the benefits of building up and maintaining fund balances" (emphasis added). Councilman Kavanagh commented that "Moody's was saying that the town should consider funding vital services through the implementation of a property tax". Moody's wants higher reserves The importance of building reserve fund balances was repeatedly emphasized in the staff reports at your last meeting (see page 4, "Quarterly Report" and slide on "Fund Balance trend" (which said the balance "should show a five year upward trend")). Yet the use of cash reserves in lieu of borrowing for the funds needed for a town hall will actually DECREASE available cash reserves by nearly the full amount of cash expended (less only borrowing costs) over the next 2 years, as opposed to building it back to or above the nearly $7 million level we had in 1999 before the lake liner, the dam heightening, the unfunded fire obligation, etc. Factual issues In addition to the policy issues posed by the staff recommendation, there are factual discrepancies regarding the town hall. The public deserves to have them addressed. Cost First, what is the actual cost of the project? In June, 2003, you approved a budget that included $1.5 million in fiscal 2004- 2005 and another $1.5 million in fiscal 2005-2006 — for a total of $3.0 million and an end date extending beyond the June, 2005 date staff is now recommending that town hall be completed. At your retreat in January, 2004, a figure of $3.5 million was discussed. A month later, the figure has mushroomed to either $4.5 million (see slides 3 and 5) or $5.3 million (see fiscal impact and slidel5). What happened? Where is the extra money going? Is it really necessary to buy $500,000 of new furniture and equipment? What happened to the idea of using temporary buildings if needed? Short term alternatives Mr. Pickering may be correct that there is no building with 30,000 square feet to rent (unless, of course, the town extends its current "Non -lease" for another year or so) in a single location. However, portions of the Community Center, modular buildings, and a relatively small amount of leased space (in more than one location) could surely be made to work for a number of months if necessary. I spoke to a contractor friend yesterday who said that used double -wide modular buildings are available to buy for around $11-12,000 and new ones were around $20,000 (for 1,200 or more feet). Leasing for a year or so would cost far less. The town hall parcel could easily accommodate temporary buildings of well over 10,000 square feet, which could be resold when they are no longer needed. Leased modular buildings are also readily available. I have spoken to a representative of one firm which currently has a nearly 9,000 foot building available, as well as standard 24X60 or other sizes, and hope to have rental quotes from him soon. Property tax funding is one alternative Mr. Pickering and members of Council have mentioned the need to diversify the town's revenue sources and tax base on many occasions. In my view the best way to do that in connection with the town hall would be through a property tax. If the town cannot stay in its present offices past June, 2005, why not take a serious look at temporary buildings and leased space for the relatively brief time it would take to take such bonds to a vote of the people. I would hope that Mr. McGuire could find a way to get the issue to a vote earlier than May 2005. State law permits many types of town elections 2 months before the November general election, at the November election, etc., in addition to the May date. Other factual questions The presentation made by staff raised a number of other questions. Amount of leased space and utilities and other costs First, although the premise is that the town is currently leasing far more space (42,000 feet) than it needs, all cost comparisons showing the cost of continuing to lease appear to show costs based on the same 42,000 feet over 10 years or longer. If the town only needs 30,000 feet, it should only rent 30,000 and the projections should be based on that — not 42,000. In fact, I believe that the town has already notified Dr. Luykenda that it intends to vacate one building. It is inappropriate to use cost projections for leasing that assume a higher footage than we need or want. Why not show projections based on 30,000 feet, and if a property tax is sought, the alternative of using leased or purchased modular space for a time? Second, slide 3, showing comparison of costs over 15 years not only includes the lease costs at the amount for a 42,000 ft. lease, it also adds in all costs for utilities and maintenance, while comparing it to only the straight construction cost (here using only $4.5 — but later showing $5.3 mil) for a new building. Please get it guaranteed in writing from your architect and contractors, because the cost "comparison" assumes that only leased buildings have utility bills, maintenance costs and landscaping needs — apparently our new town hall is assumed to be an entirely self-sustaining building requiring no heating, cooling, water, lights or repairs! Councilperson Nicola attempted to get an answer from Mr. Pickering on this discrepancy. What I heard in response did not address the error. The same error is repeated on slide 16, which shows rent for more space than is needed and utilities of $2.33 million for rented space, while showing no utility cost at all for an owned building. These errors result in substantial misstatements of "comparisons". I think they help demonstrate the need to SLOW DOWN and make a decision based on correct information, which is shared with the public in time for them to have meaningful input. Cost of financing At the council meeting I passed out a sheet showing the cost to borrow the entire amount shown in staff's report, $5.460 million, which assumes a cost of construction of $5.3 million (again, how did that number get so high) and issuance costs of $160,000, in part to refute the data that projected financing costs would increase the total cost to $8.3 million — a number that appears to be unrealistically high. However, if bonds were issued, whether sales tax based or property tax based, agree it would not be appropriate to finance 100% of the cost. In fact it would be irresponsible to not spend at least most of the development fees of $393,000 shown by staff. That number could be quite higher if additional development fees are collected between now and project completion, or if the development fees are increased (and/or new ones — such as for fire protection, including administration — are adopted). If the town doesn't spend the money earmarked for administration capital needs the town would have to refund the money after 6 years. Staff's numbers also show a windfall to the town of $602,000 in the form of projected sales tax rebates which are no longer expected to be paid and 401 K contributions by the town to former employees who were not yet vested. In my opinion it would be better to spend most of such a windfall on the long delayed skate park or other amenities that the people have been told they must wait for due to our supposedly "dire" financial condition, when we can borrow for town hall at 2, 3 and 4 percent. However, I don't think it would be unreasonable to spend some of it on a new town hall. I am guessing that increases and additional development fees might bring in another $200,000 or so before July 2005 There is also a small amount from the sale of police cars. All told, I think it would be reasonable to pay for around $1 million from these sources. That's about the same as the 20 percent down payment I recently made on my own new home. What then must be financed through bonds? I would work backwards to get at that number. The staff projections for a financed building show a construction cost of $4 million, with Architect fees of 0.4 mil. That, plus the cost of issuance COI), and LESS the $1 million from the cash sources discussed above is what I would suggest that you finance, using a variety of maturities of bonds. Since part of the COI is based on the value of the bonds being issued the cost should be less than the $160,000 projected — perhaps $125,000. I did not include any contingency or FF&E in the financed cost. The contingency is not needed (especially a $900,000 or 20 percent contingency!) if cost projections are well done. It seems questionable whether the town should spend half a million on new furniture, etc. instead of reusing as much as possible from its existing offices (I understand that some of the money is for fixtures and is unavoidable although perhaps some could be deferred). Conclusion To summarize: Cash: $1 million Financed: $3.525 million If you only used the development fees to pay the cash portion and spent the windfall on other things, the amount financed would go up to around $4 million. This would take the maximum advantage of today's low lending rates while using all of the money that can ONLY be spent on administration projects. If you happened to save the sheet I distributed that shows the costs for a) 10 year, b) 20 year or c) a mixture of 2 to 20 year bonds ( the best scenario — in my opinion - because some of the money is borrowed at only 1 % and 2%), you can simply apply percentages of 64.6% (for $3.525 mil, or 73.3% (for $4 million) to adjust the annual and total numbers to reflect the reduced amount of borrowing. If anyone would like that sheet again, with the numbers changed to reflect partial cash payment, I would be pleased to provide it. For the mixed 2 to 20 year bonds, the cost of $3.525 million over the entire 20 years would be about $4.525 mllion, with annual (fully amortized) costs of $533,000 in years 1 and 2, $370,000 in years 3 through 5, $233,000 in years 6- 10, and only $119,000 in years 11-20. Please keep in mind that those costs were calculated at a lower credit rating than the town has. If insured bonds were issues the effective interest rate could be lower — interest rates have also come down further just since last week. The cash flows (and bond reserves) could be reduced even more if a 30 year set of bonds was included, although total interest cost would increase slightly. In the mean time, several million dollars would be available in the short term to implement Moody's advice to build reserves, to save money for the major road work that is needed, and to pay for needed smaller projects and services I would be pleased to respond to any questions or provide any further information. John McNeill 14508 N Creosote Ct Fountain Hills, AZ 85268 837-1306 Civic Center Phase II Financing — A cost saving project Julie Ghetti, MPA, CPA, Accounting Supervisor Don Thumith, Facilities Supervisor Tim Pickering, CM, CEcD, Town Manager March 2, 2004 DRAFT Lease vs build — 15 year estimate Lease, utilities, maintenance $13.11YI ($656,520 per year - 42,000 sq ft) (adjusted for inflation) Estimated cost of new building 4.5M (without financing) Savings first fifteen years $ 8.6M 1 �7 Building now versus later Costs for rent, taxes and maintenance will continue to increase, estimated 4% annually Town is paying for 40% more space than needed Town is on a month -to -month basis with unsigned lease Original term of unsigned lease is scheduled to expire June 30, 2005 Seniors have inadequate space, ADA compliance issues A town -owned building would guarantee long term savings as well as provide another asset for the town DRAFT Fil Financing options ■ Grants ■ Sell assets ■ Bond issue ■ Internal borrowing EY ■ Pay-as-you-go DRAFT 2 ch =7=0== Town FRlolicy ■ "Pay-as-you-go" given highest priority ■ Town debt service costs shall not exceed 20% of Town's operating revenue ■ Debt repayment schedule no more than fifteen (15) years ■ Town will seek to maintain and, if possible, �, improve the current bond rating (Aa3) in order to w, minimize borrowing costs E, ■ Municipal Property Corporation and contractual debt, which is non-voter approved, will be utilized only when a dedicated revenue source can be identified to pay debt service expenses DRAFT El Option 1: 100% Cash Project was included in 5 year Capital Improvement Plan for construction in FY2005 utilizing pay-as-you-go Fund balance reserved for capital projects has $1M 5 year projection shows operating surplus of $1+M annually for capital projects;. Development fees and enacted revenue enhancements will provide an additional $1M The savings gained from making a sacrifice now will provide resources for future capital projects DRAFT El 3 Cash resources Proposed cash resources through 6/30/05: Current fiscal year savings $ 552,400 Development Fees $ 392,700 Enacted revenue enhancements $ 601,700 Fund Balance reserved for capital $1,093,000 FY04-05 General Fund available $1,071,500 Proceeds from sale of assets $ 21,700 Total Cash Available $3,733,000 Internal Cash Borrowing $1,696,000 Total $5,429,000 DRAFT Option 2: Cash and Borrowing Financial policies require analysis of: ■ Debt outstanding as percent of legal debt limit ■ Bonded debt per capita ■ Debt service as percent of assessed value ■ Fund balance trend ■ Expenditure trend ■ Debt ratio (debt service/total revenues) DRAFT 91 Debt outstanding to legal limit 1. z00% 100% FY98-99 FY99-00 FY00-01 FY01-02 FY02-03 Bonded debt per capita _.._— ._ .... 2. 600 50 -- 100 FY98-99 FY99-00 FY00-01 FY01-02 FY02-03 Debt service as percent of assessed value 4.5% FY98-99 FY99-M FY00-01 FY01-02 FY02-03 All charts should show a 5 year downward trend DRAFT Fund balance trend Expenditure trend 5 slz,000,000 $9,500,OOD $7,ON,000 FY98-99 FY99-00 FY00-01 FYUI-02 FY02-03 Debt service to total revenues 0 200% __ __- .. ....... __-.__..__ lo.o% FY98-99 FY99-00 FY00-01 FY01-02 FY02-03 a. $7,000,000 $5,000,000 $3,000,000 FY98-99 FY99-00 FY00-01 F'Y01-02 FY02-03 Above chart should show a five year upward trend Moody's Investors Services based their negative outlook on Town's drawdown of reserves and lack of adopted debt policies DRAFT 5 - Summary of 37I/2004 teleconference with Moody's Investors Service If bonding will be considered a dedicated source of payments must be identified Moody's is looking for fund balance to be restored to historic levels ($6M) Moody's bond rating committee will be reviewing Town of Fountain Hills negative outlook rating by end of this week DRAFT Debt Payment and local tax rate for retirement Amount Annual Debt Local Tax Financed Payment Rate Required $3.1 M $320,000 0.100/0 $1.6M $165,000 0.050/0 Bond financing requires a dedicated revenue source, maximum borrowing capacity using excess mountain sales tax is $3.1M (excess collected each year is approximately $350,000) DRAFT Efl a Cost Comparison (15 Years) 100% Pay as you go Borrow $3.1 Million Borrow $1.6 Million Construction' $4.00M Architect $0.40M FF&E $0.50M Contingency $0.40M Total $5.30M Construction $4.00M Architect $0.40M Contingency $0.90M COI* $0.13M Interest $1.50M Total $6.93M ' Includes expansion and Senior Center *Costs of issuance DRAFT Construction $4.00M Architect $0.40M Contingency $0.90M COI* $0.12M Interest $0.80M Total $6.22M -I I IW N OF FOUNTAQJ HILLS t 11 c,eneral Fund (Revised 2/2/04) {' 11X ALYBP.RS 2Odt-2009 { _. .. ...... ! ..... _ j 1 C. F a..... Fiscal Year 200}2004 2004-2005 2005-2006 20062007 2007-2008 2008-2009 t ._....._.._.. __ IL ou ee6 € Reven $2,046.281 S2,707,067 $3.653.048 $3,529,132 $3.372.495 $3.680.887 ('on[tib t- n Io Fund Balance ($514.983)` (E3m AX%1) 1E165 )MI ! ) o y ($�27,(MXI $201,01X1 t ). ($271.0(q)' E l lndesiennlud Iiesc ryes .......... ._ $1.092.951 ($300.000) ($300,000) ($300,000) t$192,951) 1'3cR ('.p 1F Financing E676,630 $1,016.460? E1,241,360 (S63 tH0) �._. ..c... f672,000 ....... $1,000.000? Tra nsl— lu/I n. moth e r ClPfun ds .. ..... - $1.696,695 (EI,G9G.G9$ $1,6M. 104); 1$1,M0,980)€ E7,531298 ': E6.208,173 # $2,732,713 E2,939092 $],941,391 j -52j75,956 ['a ��il al F uncmg 1'utential ..... ............ _... __. Min Censer Phase II E320.UM) $1.5IX1.(1W 5100,000. Iodate Fire Station acted Tot Lot and Playg 'Donal Fin Puck $320.1MM1 )nh Sidewalk -Fountain Park $I97AMMI F n��n�nncc P.Id- Fountain Punk $IH_i.(MMI �E901MM1 t lilt,/Itch Ib Vchicle(Fur rep)._ I, 'nic '_. ti III Remedas mtl Aseoaaled _ ....._. I _______......... I -In Pak i gay) 670 inlul.0 np A—pak 1.�y Fountain Pak 112,(1N1 ............. Wk)ng Path Ph— 111 F untvn Pzuk 8214,OW - y/des gn f 1 hll hry 1 I :a. F.uk ` F2111-)� lase IIC n in,n 1 1, .J, P.vk _ - -1� $1511,-1) st Pki gLd F—n t Pvk .....-..i..1....._ nldren Mist Feet— GFP --. ....... use H Design fees - D VNP aseIIConstruction DVNP rinkler System Reconstruct - Fin Perk BMX Track __. _.. n yu:it lc I i.c I—lity It�1)eiuilile t'upilal P,nI,, 1. I1,11.1nce DRAFT 1 $1.929AMMI. $2,381,000 se xl ......_. .._...... .....- saes �xx) c�x,ulm $30.txx> I N)IHNI .. ........ _ ._._..._ $2j97400D``-$672000. $1i—IMMI .......... E _..__........ i562.092 El 269_391 $ I 515 95e 7 SUMMARY If Moody's removes the negative outlook rating on Town's General Obligation bonds the staff is comfortable making a recommendation for funding civic center phase II with a combination of cash and up to approximately $3M in bonds. DRAFT 1