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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2013.0506.TCSM.Minutesz:\council packets\2013\r130606\130506m.docx Page 1 of 9 TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS MINUTES OF THE SPECIAL BUDGET SESSION OF THE FOUNTAIN HILLS TOWN COUNCIL MAY 6, 2013 * CALL TO ORDER AND ROLL CALL Mayor Kavanagh called the meeting to order at 5:30 p.m. in the Town Hall Council Chambers * ROLL CALL Present for roll call were the following members of the Town Council: Mayor Kavanagh, Councilmember Leger, Councilmember Brown, Councilmember Dickey, Councilmember Yates, Vice Mayor Elkie, and Councilmember Hansen. Town Manager Ken Buchanan, Town Attorney David Penartz and Town Clerk Bev Bender were also present. SPECIAL BUDGET AGENDA AGENDA ITEM #1 – DISCUSSION WITH POSSIBLE DIRECTION RELATING TO THE PROPOSED TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS BUDGET FOR THE FISCAL YEAR BEGINNING JULY 1, 2013, INCLUDING ALL PROPOSED REVENUES, EXPENDITURES AND PROGRAMS FOR ALL GOVERNMENTAL FUNDS. Town Manager Ken Buchanan addressed the Council relative to this agenda and provided them with a brief budget recap from the May 1, 2013 Special Budget Meeting (Copy available on-line and in the office of the Town Clerk). Mr. Buchanan discussed the following departments and changes/additions that were voted on by the Council at the previous meeting: * Public Safety * Administration * Development Services * Community Services * Excise Tax/Economic Development Plan He noted that $100,000 is available to fund the Economic Development Plan and provided a summary of the following budget adjustments: * Food Bank $ 9,075 * FH Boys & Girls Club $24,000 * FH Theater $35,120 ($68,195) He further stated that the following represents staff's recommendation: * General Fund (reduce Fire Department budget) $33,075 * Theater as proposed Economic Development/Excise $35,120 $68,195 He noted that the proposal does not represent any increase in total expenditures and the recommendations bring the budget back into balance. z:\council packets\2013\r130606\130506m.docx Page 2 of 9 He added that this evening the Council has a few budget items to finish up, the first being the Capital Improvement Plan (CIP) where the Council left off last week, and said that the CIP was approved a couple of months ago and there are a number of projects that are slated for this fiscal year (2013-14). He advised that staff is present to respond to any questions from the Council regarding the projects, which were reviewed at the last meeting. He reported that they total $19,198,080 and stated that the significant one is the $8.2 million Saguaro Boulevard Reconstruction Project (bonds). He recommended that the Council approve the proposal as recommended. Councilmember Dickey referred to the Capital Improvement projects and said that one of the things they talked about when they voted on this before was possibly looking at including some sidewalks as part of the Downtown infill. She added that it was previously called Project #6009 and at that time it was about $36,000 - $38,000 a year to provide some connectivity Downtown. She provided examples and said there were a few projects that they talked about and commented that because it is defined as "Downtown infill" it could partially be funded by some or all of the Excise Tax balance that the Council decided to keep in the Downtown Fund, which she thinks is about $765,000. She said that they might look at taking some of that out to budget for other projects that the Council might want to go ahead with like the lights, depending on how the median comes out or some of the other desires that they have that are infrastructure for the Downtown. Councilmember Dickey further stated that they could be more forceful about not getting the HURF monies swept and if so, that would be about $100,000 right there. She pointed out that on the Strategic Plan, R2, it was listed as a high priority to have this Downtown connectivity in Town and obviously there are grant opportunities when they go down the line for walkability and that kind of thing. She said that if they look at the alley paving project, that is $325,000 and it is a multi-phased project. She commented that perhaps they could find some savings there and added that some of the staff would be more knowledgeable about how they could reuse materials that they might get out of the Saguaro project. She advised that she feels that $35,000 to $38,000 for a sidewalk, say La Montana east side, might be a small enough piece to get them going at least on that block and maybe next year they could look at some of the stuff on Palisades. She said that she believes they could do a project without having to do everything and wonders if anyone would like to talk about possibly throwing a little sidewalk stuff into this. She added that she could make a motion. Mayor Kavanagh advised that they would have to talk to Mr. Buchanan about where that money would come from. Mr. Buchanan suggested that they learn a little more about the project first and where it is at and asked Deputy Town Manager/Finance Director Julie Ghetti and Director of Development Services Paul Mood if they are familiar with that. He noted that he is not familiar with it but has heard about it. Mr. Mood addressed the Council and stated that the Downtown Sidewalks Project and the Annual Sidewalks Project he believes were taken out of the CIP two years ago by Council. He pointed out that if there is money in the Downtown Fund, staff could certainly look at doing some infills. He said that he knows they talked about La Montana and he would have to look at it closer but the one sidewalk goes up and dead ends and there is a pretty good elevation and once they start doing it they would have to meet all ADA (Americans With Disabilities) requirements. Mr. Buchanan informed the Council that they do not have a project that has actually been scoped. Mr. Mood said that they have some things but staff would have to go back and look at it. Mayor Kavanagh brought up the Urban Trail and noted that they already have a schedule for twelve trails that would be connecting sidewalks. She added that they already have a plan; they would just have to do the work as money becomes available. z:\council packets\2013\r130606\130506m.docx Page 3 of 9 Mr. Mood stated that he would have to see what the actual route of the Urban Trail is to determine whether it goes along that area. Councilmember Brown questioned whether in the event they have money left over from the Avenue project, could the left over money, if there is any, be reallocated for sidewalks just in the Downtown area? Mr. Buchanan responded that he believes they could and noted that the Excise Tax requires that the Council approve any expenditures so it would have to be brought back before the Council for re-appropriation. Councilmember Brown asked if the monies are not included in the budget right now whether they could still use those funds and Mr. Buchanan said if they have budget capacity then yes they could spend it. Councilmember Brown asked Mr. Mood where he believes the Avenue project is really going to come in at and Mr. Mood replied that if they did all the alternates that were the more expensive items, like the lighting and more expensive fountain, he would say about $1.3 million to $1.5 million. Councilmember Brown stated that it is possible that there will be some money left over and he thinks they should keep the conversation of connecting the Downtown sidewalks at least at a minimum together and they may have the funds to do so. Mr. Buchanan advised that what he is hearing Councilmember Brown say is if there is fund balance left from the project it should be used for that purpose. He added that he believes there will be money left over and staff will bring that before the Council and in the meantime staff can scope that and come up with some numbers to present to the Council. Councilmember Hansen commented that since the sidewalks are near and dear to her heart she really appreciates this and everyone's efforts in this regard. She stated that she was surprised to learn that they all came out when the larger project was removed from the CIP so it would be nice to have this included knowing that somehow it might be incorporated into the other projects. Vice Mayor Elkie said that it sounds like they are fairly confident that they are going to have monies left over from the Avenue project and even if they don't he believes it is still the desire of the Council to get the sidewalks put in. He questioned whether they should do something concurrently as opposed to waiting until the Avenue project is done and then further revisiting it, which pushes it out further. He added that he would be in favor of making a decision this evening so that staff can start moving in that direction and allocate the funds for that so that the work could be done concurrently instead of doing one thing after another. Councilmember Leger agreed with Vice Mayor Elkie about doing it concurrently and said it is highly likely that they will have money left over from the Avenue project and the Downtown Fund is at about $2.1 million now and if it comes to $1.7, that is $400,000 that they put into the 40% specifically for Downtown infrastructure so there is money. Councilmember Dickey agreed with the previous speakers' remarks and stated that if everybody would be comfortable with allocating say $40,000 from the Downtown Excise Fund balance the money would then be there for the sidewalks. Councilmember Dickey MOVED to include $40,000 from the Downtown Excise Fund balance for an infill of sidewalks in the Downtown area and Councilmember Hansen SECONDED the motion. Mayor Kavanagh questioned whether they know what it would cost without conducting a scope. Mr. Buchanan responded no and stated that staff doesn't know what it would cost and believes there is capacity because they budgeted $1,640,000 and staff doesn't believe they are going to get anywhere near that. He said z:\council packets\2013\r130606\130506m.docx Page 4 of 9 that staff will scope the work and bring that back to the Council so they can talk about more specific projects for the Downtown sidewalks. Councilmember Dickey commented that the fact of the matter is if they decide to go with lights or shades or anything like that and they do use all the money up, she wants to make sure that the budget has enough in it so that they can do some Downtown sidewalks. She further stated that the reason she said $40,000 is because for FY 11-12 it was $36,000, for FY 12-13 it was $37,000, for FY 13 -14 it was $38,000 and the highest one is $40,000 for FY 15-16 (she said she was taking it from the projects that were in the FY 11-12 CIP). She added that the money could get them at least started even if the median project goes all the way to the $1.6 million. Mayor Kavanagh asked if they median project did go to the $1.6, where would the $40,000 come from and Mr. Buchanan said perhaps Ms. Ghetti could help him out. He said that they would normally take a transfer from a special projects fund. Councilmember Dickey pointed out that the motion was to take the money out of the existing balance from the excise fund, which is $700,000 or something like that. Mr. Buchan responded that they could go ahead and just budget for this project since they haven't set the final budget and just add the $40,000 into it as a budget figure and increase the budget by $40,000. He reiterated that they need budget capacity. Mayor Kavanagh said if there is enough money left over is that where they want to take it from or does Councilmember Dickey want to leave her motion that that is where the money would come from Councilmember Dickey replied whatever staff wanted -- that just seems like a way to not be scrambling around to find $40,000 to take out of some other budget. Councilmember Dickey WITHDREW her original motion and Councilmember Hansen WITHDREW her second to that motion. Councilmember Leger advised that he doesn't like the sound of increasing the budget and noted that they have $1,640,000 in the Downtown Fund and they could simply put the Avenue of the Fountain median project at $1,600,000 and use that $40,000 for the projects and be at the same place. He added that he would rather adjust that Avenue amount and use for the $40,000 for the sidewalk rather than increase the ove rall proposed budget numbers that they have. Councilmember Dickey MOVED that the Council approve spending up to $40,000 on Downtown sidewalks infill in this year's Capital Improvement Plan and Councilmember Hansen SECONDED the motion. Councilmember Yates asked if they okay in moving ahead and changing the budget amount that they've already allocated for this. Mr. Buchanan responded yes (they can change the amount). Vice Mayor Elkie stated that it is his understanding that the $40,000 will come out of the $1,640,000 and Councilmember Dickey said that he is correct. The motion CARRIED UNANIMOUSLY (7-0). Mr. Buchanan said that he still needs a motion to approve the CIP. Councilmember Yates MOVED to approve the Capital Improvement Plan and Vice Mayor Elkie SECONDED the motion, which CARRIED UNANIMOUSLY (7-0). z:\council packets\2013\r130606\130506m.docx Page 5 of 9 Mr. Buchanan continued with his presentation and discussed the Vehicle Replacement Fund and the Fee Schedule Changes, both of which were approved by the Council at the previous meeting. Ms. Ghetti briefly highlighted the Debt Overview portion of the presentation and noted that the total is $9,435,000, which includes all of the outstanding bonds (a majority of them will expire in 2020). In response to a request from Councilmember Dickey, Ms. Ghetti explained the Eagle Mountain CFD and clarified how it works stating that in about 1999 the Town created the Eagle Mountain Community Facilities District and that was just for the community of Eagle Mountain and all those property owners. Basically all that they did is the District sold bonds to pay for the infrastructure (meaning the roads and all of that) and those bonds are repaid by a property tax of just those residents that live that subdivision. She reiterated that those bonds would be paid off in 2020 as well. Mr. Buchanan moved on to Personnel and reported that the Town currently has 50 employees and noted that there are no requests for increases in this area of the proposed budget. He said that the total budget, including benefits, is $3,602,205 and that represents a 6.4% decrease from the current budget. He pointed out that that includes a 2.5% merit increase for employees totaling $64,508 and said that staff's recommendation is that all employees receive a merit adjustment on July 1, 2013 in the amount of 1% and all employees receive a merit adjustment on their evaluation date in the amount of 1.5%. He added that staff will develop an Evaluation & Compensation Plan during this year so they can talk again about the re-initiation of the merit program that used to be in place (will bring that back for further discussion). He advised that by distributing the merit increases throughout the fiscal year the Town saves money. He recommended a 2.5% merit increase for employees as described above. Councilmember Brown MOVED to approve a 1% cost of living increase and up to a 1.5% increase at the time of their review and that the Finance Director receive a total of an 4.8% increase, which would be a $4,500 increase and Councilmember Dickey SECONDED the motion. There were no citizens wishing to speak on this agenda item. Councilmember Yates requested that Councilmember Brown elaborate on how he came up with that figure. Councilmember Brown explained that Human Resources Administrator Joan McIntosh provided the Council with salary comparison data on average for the entire State of Arizona for the Finance Director and that amount was $99,000 a year. He stated that if you take the four municipalities that are just larger than Fountain Hills and four municipalities that are just smaller and you add the Town into it and divide that figure by nine the total amount would be $93,000, which is where she is already at. He added that in a like sized town he felt that the Finance Directors were pretty well compensated but in the same breath she has been carrying the title of Deputy Town Manager for four years and he feels that is worth something. He said that he doesn't feel like it is worth $9,000 but $4,500 would bring her to what her actual Director title is, Finance Director, and would bring her within pennies of what the State average is across the board. Councilmember Yates stated that he believes all of the staff members deserve huge raises because they are all doing four or five jobs under one hat but having said that it goes back to the razor thin budget that they are at -- and he doesn't mean any disrespect to anyone, he would be saying this no matter who the person was -- but he questioned whether they should be looking at any pay increases when they are consolidating some staff size and letting some people go and doing more with less. He added that he appreciates all that Councilmember Brown said but he would like to hear how everyone else feels. He said in times like this he doesn't think there is anyone on the dais who hasn't dealt with similar situations because in tough times they just can't get to that number. He added that he realizes that it balances but at the end of the day that is $9,000 extra dollars that could be used somewhere and requested input from his colleagues. z:\council packets\2013\r130606\130506m.docx Page 6 of 9 Councilmember Brown commented that if they call for the vote he believes everyone's statement will be heard and the Mayor asked if anyone had any comments they would like to make. In response to a request from Mayor Kavanagh, Mr. Buchanan outlined the responsibilities of the Deputy Town Manager, including assisting the Town Manager with all of the functions that are going on. He said that they are functional managers and there are a variety of responsibilities that are shared between the two of them. He added that he assigns her responsibilities to carry out and it is not just Finance although Finance is the biggest part of her job. He noted that she helps him carry out the Council's priorities as well as the Strategic Goals and he could not do that by himself. He stated that on a day-to-day basis she works with the other Directors and staff and special projects. Mayor Kavanagh advised that years ago they used to have a separate position for the Deputy and the salary was quite high just for that one position -- not for joint positions. Mr. Buchanan advised that he was not working for the Town at that time but the responsibilities remain the same. Councilmember Hansen stated that this always becomes a discussion of looking at the organizational chart again, which is not a bad idea because they continually have had so many changes and reductions with few staff. She added that all of the Directors have taken on additional responsibilities as departments were consolidated. She agreed that everyone is doing more. Councilmember Dickey said that overall she thinks that the Council values all that these folks have had to do during all of the drastic staff cuts (115 to 50) and that the budget across the board reflects these values. She stated that the across the board raises are quite appropriate and even with the increases, the entire personnel budget is going down 6.4%. She requested that Councilmember Yates clarify what he was saying (is he not in favor of the raises at all?). Councilmember Yates responded that he is all for cost-of-living and merit increases but he just thinks that during times like this, even though the budget is balanced and is a net negative, and he would say this no matter whose name was behind this, at times like this he doesn't know if that is what they shoul d be doing when they are cutting every other aspect of their budget and asking people to do more with less. He doesn't know if they should necessarily be giving raises at this point in time and added that if there is some additional work, additional responsibilities, he doesn't think there is one staff member who hasn't taken on more -- everybody is doing more with less so he is just trying to wrap his head around this. He further stated that he would like to ask Councilmember Brown if he would be willing to split those motions or he would like to put forward an amendment to do that. Councilmember Brown replied that Councilmember Yates should bring forth his amendment. Councilmember Yates MOVED to amend the motion so that the Council could vote on the cost-of-living and merit increase separately. The motion DIED for lack of a second. Mayor Kavanagh advised that she can see what Councilmember Yates and what everyone else is saying about the increase but the only thing that she sees differently is that this is not just because they added on a little bit of responsibility, this has been since 2009 and it was adding on almost another full-time job. She stated that she thought it would be fair to bring this position up to the staff recommendation of $9,000 because she actually sees it as taking on two jobs. She noted that there are a lot of employees who have taken on a small percentage of other things but this is another job and she has never been compensated for that since 2009 and she hopes that that fact is taken into consideration. z:\council packets\2013\r130606\130506m.docx Page 7 of 9 Councilmember Leger stated that he is very comfortable with Councilmember Brown's motion. He pointed out that for a number of years with the downturn in the economy they have been forced to freeze salaries and their revenue is not screaming up but it has leveled off and even with the 2.5% and by what Councilmember Brown is recommending they are now at a higher decrease than the 6.4% from last year. He added that the conversations are kind of separate and the rationale for this is kind of an equalizer. He believes that the $4,500 is reasonable in that it brings the Finance Director's salary up to $99,000, which is above average for municipalities of that size and at average when you consider the whole State. Vice Mayor Elkie asked if he understood correctly that the Mayor thought it would be more appropriate for this position to be increased by staff's recommendation of $9,000. Mayor Kavanagh responded yes that is her position because she feels it is not just a little extra work, it is an actual second position and they used to have someone who just did this who was paid $80,000. She added that maybe the Finance Director's salary is in line with other towns the same size as Fountain Hills but they are not a combination of Finance Director and Deputy Town Manager. She further stated that she would be okay with the $4,500 but she is just saying that she thinks it would be fair to bring it up higher only because she feels that it is a second job. The Vice Mayor said that would bring it up to $103,500. Vice Mayor Elkie MOVED to amend Councilmember Brown's motion to bring the amount up to $103,500 for the Finance Director/Deputy Town Manager and approve the 1% cost-of-living and 1.5% merit as recommended in the original motion (total of 2.5%) and Mayor Kavanagh SECONDED the motion. Vice Mayor Leger stated that the rationale behind increasing the salary by $9,000 is the dual position and said when they had their first Deputy Town Manager that person also did Economic Development so that salary was equivalent to performing dual positions as well and it was at a lower number. He said that he doesn't want to split hairs but he wanted to clarify that. He agreed that the Finance Director does take on many projects in fulfilling the role of Deputy Town Manager and added that she does a great job at that. The Mayor clarified that one previous Deputy was Economic Development as well but the other was just Deputy Town Manager with no other responsibilities. Councilmember Hansen reiterated that the size of their organization is smaller than the times that they are referring to and there was that whole dialogue of wanting to avoid what happened when they lost the Town Manager and making sure there was someone in succession. She said there was also the practice that if the Town Manager was going to be gone or had special projects he would actually just assign those duties/responsibilities to Directors but they are looking at a different time, place and size of organization. Vice Mayor Elkie commented that he understands Councilmember Yates remarks as far as the money and how tight the budget is but it is really staff that has helped them to weather through these tough economic times. He stated that they are seeing some signs of a turn in the economy and there are going to be other cities and towns paying more and they will lose staff as they have in the past. He added that this is the way to remain competitive and in a small way say thank you to the staff for a job well done. A roll call vote was taken with the following results: Vice Mayor Elkie Aye Councilmember Hansen Nay Councilmember Yates Nay Councilmember Leger Nay Councilmember Brown Nay Councilmember Dickey Nay Mayor Kavanagh Aye z:\council packets\2013\r130606\130506m.docx Page 8 of 9 The motion FAILED for lack of a majority vote (2-5). The Mayor said unless there is additional discussion they are ready to vote on the main motion. In response to a request for clarification from Councilmember Dickey, Mr. Buchanan stated that the merit increase will be 1.5% (not up to 1.5%) on their evaluation anniversary date. Councilmember Dickey noted that everyone will receive a 2.5% total increase this year and staff will look into ways to give merits in the future and come back to Council for discussion on this issue. Mr. Buchanan concurred with Councilmember Dickey's comments. Councilmember Brown amended his motion to remove the words "up to" and Councilmember Dickey agreed. A roll call vote was taken with the following results: Vice Mayor Elkie Aye Councilmember Hansen Aye Councilmember Yates Aye Councilmember Leger Aye Councilmember Brown Aye Councilmember Dickey Aye Mayor Kavanagh Aye The motion CARRIED UNANIMOUSLY (7-0). Mr. Buchanan moved on to the Budget Summary and said it is the Town Manager's recommendation t o approve the proposed 2013-14 budget in the amount of $41,655,378. He requested a motion to proceed with that number and stated that staff will bring back the resolutions at the next Council meeting on May 16th for adoption of the tentative budget, which actually sets the maximum. Councilmember Leger noted that they just lowered the budget by approximately $4,500 and Mr. Buchanan advised that he will put it in contingency. Councilmember Yates MOVED to proceed with the $41,655,378 as recommended by staff and Vice Mayor Elkie SECONDED the motion, which CARRIED UNANIMOUSLY (7-0). AGENDA ITEM #2 - ADJOURNMENT Councilmember Brown MOVED to adjourn the meeting and Councilmember Dickey SECONDED the motion, which CARRIED UNANIMOUSLY (7-0). The meeting adjourned at 6:16 p.m. z:\council packets\2013\r130606\130506m.docx Page 9 of 9 TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS By _______________________________ Linda M. Kavanagh, Mayor ATTEST AND PREPARED BY: ____________________________ Bevelyn J. Bender, Town Clerk CERTIFICATION I hereby certify that the foregoing minutes are a true and correct copy of the minutes of the Special Budget Session held by the Town Council of Fountain Hills in the Town Hall Council Chambers on the 6th day of May, 2013. I further certify that the meeting was duly called and that a quorum was present. DATED this 6th day of June, 2013. _____________________________ Bevelyn J. Bender, Town Clerk