HomeMy WebLinkAbout2013.0212.TCWSM.Minutesz:\council packets\2013\r130307\130212wsm.docx Page 1 of 10
TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS
MINUTES OF THE WORK STUDY SESSION OF THE
FOUNTAIN HILLS TOWN COUNCIL
FEBRUARY 12, 2013
* CALL TO ORDER AND ROLL CALL
Mayor Kavanagh called the meeting to order in the Town Hall Council Chambers at 5:32 p.m.
Present for roll call were the following members of the Fountain Hills Town Council: Mayor Kavanagh,
Councilmember Yates, Vice Mayor Elkie, Councilmember Brown, Councilmember Dickey and Councilmember
Leger. Town Manager Ken Buchanan, Town Attorney Andrew McGuire, Deputy Town Manager/Finance Director
Julie Ghetti, Director of Community Services Paul Mood and Town Clerk Bevelyn J. Bender were also present.
Councilmember Hansen joined the meeting at 5:33 p.m.
AGENDA ITEM #1 - PRESENTATION AND DISCUSSION REGARDING THE PROPOSED CAPITAL
PROJECTS TO BE INCLUDED IN THE TOWN'S TEN-YEAR CAPITAL IMPROVEMENT
PLAN/INFRASTRUCTURE IMPROVEMENT PLAN FOR THE FISCAL YEAR BEGINNING JULY 1, 2013.
Deputy Town Manager/Finance Director Julie Ghetti addressed the Council and provided a brief summary of the
Town's ten-year Capital Improvement Plan/Infrastructure Improvement Plan (Copy available on line and in the office
of the Town Clerk). Ms. Ghetti advised that as part of the annual budget process each year, staff prepares t he Capital
Improvement Plan (CIP) budget for the upcoming fiscal year (13 -14). She explained that the CIP is a summary of
large projects that are either in progress or planning to be constructed in the future. She added that the CIP is also the
basis for the required review of the Development Fees where the Council adopts an Infrastructure Improvement Plan
(IIP). She stated that the CIP that staff is presenting today includes all projects scheduled for the next ten years
including projects that are scheduled to be paid for by proceeds from development fees. She noted that in the event
that there are insufficient Development Fee revenues to pay for the cost of the projects, then alternate funding
resources will have to be utilized or the fees will have to be refunded.
Ms. Ghetti referred to a chart that depicted a ten-year Capital Projects Summary (FY 2014-2019-23) with a total of
$58.1 million.
Ms. Ghetti advised that the Town has a dedicated fund for Capital Projects, the CIP Fund, with a current bal ance of
$9.3 million. She noted that the fund balance will be exhausted at the end of the ten -year period. She added that the
source of revenue for the CIP Fund is half of any sales tax from construction, which is approximately $200,000 to
$300,000 per year. She said that additionally at the end of each Fiscal Year, if there are unspent revenues in the
General Fund, those monies are transferred to the CIP Fund to be used for one time capital expenditures. She pointed
out that the $9.3 million balance that they have now is the result of surplus revenues during the years when
development in Town was booming. She stated that over the last four years the General Fund has contributed
approximately $600,000 to the CIP Fund.
Ms. Ghetti informed the Council that the projects for the next ten years do not include any surplus revenues from the
General Fund or construction sales tax from the Ellman Property. She said that if the Ellman Property develops there
are certain drainage and traffic signal projects tha t the Town may be required to participate in. She added that it does
include approximately $300,000 per year from current building sales tax, however, there is legislation moving forward
that would eliminate the construction sales tax to cities and towns, which will require the Town to find other sources of
funding for capital projects.
Ms. Ghetti also referred to a chart of funding sources for the capital projects in the ten -year CIP broken down by year.
She noted that the developer funding is for the park projects at the Ellman Property (required by the Development
Agreement). She said that the Town doesn't actually get the money -- the parks are constructed by the developer and
donated back to the Town. She added that the $8.2 million in bonds assumes that an initiative will be moving forward
to ask voters to approve the reconstruction of Saguaro Boulevard. She stated that the Town's CIP Fund of $10.1
million will be used for those projects that require matching funds for grants or there is no other funding source. She
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said that development fees can only be used for projects that are related to growth (Adero Canyon Trailhead, a new
Fire Station and Pocket Park on the west side of Town).
Ms. Ghetti referred to the third slide, which depicted projects that are included in the upcoming 2013-14 budget and
said that these projects are either in design or scheduled to begin construction next fiscal year. She added that the
following slides are a brief discussion of each project and said that a complete description of each project is included in
the Capital Improvement Program booklet that was distributed to the Council and is available on the website. She
advised that the goal today is to review each capital project, respond to any questions from the Co uncil and hopefully
present a final CIP for Council consideration on Thursday, March 21st as the precursor to public hearings for the
Development Fee review and IIP. She stated that Mr. Mood will now address the Council and indicated her
willingness to respond to any questions relative to funding or available resources.
Councilmember Dickey commented that Ms. Ghetti discussed the construction sales tax and said that 50% comes from
there. She said that yesterday she heard an economist talk about the bill and it sounded pretty much like everybody
was going along with that bill. She noted that one of the things the economist said was that this has always been so
sketchy and they didn't consider that cities already did put it towards one-time projects. She added that in the past they
did have more than 50% that would go into this and it was a little disheartening to hear that because it sounded like
they thought they were doing them a favor by doing what they are going to do with the construction sales tax instead of
realizing that some cities already figured that out and are using it for one-time projects.
Development Services Director Paul Mood addressed the Council and provided a brief overview of each of the
projects, which included the following:
* The Ashbrook Wash channelization project. (The Town applied for a grant from the Flood Control District and
received 50% matching funds for a $1.5 million project.)
* Miscellaneous Drainage Improvements
* Downtown Vision Master Plan Phase I (A placeholder for a grant in case the Greening Committee receives a grant
that they want to pass along to the Town to do some work.)
Vice Mayor Elkie asked Mr. Mood if he knows where they stand as far as the grant process and Mr. Mood said that he
has not received any updates.
Mayor Kavanagh commented that they can also get donations and Mr. Mood said if they wanted to pass it along to the
Town to do the work but typically they have done the work themselves. Mr. Mood continued the discussion:
* Downtown Vision Master Plan Phase II (A developer-type incentive for the Downtown area.) If the theatre project
had moved forward this is the funding source that would have been used to do the streetscape along the Avenue
and the Art Walk and greenbelt along the backside. If the larger vacant parcel near Saguaro develops, this could
be used to do the streetscape for that project.
Mayor Kavanagh stated that this is just basically holding the money in case a developer comes in and Mr. Mood
concurred with that statement.
Councilmember Leger said that they have followed this for years and it was $1 million and now it is $400,000 and he
doesn't know if this is a typo but the text still says $1 million.
Mr. Mood advised that staff will make that correction.
Councilmember Yates asked if this is just limited to the south side and Mr. Mood stated no, it is for the Downtown
area and continued with the discussion.
* Avenue of the Fountains Median Improvements (A construction budget of approximately $1.2 million and
another $160,000 for design and SRP related work.) They are reserving $400,000 for a lighting package and that
is why the budget is $1.76 million. 45% plans are in and there is a review/comment meeting tomorrow.
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The Mayor commented that the lighting project may come in less and Mr. Mood agreed.
Vice Mayor Elkie asked if this is a not to exceed $1.7 million cost and Mr. Mood said yes and continued with the
discussion.
* Street Maintenance Facility Improvements. Using HURF Reserve Funds to buy a new modular-type trailer for the
Street Yard Office. Some water line work will have to be done, including the addition of a new fire sprinkler line.
Mr. Mood advised that the old Fire Station trailer has some asbestos in it and cannot be used for this purpose.
Councilmember Yates stated that this whole site needs a major overhaul because it is non -conforming on so many
different levels. He said that since they are in a down economy and commercial property is somewhat down, and
asked if they were open to the idea of looking around and trying to get some matching funds/grants or is this is pretty
well set and the money has to be used for this purpose.
Mr. Mood said yes, pretty much.
Councilmember Leger asked if the $225,000 is the extent of the cost to upgrade this facility and Mr. Mood replied that
this is just for the office building. This will pay to remove the existing trailer, bring a new one in and pay fo r any new
water lines and utility upgrades that are needed for the trailer. He added that there might possibly be some
miscellaneous items/work needed on the site.
In response to a question from Vice Mayor Elkie, Ms. Ghetti advised that the HURF doesn't have a fund balance policy
because it typically isn't even enough to maintain the streets but there staff is projecting that approximately $250,000
will be left over at the end of this fiscal year if the revenues continue to come in. She noted that every year they get
about $1.3 million, which is separate from Pavement Management.
Councilmember Leger commented that he sees that they are looking at the possibility of relocating a Fire Station in
Fiscal Year 2014-15. He asked whether any consideration has been given to vacating the facility on Saguaro and then
that in part could be utilized for some of the services that take place in the Maintenance Yard (i.e. large garage where
vehicles are repaired, etc.).
Mr. Mood replied that staff has talked about that a little and noted that the Fire Station #2 site is not really set up for
that. He said that the Street Maintenance Facility has a large block wall around it so that everything is secure (the
equipment). He added that the garage shop is set up with hydraulic lifts and they have a station where they can wash
down vehicles and equipment and it collects the oil, grease and grit so they can pump that out. He reiterated that the
Fire Station #2 site really isn't set up to be used as a Street Maintenance Facility.
Councilmember Leger said that he understands that but was wondering if some of the functions could occur in
different locations instead of having to spend money to enhance those particular buildings. He added that repairing
vehicles is something that occurs inside rather than outside and they wouldn't necessarily need a protective wall. He
said that he is glad that they have a protective wall because when you walk in there it looks like a third world country
so the wall is a good thing.
Councilmember Hansen asked if discussion ever takes place about what the Streets Department might look like in ten
or fifteen years. She said that she knows discussion is taking place about outsourcing some different activities and she
wondered if this goes into the forward thinking of what might happen in the future.
Mr. Mood responded that that Master Plan was done when there were ten or twelve employees in the Streets
Department so it was a much larger operation and they did a lot of things in-house. He said that the basic day-to-day
functions of the Streets Department are going to be a $1 million to $1.1 million operation no matter if they contracted
everything that they possibly could out. He noted that they are pretty much at the minimal number of people right now
so unless they get more money and want to start to do more things in-house they can keep this site up and keep using
it. He added that if they do grow in the future they will have to revisit the Master Plan. He said that they are
constantly changing but for now they are down to the bare bones staff wise and are moving towards contracting out as
much as possible.
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Councilmember Dickey stated that she missed the part about the $225,000 coming out of the road fund and said that
when they did the Pavement Management Program and went through and found the $756,000 or whatever it was, did
they know that they were going to have $225,000 extra in there?
Mr. Mood replied that they anticipated some reserves but they also anticipated that they needed to do a new office
building at the Street Yard as well.
Councilmember Dickey said that when they had the discussion that they had about having to find that money and go
do the things that they did almost to the penny to make things balance, were they aware of the fact that they were going
to have the $225,000 extra to do that at the time. She stated that she doesn't recall that as being part of the discussion
to weigh against some of the other things that they took out.
Ms. Ghetti advised that they already took some of the HURF money to put towards Pavement Management (an
estimated $100,000). She said that staff is estimating that there may be $200,000 left over this year that they will
budget for next year but they won't know until the end of the year. She pointed out that it will be "one time" and is not
something that they can dedicate to Pavement Management because once it's gone, it's gone. She added that every
year the $100,000 is dedicated to Pavement Management and is on top of the $750,000 from the General Fund.
Councilmember Dickey stated that if this project didn't go forward this would be available for next year but it would
not be something that they could rely on and Ms. Ghetti concurred with Councilmember Dickey's statement.
Mr. Mood continued with his presentation as follows:
* Fire Station #1 Renovation (The design contract was awarded in December and they are moving towards the 30%
design and will be having a Design Review meeting next week and hope to bid the construction portion out after
July -- probably August 2013).
* Portable Live Fire Training Unit. This is a grant that the Fire Department has applied for along with the Rio
Verde Fire Department and the Fort McDowell Fire Department. The $16,000 General Fund would be the
Town's portion of the match and they anticipate that the unit would be housed somewhere on Fort McDowell
property.
* Assistance to Firefighters Grant - Radios. The Fire Department has applied for this grant and there is a $12,000
General Fund match.
In response to a question from the Mayor, Mr. Mood confirmed that the Town will own all of the equipment and
continued with the discussion.
* Fountain Park Improvements. This will finish off the Master Plan at Fountain Park and staff anticipates that
design would start after July 1st with construction next year.
* Fountain Lake Water Quality Improvements. If the Town does not come to an agreement with the Sanitary
District it is anticipated that they will remove their current aeration system and put in a more modern,
updated/larger aeration system. In the IGA negotiations, if there was a component for the Town to kick in some
funds as well then they would have some funds available.
Councilmember Hansen asked if the Water Quality Management Program was completed and Mr. Mood advised that
the report was complete.
Councilmember Leger commented that they need to update the language; Mr. Mood agreed and proceeded with the
discussion.
* Urban Trail Improvements. Mr. Mayer and his staff has been working on Phase I and Mr. Mood believes they are
getting ready to unveil that shortly. There is $20,000 a year over the next four years for other trails. ($50,000 this
year that they are currently in and then $20,000 over the next four years.)
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Mayor Kavanagh asked what the work entails and Mr. Mood advised kiosks for the trailheads to provide some
information, signage, etc.
Councilmember Dickey asked if the part that was completed is usable and Mr. Mood replied that he believes that the
unveiling is going to occur in March.
Councilmember Hansen noted that the work will also include completing some of the gaps in the sidewa lks of the
Urban Trail Plan and said it made her think of the gaps in the sidewalks in the Downtown area.
The Mayor asked if there was a Downtown trail and Mr. Mood said no, explaining that the first one kind of comes
down The Avenue area but not down Palisades or Parkview.
Councilmember Hansen stated that she would hope that as they do this somewhere they would include the gaps she
referred to.
Mr. Mood noted that there used to be a Downtown Sidewalk Program in the CIP but said that that was removed two
years ago due to funding issues and Council priorities at that time.
Mayor Kavanagh asked if there was a trail that went by Basha's because there is no sidewalk on either side and Mr.
Mood said no, there is not. He explained that they focused on areas where the sidewalks were complete. He noted that
originally the plan was to go all around the Civic Center and then come down on Palisades but there is a section of
sidewalk that is missing down there so they ended up coming back through and across the front of Town Hall and back
to Fountain Park. He advised that the next trails will be the Falcon Trail, which goes around the high school area and
Sunridge. Mr. Mood said that staff has a large scale map that shows the overall plan and the dark lines in dicate the
trails that staff believes they can complete and the hash marks show work that will be done in the future. He
confirmed that no trail will be considered complete unless there is sidewalk and moved the discussion forward.
* Unpaved Alley Projects. This is the result of a 2007 Council Resolution with the County for PM-10 reduction.
The language says that the Town shall complete the alleys as funding becomes available and they started in 2008-
09, took a few years off and now are looking at getting back into completing the rest of the alleys.
Mr. Mood confirmed that all of the alleys are Town property (Town right-of-way).
In response to a request from Vice Mayor Elkie, Town Attorney Andrew McGuire explained that this was the County's
implementation of the Federal mandates relative to PM-10 reduction. He noted that unpaved roads are one of the
mitigation efforts that have been identified in order to comply. He added that there are communities in the State that
have hundreds of miles of unpaved roads so Fountain Hills is fairly lucky in this regard. He stated that although he is
not aware of any action being taken, he views moving ahead with this as being a move in the right direction.
Councilmember Dickey said that when that was passed, the Town was literally told that Highway Funding to the State
of Arizona could be in play here because it had been so long before they mitigated the PM-10. She noted that that was
part of it along with the leaf blowers and things like that. She added that they have been able to take a lot of years to
do it and she hasn't heard anything about any action being taken. She said that every Christmas they can't light their
fireplaces so hopefully this will help mitigate that. She stated that she wishes they didn't have to do so much of it at
once this year.
Mr. Mood explained that the $695,000 is over a three-year period and some of that has already been done.
Councilmember Leger commented that he recalls that in 2007 they sat there and passed the Resolution. He noted that
it was an unfunded mandate and there were threats about taking away the Highway Funding. He stated that in the
areas that have been paved they don't have the flooding problems that they had in the past (they drain a lot better) so
something positive has come out of this.
Vice Mayor Elkie said that it just seems silly to him because they are surrounded by desert.
The Mayor said that the 13 acres of land that are sitting outside is a big dust bowl. Mr. Mood continued the discussion.
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* Shea Boulevard Widening. This is an ongoing project and most of it is the Proposition 400. They are currently at
95% design and they need to get some easements and rights-of-way from the property owners at the intersection
of Shea and Saguaro so those are being finalized. Every year MAG (Maricopa Association of Governments) has
revised their Proposition 400 numbers and the reimbursements of the $2.7 million in their most recent update
(their ALCP) he believes are $500,000 in FY 14, $700,000 in FY 15, no money in FY 16 and a little over $1
million in FY 17. The Town is going to have to carry a portion of this project until they receive the
reimbursements. Most of it is covered by outside sources but they will have to wait a little bit to get the money.
Councilmember Dickey advised that the intersection is going to mitigate some of what happens over by the Circle K
and McDonalds. She asked if there is any order as to what will get done first and Mr. Mood said that that will be up to
the contractor when the work is bid out.
Councilmember Leger asked what the timeline was (when are they going to break ground?) and Mr. Mood stated that
the big thing is going to be the easements and they should be finalized by the end of the month and will be forwarded
to the Town Attorney's Office. He said that then they will have to talk to the property owners and noted that one of the
properties is bank owned (the corner of Trevino and Saguaro) and the plan is to put a right turn lane there so if they are
not responsive staff will have to go back and design out the right turn lane and whenever that property sells and
develops they will have to put it back in. He added that utilities and rights -of-ways are typically a road project's
stumbling blocks. He said that if everything goes okay they can possibly start mid-summer. Mr. Mood continued with
the discussion
* Pavement Management Program. This is the $1 million of the CIP Fund that will supplement Zone 7, the arterial
roads (Fountain Hills Boulevard, Palisades, some portions of Shea and the public roads that go into Eagle
Mountain as well).
* Saguaro Boulevard Reconstruction. They are showing $8.2 million, which includes the t-intersection and staff will
be talking about that at the next Council meeting. If staff gets direction at that meeting then they can put together
the final numbers and get them over to Mr. McGuire and hopefully call an election.
* Fountain Hills Boulevard Shoulder Paving. This project is ongoing and they are at 60% design. This was a
congestion mitigation grant and when they use Federal grants they have to follow Federal processes, which
includes environmental, etc. These projects take time but it is moving forward.
* Highway Safety Improvement Program. This is a grant that the Town was previously awarded and it was to
provide for the LED lights on the signal heads, pedestrian countdown timers and some impact attenuators on guard
rails. This was administered by ADOT (Arizona Department of Transportation) and the person that staff was
working with retired so it was put on hold for a while. Staff had a meeting with the new person a few weeks ago
so they are back up and running. Staff had hoped to get it done this fiscal year but since it was put o n hold for a
little while they are carrying it over to next fiscal year just in case they can't get it all completed this year.
Discussion ensued relative to the pedestrian countdown timers and the fact that these do not emit any sound, the
Mayor's question as to whether sound is an ADA requirement and staff's response that it is not; the fact that ADOT
bids this out (they purchase it and the Town installs it); staff's intention to look into pedestrian countdown timers with
sound before the work gets bid out and the fact that they can control how slowly they change. Mr. Mood continued:
* Shea Boulevard Eastbound Bike Lane and Overlay. This is the portion of a larger project that has not been done
from Palisades to Fountain Hills Boulevard eastbound. The original project included a bike lane (there is not one
there currently) so staff talked with ADOT and they will let the Town go back and reuse that grant to add the bike
lane. Staff tried to get them to use it to resurface Shea in that area but they refused because it wasn't in the
original project. This is a Federal grant and may take a while to complete (start to finish about two years).
Councilmember Brown said that since this was designed once before is there the possibility that this will go a little
quicker and Mr. Mood said perhaps a little quicker but they will probably make the Town go through the
environmental and right-of-way clearances and that is the biggest hurdle.
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Additional discussion ensued relative to Vice Mayor Elkie's reference to a CIP project last year to connect Scottsdale's
trails on the south side of Shea just coming into Fountain Hills and Mr. Mood's comment that Scottsdale has not yet
completed the work to the Town's border; the Vice Mayor's question as to whether any of the grant monies could be
applied to that project (complete the Town's section) and Mr. Mood's response that there is a grant for that section and
when staff previously brought the IGA to Council for approval the Council denied it so it was not included in the CIP
Update (it had about a $136,000 Town match); the fact that whenever the Town applies for grants any work done has
to be specific to that project; the fact that this would be a sidewalk on the Fountain Hills ' side and a bike path on
Scottsdale's side; reflective pavement markers in bike lanes and the Mayor's comment that there have been some bike
accidents on Shea and it might help to put those in between the bike and car lanes; and Mr. Mood's comment that he
believes they are in place right now so it would stay the same. Mr. Mood moved forward with the discussion.
* Traffic Signal at Palisades/Saguaro. This is a component of the Saguaro reconstruction project hopefully.
Mayor Kavanagh noted that on Saguaro over by Panorama and looking at the light across the street, it is kind of to the
right. She stated that a lot of people don't even see it over there and asked if it was going to be moved so that it is
closer to the corner.
Mr. Mood advised that this project will be designed so that there is proper mast arm lengths.
Councilmember Dickey asked whether staff has looked at any alternatives for that intersection and Mr. Mood
responded no. She said that lights have ongoing maintenance so she wondered if any alternatives to a light were
considered. She referred to the Downtown Plan and stated that while they are looking at these projects -- the median,
the other intersection and even the intersection by the Post Office that they have talked about before -- they should be
thinking "big picture" and 20 years ahead and at least be considering these three intersections and perhaps coming up
with a plan for all of them. She added that she doesn't believe they have ever discussed whether this could be a
roundabout if they kept only two lanes on Saguaro. She noted that it doesn't hurt to talk about t hese things because
they are in the middle of doing a project and talking about projects that seem as though they are separated but are
really connected. She said that since this is a Work Study Session she would just like to put out there the possibility of
coming up with an alternative to a light there.
Mr. Mood asked whether Councilmember Dickey was talking about one lane in each direction to Palisades and
Councilmember Dickey stated that they talked about just having one lane in each direction on Saguaro in front of the
Fountain so she didn't know if that continued on through Palisades then that would be two lanes.
Mr. Mood advised that right now the option that will be presented at the next Council meeting will be the one lane in
each direction with on-street parking from Paul Nordin to Parkview and then it would widen back out again.
Councilmember Dickey stressed the importance of putting everything on the table and talking about it and said it
would be one more block of just two lanes if they did that (if they went to Palisades). Mr. Mood stated that they would
have to go past Palisades a little ways.
Councilmember Dickey reiterated that she is just putting it out there because they are looking at projects and looking at
the Downtown Area Specific and have a vision for what they wanted there and Panorama comes right up there -- it is
obviously still part of the park feel so she just wanted to mention it.
Mr. Mood commented that Councilmember Dickey brought up the La Montana section and advised that there was a
CIP project for a roundabout at that intersection before but because of the budget it was taken out.
Councilmember Dickey noted that she believes there is a lot of dissatisfaction with that intersection and she doesn't
know if there have been accidents but she believes that it behooves them to look at everything when they are doing
these kinds of things.
Councilmember Leger said that he realizes that they will be looking at the intersection of Saguaro and Avenue of the
Fountains in one of their next meetings and stated that it invites the question that if during that meeting there is a
discussion about doing some enhancements to that intersection, above and beyond what was programmed in the bond,
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he doesn't see any money in the Capital Projects to address that so how would they address that? He asked if they
would come back and revise the Capital Plan.
Mr. Mood responded that staff would have to take a look at the projects and see which one or two they would
eliminate in order to free up the money if that was Council's direction.
Councilmember Leger commented that basically Mr. Mood is looking at it as an "and/or" rather than as an additional
project. He asked if they actualize all of what is proposed for FY 2013 -14 (everything that has been presented this
evening) what their Capital Fund balance would be at the end of FY 2013-14.
Ms. Ghetti advised that $4.8 million of the $10 million would be used next year.
Councilmember Leger said that if they did all of this this year, the $4.8 mil lion, there would be approximately a $5
million balance.
Ms. Ghetti stated correct but added that because they are in the middle of a review for the Development Fees and the
Impact Fees they are looking at a 10-year horizon because they need to plan the projects out. She added that $4.8
million is next year but there are other projects that are going to go all the way out. She said that she thinks that what
Mr. Mood is saying is if they want to make room for other projects then they need to take projects out. She noted that
that is what staff was hoping for today -- to get feedback from the Council because if this is okay they will be moving
forward with this and bringing it back to the Council for approval because then that leads into the IIP and the
Development Fee study that is ongoing right now.
Councilmember Leger thanked Ms. Ghetti for the clarification. He noted that they would certainly have a fund balance
but because of the 10-year extension they don't want to spend that so it is "this project versus that project." He pointed
out that as they have agendized this discussion if they do something (and he is on the fence about this) that exceeds
what is in the bond then they are going to have to have this discussion again and he just wanted to put it out there. He
added that obviously this is not the time to do it because there will be another meeting to discuss that intersection so he
just wanted to know how they were going to handle that.
Mayor Kavanagh asked if this is anticipating that every year there will be about $300,000 from construction and Ms.
Ghetti responded yes but noted that they did not assume any construction sales tax from the Ellman Property in the ten
years. She said that obviously if the Ellman Property comes in five years fro m now then that will change things. She
stated that for the purpose of this and because of the legislation going forward there is only about $300,000 each year
from construction sales tax included in the revenue projections for ten years.
Mayor Kavanagh advised that if the Transaction Privilege Tax (TPT) as written now goes through from the Task Force
then they won't see that $300,000 extra and Ms. Ghetti concurred. She added that they actually would lose the other
half in the General Fund and would have to make adjustments in the General Fund as well as in the Capital Projects
Fund.
Councilmember Dickey commented that she hasn't looked at the bill and asked if there is any language in there to
mitigate impacts on towns like Fountain Hills that would be particularly affected or a timeframe -- either they would
let the Town do it over time or are they just going to look at however many cities/towns this will be and say sorry and
cut them off at the pass. She asked if there was any talk about amendments to possibly mitigate it if it goes where it
looks like it is going.
Mr. McGuire advised that the bill was released yesterday and is about 90 pages long. He stated that they haven't
gotten a very thorough understanding of all of the different pieces of it. He noted that implementation is thought to be
after 2015 but they are still in a very near horizon on this type of thing. He added that he suspects there is going to be
a lot of movement one way or the other on this or a lot of attempts at moving it along one way or another. He said that
unfortunately yesterday it was portrayed as being supported by the cities and towns which is not the case particularly
in the form that it is in. He pointed out that there has been very vocal opposition to three componen ts of the ten
recommendations and apparently the bill looks to implement all ten recommendations.
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Mayor Kavanagh stated that to say that cities and towns are for this is really a big stretch and noted that she along with
the other East Valley Mayors, signed a letter to the Governor that was on her desk before this even came out. She said
that the Governor did see that the Mayors signed it and she was here on Friday and it was so important to get the letter
to the Governor that Mayor Lane sent a courier down on Friday just so that he could get her signature. She pointed out
that they can't say that there isn't any opposition to this and she was really disappointed to see how many
Representatives from both sides of the aisle had sponsored it and they will continue to fight it.
Councilmember Hansen advised that there was an article in the newspaper today that portrayed the Governor as saying
that the intent was not to harm the cities and towns and expressed a desire from the Governor to work with the citie s
and towns on this so that when it comes out it doesn't have a negative impact. She added that it sounded kind of
positive in the newspaper.
Town Manager Ken Buchanan stated that that is not what is in the bill -- the bill is going to have impacts. He said that
they have already heard from the League that there are going to be winners and losers but even the perceived winners
like Phoenix are going to potentially lose $20 million because of the way it is written today.
Mr. McGuire informed the Council that the concern is with the balance, the way that the makeup is being portrayed
and the things that are going to be put into the equation to come back to cities and towns are theoretical and based on
assumptions that really are not true. He said that at the City Managers meeting last week he talked to a Manager who
knows a company that works out of northern Arizona that makes all of the State's guardrails. He said that he was told
that every piece of material comes from Utah so for massive projects like that the assumption is being put forth in this
bill is that there would be revenue associated with that in the State, which is not true at all.
Councilmember Leger stated that he read an article that mentioned tweaking the bill and one of the things that they
were looking at was changing the State Shared Revenue formula as a trade off so that any lost income would come
through that. He added that they know that that is a very slippery slope.
Mr. Buchanan said if it came from the State side yes, but it wo uld be a "shell game" because if they take it from their
share then they are taking it from the Town and giving it to the Town and that is a zero.
Mr. Mood advised that future projects that fall between FY 2015 and FY 2023 include the following:
* The Oxford Wash at Fountain Hills Boulevard (FY 2022 for planning purposes)
* Fire Station #2 Relocation (FY 2015)
* Fire Station #3 Construction (A Development Fee project on Town-owned property - FY 2022). There will not
be sufficient Development Fees so they will need to come up with another funding source or return the money to
the homeowners.
* Ellman Parks (FY 2019-20). There is no indication at this time of their plans
* Future Pocket Park on the west side of Town (next to the Fire Station). If there are not sufficient Development
Fees an alternate funding source will have to be found.
* Adero Canyon Trailhead. Development Fees for this have been collected over a few years and they have
approximately $1.7 million. The total project is estimated to be roughly under $2 million so staff is showing
making up the difference with Capital Projects funds since they know they have a very large portion of
Development Fees collected for that. This is tied to whenever Adero Canyon develops.
Mr. Mood stated that if the Council wants to add anything staff will have to look at tweaking the projects that they
have seen tonight.
The Mayor asked if they have the money for the trailhead if Adero Canyon came in sooner and Mr. Mood responded
yes -- staff is already programming in the $230,000.
Mayor Kavanagh thanked Mr. Mood for his presentation and input.
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AGENDA ITEM #2 – ADJOURNMENT.
Councilmember Leger MOVED to adjourn the meeting and Councilmember Yates SECONDED the motion. The
Work Study Session adjourned at 6:37 p.m.
TOWN OF FOUNTAIN HILLS
By __________________________
Linda M. Kavanagh, Mayor
ATTEST AND
PREPARED BY:
__________________________
Bev Bender, Town Clerk
CERTIFICATION
I hereby certify that the foregoing minutes are a true and correct copy of the minutes of the Work Study Session held
by the Town Council of Fountain Hills in the Town Hall Council Chambers on the 12th day of February, 2013. I
further certify that the meeting was duly called and that a quorum was present.
DATED this 21st day of March, 2013.
_____________________________
Bevelyn J. Bender, Town Clerk