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060809 CC WS Min5755 COUNTRY CLUB ROAM COUNCIL CHAMBERS 6:00 P.M. MINUTES 1. CONVENE CITE' COUNCIL WORK SESSION Mayor Lizee called the meeting to order at 6:03 P.M. A. Roll Call Present. Mayor Lizee; Councilmembers Bailey (arrived at 6:45 P.M.), Turgeon, Woodruff and Zerby; Administrator Heck; Finance Director Burton; Planning Director Nielsen; and Engineer Landini Absent: None B. Review Agenda Turgeon moved, Zerby seconded, approving the agenda as presented. Motion passed 4/0. 2. 2010 BUDGET CALENDAR AND KICK-OFF Director Burton stated this was the kickoff meeting for 2010 budget discussions. Council had been provided with the schedule for budget discussions, noting meetings would be held only if needed. The department heads have submitted their initial budgets to her and Administrator Heck, and they would have the initial budgets available for Council to discuss during its June 22nd budget work session. Burton explained cities with populations over 2,500 are subject to levy limits for 2010. The Pay2010 levy limit allows for up to a 3.9% inflationary increase or an Implicit Price Deflator (IPD) increase in the base levy over the 2009 base levy, which ever is less. The League of Minnesota Cities (LMC) first quarter data has the IPD at approximately 0.76%. Using the IPD, the City's anticipated allowable increase would be approximately $31,600. She noted the City's base levy increase for Pay2009 was $101,755, or 2.51% from 2008. She stated she anticipated the City would have "special levies" for debt service on bonds for the public safety facilities and for the City Hall renovation. These levies are in addition to the base levy. Administrator Heck stated if the City has a special levy for law enforcement costs, that levy is subtracted from the allowable base levy. Director Burton stated some of the General Fund reserves will be used to offset 2010 costs. The City has been receiving emails from other cities which indicate they will not have any wage increases in 2010. She anticipated the City would still budget some amount for merit increases. Councilmember Turgeon stated it is her understanding that the City will use the pay-for-performance system for administrating wage increases in 2010; the system of automatic inflationary increases will no longer be used. Administrator Heck concurred with Turgeon's statement. Turgeon commented that the City of Excelsior has frozen wages for its non-union and union personnel for 2010. Burton stated union contract wage increases will have to be discussed as part of contract negotiations this year. Heck stated Council will CI ' INC I ZS June 1 : 109 Page 2 of 6 have to discuss that when appropriate. Heck then stated he was not anticipating across-the-board increases. Director Burton stated because the City has limited funds and limited taxing authority for 2010 Staff would appreciate it if Council would identify specific programs or goals they would like Staff to address. Administrator Heck stated it is his understanding that if the IPD goes lower than 0.0% the City would have to reduce its base levy by the IPD. The Minnesota Department of Revenue must notify those cities with levy limits by July 15t" what their levy limit will be. Once the Department of Revenue certifies the City's maximum base levy limit it won't be changed. Councilmember Woodruff suggested Staff prepare a first draft of the 2010 budget with a zero percent tax levy increase over the adopted 2009 budget, and then identify what cannot be done under that scenario. He recommended the budget provide for a contingency fund for Southshore Center operations and some amount of capital for repairs to the Center. He stated he understood that would mean there would have to be a reduction in other areas to offset that. He stated the budget should also provide for the same level of finding for roadways and parks as was done in 2009. Director Burton stated the City was in the position of being able to use General Fund reserves for budget purposes. Councihnember Woodruff stated the 2008 Comprehensive Annual Financial Report indicates there are funds remaining in the Waterford III Tax Increment Fund. He recommended using those funds. Administrator Heck explained those funds can only be spent for a purpose consistent with the City's tax increment financing (TIF) plan. Director Burton explained if the City can't find a way to use the funds consistent with its TIF plan, then the funds are returned to Hennepin County and the County would then distribute the funds to the taxing authority. The City would likely get one-fourth of the funds back. Woodruff suggested, if need be, a project can be moved forward on the schedule to allow the City to utilize those funds. Councihnember Zerby asked what the impact would be on the City's tax revenues from the declining property values. Director Burton stated the City tax base has decreased approximately 2% in value. Zerby then asked if that meant the City would receive 2% less from the State. Burton stated it would not. She explained the City establishes its levy and the levy is spread among the available taxing resources. She stated she would provide Council with a "Property Taxation 101" type document for its next budget work session; the document should help answer some of Council's questions. Councilmember Zerby asked what the impact is on the individual taxpayer. Administrator Heck sated that depends on the City's levy and the property's estimated value. Councihnember Zerby stated he thought calling a budget increase a 0.0% increase was somewhat of a misnomer. In order to achieve a 0.0%, increased inflationary costs will have to be absorbed and those increases will have to offset by reductions to other line items. Councilmember Woodruff stated he had encouraged the Park Commission make a prioritized list of projects, including estimated costs, it would like to have completed in 2010. Administrator Heck stated the Commission would do that during its June 9`" meeting. Director Burton recapped what she heard Council's direction to be. Staff was to prepare a 2010 budget with a 0.0% increase over the 2009 adopted budget. If possible, the 2010 budget will provide contingency funds for Southshore Center operations and Center capital maintenance, and funds for roadways and CITY INUTES Julie 8 Page 3 of parks consistent with the 2009 budget. Staff will research possible uses for the balance in the Waterford III Tax Increment Fund. Staff will prepare more detailed expense information for discussion during the June 22nd budget work session. Administrator Heck stated Staff was considering establishing a separate fund for the Southshore Center. Councilmember Woodruff assumed that would mean that funds would be transferred out of the General Fund to a Southshore Center Fund. Mayor Lizde stated it may be appropriate to include that in the Parks & Recreation budget. She thought doing so would put the City in a better place to try and receive grant funding in the future. Administrator Heck asked Council what type of budget information it wanted Staff to prepare for discussion. Councilmember Zerby stated he wanted information that would easily indicate where the largest impacts would be; it could help expedite budget discussions. Councilmember Woodruff stated the financial exhibits prepared for the 2009 budget discussions were good for the most part. He commented that accurate labor distribution and capital outlay information would be beneficial to have early in the process. Director Burton explained the first draft of the 2010 budget will be based on the 2009 adopted budget, and her initial focus on the early budget drafts is on the numbers. The department heads are to provide service indicator information and capital outlay descriptions. She stated labor distribution will be based on the first 5 - 6 months of 2009 actual information. Woodruff stated that because the General Fund Budget will be considered before the Enterprise Budgets, it's difficult to determine if the labor allocation in the General Fund is correct or if there has been a change to it. Director Burton suggested Council discuss the very preliminary and unadjusted 2009 Year-to-Date General Fund Monthly Budget Report through May 20009, noting the City received its May bank statement that day. She stated in general the 2009 General Fund Budget is on target. Burton stated the City is experiencing some revenue shortfalls. Year-to-date revenues for licenses and permits are $68,784. Of that $56,580 is for building permits and that is approximately 31% of the 2009 budget. Building permit revenue for the same period in 2008 was $103,000 or approximately 51%. Permit revenues are an area where the City could have a shortfall. Councilmember Woodruff stated if, for example, 20% of the 2008 budget for permit revenue was achieved in the first quarter of 2008 and 35% in the second quarter, he wondered what the 2009 year-end result would be if one assumes the same percent numbers are applicable to 2009. Burton explained it was anticipated that the City would have received 53% of the total budgeted revenues from permits by this time; the 31% through May is significantly down from that. Woodruff questioned how the budget will be adjusted to compensate for that. Burton explained that revenues from fines and forfeitures were on target. Councilmember Woodruff stated the budget reflects the City is significantly overachieving on miscellaneous revenues. He questioned if that was sustainable. Director Burton stated she would research what revenues have been included in that; it may include revenues from Southshore Center rentals. She said some of the miscellaneous revenues may not be classified correctly. Burton stated operating expenditures to date were on target. Most departments expenditures are on target at 41.67% (or 5/12) of the budget. Professional services year-to-date are higher than expected. She explained the City has already paid 50% of the cost for the assessor. Legal fees have been higher than anticipated; some of the costs are related to the issue of the Southshore Center. There was also a settlement for Ron Johnson. The expenditures for Parks and Recreation are somewhat higher than anticipated. Some of that is the reallocation of resources to Parks and Recreation to cover the costs of the contract with Community Rec Resources for park coordinator services. Heck stated the Stormwater CITY O - v4DI2 - _ NUTES June3 Page 4 of r Management and Sanitary Sewer Enterprise Funds as well as Engineering should reflect a small savings to offset this increase. Heck noted the reallocation of costs budgeted for the engineering technician position for 2009 are not reflected in the 2009 budget. Director Burton stated the year-to-date total operating expenditures are 40.18% of the total 2009 operating budget; the anticipated was 41.67%. Councilmember Zerby stated lie would eventually like the budget reports to be a 12-month rolling comparison. Councilmember Woodruff stated the 2009 year-to-date expenditures compared to 2008 same period expenditures are not out of line. Director Burton expressed her comfort with the 2009 expenditures being on target. Councilmember Woodruff stated year-to-date utility revenues in the Water Fund are $60,000 higher than for the same period in 2008. He questioned why. Director Burton explained there have been some connections to City water. Councilmember Turgeon commented she thought there were a number that occurred as part of the Wedgewood Drive project. Burton stated the City has also replaced the majority of the water meters with radio read meters; that may contribute to part of the increase. She stated she will research whether this type of increase can be sustained. Director Burton stated the Sanitary Sewer Fund Budget reflects a possible $300,000 transfer to the Stormwater Fund. Director Burton stated Councilmember Woodruff had asked if it was necessary to have a Shorewood Economic Development Authority meeting soon. She explained it usually meets the fourth Monday in July, and she anticipated the meeting would be scheduled for July 27`" Councilmember Bailey arrived at 6:45 P.M. 3. MISSION STATEMENT Administrator Heck stated Staff had met twice since the May 26, 2009, Council meeting to discuss a mission statement. This was done per the direction from Council. Staff has presented Council with four mission statements for their consideration and revision. The four statements are as follows. 1. The City of Shorewood will serve the needs of current and future residents by providing a value in quality public services, personal and property protection, a healthy environment, attractive amenities, and a sense of community. The City will reflect community values in an effective, efficient and visionary manner. 2. The City of Shorewood will provide leadership in providing value in quality public services that meet the needs and interests of current and future residents and that ensure a healthy environment, attractive amenities, a sense of community, and reflect community values in an effective, efficient and visionary manner. 3. The City of Shorewood will provide current and future residents a value in quality public services, a healthy environment, a variety of attractive amenities, and will strive to reflect community values through effective, efficient and visionary leadership. CITY NUTES Jane t3, 2t Page S of 6 4. The City of Shorewood will provide leadership by offering value in quality public services that improve the quality of life of current and future residents that ensure a healthy environment, provide attractive amenities, a sense of community, and reflect community values in an effective, efficient and visionary manner. Mayor Lizee stated she thought Statement 3 was the most concise. She suggested the words "current and future" and "a value in" be deleted from the statement as she did not think they were necessary. Councilmember Turgeon stated she thought words like "community values" would be difficult to defend as residents have different values. She suggested the mission statement only contain things the City can clearly explain. She stated residents have conveyed to her that they want to keep their property taxes low, they want to have their streets plowed, they want roads they can drive on, and the want to be provided with public safety services. She questioned what "sense of community" and "quality of life" mean, to which Councilmember Zerby responded they mean "property values". Turgeon suggested very subjective words be removed from the mission statement. Mayor Lizee stated in the City's Comprehensive Plan it states how the City values things such as trees, a natural environment, etc. Those types of things are community values. In Statement 3 quality public services include things like public safety, drivable roads, plowed roads, etc. Councilmember Turgeon suggested replacing the words "community values' with a reference to the Comp Plan. Administrator Heck stated things such as maintaining roads, maintaining the infrastructure, public safety, lower taxes, can be included under goals. They are how the City plans to achieve providing quality public services. Councilmember Turgeon questioned what a healthy environment meant. Administrator Heck stated the City would provide clean and safe drinking water, storm water management for ground water protection, traffic control, and so on. Heck then stated some words in the mission statement are subjective, but that is not an issue or unusual. Councilmember Woodruff stated community value is important. The residents of Shorewood have an image of the City, and they live in the City because of that. The mission statement should indicate the City wants to preserve and protect its environment. He thought it important to include the words "effective and efficient" in the mission statement; it applies to things such as public safety and public services. He also thought the statement "attractive amenities" was okay because it's possible to define actions that relate to that. Councilmember Zerby suggested the word "reflect" be changed to "promote" in Statement 3. Councilmember Woodruff stated the word "values" in Statement 3 could be made singular and that can apply to financial aspects. He thought maintaining roadways and infrastructure is a community value. He also thought Statements 3 and 4 were similar. He stated the mission statement could include "maintain and improve to meet the needs of residents to ensure Shorewood remains an attractive place to live". He thought when defining the goals Council should be able to define an action for each component of the mission statement. Mayor Lizee suggested Councilnembers provide Administrator Heck with their comments. Cir--r _u v ..u.. MEETING MINUTES Jo c '6 . ADJOURN Turgeon moved, Woodruff seconded, adjourning the City Council Work Session o June 8, 2009, at 6:56 P. Motion passed 5/0. RESPECTFULLY SUBMITTED, Christine Freeman, Recorder ATTEST: an Heck; Xits administrator/Clerk a ra Turgeon, Acting ~ %r