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2012.07.17_TC_Minutes_SpecialTOWN OF HIGHLAND BEACH MINUTES OF TOWN COMMISSION MEETING SPECIAL MEETING Tuesday, July 17, 2012 1.30 PM Vice Mayor Ron Brown called the Special Meeting to order in Commission Chambers at 1:30 PM. CALL TO ORDER: Roll Call: Members present: Vice Mayor Ron Brown; Commissioner Doris M. Trinley; Commissioner Dennis J. Sheridan; and Commissioner Louis P. Stern. Absent: Mayor Bernard Featherman. Also present: Town Attorney Glen Torcivia; Town Manager Kathleen Dailey Weiser; Town Clerk Beverly M. Brown; Finance Director Cale Curtis; Assistant to the Town Manager Zoie Burgess and members of the public. Pledge of Allegiance: The Pledge of Allegiance was given, followed by a minute of silence in honor of members of the military, both living and deceased. Civility Pledge: The Civility Pledge was recited by the Town Clerk. 1. ADDITIONS, DELETIONS OR ACCEPTANCE OF AGENDA Vice Mayor Brown asked for any additions or deletions. Receiving none, the agenda was accepted as presented. 2. PUBLIC COMMENTS AND REQUESTS David Stern — 2907 S. Ocean Blvd. Commented on the taxes. We have a number of projects that need to be funded in the Town. Before you raise the taxes, sell the property in Boca Raton. We are not in the real estate business. Do not feel the monies received from the sale of that property should be applied to the total water debt service. We have been transferring money from the General Fund to pay for the water debt service for years. Any money received on the Boca property should go into the General Fund. Jim Jiovanazzo — 3700 S. Ocean Blvd. Economic times what they are; we should proceed cautiously before raising taxes. Improvements to the government center can be held off for another year. Some projects are necessary, such as the sidewalk repairs. You could cut out sections of the asphalt; cut the tree roots; then replace the same piece of asphalt. The income of most of the residents in Highland Beach is not going up. Do not take a chance and raise taxes. Town Commission Special Minutes July 17, 2012 Pa e� 2 of 7 Carl Feldman — 3210 S. Ocean Blvd. I think the citizens of Highland Beach are becoming knowledgeable about budgets. The county is not raising taxes. They are reducing staff, not giving raises; and eliminating services. Spend what you bring in. Cut back. The Commission should look at every line item. The worse thing that the Commission can do is to raise the spending limit to whatever. A statement from Mayor Featherman was shared with the Commission prior to the meeting. 3) NEW BUSINESS A) Setting the Tentative Maximum Millage Rate — Fiscal Year 2012-2013 Town Manager Weiser - This is the first year that Highland Beach, along with many other cities, have an improvement in our tax base. Although it is very small, it has gone up 1.4 percent. That is good news that hopefully the economy is on the upswing. Having said that the Town's budget has for the past five years, had an overall theme of conservatism. If you look over the past years some things we have done is we have frozen and eliminated positions; we've taken different services to outsourcing, employment contracts that are outside of the city; we've reduced operating expenditures and delayed capital improvement projects. Most significantly we have used the Town's Unassigned Fund Balance to budget the Town's budget and basically bring it in line. To put that in some kind of layman's terms it is like using your savings account to pay your electric bills and the Town has been doing that over the past four/five years, an amount close to one million dollars. Basically, it is using its savings account to pay its bills. We are recommending that we don't consider or continue that type of budgeting because eventually your savings account goes away. In our opinion, your savings account should be used for doing things such as buying a car, capital expenditures or renovations to your house. It shouldn't be used to pay your day to day bills, which we have been doing for the past five years. Finance Director Cale Curtis - My presentation today should provide you with enough information in order to set our maximum millage rate. The details of our full budget will be discussed during the budget workshops in August. If you have questions on the actual budget, we can answer them now, but it will be discussed extensively in August. I want to begin with a review of the Town's tax base, our property values. We hit a peak in 2007 of 2.3 billion and just five short years later we have lost twenty-five percent of that value. In 2012 we are at 1.73 billion. In 2013 we got a slight increase in our values; that is a good sign. We picked up around twenty million in assessed value. This year's assess values are one billion, seven hundred fifty million, three hundred seventy-six thousand. The Town Manager's Office earlier this month sent out a message explaining the millage process and your tax bills. When you receive a tax bill it is not just Highland Beach's tax bill. There are multiple taxing authorities that make up that total bill. The largest taxing authority is the school board at forty-one percent of the tax bill; the County came in second at twenty-five percent and Highland Beach came in third at twenty-two percent. Your total tax bill goes to cover Police and Fire protection, public schools, improve roads, park and recreation all throughout the County. As the Town Manager stated a few minutes ago, the Town has been Town Commission Special Minutes July 17, 2012 Page 3 of 7 using its Unassigned Fund Balance to cover the operating deficit. We've been averaging using around over seven hundred thousand each year. In 2013 we are proposing to change that. Some of the highlights from the General Fund: We received an increase in assessed values, first time in almost five years. As proposed we are going to balance the budget with $730,000 in new taxes that will go towards covering that operating deficit and 1.03 million that will come from Unassigned Fund Balance that will cover your one-time capital expenditures. On the expenditure side we are going to add some services; increase code enforcement; repairs to our walk path. We propose renovating the Commission Chambers and Police Department. Personnel services have remained unaffected and we have put in a reserve for a contingency of $200,000. That's the Commission's designated fund that they can use to cover unanticipated costs. We have a number of Capital Outlay projects for the General Fund proposed. Public Works Department: the walk path; replacement of old and failing air conditioners in the Library and again, the Police Department and Commission Chamber's renovations. Police Department: replacement of a high mileage patrol police vehicle. Building Department: upgrade our permit tracking software in the Building Department and purchasing additional filing cabinets. Library: purchase of books, movies, CD's and other Library media. All of these Capital Outlay items are being proposed in the 2013 budget and we are proposing to cover them through the Unassigned Fund Balance. We also received a number of capital requests that were not funded. The Commission, when we get into the workshops, can debate these to see if they see them as a priority to put into the budget. Some of items requested: IPads for Commissioners with the latest technology; replacing the Public Works 4 x 4 truck; replacing the fence mesh on the north side of Town Hall; GIS mapping and replacement of another high mileage patrol vehicle in the Police Department. We also want to give the Commission a number of potential budget reduction measures. These are items you all can debate during the August workshops in an effort to lower the expenditures in the General Fund this year. A lot of these affect the employees directly. We are talking about the Holiday bonus that the employees receive; reducing merit increases, eliminating the request for a supervisor's SUV in the Police Dept. (that is the vehicle that will replace the high mileage patrol vehicle); eliminating the Advisory Boards' stipends, Board luncheon; increasing insurance contributions for employee dependents and we also have proposed, not eliminating the walk path repairs but replacing it with a design architect that would go towards a streetscape project rather than just a simple repair of the sidewalk. Again these are budget reductions that we have identified that the Commission can debate in August. On the other side of the government funds we have the Water System. Total estimated revenue will be 3.5 million. That covers our operating expenditures and leaves a little leftover, around $7,000 leftover. With the Sewer System we bring in just enough total revenue to cover our operating expenditures leaving ourselves with $8,990 in the reserve fund for the sewer system. For the first time the Town Commission is being presented with a Five - Year Capital Improvement Plan. It looks forward five years to give us an idea of what major capital projects we see coming up. Items included in this Capital Improvement Plan are all related to the water and sewer system. You will see in 2013/2014 we will need to replace a well pump motor. The Town Commission Special Minutes July 17, 2012 Page 4 of 7 following year we are looking at replacing water mains in Bel Lido and the side streets and it goes out further to 2018 with other capital improvements in the water system; replacing the RO Plant Membrane. Not included is a complete revamp of the walk path. The Commission should discuss the walk path and replacement of the fire truck during the budget workshops. As proposed the budget is being balanced with a tax rate of 3.7876. It brings in six million three hundred eighty-eight thousand ($6,388,000) in taxes that goes towards covering our operating costs and that completely closes our operating gap that we have had for the last four years. To cover the capital improvement requests in this year's budget we will have to take one million thirty seven thousand eight hundred eighty dollars ($1,037,880) from our unassigned balance. Also included in the Highland Beach tax rate is the debt service tax rate of .9172 mills that goes towards principle and interest on voter approved debt. I have provided a number of other tax rates, some below the proposed and some above the proposed, and the resulting levies of taxes towards the operating expenses and the amount needed from unassigned balance if you choose a different tax rate as proposed. I have provided you with how the proposed tax rates affect the average condo in Highland Beach. For example, at Seagate, last year's tax rate in the amount levied on an average condo in Seagate was a tax bill to Highland Beach of $425. If the Commission were to go with the proposed rate that average condo in Seagate would pay an additional $48 towards closing the full operating gap in Highland Beach. Another example is Highland Beach Club. Last year's levy was around $851. As proposed that would increase by just under $100 to $96. The final example I have provided was for Toscana. Last year's levy was $2,555 and the proposed tax rate would increase that by $286. If the Commission approves the maximum rate, it would be an additional $85 to the Seagate condo; an additional $170 to the Highland Beach Club and an additional $507 to Toscana condo. Setting the Tentative Maximum Millage Rate: The tax rate you set today should be a rate that the Commission feels gives them the most revenue flexibility throughout the budget process. Again, this rate can always be lowered at our future meetings but it cannot be raised without notifying each tax payer individually. Staff recommends, at a minimum, the tax rate of 3.7876 be adopted as the tentative maximum millage rate. This rate fully closes the General Fund's annual operating deficit. It also allows the Commission to use its unassigned fund balance for one-time capital improvements rather than ongoing annual expenditures. I will turn it over to Vice Mayor Brown for discussion on the millage rate and answer any questions you may have. Commissioners did not have any questions for Finance Director Curtis. Vice Mayor Brown — Thanked the Finance Director for the presentation. Requested a motion to set the "Tentative Maximum Millage Rate for 2012-2013." He proposed 3.95 General Operating Budget and .9173 Debt Service for a total of 4.8673 mills. Comm. Stern — Inquired if his suggestion for a motion for a higher number today and once we reviewed the budget, would allow us to come down? Vice Mayor Brown — Yes. That is the whole purpose of this meeting, to set a tentative maximum millage rate. In the future we could come down to whatever millage rate we want, but by law if we set it to low; we would then have to notify all the tax payers by first class mail to raise it. This is just preventing us from having our hands tied and a lot of extra work. Town Commission Special Minutes July 17, 2012 Page 5 of 7 MOTION: Commissioner Stern moved to adopt a 3.95 tax rate plus .9173 debt service rate for a Tentative Maximum Millage Rate of 4.873 Mills for the 2012-2013 Budget Year; motion seconded by Commissioner Sheridan. Discussion: Commissioner Stern — We have a lot of work ahead of us. Without our hands being tied, we can bring that number down. Commissioner Sheridan — We have set this high. The public has to realize that we set this at a high rate as we can always come down, but not go up. We can come down after we make our adjustments in the budget after our reviews in August and September. Commissioner Trinley — I agree with both of my fellow Commissioners. ROLL CALL: Commissioner Stern - Yes Commissioner Sheridan - Yes Commissioner Trinley - Yes Vice Mayor Brown - Yes Motion passed with a 4-0 vote. B) Setting a Time and Date for Budget Workshops Town Manager Weiser - The Town Commission may hold as many Budget Workshops as they see necessary. Historically, these workshops have taken place during the month of August. These workshops are used to ask questions, make suggestions, receive public input, request changes, and further discuss the proposed budget and millage rate in a public forum. Staff has proposed two budget workshops: Budget Workshop 1 - August 7, 2012, 4:30pm and Budget Workshop 2 - August 21, 2012, 1:30pm (if needed). Again, the Commission may hold more than two or less than two workshops. Staff suggests holding at least one workshop to gather Commission feedback in an effort to fmalize the document. Last year the Commission set two workshop dates with the second date being tentative on an as needed basis. MOTION: Comm. Sheridan moved to schedule a Budget Workshop on August 7, 2012 at 4:30 PM and a second Budget Workshop if necessary at 1:30 PM on August 21, 2012. Motion seconded by Commissioner Stern. Town Commission Special Minutes July 17, 2012 Page 6 of 7 ROLL CALL: Commissioner Sheridan - Yes Commissioner Stern - Yes Commissioner Trinley - Yes Vice Mayor Brown - Yes Motion passed with a 4-0 vote. C) Setting a Time and Date for two (2) Public Hearings to Adopt a Millage Rate and Budget. Town Manager Weiser - The Town is required to hold a public hearing to tentatively adopt a millage rate and budget. This meeting must follow a specific timeline established by the Florida Department of Revenue's Truth in Millage (TRIM) procedures. The timeline set forth by TRIM requires that this meeting be held between September 3`d and September 18d'. The meeting must also take place after 5:00 pm. In order to comply with additional TRIM advertising and the Final Budget Hearing requirements, Town Staff has determined Friday, September 7, 2012 at 5:01 pm as an optimal time and date to hold the Tentative Budget Hearing. Secondly, the Commission must also establish the time and date for the Final Budget Hearing. Town Staff has determined the optimal date and time for the Final Budget Hearing to be Wednesday, September 20, 2012 at 5:O1pm. MOTION: Commissioner Sheridan moved to schedule the first Budget Public Hearing on September 7, 2012 at 5:01 PM and the Final Budget Hearing on September 20, 2012 at 5:01 PM. Motion seconded by Comm. Trinley. ROLL CALL: Commissioner Sheridan - Yes Commissioner Trinley - Yes Commissioner Stern - Yes Vice Mayor Brown - Yes Motion passed with a 4-0 vote. 4. PUBLIC COMMENTS AND REQUESTS RELATED TO ITEMS DISCUSSED AT MEETING No Comments Received. Town Commission Special Minutes July 17, 2012 Page 7 of 7 5. ADJOURNMENT There being no further business to come before the Commission, Vice Mayor Brown adjourned the Special Meeting at 2:04 PM upon a MOTION by Commissioner Sheridan seconded by Commissioner Stern. APPROVE: Bernard Featherman, Mayor Ron grown, Vice Mayor Trinley, A `/ IIA-� Dennis J. Shei Louis'P. Stern, ATTEST: Beverly M. Brwn, MMC, Town Clerk Date: _c-74