PICKERINGTON CITY COUNCIL
CITY HALL, 100 LOCKVILLE ROAD
THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 15, 2007
COUNCIL BUDGET
WORK SESSION
6:30 P.M.
1. CALL TO ORDER: Mr. Smith opened the Council Budget Work
Session at 6:30 P.M., with the following council members present: Mr. smith, Mr. Hackworth, Mrs. Hammond, and
Mr. Sabatino. Mr. Wisniewski arrived at
6:45 P.M. Mr. Fix was absent due to a
prior commitment and Mrs. Riggs was absent due to illness. Others present were: Tricia Sanders, Brian Sauer, Judy Gilleland,
Lynda Yartin, Linda Fersch, Chris Schornack, Ed Drobina, Paul Lane, Eric
Vannatta, Tim Hansley, Jan Eichner, Chief Taylor, Molly Schwartz, and Angie
Fenner. Steve Carr arrived at 7:10
P.M.
Mr.
Smith stated introduced Brian Sauer and Tricia Sanders the two new
council-elect members. Mr. Smith stated
he would turn the meeting over to Ms Gilleland.
2. SCHEDULED
MATTERS:
A. Review and discussion regarding proposed
2008 budget. Ms Gilleland stated each
department head would address their budget as their departments come up. She stated there were some questions
regarding revenue at the last meeting and Mrs. Fersch has that information,
however, she felt it would be best to address that at the end of the meeting. Ms Gilleland stated all Council members had received
a fund analysis and all of the department budgets. She stated this work session will deal with
expenditures, and she had asked staff to keep their budgets within a three
percent increase over their budget of 2007.
She stated the fund analysis sheet would give everyone an overview of
where the budget was and where it is now.
The Income Tax Department budget was reviewed
and Jan Eichner, Tax Administrator,
stated she would answer any questions.
The Mayor’s Court budget was reviewed and
Molly Schwartz, Clerk of Court and Mayor’s Secretary, stated she would complete
her upgrade with CMI shortly and would then be able to be more efficient during
court time. Mr. Smith clarified the
travel/transportation category increased due to the new Mayor’s Court Clerks
Association and funds were included for registration fees to conferences
sponsored by that organization.
The Land and Buildings budget was reviewed
and Eric Vannatta, Facilities Operations Manager, stated he would answer any
questions. Mr. Hackworth clarified the
increase in Facility Maintenance/Repair for the Building Department included
repairs on the air conditioning and furnaces and also other maintenance issues
with the building located at 51 W. Columbus St., the old police department. Mr. Wisniewski clarified the increase in
network maintenance is the actual maintenance that we pay for CMI. Mr. Smith clarified there was an increase
for the e-mail back-up and the reason it shows as such an increase is because
the $7,000 for 2007 was paid in 2006.
Mr. Wisniewski clarified that our e-mails are backed up by Cerenet. After further review, it was recommended the
amounts budgeted for office supplies, banners/decorations/flags, holiday
decorations, land and land improvements, and networking be decreased. Mr. Hackworth stated he felt if the city
streets were not going to be repaved, he questioned if the parking lot at City
Hall needs to be done this year. Ms
Gilleland stated Mr. Hackworth was correct, and that project could be
delayed.
The Budget Work Session recessed at 7:27 P.M.
and reconvened in open session at 7:40 P.M.
The Planning and Zoning Department budget was
reviewed and Lance Schultz, Director of Planning and Zoning, stated he has
already decreased the Code Enforcement overtime amount as well as the
Professional Services – P&Z. Ms
Gilleland stated for all departments the Travel/Transportation category would
be looked at for conference registrations, etc.
She further stated if staff has a luncheon meeting, they will not submit
for reimbursement, but will pay for it themselves. Ms Gilleland stated the Auditor Fee Weed
Removal category was duplicated and one would be deleted.
The Building Regulations Department budget
was reviewed and Paul Lane, Building Regulations Administrator, stated he would
answer any questions. He stated he also
has made some adjustments to the proposed budget for his department in the
uniform, travel/transportation, and equipment categories and reviewed these adjustments. Mr. Wisniewski questioned why each department
had an office supply category, and questioned if office supplies would fall
under the land and buildings category.
Mrs. Fersch clarified that some general office supplies such as copier
paper are purchased by land and buildings, however, each department has a
category for specific supplies they order for their department. Mr. Hackworth questioned the budget for
building contract inspectors when our building seems to be decreasing. Mr. Hackworth stated in 2005 when we had a
lot of building, the budget was at $61,790 and now with building down, the
budget for 2008 is $100,000. Mr. Lane
stated the cost of inspections has increased, and Mrs. Hammond inquired if the
inspectors were paid per inspection, per hour, etc. Mr. Lane stated last year he took a two-year
average of inspections and came up with an average cost per day, with each
inspection costing approximately $35.
Mr. Sabatino inquired how many inspections we had per day, and Mr. Lane
stated he did not have those figures with him, but he felt it would be four or
five. Mr. Smith clarified that if the
inspectors are not performing inspections, they are still being paid as they
were not being paid per inspection. Mr.
Smith inquired if there was a reason we did not pay per inspection and Mr. Lane
stated with this method the inspectors may be ahead in the slow months, but
then the City comes out ahead during the busy months when the inspections
increase. Mr. Wisniewski ascertained
this method is used in other cities as well.
Mr. Lane clarified he would like to purchase a new vehicle for use by
our in-house inspector as the truck he currently uses is too much for a
building inspector. Mr. Lane stated the
current truck could then be used by the Code Enforcement Officer as his truck
is one of the older ones.
The Parks and Recreation Budget was reviewed,
and Steve Carr, stated he would be happy to answer any questions anyone might
have. Mr. Sabatino clarified that we
charge a 25 percent surcharge to non-residents.
The Police Department budget was reviewed,
and Chief Taylor stated he would answer any questions. Mr. Hackworth clarified the Police Department
has 32 sworn personnel, with 18 road officers, 3 detectives, 2 DARE officers, 2
commanders, and himself. Mr. Wisniewski
clarified we provide DARE officers to non-city schools. Chief Taylor clarified the DARE officers
spend about four hours per day with the DARE program, and the other time is
spent as the school resource officer and the school pays $5,000 per month for
the resource officer. Mr. Sabatino
stated other departments have a lot of fluff, and he was not sure there was any
in this budget. Ms Gilleland stated the
police budget has increased by five percent because he has far more employees
and those employee’s pay went up at least 3.5 percent for the union increase
and some of them were in the last step of their pay so that went up as
well. She stated she held the police
department at the 2007 rate for the rest of his budget and took $5,000 out of
his training budget. Mr. Sabatino stated
there was also a contingency officer in the 2007 budget that was not
funded. Ms Gilleland stated that was
correct, but we did add one officer at the beginning of 2007. Ms Gilleland stated she had reduced the
travel/transportation category for the police department by $5,000 and she also
reduced the cruiser line item by $9,000.
She stated that is why there is a second cruiser on the contingency list
as well. She stated we have one cruiser
and one motorcycle funded, but we would need a little more money to fund both
cruisers and a motorcycle. Chief Taylor
stated it would be detrimental to the Department if he does not get two
vehicles this year as he has one vehicle with 100,000 miles on it. Mr. Wisniewski stated he would, without a
doubt, transfer the $10,000 from the Building Regulations Department for the
vehicle purchase and move it to the Police Department. Mr. Sauer ascertained the cost for a police
officer for the first year, with benefits, is $74,000. Ms Gilleland stated further as Council is
looking at the budget projections, this is a one-year picture, and when
expanding that to a five-year projection it is an entirely different ball
game. Mr. Wisniewski clarified by moving
some funds around, the category for the cruisers has $59,500 and that would
cover two cruisers. Chief Taylor stated
he would also like another $10,000 to trade in the motorcycle they have for a
new bike. Ms Gilleland stated it appeared
Council wanted to transfer the $10,000 from the Building Regulations Department
to the Police Department for the motorcycle.
Mr. Smith clarified that our cruiser would either be traded in or kept
for use within the City if necessary.
Mr. Sauer clarified the motorcycle enables the officer to get through
traffic more quickly and is very good for traffic control.
Mr. Smith stated he would like to close the
Budget Work Session and reconvene the Finance Committee meeting at this
time.
3. ADJOURNMENT. There being nothing further, the Council Work
Session closed at 9:00 P.M., November 15, 2007.
RESPECTFULLY SUBMITTED:
______________________________
Lynda D. Yartin, Municipal Clerk
ATTEST:
____________________________________
Keith Smith, Council President Pro Tempore