WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 28, 2009

BUDGET WORK SESSION

6:00 P.M.

1. CALL TO ORDER. Mr. Fix opened the Budget Work Session at 6:00 P.M., with roll call as follows: Mr. Sabatino, Mrs. Hammond, Mr. Smith, Mr. Fix, Mr. Sauer, and Mrs. Sanders present. Mr. Wisniewski arrived at 7:15 P.M... No members were absent. Others present were: Mayor O’Brien, Chief Taylor, Lynda Yartin, Linda Fersch, Chris Schornack, Ed Drobina, Greg Bachman, Molly Schwartz, Jan Eichner, Gavin Blair, Nikki Smith, Tory Kramer, and others.

2. SCHEDULED MATTERS:

A. Review and discussion of Strategic Plan Goals. Mr. Fix stated he would like to spend the first portion of this work session talking about the Strategic Plan and the priorities they have established and trying to agree on one or more of the Plan that are not currently funded in the budget to see how they should be prioritized. Mr. Fix stated Mr. Schornack had provided a listing showing the unfunded items, items that are funded in the budget, and Council goals. Mr. Fix stated Mr. Schornack had also provided the General Fund totals and what it would look like would be available to use toward the unfunded budget items. Mr. Schornack stated he had an estimated ending fund balance of $1.9 million and with the current proposed budget that does not include some of these unfunded items it would be about $1.75 million. Mr. Schornack stated GFOA recommends at least a 15 percent carryover balance of your general fund expenditures as a guideline, which is about $1.1 million. Mr. Sabatino clarified that last year we carried over $1.749 million. Mr. Fix stated it appeared then that there was about $500,000 to $600,000 that is available if Council chooses to put toward the unfunded items. Mr. Schornack stated he would not recommend going as low as $1.1 million, but would recommend $1.4 to $1.5 million. Mr. Fix stated then they would work toward the $1.4 million number. Mr. Fix stated as he understood it then, they had about $350,000 that, if they choose, they could spend and still be within a comfort level that our carryover would be where it needs to be. Mr. Schornack stated he felt that would be correct. Mr. Fix clarified that the funds for the gator for the Street Department, a Public Information Official, Economic Development Director, pavement management software, and crack sealing were already included in the budget. Mr. Sauer clarified that the carryover balances for the individual departments were reduced per the discussion at the last work session. Mr. Schornack stated for street paving, the street fund will be ending the year with about $300,000, and if we did do some paving we could transfer $100,000 from the general fund to cover some of that paving and reduce the street balance as an option. Mr. Sauer clarified there is $300,000 in the street fund that can be used for paving and the general fund would transfer in about $100,000 to cover that. Mr. Sauer stated he would be in support of that and Mr. Smith stated he is in favor of paving the streets.

Mrs. Sanders questioned how we would want to handle the donations and contributions to various organizations. Mr. Sabatino stated we have a bed tax that does not involve taxpayer money, but involves visitors to the City and we could use a portion of that to fund those types of activities. Mr. Fix clarified that money does go into the general fund, and Mr. Sabatino stated it does, but it does not come out of funds paid by taxpayers of the City. Mr. Fix stated the memberships and donations total about $37,000, and questioned if it would it make sense to set aside roughly $40,000 to cover these items. Mr. Sabatino inquired as to why there were two Chamber of Commerce items, and Mr. Schornack stated Ms Mayle of the Chamber was requesting additional funds for a joint program with the Chamber and the Township. Mr. Fix stated Ms Mayle has requested an opportunity to come to the next Finance Committee meeting to discuss her request for that joint program with the Committee. Mr. Fix stated he has requested this presentation be added to the next Finance Committee agenda. Mr. Sabatino stated he would prefer not to act on this until after they hear the presentation. After discussion it was determined that the $40,000 amount should be set aside for these items and then they could be considered individually.

Mr. Fix stated with regard to the Manchester entrance repair from the Diley widening, he wasn’t sure that had to come from the general fund. He stated perhaps that should come from the street fund, or Diley or some other area because it appeared to be the result of the Diley Road widening. Mr. Sabatino clarified this was not the result of something the contractor did. Mr. Drobina stated the work that needs done is out of the scope of work of the contractor. Mr. Drobina stated he could agree to set aside $6,000 for that work and Mrs. Fersch stated that would be out of the street budget, not a general fund expenditure.

Mr. Smith stated Mr. Schornack had offered a workable solution to get some street paving done. He stated we have not had $400,000 in street paving in three years. Mr. Bachman stated with the software he has requested in the budget that will allow him to analyze the paving and determine what we can get done. Mr. Smith stated he felt we have to get some paving done. Mrs. Sanders stated she agreed with Mr. Schornack’s suggestion of transferring the $100,000 from the general fund to the street fund for paving. All members of the Committee concurred with this suggestion.

With regard to the traffic light battery backup for S.R. 256, Mr. Bachman stated we have battery backup for three or four of our signals and this would be for the other signals on the main sections. Chief Taylor stated in case the lights go out, a four land highway is too dangerous for an officer to try and direct traffic. All members concurred this was a needed expense.

In completing the review of the remaining unfunded items it was determined that a new vehicle for city hall was not required this year, and the purchase of a fireproof filing cabinet for the Municipal Clerk, and dump truck for the Street Department could be held off this year. Mayor O’Brien questioned if it would be possible to talk to the Township and the County and come up with some sharing of the plowing, and Mr. Drobina stated we already do that in some areas. Mr. Drobina stated without the additional dump truck, it would just mean that it would take longer to get to the subdivisions as we were not using overtime to plow the subdivisions. Mr. Fix stated perhaps it would make sense to look into a one or two year lease on a truck so we would know what the numbers are and then if there was a way to fund a one or two year lease we could look at that.

Chief Taylor stated with regard to the police officer and cruiser we have not hired an officer in three years and the population keeps growing. He stated further that he has two cars currently with 80,000 miles on them and by the time he orders and receives a car it will be next May so the current vehicles will have about 130,000 miles.

Mr. Fix clarified that for the traffic signal battery backup, half of the money could be taken from the street fund and half from the state highway fund, so the funds for this project would not come out of the general fund.

Mr. Smith clarified that with some of the items that have been funded in the budget and those discussed tonight, some of the Council goals have been met.

After discussion, Mr. Fix summarized that the Committee’s determination on the unfunded items would be to fund a transfer from the general fund of $100,000 for street paving, $77,000 for a police officer, $105,000 for debt payment, and up to $40,000 for memberships, due, and contributions. Further $6,000 for the Manchester entrance would come from the street fund or another fund, $13,500 from the general fund for the cruiser increase, and $22,000 from the state highway fund and street fund for the battery backup. Mr. Fix stated that added up to $245,500 from the general fund.

The Budget Work Session recessed at 6:56 P.M., and reconvened in open session at 7:02 P.M.

B. Review and discussion of budgets for the Legislative, Mayor, Finance, Tax, Personnel, Legal, Engineering, Mayor’s Court, Development, and Public Information Departments.

Mr. Schornack stated the Legislative Department included Council and the Municipal Clerk. He stated with regard to Council’s health insurance, with the elections coming he did not have a firm figure and that would be adjusted as appropriate. The budget was reviewed with no proposed changes.

In reviewing the Mayor’s budget Mr. Fix clarified that the Mayor has a new administrative assistant and at the beginning of the year the administrative assistant was not working as many hours, so there is some money left over against this year’s budget. Mr. Schornack stated, however, the Mayor has requested an increase in hours for the current administrative assistant. Mr. Fix clarified the increase from $17,000 to $22,500, was an increase in hours not an increase in pay. Mayor O’Brien stated the past administrative assistant was working on an as needed basis, and the current assistant has been working five hours a day, four days a week. He stated he was also increasing some of her duties. Mr. Fix stated his main question was just that it was an increase in hours and not an increase in rate, and Mayor O’Brien stated that was correct. There were no other changes in the Mayor’s budget.

In reviewing the Finance Department budget Mr. Fix stated a transition was being planned so that as Mrs. Fersch prepares for retirement, Mr. Schornack will be ready to step into the Finance Director position as of January 1^st and Mrs. Fersch becoming the Personnel Director on a full time basis. There were no changes to the Finance Department budget.

In reviewing the Tax Department budget Mrs. Eichner stated the major change was in the planning for the implementation of E-filing. There were no proposed changes to the Income Tax budget.

In review of the Personnel Department there were no proposed changes to the budget.

Mr. Fix stated Mr. Sabatino had requested the review of the Legal Department budget be delayed until Council had received the contract proposal from Schottenstein, so this would be covered at the next work session.

In reviewing the Mayor’s Court budget, no changes were recommended.

In reviewing the Engineering Department budget, Mr. Bachman stated the only significant change was in the monthly retainer, and that is no longer a monthly retainer but is used for on-call services. He stated he had included an amount to cover any circumstance where he would have to use that. There were no recommended changes to the proposed budget.

In reviewing the Development Department budget, it was determined there were no changes recommended.

In reviewing the General Government budget it was recommended that $10,000 for a council retreat be included in the budget. The Legislative Department budget has $6,500 budgeted for meeting expenses and the Committee requested that be increased to $10,000.

In reviewing the Public Information budget there were no recommended changes.

Mr. Schornack stated for the next Work Session on November 4, 2009, he would have the budgets for Land and Buildings, Planning and Zoning, City Manager, Legal Department, and Police Department for review.

3. ADJOURNMENT. There being nothing further, the work session closed at 7:40 P.M., October 28, 2009.

RESPECTFULLY SUBMITTED:

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Lynda D. Yartin, Municipal Clerk