FINANCE COMMITTEE OF COUNCIL
CITY HALL,
WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 6, 2010
REGULAR MEETING
7:30 P.M.
1. ROLL CALL. Mr.
Wisniewski called the meeting to order at 7:42 P.M., with roll call as
follows: Mr. Blair, Mrs. Hammond, Mr.
Barletta, Mr. Fix, Mr. Sauer and Mr. Wisniewski were present. Mrs. Sanders was absent. Others present were Mayor O’Brien, Bill
Vance, Chief Taylor, Lynda Yartin, Karen Risher,
2. APPROVAL OF MINUTES OF September 8, 2010. Mr.
Fix moved to approve; Mr. Sauer
seconded the motion. Roll Call was
taken with Mrs. Hammond, Mr. Fix, Mr. Blair, Mr. Barletta, Mr. Sauer, and Mr.
Wisniewski voting “Yea”. Motion passed, 6-0.
3. FINANCE DEPARTMENT.
A Finance Director’s Report. Mr. Schornack stated he had provided a written report and he would be happy to answer any questions. He stated we have received three new residential impact fee permits so far this month, we have received 57 residential permits through September which exceeds the 50 permits we projected for the entire year. The volume of permits for September was once again below 2009 levels for the same period. Mr. Fix clarified that based on 50 houses annually this would bring in $80,000 to $100,000. Mr. Wisniewski stated that the City was rejected for our COPS grant and will not be getting an additional officer based off of a grant.
B. Review and request for motion to
approve draft ordinance amending the 2010 appropriation, Ordinance
2009-91. Mr. Schornack
reviewed the appropriation request and stated he would answer any questions
anyone might have. Mr. Wisniewski
clarified the total of $3.7 million at the end of the Transfers and Reimbursements
line represents all transfers and reimbursements that come out of the general
fund for all debt. Mr. Wisniewski
clarified that that the refund of sewer capacity fees for
Mr. Schornack stated
he had two additional items to discuss this evening. First, he was requesting
an advance because we did not receive enough revenues from our TIF monies to pay
off the note. He stated in the
information he passed out tonight there is a copy of our delinquent TIF
properties. There are a couple hundred
thousand dollars in delinquent payments in lieu of taxes for those properties
within the TIF. We have made
Mr. Wisniewski stated it appeared
that One Pickerington Company LLC owes $62,000 and Mr. Schornack
started that is up to date now. In the Windmiller/Diley
TIF the $139,008.88 is owed by the gym and he read that
Mrs. Fersch explained that there
is a service agreement that the landowner signs and states that if they would
default the City is next in line to get the money. We have the main TIF agreement, these are
additional service agreements. We have
them for Marcus but for the other TIF’s they were in
a hurry to get them done. With some of the TIF’s the
landowner did not realize they were in the TIF area because by law the Manager
could sign these. That is what the
Manager did and so they never pursued getting the service agreements. Mr. Schornack
stated therefore we have to rely on
Mr. Schornack stated the second item is for repayment of the advance that was made to the Diley Road Fund. There is a balance of $172,000. The project is for the most part completed and therefore this will repay the General Fund $172,000. He recommends forgiving the $58,000.00 owed to the General Fund by the Diley Road Widening Fund. Mr. Fix clarified this would be forgiving the Diley Road Fund as we made a $230,000 advance back in 2008 to the Diley Road Fund. The General Fund is obligated to pay for the principal and interest on the SIB loan therefore it is just as if we are paying principal and interest on the loan itself. Mr. Fix moved to approve and move forward to council; Mr. Wisniewski seconded the motion. Roll was taken with Mr. Sauer, Mrs. Hammond, Mr. Wisniewski, Mr. Blair, Mr. Fix and Mr. Barletta voting “Yea”. Motion passed, 6-0.
4. PERSONNEL DEPARTMENT.
A. Personnel Director’s Report. Mrs. Fersch stated she had provided a written report to the Finance Committee and would be happy to answer any questions. She stated we have hired a Utilities Operator 1. His start date was October 4th. Mr. Wisniewski clarified this position is paid out of the Water and Sewer Fund and is self- sustaining. Mrs. Fersch stated Jerry Stiles is looking at coming back to work in mid October. Mrs. Fersch further stated a full time Public Safety Dispatcher resigned and that position was filled by a part-time Dispatcher. Interviews from the eligibility list were conducted today to fill the part-time Dispatcher position. Mrs. Fersch stated she received 74 applications for the Human Resources position and by the end of the week they should be ready for review with the City Manager. There were several applicants from Pickerington as well as from various parts of the country. She stated the Insurance Review Committee met and McGowan-Brabender made a presentation on their Wellness Program.
Mrs. Fersch stated that the conciliators report on the union negotiations is in and the contract will be signed in October. The training program on alcohol education has been completed. To save on costs she and Bill Yaple are discussing doing a joint training session with the Fire Department that will incorporate sexual diversity, bullying and wellness. This will suffice for training for the employees for this year. She stated she had received our rates for C.O.R.M.A this year and it is $125,000, approximately $3,000.00 more than last year.
1. Review and request for a motion to approve draft ordinance authorizing
the City Manager to enter into a
one-year contract with Anthem Blue Cross/Blue Shield for health insurance for
City employees and the declaration of necessity and emergency as the present
policy expires on December 31, 2010.
Mrs. Fersch stated that Anthem came in early with their rate, usually it
is just 60 days before. They came in at
12.3% and after negotiation they agreed to 7.3% if we did not go out for other
bids. The industry market rate is 15%.
The recommendation is to go with Anthem again.
She stated Anthem has done a good job and the employees are happy with
them per a survey that was done. She
stated we want to sign the contract to get this locked in and she is requesting
that it be done with three readings as an emergency. There were no questions. Mr. Fix moved to approve and forward to
2. Review and request for a motion to
approve draft ordinance authorizing the City Manager to enter into a one-year
contract with Delta Dental of Ohio for dental insurance for City
employees. Mrs. Fersch stated that Delta
Dental will not give a rate until 60 days before so we do not have that. The legislation is with that blank and will
be filled in when it is received. Mr.
Fix clarified that not giving a rate until 60 days before is standard. Mayor O’Brien clarified that the broker had
been advised that if they can come in at the same rate the City will not shop
around. Mrs. Fersch stated they haven’t
gotten back with us yet and it could change.
Mayor O’Brien clarified that this would be the first reading to get the
process started. Mrs. Hammond clarified
the City is required to provide dental insurance per the union contracts. Mrs.
Fersch stated that if we stay with Delta the employees will not have to change
dentists. Mr. Fix stated he felt this
could be continued to the next Finance
meeting as he is not comfortable with moving forward on this without knowing
for certain that it will be Delta. Mr.
Wisniewski stated that we have done this with other contracts. Mr. Vance stated his concern is that in those
contracts we understood who the provider would be and we had a final amount not
to exceed and with this one being so up in the air we don’t know if it will be
Delta Dental or someone else. It could
end up being moved forward to council and then find out we have to go out for
bid on it. Mr. Wisniewski moved to approve and forward to
5. CHAIRMAN: Mr. Wisniewski stated he had nothing to bring forward.
OTHER BUSINESS:
A. Review and discussion regarding Ordinance 2010-19, an ordinance approving the rezoning and final development plan for the approximate 16.06 acre Ebright/Homestead parcels.
Mr. Vance stated there has been
discussion and there are still issues to be resolved. He stated we are not
ready to move forward at this point.
Mrs. Hammond clarified that this issue was moved back to Finance as
there is a potential TIF issue related to this.
Mayor O’Brien stated this will have to go back to
B. Review and request for a motion to
approve draft ordinance authorizing the City Manager to enter into a contract
with Franklin County Board of Health for 2011. Mr. Wisniewski clarified that
this is for our annual contract for 2011.
Mrs. Yartin stated that this was reviewed by the Law Director. Mr. Vance
recommended we proceed with this. Mr. Wisniewski moved to approve and forward
to
C. Review and request for a motion to approve draft ordinance to place an income tax issue before the electors at the General Election on May 3, 2011. Mr. Vance stated that the Budget proposal contains a lot of needs that are not addressed. To maintain the police department we need additional officers. This is not as much due to the population or crime rate, it is due to the amount of traffic that continues to increase throughout the City. There are street maintenance needs that are not being met and there is significant debt obligation that needs to be met as well. We will need additional revenue to maintain our current quality of life. Mr. Wisniewski clarified that the one percent was here in 1976, and the one percent can only increase with voter approval and the City can eliminate the credit without voter approval. Mrs. Fersch stated in 1976 there were a lot of financial problems and they needed revenue. Mr. Wisniewski stated that at the retreat the number one issue council agreed upon is the need for additional sources of revenue. Mr. Wisniewski clarified that the current proposal has the increase going into effect on January 1, 2012, however that can be amended. If this were approved we would not receive all of that revenue until the following year.
Mr. Sauer clarified the effective
date could be amended. Mr. Sauer stated
that on the unfunded budget list one item is street paving. The City Engineer has told us that our streets
need to be addressed. The areas being
addressed now are just the tip of the iceberg, we aren’t doing enough to keep
up with the Engineer’s suggestion of the 10 percent per year we should be doing
annually in order to maintain the streets so we don’t have to rebuild them. The
cost to rebuild is obviously higher than the cost of maintaining them. The $370,000 in the unfunded budget list is
not enough to cover that 10 percent suggestion of the City Engineer. In our Budget Work Session we heard that the
Police Department is running with a skeleton crew. If the officers are tied up
in one part of the City and something else crops up in another area we have a
delayed response. This is not a
situation I want to find my family in and I think if most people truly
understood that, they would not want to find themselves in that situation
either. This is $160,000 for two
officers in the unfunded budget. The para transit
subsidy is $10,000, this is partnered with
Mr. Wisniewski stated these are the big items, but there are smaller ones too; The Carnegie Building is falling apart. We cut things out of the budget years ago, like spraying for weeds that have cropped up in subdivisions along the streets. The expense subcommittee met for a long time and went over every budget. Mr. Sauer stated he was on that committee and we came out of there with ideas, some were implemented, others weren’t. It was primarily that some of the ones that weren’t are quality of life issues. Some of those decisions are going to have to change if this continues.
Mr. Wisniewski stated that we
dipped into our rainy day fund for $800,000 last year. We worked on some of
worst streets this year, there is no way we can find $370,000 in this budget to
pave streets next year, and that’s a drop in the bucket compared to what we
should do. He knows there is some
concern on
Mayor O’Brien stated he
appreciates that we have a balanced budget before us. The last page is the key
factor and that is the unfunded requests at $2,000,000. This is broken down by departments as to what
they need that we can’t provide, in addition to the General Fund. The
Mr. Wisniewski clarified that the City’s General Fund received approximately $900,000 from property taxes in 2010.
Mr. Fix stated on the current
budget proposal there is a carry over of $2,000,000 almost a 30 percent carry over. We have to make the choice of funding some of
these things out of the 30 percent carry over amount. He feels it would be great if we can continue
to afford to do this however he doesn’t know if we can afford to have that
carry over and still go to the voters and ask them for more. This is an alternative that we need to discuss
further. Mr. Fix stated he agrees that
in the very near future we are going to have to come up with some source of
sustainable income. He stated 9 out of
10 people are telling him the City does not need a tax increase. Mr. Fix stated
he knows that we do need it, however we have not communicated that to the
public; we have not shown them we are doing without because we continue to pave
the streets and the police are everywhere.
It seems like there are five officers on the street when there are really
only two. He spoke with someone last
night that stated the City does not need more police, they are everywhere. This is the perception that is out there. We
need to do a better job of communicating the seriousness of this issue to the
public, and that we are looking at every way we can think of to reduce
expenditures. There is a high likelihood
that if we are on the May 2011 ballot we will be going up against a school
issue and he thinks that would mean a guaranteed failure. We have to do everything we can to make sure
that when we provide the voters with the opportunity to invest in the community
that they have enough information to make a choice that will benefit the entire
community in the long run. City managers
past and present, our Finance Department,
staff and
Mr. Sauer stated that Mr. Fix made some good points. He disagrees with the carry over because he thinks that next year it will be a lot less. Out of the carry over, can we fund two officers, pave the streets that need paving, build the sidewalks we need and continue to pay down debt. He feels that in 2011 we will be paying our debt down in a lesser amount than we did this year. The voters may not be there yet however we need to come together as a City and fund these things so that we can continue to be the community that we are.
Mayor O’Brien clarified that it is an option that we have discussion on eliminating the credit and that the City currently credits our taxpayers approximately $1.5 million per year. That is certainly a discussion we can have. That amount would cover most of the shortfall. Another option for discussion is annexations. These are two sustainable sources of income. Mr. Fix stated this is a good point. There are other options and we should meet again to discuss the other alternatives that are out there before we put another income tax levy on the ballot.
Mr. Wisniewski stated that he
feels the last thing we need is to rehash everything that we have been doing
for the last several years. If we are
not going to put this on the May ballot, when are we going to? Mr. Sauer stated that regarding the
alternative of annexation, that requires outside action coming to us to make
that happen. Eliminating the credit
gives the voters no option of voting on it, the income tax levy does. Mayor O’Brien stated that
Mr. Blair stated if this is not on the May ballot, it can be revisited for the November, 2011 ballot with a date it will be effective. Mr. Blair stated he wants to get through the budget first. There were ideas mentioned tonight and he wants to make sure that we do our due diligence going through the budget process, have the City Manager reach out to the Sheriff’s Department on items mentioned in the budget work session and determine if we can see cost savings in those areas. In the past going with R.I.T.A was discussed and that didn’t come up to a huge cost savings. Mr. Wisniewski stated with R.I.T.A there was the customer service difference and we were not saving any money in the budget as a whole because we were taking employees from that department and moving them somewhere else.
Mrs. Hammond stated she is not opposed to putting something on the ballot and with the credit left as it is she would be more inclined to vote for it. Mr. Barletta stated he is more inclined to leave the credit as it is now. Mr. Fix stated he does not doubt there is a need. The difference between two months ago and today is the number of people he has talked to about that have made it clear that they do not think we need it yet. He knows we need to have a carry over but he feels 30 percent is way too much in the carry over when we are asking for a tax increase.
Mayor O’ Brien stated we need to communicate the message concurrently with this issue. We are looking at a balanced budget for 2011 and for 2012 it looks grim. If we wait until November, 2011 and it fails we soon are in 2012. Outsourcing a good portion of our police department is not acceptable to him, unless the service goes up and the costs go down. He thinks 2012 is too late.
Mr. Ted Hackworth stated that the
arboretum in
Mayor O’Brien stated if we continue this for a month we can look at different tax and credit options and discuss the options. He clarified that this can be continued on the agenda. Mrs. Hammond stated this is the only place she has lived where a City would put in sidewalks and pay 100 percent of the cost. They usually expect the property owner to pay a portion or all of the cost. She stated there are other ways to do some of these things and if it comes down to that we may be forced to. It is a hard decision to make but is something we may have to do.
Mr. Sauer clarified that Mrs. Hammond is speaking about new sidewalks. He doesn’t know how the City can decide to do an improvement to their property and the property owner is going to pay for it. Mrs. Hammond stated this is what most places do. Mayor O’ Brien stated that we can do that. Mr. Sauer clarified that Mrs. Hammond was not saying that the City would ask people to increase their taxes and then ask them to also pay for a sidewalk, she was pointing out that there are other ways to do things. Mr. Sauer stated that he has asked the Law Director to include information on renewing the police levy in next month’s packets.
Mr. Wisniewski stated this would be continued on the agenda.
D. Review and discussion regarding proposed Organizational Chart.
Mr. Vance stated there have been
general discussions on the direction of the organizational chart and there
appears to be a need for
Mayor O’Brien clarified that it is not in the Charter that we are required to have a Planning and Zoning Director and that there are no certifications required by the City to be titled Planning and Zoning Director and that the City Manager could designate the Development Director to serve as the Planning and Zoning Director for the City if needed. Mayor O’Brien clarified that as it stands now, under that position would be the Chief Building Official, Code Enforcement, Senior Planner and Planner.
Mr. Vance stated that with the
other employees appointed by
Mrs. Yartin clarified that the amendment to the code regarding the Planning and Zoning Director
will come to the next Service Committee. Mr. Wisniewski clarified Mrs. Yartin will check with the Law Director to find out if we have to title that position as Planning and Zoning Director or if it can be named something else. Mr. Vance stated that the current make up of that department at this point in time is comfortable with Development Services and the City Manger would appoint the Development Services Director to act in that capacity when necessary.
E. Review and discussion regarding TIF’s.
Mr. Schornack stated that he would be asking our Bond Counsel, Dennis Schwallie, to come in and speak regarding our outstanding TIF issues and some possible options as some of these will be expiring in 2012.
Mr. Wisniewski clarified that the 10 mill limitation information is per Mr. Sauer’s request and is one of the options for the replacement of the 10 mill levy. This will be on next month’s agenda.
7. MOTIONS:
A. Motion for Executive Session under Section 121.22(G)(1)b, Matters involving an employee’s or public official’s employment, Section 121.22(G)(2), Purchase or sale of public property, Section 121.22(G)(3), Conference with law director regarding pending or imminent court action, and Section 121.22(G)(4), Matters involving bargaining sessions with public employees. Mr. Wisniewski stated that the Executive Session was not needed.
9. ADJOURNMENT. There being nothing further, Mr. Wisniewski moved to adjourn; Mr. Blair seconded the motion. Mr. Barletta, Mr. Wisniewski, Mr. Fix, Mrs. Hammond, Mr. Sauer and Mr. Blair voted “Aye”. Motion carried, 6-0. The Finance Committee adjourned at 9:18 P.M., October 6, 2010.
RESPECTFULLY SUBMITTED: ATTEST:
______________________________ _________________________________
Karen I. Risher, Administrative Clerk Lynda D. Yartin, Municipal Clerk