WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 27, 2010

BUDGET WORK SESSION

6:30 P.M.

1. CALL TO ORDER. Mrs. Sanders opened the Budget Work Session at 7:15 P.M., with roll call as follows: Mr. Blair, Mrs. Hammond, Mr. Barletta, Mr. Fix, Mr. Sauer, Mrs. Sanders, and Mr. Wisniewski were present. Mr. Wisniewski arrived at 6:44 P.M. Mr. Blair was absent due to a work commitment. Others present were: Mayor O’Brien, Bill Vance, Lynda Yartin, Chris Schornack, Stephanie Spencer, Ed Drobina, Greg Bachman, Becca Medinger, Mike McKinley, and others.

2. SCHEDULED MATTERS:

A. Review of proposed 2011 Budget for:

(1) Service Department. Mr. Schornack stated if there were no objections he would have Ms Medinger begin as she needs to get back to the Haunted Village event and then come back to the Service Department.

(2) Parks and Recreation. Mr. Schornack stated he would review recreation first and he had provided an additional handout showing recreation by itself. Mr. Wisniewski stated it appears it projected receipts for 2011 is going down in numerous areas and he questioned if that was based on a trend or on the fact that we are losing classroom space in the schools. Ms Medinger stated she felt it was due to both the lack of location space and less programs, and also she had found a trend that some programs had been offered four times a year and she was going to try to scale that back to perhaps twice a year and then bring in some other programs. Mr. Fix inquired if each program was budgeted to at least break even and Ms Medinger stated we did try to do that. Mr. Vance stated essentially the programs were a pass through where we contract with the instructor; we collect the receipts and pay the instructor. Mr. Blair inquired if there were any programs we made money on or were they all just a break even, and Ms Medinger stated there were some we made a little on. Mrs. Hammond stated she felt there should be some way we make a little money on every program we offer. Ms Medinger stated the way the fee structure has been in the past, we only make money on non-resident sign ups. Mr. Vance stated that is a policy issue and we need direction from Council. He stated if Council wants us to provide the most affordable programming opportunities possible, we can do that or if you want to put on a ten percent increase for administrative costs or whatever, we could do that as well. Mr. Vance stated the question would be if Council wants the Parks and Rec department to make money, to break even, or to cover administrative costs. Mr. Wisniewski stated he did not feel it would be fair to pass on all of the costs of the Recreation department because no-one would sign up for the programs. He stated he did feel a five percent portion or something like that coming back to the City would be fair and equitable. Ms Medinger stated currently our fee structure can have a 20 to 25 percent difference between resident and non-resident fees, and in looking at other communities she found that to be a little high. Mr. Vance stated the reason residents pay less is because they pay the taxes that also supports the General Fund. He stated further our parks serve a population of over 50,000 while 17,000 taxpayers are carrying the costs associated with maintenance. He stated any additional revenue we get from outside participants can supplement the General Fund revenues that are dedicated to parks. Mr. Wisniewski and Mr. Fix both stated they did not have a problem with the 20 percent difference in fees for residents and non-residents. Mrs. Hammond stated she thought Council would like to see Ms Medinger find a way to decrease the City’s expenses out of the Parks and Rec fund through self-funding of some sort. Mr. Wisniewski stated he felt a minimal amount from the resident’s fees should come to the City; five percent or something like that. Mr. Vance stated he and Ms Medinger would take a look at our rate schedule and come back with a proposal such as we are doing with the building program. Mr. Wisniewski stated in 2008 our miscellaneous recreation programs earned $43,000 and it went down to $3,200 in 2009. He stated this was a drop of $41,000 and that is when we stopped passing out the programs booklet through the school system, and we need to get the brochure back into the schools. Mr. Wisniewski stated we have partnered with the schools on numerous things, we have waived impact fees and we have waived inspection fees, and we took a $40,000 hit in one year because we were no longer getting into the schools. Mr. Wisniewski stated he would like to see the City push to get back into the school system because we are offering programs to help out with things like obesity in kids at very reasonable prices. Mr. Wisniewski clarified that he felt the individual who was in charge of our recreation programs did not get the information to the schools. Mr. Vance stated he understood and we would approach the school to get what was necessary to get the spring program passed out at the schools. Mrs. Hammond stated she also felt if there was a fee involved for paying janitors, etc., she did not see why that could not be built into the cost of the program. Mr. Wisniewski stated he agreed that if we paid that fee through the program fee that would be reasonable. Mr. Fix stated he agreed and he understood why the schools did not want to pay their janitor overtime for a Saturday afternoon for a program that we are doing and has not direct benefit to them. Mr. Wisniewski stated Council would like to have our programs expanded back into the community. Mr. Wisniewski further clarified that Ms Medinger and Mr. Vance are working on finding locations so we can expand our programs. Mr. Wisniewski stated we have impact fees coming in so perhaps we could build a classroom building of some sort to use for our programs. Mr. Vance stated that Ms Medinger and he would have recommendations and options for the Safety Committee to review in the near future and we can then move forward in 2011. Mr. Sauer clarified that it cost the City about $110,000 to operate the Recreation Department in 2010.

Mr. Schornack stated there are not a lot of changes to the Aquatic Fund but he would answer questions. Mr. Wisniewski clarified that next year we are going to try to consolidate some of the categories for passes to make it a little easier for everyone to understand. Mr. Wisniewski stated the concession is outsourced and questioned if the City received anything from that and Mr. Vannatta stated the City does receive $1,000. Mrs. Sanders stated she heard this year that the concession stand was not good and that people would not go there. Mr. Vannatta stated we had selected Cardinal Vending to run the concessions this year after looking at three or four different vendors. Mrs. Sanders stated when we ran it ourselves the prices were cheaper and she would question if we would not have made money if we had raised the prices and kept our people running it. Mr. Schornack stated when we ran the concession with the labor costs and the cost of the food; we weren’t making anything on it. Mrs. Sanders stated she had also heard from parents who had been going to the pool for years and the kids were not rehired to work at the pool. Mr. Vannatta stated we have one more year on our contract with the vendor and Mrs. Sanders stated if you did a survey with the people who went to the pool this summer you would find they were not happy with the vendor. Mr. Schornack stated if we did a survey and this was something we would lose memberships over, we would definitely look into this. Mr. Vannatta stated if we do not have our own concession people it was hard if the vendor closed early due to a storm or something, and then the pool reopened, because the concession people had already left. Mr. Vance stated he would look at the contract and meet with the vendor in preparation for the next pool season. Mr. Wisniewski questioned if we could do a random survey of some of the members, perhaps 25 or so, and tell them we were curious about their experience and ask them about the vendor, etc. He stated that would give us an idea of how it was viewed by the people who used the pool. Mr. Vannatta stated in 2009 we had 628 memberships and this year we had 565, so we were down about ten percent. Mr. Vannatta stated it appears there is a new ADA law that will require all municipal pools to provide a lift or an incline into the pool, and he is in the process of getting this verified and the cost is $5,000 to $6,000 per lift. Mr. Sauer stated the commitment made when the pool was purchased was that it would never be subsidized by the General Fund, and so far that is how it has been.

Mrs. Sanders stated at this time they would return to the agenda.

Review of proposed 2011 budget for the Service Department. Mr. Sauer inquired if we had ever tried to get a local company to sponsor the landscaping at the City’s entrances, and Mr. Vance stated that was a good discussion for the Tree Commission. Mr. Vance stated further we will be pursuing through the Tree Commission an emphasis on beautification activities, a promotion that the City is a good place to work and live, and they will need minimal funds. Mr. Vance stated they do have minimal funds for beautification projects in different departments that total about $15,000, but all recommendations must go through the Tree Commission and Council will be kept informed as to the investment of those funds. Mr. Vance stated we can also pursue outside donations, but those are getting harder and harder to achieve.

Mr. Bachman stated he had asked for traffic counters in the budget this year and if he did not purchase them this year, he would put it back in the budget for next year. Mr. Bachman stated currently when he needs to do traffic counts he needs to hire a consultant.

Mr. Schornack stated with regard to Park Impact Fees and where we anticipate those going. He stated he anticipates coming into 2011 with a balance of about $19,000. He stated in his estimation we probably need a year to build up the balance through the impact fees we collect in order to make a good estimate as to what we would like to do with those in the future. Mr. Sauer inquired exactly what those monies could be used for and Mr. Schornack stated we cannot spend it for maintenance, but it can be spent for any new capital items. Mr. Schornack stated this could be discussed toward the middle of the year if fees start coming in and we have a healthy balance. Mr. Barletta clarified the Safe Routes to Schools program is a 100 percent grant, and Mr. Blair inquired if this could go toward any other grants for sidewalks, etc. Mr. Bachman stated for multi-use paths grants are normally 75 percent and most of our paths cost more like several hundred thousand dollars. Mr. Wisniewski stated he agreed this should be looked at further into the year when we know if there is a larger balance.

Mr. Schornack stated with regard to utilities we are making good progress on our debt payments and we are in line with the rate study we had done.

There were no further comments regarding the Service Department budget.

B. Miscellaneous Debt Discussion. Mr. Schornack stated he had provided a debt schedule summary for both 2010 and 2011. He stated he has requested an additional $200,000 on the unfunded list to be used to pay down some of the other small notes. Mr. Sauer clarified for the Municipal Building note that Mr. Schornack intended to wait until the impact fees come in to pay that off so no General Fund money would be used.

Mr. Schornack stated he had gone back and added the changes requested in the Planning and Zoning Department, Development Department, and Building Department. He stated this does include the unemployment compensation and other minor changes that Council had requested. Mr. Fix clarified the $25,000 discussed at the last meeting for development advertising was included on the unfunded list.

Mr. Schornack stated for General Government the Health Department contract is included; however, Council will need to discuss items such as the Violet Festival, Fourth of July, Paratransit subsidy, etc. Mr. Wisniewski questioned if we knew what the funding for paratransit was looking like from the County or what their fee schedule would look like. Mayor O’Brien stated the County Commissioners were asked to provide $15,000, and they decided against funding it. Mayor O’Brien stated other alternatives were explored and some money was raised from Baltimore and Liberty Township, but they are still $9,900 short. Mr. Sauer clarified that if they do not raise the rest of the funding they will continue at the same fares they charge now, but they will not have county-wide service. The only service will be to the municipalities and the townships that are members. Mrs. Hammond clarified that we have not officially funded our share for this as yet.

Mr. Schornack stated he understood Council would like to review the police department again. Mr. Schornack stated their budget does include one car, but there are two cars on the unfunded list. Mr. Blair stated he would not be present at the next work session, however, he would provide his questions to the Mayor so they could be answered then.

Mr. Schornack stated he estimates a carry over balance into 2011, with none of the unfunded items included, it would be about a $2.1 million balance, and an additional $60,000 would be added to that balance. Mr. Schornack stated his recommendation to spend down would be in the $500,000 range. Mr. Fix clarified that would leave us with about a 22-24 percent carryover. Mr. Schornack stated he was not sure if Council felt comfortable just having some of the membership dues as a part of the budget. Mr. Fix stated he would like to know what the 33 Alliance actually did for us, and Mr. Vance stated we have a new group of people assembling and if we were to maintain that membership at least for 2011 we would be making a hard push to get some of those funds reinvested back in this area. Mr. Wisniewski stated he would like to discuss the items on the unfunded list that would be paid for out of water and sewer. Mr. Schornack stated a lot of those are CIP projects. Mr. Fix clarified these items were not a part of the $500,000 since they were not paid out of the General Fund. After reviewing the unfunded items for water and sewer all were approved including the addition of one operator.

Mr. Wisniewski clarified that the parking lot resurfacing for the pool would require funds from the General Fund. Mr. Wisniewski stated he would not support that as it had been agreed the Aquatic Fund would be self-supporting.

Finance Budget Work Session recessed at 9:00 P.M., and reconvened in open session at 9:10 P.M.

Mr. Schornack stated if we were to perform a performance audit on our police department the cost would be about $20,000 and the cost would increase with any additional departments. Mr. Schornack stated he had contacted the State Auditor’s office and this was a rough estimate, the cost would depend on the scope we wanted done. Mr. Vance stated we would receive a proposal from the Auditor’s office that we could review and determine if it met our requirements. Mr. Vance stated he recommended Mr. Schornack explore to see if there were consultants who were in the business of just doing police department audits. Mr. Wisniewski stated he was concerned that we were not considering doing City Hall. Mr. Schornack stated you can add additional departments, it would just increase the cost, but we were focusing on one of our largest departments. Mr. Wisniewski stated that would be dealing with one department with one structure versus City government as a whole. Mr. Fix stated Mr. Wisniewski had a valid point and the $25,000 could be approved for the police audit and then Mr. Schornack could come back with the cost of adding the other branches of City government in the performance audit as well. Mr. Schornack stated if we want to look at all departments the cost would be in the range of $60,000 to $80,000. Mr. Fix stated he felt it was worth finding out what the number would be and bring that information back to this group. Mr. Wisniewski clarified that it would take about six months to get the audit team in here and then about four months to perform the audit. Mr. Wisniewski stated if we were going to do one department, he would just as soon do them all. Mr. Schornack stated he would talk to the Auditor’s office again and report back to this committee at the next meeting.

Mr. Schornack stated the Chamber of Commerce was requesting $10,000 in addition the $1,672 for platinum membership. Mr. Vance stated the Chamber’s request was sent to the Finance Committee chairperson and Mrs. Sanders had indicated she would like them to attend the next Finance meeting. Mrs. Hammond stated whether we fund the additional $10,000 or not she felt we should consider membership since we did get a reduction on our health insurance by being a member of the Chamber. Mr. Wisniewski stated there is a difference between being a Chamber member and being a platinum member. Mrs. Hammond stated she agreed, but she felt at the very least we should be a Chamber member. Mr. Fix stated he would recommend funding the $1,672 membership and then consider the additional funds when the Chamber attends the Finance Committee meeting. Mr. Schornack stated we did not provide funding to the OPVBA for the past two years and they have sent a letter in requesting $4,000 for 2011. Mr. Vance stated he felt that would be related to the Main Street activities. Mr. Fix stated he would like to have the OPVBA attend the next Finance meeting as well. Mayor O’Brien stated he felt we should have a membership to Heritage Ohio as well since we have designated an individual on staff for the Main Street USA program. Mr. Vance stated we do have $5,000 in the Development Department’s budget to support the Main Street USA efforts. Mr. Wisniewski stated he felt the paratransit should be left at $10,000 and Mr. Fix stated he would like to have Ms Woody attend the next Finance Committee meeting to discuss any additional funds she was requesting. Mr. Fix stated he felt we should support the Violet Festival and Mr. Sauer stated we cannot fund everything. Mr. Schornack stated we did provide overtime police services for the Festival and Mr. Wisniewski clarified they have not paid for that as yet. Mr. Schornack stated he was trying to find if there was an agreement in place with them and in speaking with Commander Annetts he has not billed them as yet. Mr. Schornack stated he was trying to find if there was an agreement that they would not pay for the police overtime. Mr. Fix stated he did not know if there was a written agreement, but there was an understanding when they were at Committee that they would be responsible for the police overtime. Mr. Wisniewski stated he concurred that they were responsible for paying for that. Mr. Fix stated he would request they be invited to attend the Finance Committee meeting as well. Mr. Vance stated if we are going to have a Violet Festival we obviously need public safety services. Mr. Fix stated it was very clear that they agreed to pay for the overtime, and if they did not want to pay for the police overtime in the future we would need to have a conversation with them on how they want to proceed. Mr. Vance stated he would work with the Finance Director on what is owed after he looked at last year’s minutes so he knew specifically what was agreed to, and then those discussions can transcend into discussions about 2011. Mayor O’Brien stated we have had these discussions with them and other activities that we can contribute a cash amount and they pay for the police, or we can not give any cash contribution and we pay for the police overtime. Mrs. Hammond clarified the police overtime for the Violet Festival was between $5,000 to $7,000. Mr. Schornack stated the food pantry has not submitted a request for funds this year and Mr. Barletta stated their budget is doing well and he did not know we needed to plan for funds. He stated if they need funds they can make the request. Mr. Vance stated he would recommend funding the 33 Alliance for another year and Mr. Wisniewski requested Mr. Vance discuss this with Ms Crotty and see if she felt it was worthwhile. Mr. Fix stated if Ms Crotty was in favor of this he would recommend we have a conversation with the leadership of the Alliance about setting expectations so there is a very clear understanding of what we would get in return for that contribution. Mr. Vance stated he would have this information for the next Finance Committee meeting. Mr. Schornack summarized the items from the unfunded list that were being recommended for funding as follows: $60,000 for performance audit; $30,000 for Fourth of July; $10,000 for paratransit; and, $12,000 for memberships. Mr. Schornack stated the Township will pay $15,000 for the Fourth of July, but he has to budget the full $30,000. Mr. Schornack stated there is also $50,000 to be determined later. Mr. Schornack stated with regard to the Carnegie building, we have $16,000 in the budget for emergency work and the items on the unfunded list are above and beyond that. Mr. Wisniewski inquired if the Township had been contacted to see if they were willing to donate anything toward this, and Mr. Vance stated they had not been contacted. Mr. Vance stated if the Township would pay for half of these additional items then he would support the City paying the other half. Mr. Vance stated he would contact the Township on this issue. The new vehicle for City Hall, municipal building parking lot resurfacing, and additional Health Savings Account contributions remained on the unfunded list. Mr. Bachman stated he had added the bike trails to the unfunded list, however, after speaking to Mr. Schornack and finding we only had $19,000, he would recommend this remain on the unfunded list. Mr. Schornack stated when the park impact fees come in he would bring it back to Committee. Mr. Fix stated he was all for keeping the parks safe, but the question was if this camera would do that. Mr. Wisniewski stated he thought this was a Parks and Recreation Board discussion item and he would like Mr. Vance to come back with some ideas before the spring on how we can deter vandalism. Mr. Drobina stated due to vandalism the restrooms in Sycamore Park are kept closed and the restrooms in Victory Park are closed but we have the port-a-potties. Mrs. Hammond stated we are paying $6,000 a year for the portables. Mr. Fix stated he did not agree with going to a park that has nice restrooms that are locked up and have the port-a-potties next to them. Mayor O’Brien stated he felt we should look into replacing the fixtures in the restrooms with vandal proof fixtures. Mr. Wisniewski stated he agreed we should look into using this money to vandal proof the restrooms as much as we can because the restrooms should be open for use. Mr. Schornack clarified the $10,000 should remain as an unfunded item and Mr. Drobina would bring information on the vandal proof fixtures back to the Committee. Mr. Drobina stated he had listed $25,000 for the covered bridge, however, he has not gotten any estimates as yet. Mr. Wisniewski clarified that the outside of the bridge needs painted, the roof needs painted, and the bracing inside the bridge needs fixed. Mr. Drobina stated being as this structure is on the City Seal he felt we should maintain it. Mr. Sauer stated he could not support this. He stated he appreciated the fact that the bridge is on our seal, it is nice to look out, etc., but in talking about trying to set priorities so we can talk about increasing taxes at some point in the future he did not feel he could justify this. Mr. Wisniewski stated his concern was how much you cut out of what your community is; where do you hit rock bottom to say we need a tax issue to restore everything we’ve cut over the past years. Mr. Sauer stated he did not disagree, but he could not see painting a bridge and not paving the streets. Mrs. Hammond stated if Mr. Sauer is going to say that, then Council needs to go back through the budget and say we would not fund the Fourth of July, we would not fund OPVBA, we would not fund the Violet Festival, etc. Mr. Sauer stated if he believed we would spend $370,000 on road paving he would support doing away with the Fourth of July. Mr. Wisniewski stated the street paving done this year benefited one subdivision, 90 percent of our residents did not get any benefit out of it. He stated even if we did the same next year, it would still be another five or ten percent of our residents that get any benefit out of it. He stated if you spend these smaller increments you are giving more benefit to a larger number of residents. Mr. Drobina stated if he had $12,500 he would do what he could to maintain the bridge. The Committee determined that the part-time receptionist for parks would not be funded this year.

Mr. Fix stated he felt we should see the performance audit results before approving any additional vehicles for the police department. Mr. Schornack stated the police would be at the next budget work session for any questions council may have.

Mr. Bachman stated he had requested the $200,000 for the S.R. 256 safety improvement project and $370,000 for the annual street paving projects. Mr. Bachman stated his argument for the street paving would be that if we don’t do some street paving it will cost more money in the future. He stated at the very least he would like to have $20,000 for crack sealing. Mr. Bachman stated the $200,000 for the 256 project is if we get the safety grant we have applied for that would get the engineering started on the project. Mr. Bachman stated the local share of this project would be $800,000 if we get an 80 percent grant, and if we get a 90 percent grant that amount would be reduced. Mr. Bachman stated further it is also possible the Township will put in some funds because they see the need for this project. Mr. Wisniewski clarified we should find out if we get the grant in May of 2011. Mrs. Hammond stated as she understood it, Mr. Bachman was asking for $200,000 this year for the engineering, but she also thought he had said he would possibly need $500,000 the next year and she wasn’t sure we could come up with that. Mr. Bachman stated conservatively this is a $5 million project and if we get an 80 percent grant we would need to come up with $800,000. He stated it is possible to get a 90 percent grant, and if we would get that we would only need $500,000, and if the Township would chip in that would reduce that. Mr. Fix suggested that $250,000 be set aside for roads and if we get the grant and feel it is wise to spend the $200,000 on engineering we can do that, and if we don’t get the grant we spend the whole $250,000 on paving. Mr. Schornack stated he would point out that he is requesting an additional $400,000 for debt payment. Mayor O’Brien stated he thought Mr. Bachman had done a lot of work on this safety project if we budget for it and we have the money, he felt it was likely to happen. Mr. Fix stated he was an advocate of paying down debt, but he also felt that S.R. 256 was the most visible part of our city. He stated if there is a way to make that better, safer, and easier to traverse we ought to put resources toward that. He stated that is the most critical part of our city and we ought to do everything we can to make it as strong as it can be. He continued that as far as the debt, there is still some of the $500,000 left that has not been allocated and he felt there would be more money found over the course of next year that is not accounted for somewhere. He stated we are being extremely conservative in our budget, and he appreciated Mr. Schornack and Mr. Vance doing that, so he would suggest that on a quarterly basis we review our budget and if we find we have extra funds Mr. Schornack could recommend we use that to pay down out debt. Mr. Wisniewski stated he would recommend the $200,000 for the S.R. 256 project and if we do not need it for the grant that could be used for paving, and then $200,000 additional toward paying down debt. Mr. Fix stated in January when we know the carryover, Mr. Schornack could come back to Finance and request additional funds if they are available.

Mayor O’Brien stated he would question if we had checked other carriers for our telephone services and IT management or looked into an agreement for fleet maintenance. Mayor O’Brien stated further we have a facilities person but he was not sure what he did, what he was capable of doing, or what he contracted out for. Mayor O’Brien continued there are many businesses who will provide contract facility services, and he wondered if that was an option we could look at for a lower cost.

Mr. Sauer stated he would like a list of all the vehicles in the City like the one they received from the police department with the mileage, etc. He also questioned if the mileage is tracked on these vehicles. Mr. Drobina stated he could provide a list showing the vehicle year, make, mileage, and department. Mr. Sauer stated he felt it would be helpful if they could see this information on a bi-annual basis or quarterly basis so they would have some kind of idea of what we have on the road, what is being used or what isn’t being used. He stated he felt that would help when making decisions for the budget next year.

Mr. Schornack clarified at the next work session they would review the Police Department, Development Department, and a final review of the proposed budget. He stated the next work session is scheduled for November 3, 2010, at 6:30 P.M.

3. ADJOURNMENT. There being nothing further, the work session adjourned at 10:45 P.M., October 27, 2010.

RESPECTFULLY SUBMITTED:

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Lynda D. Yartin, Municipal Clerk