CITY OF PICKERINGTON

FINANCE COMMITTEE OF COUNCIL

CITY HALL, 100 LOCKVILLE ROAD

TUESDAY, OCTOBER 26, 2004

2005 BUDGET WORK SESSION

6:00 P.M.

1. ROLL CALL. Mrs. Riggs opened the work session at 6:15 P.M. with Mr. Wisniewski, Mr. Wright, Mr. Hackworth, and Mrs. Riggs present. No members were absent. Others present were: Mr. O’Brien, Mr. Sabatino, Mr. Parker, Judy Gilleland, Lynda Yartin, Linda Fersch, Frank Wiseman, Bob Mapes, and others.

2. SCHEDULED MATTERS:

A. Review of proposed 2005 Manager’s Budget. Ms Gilleland stated she is bringing the budget forward earlier than usual so Council will have enough time to review it. She stated Budget Work Sessions are scheduled for 6:00 P.M. each Tuesday for the next few weeks to allow for any questions or input from Council. Ms Gilleland stated the budget books are not complete as yet, and she hoped Council would not mind the information being submitted in a piece meal format and the book being put together at the end. Ms Gilleland stated she has not gotten to expenditures as yet, but she has met with department heads to determine what they would like and now that the revenue portion of the budget is done, she will meet with them again to finalize what they would like. Ms Gilleland stated as discussed before, the budget is being reformatted and some of the sheets you see in your packet this evening will be in the budget. She stated the budget will be ultimately high level detail.

Ms Gilleland stated as she goes through information, if Council wants any further information she will supply it as soon as possible. Mr. Wright inquired when Council could expect the line item printout. Ms Gilleland stated hopefully the expenditures by department would be ready by next week, and if not, the Capital budget will be ready. She stated she was planning on getting the Capital Improvement Plan done at the same time as the budget. Mr. Wright clarified Council would be able to look at line items by next week. Ms Gilleland stated that is what she hoped. Ms Gilleland stated she is taking the line item budget that is traditionally a working document for internal staff, and grouping or categorizing to make it into a management document for Council to consider. Mr. Wright stated he would like to have the detailed line items, and he is fine with a summary as long as the line items are provided to Council. Ms Gilleland stated that was fine. Mr. Wright stated he felt Council had to have an opportunity at one of the work sessions to go line item by line item because that is where the changes are. He stated when it is summarized it gets a little diluted and more difficult to see where the change are. He stated he thought the summarized version was for the public and for presentation purposes. Ms Gilleland stated she would prepare the budget in whatever form Council felt comfortable with.

Ms Gilleland reviewed the revenue estimates, the history of the revenues, our debt, information on TIF’s, and General Fund trends. Mrs. Fersch stated she based items related to construction, such as sewer and water capacity fees and building permits on 250 homes. Mrs. Fersch stated in the property tax valuation history it shows our valuation was 9.37 percent and for 2004 collection year it is 11.03 percent. Mr. Wright clarified they are looking for it to be about 8 percent this year. Mr. Wisniewski clarified that inheritance tax will be phased out by 2006, and Mrs. Fersch stated she was surprised to receive the $50,000 this year.

Ms Gilleland stated the principal and interest payments on all of our bonds and notes are set forth as advised by our bond counsel and our financial advisor. She stated Mrs. Fersch had originally intended to pay more principal on many of the issues and we were advised to back off on that, pay the interest on some of them, and be a little more conservative. Mrs. Fersch stated we will be paying off the $450,000 we borrowed for engineering on the water plant, instead of paying a little bit. Ms Gilleland stated the letter from our financial advisor detailing his recommendations has been included in the information given Council this evening.

Mrs. Riggs stated Mr. Wright had requested the detailed line item and she would like that as well. She stated she would also like to see the percentage we are budgeting up or down in the line items. Ms Gilleland stated she would have that information at the next work session.

Ms Gilleland stated the next budget work session is scheduled for Wednesday, November 3, 2004, at 6:00 P.M.

There being nothing further, Mrs. Riggs closed the budget portion of the work session at 7:15 P.M., October 26, 2004.

RESPECTFULLY SUBMITTED:

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Lynda D. Yartin, Municipal Clerk