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Minutes 07-11-01 MINUTES OF THE SPECIAL CITY COMMISSION MEETING REGARDING FIRE ASSESSMENT HELD IN COMMISSION CHAMBERS, CITY HALL, BOYNTON :BEACH, FLORIDA ON WEDNESDAY, JULY 11, 2001 AT 2:00 P.M. Present Gerald Broening, Mayor Ronald Weiland, Vice Mayor Mike Ferguson, Commissioner Charlie Fisher, Commissioner Mack McCray, Commissioner Kurt Bressner, City Manager James Cherof, City Attorney Janet Prainito, City Clerk I. CALL TO ORDER Mayor Broening called the meeting to order at 2:05 p.m. I1. LEGAL: A. Ordinances- 2nd Reading - PUBLIC HEARING 1o Proposed Ordinance No. 01-34 Re: Authorizing the imposition and collection of fire rescue assessments against property 'Attorney Cherof read proposed Ordinance No. O1-34 by title only. Vice Mayor Weiland said that after careful consideration, he determined that this was the best way to proceed and he is in favor of moving forward. Mayor Broening opened the public hearing. Since no one wished to speak, the public hearing was closed. Motion Commissioner Ferguson moved to seconded by Commissioner Fisher. vote was unanimous. approve Ordinance No. O1-34. Motion City Clerk Prainito polled the vote. The B. Resolutioni Proposed Resolution No. R01-217 rates for fire rescue assessments Re: Approving Meeting Minutes Special City Commission Boynton Beach, FL July 11,200.1 Mayor Broening said there were two interim rate proposals for consideration by the Commission today. The matter will be heard again at a public hearing on September 4, 2001. Virginia Delegal, the attorney contracted by the City to prepare the Resolution, was asked to explain the procedures. Ms. Delegal said that the two Resolutions are the same except for the rates. Twenty (20) days prior to the September 4, 2001 hearing, a first class mail notice must be sent to each affected property owner that is subject to the assessment. The letter of notice would (1) describe the assessment, (2) state the amount of the proposed assessment, (3) state the property classification, (4) contain the proposed rate, and (5) include an invitation to attend the public hearing. · The letter of notice would include the date, time and place of the hearing. The notice would advise of the penalties involved if the assessment were not paid. The City has reserved the right to institute foreclosure proceedings or any other mechanism authorized by law to enforce payment of the assessments. · In 2002, the assessment will be included on the tax bill. An informational Q&A brochure is in the process of being prepared and will be included. Aisc included will be a correction card and a telephone number that residents can utilize to obtain further information. A notice will be published twenty (20) days prior to the public hearing. Attorney Cherof noted Appendix G to the proposed Resolution. contains a draft form of notice. Vice Mayor Weiland said the notice states that the public hearing would be held in City Hall. It was discussed that the hearing would be held in the auditorium of the new High School. Mr. Bressner stated this could be changed after the Resolution is adopted, but before the notices go out. Chief Bingham will follow through with secudng the High School auditorium for the public hearing Commissioner Mccray inquired about the status of the brochure and Mr. Bressner said that the second draft should be available for the Commissioners sometime next week. Commissioner Fisher questioned holding the hearing the same night of a Commission meeting. Mr. Bressner said the agenda would be lightened and would 'be conducted the same night. Commissioners Fisher and McCray requested that cdteria for claiming a hardship be included with the brochure. Attomey Cherof said there is no policy of this 2 Meeting Minutes Special City Commission Boynton Beach, FL July 11, 2001 kind in place. Language in the brochure could reference a hardship process. Commissioner Fisher would like the policy in place before the mailing. Mr. Bressner stated this was not possible and they should adhere to Attorney Cherof's suggestion for the time being. The hardship procedure will be ready for the September 4~ hearing date. Vice Mayor Weiland inquired if the rates would be set today or finalized at the September 4th hearing. Mr. Bressner said the rates would be tentatively set today and would be set in final form at the September 4th hearing. With regard to the rates, Vice Mayor Weiland said that the warehouse/commercial category would be charged the greatest assessment because of the square footage of the building, yet this category makes the least calls. Ms. Delegal referred the Commissioners to Appendix D of the Resolution, which showed that on a per building basis, any commercial property whose square footage is over 50,000 square feet would-pay $9,979 per building. Nursing homes with over 50,000 square feet per building would be paying $16,215 per building. There will be a cap in place. Vice Mayor Weiland felt that the rate for commercial/warehouse was too high because of the Iow frequency of calls to these facilities. Mr. Bressner said that the calls made to the various categories were looked at. Commercial had the third most calls. In 1999-2000 there was a total of 67 fire calls to industrial/warehouse facilities. The rates were calculated on the response data. Ms. Delegal commented that the' calls to the nursing homes were the greatest, but the assessment was made on public purpose findings and therefore treated differently. Commissioner Fisher questioned why not-for-profit organizations were being exempted and would like them included. Mayor Broening pointed out that these types of businesses perform a public service and provide a benefit to the community. Vice Mayor Weiland said that during previous discussions not-for- profit groups were never considered for inclusion. During the budget process, Mayor Broening Would like consideration given to those people who pay taxes and he would like to institute some relief to off-set this additional expense. Mr. Bressner stated that in anticipation of the Commission desiring some type of tax cut to offset the 'assessment, the budget presented today contains a rate rollback, recognizing the increased costs to the taxpayers, and at the same time providing a great improvement to the City's fire services. Vice Mayor Weiland wanted to know the effects of a tax decrease upon the City's five-year plan. Mr. Bressner said that this would make it more difficult in later years, but this can be 3 Meeting Minutes Special City Commission Boynton Beach, FL July 11, 2001 addressed in the future. The assessment for a single-family residence is $90 and the decrease in the tax rate is $18.60. Commissioner McCray asked how long the assessment would remain in existence and would 'the assessment increase every year?. Mr. Bressner said that if the City did not have to borrow any money to build the facilities, the assessment would probably be in place for seven (7) years. If it was necessary to borrow money, the assessment may be in place for two additional years. A sunset clause could also be considered. When the assessment is eventually discontinued, the City is going to have to come up with replacement revenues to cover the operating costs for the fourth fire station. These funds could come from redevelopment revenues, outside of the CRA. Additional revenues could come from annexation. Commissioner McCray asked what project would be addressed first. Mr. Bressner said that construction of a fourth fire station would begin next fiscal year and should be on line in November 2002. This would include land acquisition and construction. As soon as the fourth station is on line, response time would be reduced from seven minutes to approximately four minutes. The next step would be the improvements to station #2 and the third step would be replacement of station #1. The land for the fourth station has not been located to date and there are no plans on the drawing board. It would also be necessary to equip the traffic signals with green-signal pre- emption devices to improve vehicle progress through the intersections. This is dependent upon the County. The City's shared cost would be approximately $3.6 million. This would be done during the third phase of the project. The County has not decided on the technology they wish to utilize. Vice Mayor Weiland asked when the groundbreaking would take place for the new station. Mr. Bressner anticipates this occurring dudng the last quarter of this year. The Fire Department, along with the Engineering Department, will be taking an aggressive approach to this project. The issue of additional revenues will have to be addressed and there is always the possibility of reconflguring the CRA boundaries.' Ms. Delegal pointed out that the Commission needs to decide when the bills would be mailed. She .was informed that the first quarter of 2002 is being targeted. Ms. Delegal requested that a motion to that effect be adopted. 4 Meeting Minutes Special City Commission Boynton Beach, FL July 11, 2001 Motion Commissioner Ferguson moved that Scenario B be approved with the caveat that the bills would be mailed during the first quarter of 2002. Motion seconded by Vice Mayor Weiland. Attorney Cherof requested that a summation of Scenario B be presented before the roll is called° Mayor Broening presented the following summation of Scenario B: The rate would be at 85% based against an operating revenue of $5,121,058. 85% of operating revenue (redundant) 100% buydown of institutional/tax-exempt (non-government) property. 100% buydown of institutional/tax-exempt (government) property. Buydown of nursing home property rates to institutional rates. The text would be amended to reflect that the billing would be in the first quarter of calendar year 2002. Motion carried 5-0. I!1. ADJOURNMENT There being no further business, the meeting properly adjourned at 3:00 p.m. ATTEST: Recording Secretary (one tape) CITY OF~BOYNT.~. ~E/A~'H M~vor~ ' _ ~ Commissioner July 16, 2001 5