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Minutes 08-01-11 MINUTES OF THE FINANCIAL ADVISORY COMMITTEE MEETING HELD ON MONDAY, AUGUST 1, 2011 AT 6:00 P.M. AT THE LIBRARY ROOM “A,” BOYNTON BEACH, FLORIDA PRESENT Don Scantlan, Chair Lori LaVerriere, Interim City Manager Michael Madalena, Vice Chair Tim Howard, Assistant Finance Director Terry Lonergan David Madigan Merline Pamplona William Shulman Jeffrey Fisher, Alternate ABSENT George Feldman 1. Call to Order Chair Scantlan called the meeting to order at 6:00 p.m. The recording secretary called the roll. A quorum was present. Chair Scantlan noted for the record that his address on the Financial Advisory Committee Board list should be listed Cedar Circle, not Cedar Lane. 2. Approval of Minutes May 12, 2011 (Tabled at June 6 meeting) 3. Approval of Minutes, June 6, 2011 A change was noted on page 10, item 10, second paragraph. The “p” was omitted from the word “workshop”. Chair Scantlan asked for a motion to move Jeffrey Fisher from alternate to regular member for this meeting in the absence of George Feldman. Motion Ms. Lonergan made the motion to move Jeffrey Fisher to a regular member for this meeting and was seconded by Mr. Madigan. The motion passed unanimously. Meeting Minutes Financial Advisory Committee Boynton Beach, FL August 1, 2011 Motion Mr. Shulman moved to approve the minutes. The motion was seconded by Mr. Madalena and unanimously passed. 3. Discussion of the City Commission Workshops on July 11-13, 2011 Chair Scantlan advised he attended all the open sessions, and Mr. Madigan and Ms. Lonergan attended a portion. Chair Scantlan wished to commend all the members of the Committee. The Commission took the information and used it for its intended purpose. There was still a lot of work to be accomplished over the next several months. Ms. LaVerriere advised she hoped the budget would be approved on the 20th of September. The first reading should be held on September 6th. Between now and then, the public would most likely attend the Commission meetings to express their opinions and concerns. There were some residents that provided comments on the third day of the Workship, workshop pleading for the Shopper Hopper. Chair Scantlan advised he sent an email to the Commissioners that advised them that the County Palm Tran Connection would take seniors to a senior center at no cost. Also sent was a list of the 101 transportation opportunities in the County. Chair Scantlan advised he spoke during the public session about the Shopper Hopper and agreed with Commissioner Orlove that $20.59 per trip was subsidized by the City. Many people, who could afford alternative transportation, utilized the Shopper Hopper for free trips. There was further discussion on Shopper Hopper options and what the costs were. Mr. Madigan wondered if someone had income but still paid taxes, does that not make someone eligible for the Shopper Hopper. Ms. Lonergan replied the Shopper Hopper program was based on income and whether the person could drive. If a person was disabled, Palm Tran would transport them. Ms. LaVerriere commented that Wellington had successfully implemented a program called the Senior Transportation Voucher Program. They requested bids from taxi companies and asked for a flat rate of what would be charge for a one way trip anywhere in the City. The taxi company charged the City $36 for a round trip and the City subsidized $14 on a one way fare, so it would cost a senior $4 for a one way ride. The seniors are allowed six vouchers per month and could only go to a hospital, doctor's office, library, or place of worship. Wellington was twice the size of Boynton, so Boynton's cost would not be that high. There was $50,000 in the budget for some type of voucher program. There was also The Volen Center as an option, which would take a senior anywhere in the County at no cost. Palm Tran costs $3, if disabled. The Volen Center also provides lunch at the senior center every day. One of the requirements to be eligible to ride was to sign up for the lunch program. 2 Meeting Minutes Financial Advisory Committee Boynton Beach, FL August 1, 2011 Chair Scantlan shared some points of the budget meeting and explained the discussions regarding the millage and other suggestions on raising revenue. He informed the members of a CD that he would share that contained Excel files developed when the budget was being built. He indicated it would be a good starting point for the studies being done for next year’s budget. It contained different department budgets, revenue assumptions and approximately 50 different Excel files of data. The purpose of the initial budget meetings was to set the initial millage rate. Once set, it cannot go up, but it could go down. Mr. Madigan expressed his pleasure that the Commission listened as attentively as they did. He felt as the years go on, the Financial Advisory Committee’s recommendations would carry more strength. He encouraged the Committee to stay the course and go beyond their terms, if possible. There was discussion on the budget meeting times and how those times were not recognized. Many members wanted to attend, but with the change in times, were not able to get to the meeting before it ended. Ms. Lonergan inquired if all the workshops were set up the same, since this was her first year attending. Ms. LaVerriere advised that this year was different than last year in that it was held for three days. The Commission wanted to include evening hours in the event a resident wanted to attend after work hours. Ms. Lonergan advised she understood the controversy was that the hours were advertised with one time, but when people arrived, the meeting had already ended. On the advice of the City Attorney, it was suggested that next year, an end time not be included. 4. Review the attached “Basic Recap by Topic from Joint City Commission/Financial Advisory Committee Meeting of May 12, 2011”. The following FAC Recommendation items were referred back to the Committee for further discussion and follow up. 3. FAC Forestry & Grounds Recommendation – Merline Pamplona 4. FAC Cell Phone Recommendation – Bill Shulman 8. FAC Library Recommendation – Merline Pamplona 10. FAC Recreation & Parks Recommendation – Merline Pamplona 14. FAC Solid Waste Franchise Recommendation – George Feldman 20. FAC Pensions Recommendation – Mike Madalena (only if further action is needed) 21. FAC Shopper Hopper Recommendation – Terry Lonergan 22. FAC Solid Waste Residential Garbage Collection Recommendation – George Feldman Chair Scantlan advised that items 3, 4, 8, 10 and 21 were not turned back to the Committee for further study. There were questions, directed to staff. He did not think there was anything for discussion on these items. Items 14 and 22, would be combined 3 Meeting Minutes Financial Advisory Committee Boynton Beach, FL August 1, 2011 with item 5 as those were the items he agreed to do an outsource study on to see how well the City does versus private industry. He would use the process the Federal Government used when it compared private industry against public utilities. With regard to Item 20, a suggestion was made, based on Mr. Madalena’s input, to test the assumptions. He did not feel there was any further action for the Committee. Ms. LaVerriere reminded the members there were two motions made. One was to test the assumptions and one was to look at the split. Palm Beach County was testing a concept of opting in to what they called Bucket A and Bucket B. It was a defined contribution and a defined benefit program. It was a hybrid program. Chair Scantlan inquired if the City looked into this and if it would benefit the City to join the League of Cities Florida Retirement System (FRS). Ms. LaVerriere was not sure, but heard it was expensive. Mr. Shulman inquired if Items 3, 4, 8 and 10 were all items that staff was going to look into. Ms. LaVerriere advised that as a result of the budget workshop a modified program with the Library, Forestry and Grounds and Recreation and Parks were discussed. Originally, they were on the extreme end of the 15% cuts and the departmental proposals were around 8-10%. She thought the Commission did not want to go as radical as removing landscape in certain areas. There were other modifications to the departmental budgets, but there was a compromise. She further advised that cell phones were cut from $130,000 this year to $90,000 for next year. The savings was a result of staff leaving and the elimination of some expenses. Mr. Schulman advised he thought the Commission wanted to investigate what kind of savings could be effectuated by equipment purchase. His recommendation was only for the cost of the cell phone usage and not how much could be saved with consolidating usage. Chair Scantlan agreed. Ms. LaVerriere advised she would follow up. There was no further discussion on the Items listed. 5. Review and select assignments for next year (11/15/10 List of Study Areas and Assignments Attached) Chair Scantlan advised the purpose of the Committee this year was to get to the budget drills and deliver the information from the independent studies to the Commission. Now, next year’s process had to begin. He announced that Mr. Madalena’s areas of study would have to be taken over by another member as he would be leaving the Board due to the relocation of his residence. Chair Scantlan advised that whatever items he was assigned to this year would remain his responsibility for next year in addition to Items 14 and 22, which will now become Item 49, Make or Buy Other City Services. 4 Meeting Minutes Financial Advisory Committee Boynton Beach, FL August 1, 2011 The Committee reviewed the items that were completed this year but would not be necessary for next year. The assignments were as follows: Ms. Lonergan advised she would take Item 53, Unfunded Mandate Review; Item 50, Contracts Without Expiration Dates; and Item 6, City Park Usage Analysis. She will drop the Shopper Hopper review. Mr. Fisher advised he would take Item 42, Investigating Local Sales Tax; and Item 47, Fee for Services, Other City Services. Chair Scantlan advised once Mr. Fisher was a regular member, he would be assigned additional studies. Ms. Lonergan inquired if Chair Scantlan was taking on the Municipal Election Costs item and he advised it was too late for this election. The discussion should occur when the elections are held outside a National election because the City pays for that, which was somewhere between $30,000 and $50,000. If the elections were moved to November, the cost would be the same as an audit which would be 1%. However, workers would not have to be hired and training costs would not be necessary. Ms. LaVerriere advised the timing was set by the amendment to the schedule in the Ordinance. Ms. Lonergan advised she will take Item 23, Municipal Election Costs. Chair Scantlan explained what Ms. Lonergan’s research would entail. If three year terms are continued with elections in November, two times would be off year elections and then there would be two on year elections. Mr. Madigan advised all his previous studies were carried through, some on a monitoring basis. He requested to remove Item 8, CRA Staff Site as that was already committed to. He advised he will take Item 7, City Land Asset Analysis; Item 20, Capital Improvement Analysis; and Item 9, Partnerships (Chamber of Commerce). Ms. LaVerriere commented that part of the joint CRA/City workshop, an analysis of available City-owned land was completed, what deed restrictions were on them, and the selling price. There were appraisals being done on five parcels that could possibly be sold. She was waiting for the appraisals and either at the first meeting or the second meeting in September, would go to the Commission with that discussion. Mr. Shulman commented he did not know what the Commission did with regard to Item 10, Revenue Sources, Other. Ms. LaVerriere advised there was a full analysis done on the list the Committee proposed. Mr. Howard advised he had staff review the list and there were some “behind the scenes” pieces to some of the revenue sources that came to light. One was the assumption the Commission acted on the business tax issue, but did not. The building permits were designed to support the Building Department and with staff reductions in the past few years, there was some question and concern from the Building Department as to whether to raise the fees or not. They were not recommending it at this point because the overall expenditures are down and that revenue source is supposed to match. There were some revenue sources from mobile 5 Meeting Minutes Financial Advisory Committee Boynton Beach, FL August 1, 2011 home licenses and some from alcohol licenses. However, those were set by the State and the County and the City shares those. The Commission does not have much latitude with that. Mr. Howard stated he had the departments look at each source and asked they come back and advise if there were specific issues, and recommend whether the City should raise the fees or not. Mr. Howard suggested that this item would not need to be revisited. Mr. Shulman inquired as to item 28, Overtime Pay Policies. Ms. LaVerriere indicated that was part of the union contracts. The contracts for Fire and Police are up and the City would begin negotiations in March of 2012. The contracts expire in October. Mr. Scantlan commented that he was under the impression that the Committee was not going to study any of the Human Resources items, because none of them were due at the time that any study done would have any effect. Chair Scantlan inquired if there was any support requested from the Committee to help the City with the negotiations. Ms. LaVerriere advised that she would like the opportunity to review the suggestions. Police and Fire are difficult and the City was behind with all the changes in personnel. The City planned on going to the table with a pretty hefty take away list. She did not feel there was time for a study to be done. She advised she wanted an opportunity to review Police and Fire contracts and was trying to get an MOU done to keep the Fire Department wages frozen for next year and ask them for a reopener for year three. Currently, the contract does not have a reopener for wages. She did not want to take the study off the table, but wanted to get through this negotiation and the Committee could get involved after that. Mr. Shulman advised he would take Item 28, Overtime Pay Policies; Item 51, Employee Leave Benefit Analysis; Item 41, Unpaid Furlough System; and Item 43, Public Safety Fund. Item 39, Homeowner Contributions would be removed, as well as Item 19, Allowances. Chair Scantlan inquired of Mr. Madalena if he was aware of anyone who would be interested in filling his role on the Committee once he resigns. Mr. Madalena suggested a colleague, Daniel Pecoraro, may be interested. Ms. Pamplona advised to remove Item 14, Department Head Presentations; Item 15, School House Museum (cost/benefit); Item 16, Library (cost/benefit); and Item 18, Forestry/Grounds (cost/benefit). She advised she will take Item 2, Business Tax Comp Analysis; Item 3, Business Tax/Fee Assessments; Item 5, Benchmark Business Taxes/Fees; and Item 17, Parks/Rec (cost/benefit). Chair Scantlan advised he will take Item 46, Franchise Solid Waste; and Item 49, Make/Buy Other City Services. Item 24, Paperless Billing should be removed. He advised he did not accomplish a study on Item 48, Close/Consolidate City Facilities and assigned it to Mr. Madigan as it could be consolidated with his items. 6 Meeting Minutes Financial Advisory Committee Boynton Beach, FL August 1, 2011 There was discussion on the City Services Survey and it was suggested to continue it annually and find ways to get a better and more accurate response rate. There was a suggestion to send it to all registered voters. There would be a cost involved but it would not be a big expense. There was continued discussion on ways to improve the survey and get more of the residents involved. 6. Establish dates and time of future meetings Due to conflicts with some members, it was decided the September meeting would be held on Monday, September 19, 2011 at 6:00 p.m. and the October meeting would be held on October 17, 2011 at 6:00 p.m. After those meetings, it would be discussed and decided whether to return to meeting every other week. Ms. LaVerriere commented that in discussion with the Commission working on the budget, there were comments made that they were very impressed with the work of the Committee. They commented that a tremendous amount of work was accomplished and a lot of time was devoted. The Commission appreciated it and took it very seriously. 7. Adjournment Ms. Lonergan moved to adjourn the meeting, seconded by Mr. Madigan and unanimously passed. The meeting adjourned at 7:37 p.m. c ( C ( I ,.") 4 ' ., .- U c({.J<' Ellie Caruso Recording Secretary 080811-081011 6 % hours 7