Loading...
Minutes 09-06-84MINUTES OF THE PUBLIC HEARING 1984/85 BUDGET HELD AT CITY HALL BOYNTON BEACH, FLORIDA, SEPTEMBER 6, 1984 PRESENT Carl Zimmerman, Mayor Robert Ferrell, Vice Mayor James Warnke, Councilman Samuel Wright, Councilman Peter Cheney, City Manager Suzanne Kruse, Deputy City Clerk William Doney, Asst. City Atty. Mayor Zimmerman called the meeting to order at 7:30 P.M. and referred to the agenda, which showed the Public Hearing on the proposed use of Federal Revenue Sharing Funds for the 1984/85 budget as the first item of business and the Public Hearing on pr:oposed tentative budget and proposed aggregate millage rate for fiscal year 1984/85 as the next item. City Manager Cheney suggested the two hearings be held together. Mayor Zimmerman announced there were blank fo~ms for those who wished to fill them out and hand them in regarding requests or itlems on which they intended to speak. He referred to the pro- posed tax statem%nts, which were mailed to property owners a few wee~s ago shOwing an 8 percent increase over last year based on a millage of 6.6245. The rollback millage figure which would have held the income to the same rate as the 5.9 mils last year has been figured by the PrOperty Appraiser, a rollback comparable to the 5.9 that we had to pay last year was 5.9871--slightly up from last year's rate. He said we are here to discuss not only the millage ra~e, but also th~ expenditures in the proposed budget. Mayor Zimmerman asked if anyone in the audience wanted to speak in agreement with the proposal or if they had anything complimen- tary to say about the proposed budget. As there was no response, he asked for any remarks, asking that individuals give their names and ~ddresses. Mr. ~hillip Fisher igtroduced himself as a new resident of The CrosSings and asked if the Council had any idea at this time what projection in per6entage the new mall will bring in increased taxes to the city. Mayor Zimmerman said it probably will. not affect the millage rate this year. If it is not substantially completed by the first of January, the assessment does not go on record for that year, so it will likely be January of 1986 before it is complete. He said the land value might have gone up. Mr. Cheney said there would be no figures until the mall is completed, and there would be no impact on the budget until the 1986/87 budget year. The mall is scheduled to open by fall of 1985; therefore, ~t will be assessed as of December, 1985, and that value will be available for taxation purposes for fiscal - 1 - PUBLIC HEARING 1984/85 BUDGET BOYNTON BEACH, FLORIDA SEPTEMBER 6, 1984 year 1986/87. No estimate has been made as to the percentage; it would be almost impossible to estimate what percentage of value the mall will add to that tax year, as an estimate would have to be made of all the other additions to the property rolls in that tax year and any changes in value, up or down, that may occur by that time. Mr. Cheney went on to say the mall is 1,300,000 square feet; if anyone was knowledgeable of construction costs, he could make a judgment of the value, plus it would have to be adjusted to all of the formulas involved with the state statutes relative to taking that value and putting it on the tax roll. Being a large project, it will obviously have a large impact, he stated, and added that Motorola is on the tax roll as of December 31, 1983, before they had begun to move people into the plant, but when they were substantially completed. They are on the tax roll now at $11,000,000. Motorola is about one-third or one-fourth of the square footage of the mall. When a statement was made that the figure might approach the $50,000,000 range, Mr. Cheney replied that it could be, but that is evaluation--not taxes. Mr. Simon Ryder of 2379 S.W. 13 Avenue said he would like to expand on what has been said regarding future tax base increases. He serves on the Planning and Zoning Board and has for about 10 years. He noted that this past year has seen a good deal of growth, both residentially ~nd commercially, in office buildings, warehouses, the Pylon development on Woolbright and 1-95 and possibly a hotel and restaurant. With regard to the mall, there will be five major department stores. Motorola is on the rolls now. We have a good deal of additional development pending. He stated the City is at a point now where it is pretty well along in developing within present confines, and there is no doubt our tax base will increase tremendously. Mayor Zimmerman asked if anyone else would like to make comments concerning either the General Revenue Sharing Budget or the pro- posed General Budget; no one responded. He then read a letter to the Council from Mr. Albert F. Metke, 1911 S.W. 13 Terrace, expressing dissatisfaction about the increase in his taxes over a number of years, ~isting the lack of services rendered to his com- munity and suggesting adjustments in assessments. Mr. Zimmerman said the letter was read for the record or for discussion and noted there were severa~ errors evident in the letter. Councilman Warnke said tonight they were first given the three alternatives to the proposed budget and the millage rates, which stil~ brings us below the millage rate we tentatively set at the workshop meetings of 6.62. Alternative #3 brings it down to - 2 - PUBLIC HEARING 1984/85 BUDGET BOYNTON BEACH, FLORIDA SEPTEMBER 6, 1984 6.55, and we still have an opening between now and the second hearing to reduce that further and/or bring it up. Not having a chance to study some of the alternatives, he doubted if a final decision could be made tonight. Taking into account Alternatives #1 and %2 and combining them with Alternative %3, we would still be reducing the millage about .10, and Mr. Warnke said he is suggesting at this time that the tentative millage rate in the tentative budget be set at Alternative %3, which combines Alternative %1 and %2, and talk about those suggestions. Then it might be in order for a proposed resolution. Mayor Zimmerman asked if anyone has a question at this time and asked if the Public Hearing can be left open as other proposals and changes are discussed, and Attorney Doney replied that it should be left open. Mr. Cheney went through the blue book to show what he has done in response to suggestions during and since the Budget Workshops. The first section he referred to, Summary of City Council Suggestions at the Budget Workshops, is what he took from the minutes and h' is notes of their discussions. He said he included alternatives and suggestions they had made at those workshops as he read them in the minutes. Section B responds to Councilman. Cassandra's suggestion that we see What would happen if we could reduce by $300,000. He had suggested we attempt to get an increase in building permit fees of $100,000, reducing personnel by $100,000 and reducing other things by another $100,000--a total adjustment of $300,000. When we l~oked into the opportunity for fee increases, it appears that the building permit fee with the changes would produce $180,000. Secondly, we have made a reorganization of the Occupational License function this year, and we are finding that we are able to increase the income from this by an anticipated $30,000 more than p~oSected for next year's budget. We have already picked up an additional $6,~00 in this year's budget as a result of the reorganization. This made $210,000 toward Mr. Cassandra's sugggsted $300,00~. .In accounts 30 and 40 he recommends a $45,000 cut and suggested a $145,000 adjustment in new personnel items. That would total ~he $300,000. In Section C, Mr. Cheney presented three alternatives for the Council's review. He suggested $210,000 could be picked uP in new income. If we added the items shown under Alternative ~%1~ totaling $49,000 and deduct that from the $210,000 the effecti bud ' , ve get reduction Would be $160,000. That would reduce the General Fund millage rate from his first proposal of 6.2 to 6.0173. Alternative %2 takes the originally proposed millage of - 3 - PUBLIC HEARING 1984/85 BUDGET BOYNTON BEACH, FLORIDA SEPTEMBER 6, 1984 6.2036, considering the $210,000 additional income and the items added in Alternative 91, and adds an additional crew costing $48,000 for Parks Maintenance (as had been suggested by the Parks Division). This alternative includes the addition of one person in the Police Department for Crime Watch/Community Relations activity, which would be $30,000 with a vehicle. Mr. Cheney suggests adding the Computer Training Program, which is a high priority in the Police Department, for $20,000. In response to Councilman Warnke's suggestion, he suggests adding $10,000 for general capi- tal items, as was discussed at the last meeting. Also included is $52,000 for the beginning of the Capital Improvements Program, which will be coming in a few weeks and will require some funding. Alternative 93 keeps the ultimate tax rate of 6.5580 set at the workshop, which was the rate used on the notices sent to property owners. Under this alternative, we would be "prefunding" some of the City's needs for capital improvements by $386,753, which is but a small portion of what will be needed to fund the Capital Improvements Program in the future. The next two pages are a memorandum from Councilman Warnke regarding the Historical Society, suggesting that we might contribute to their efforts in the City. In response to Councilman Wright's concern, $1,000 has been included for the Youth Advisory CoUncil. The budget had not included the $900 needed for barricades for roads and streets. Section D is a summary of these various tax figures by General Fund, Publicity FUnd and Sinking Fund. The first column is Mr. Cheney's basic recommendations as they appeared in the budget; the second column is the alternative rate for the Council to con- sider, which is the rate set for the maximum tax in the first tax millage resolution passed. Column 4 relates to the $300,000 net reduction, and the last three columns relate to the three alter- natives put forth tonight. Section E relates to personnel questions raised. The first chart is a summary of personnel from the year 78-79 to the proposed coming year, showing where in the General Fund personnel changes have been, what our total personnel and General Fund have been, the changes, growth, etc., and where we stand with the budget as it was ~irst printed_ The next page, entitled General Fund Added Full Time Positions, shows additions that were in the original budget and ~he net increase in the General Fund budget, a listing of 17 positions. Following the pink sheet labeled 94 is response to questions about grade changes and reclassifications. This is a - 4 - PUBLIC HEARING 1984/85 BUDGET BOYNTON BEACH, FLORIDA SEPTEMBER 6, 1984 list Mr. Cheney prepared showing where grades were being changed on some titles and where we were proposing reclassification of either the position or the person. Some of these would be the person in the position--the~ all relate to the position, but in some cases they would be subject to promotional and testing exams, depending on the nature of the change. Following are justifications and explanations the departments have given supporting those changes. Section F is a listing of the vehicles proposed for replacement this year, both in the General Fund and the Revenue Sharing, as the two are really tied together. The green pages at the back of the book relate to the green pages in the budget document, which are revised or new narrative state- ments, department by department, which either have changed since the original budget or were not included in the original budget. Mr. ~heney explained that the studying and changing of building per~it fees have taken some analysis. Tonight, he said, they needto set a tentative millage rate, which will be advertised in the paper once again. It can be at any rate the Council chooses as 10ng as it is not above that which was set before; it can be set ~t the same rate as before and then reduced at the next meeting. He would not recommend setting it far lower tonight and then raising it a6 the next meeting. He said they may want to reviDw these studies and make more suggestions; there are a variSty of possibilities. Vice Mayor Ferrell asked about ideas on capital improvement-- would! that be considered later after the money is set aside? Mr. ,.heney answered that we would have a capital improvement progi:am to the CoUncil within two or three weeks, which will have a number of features. He said they would identify a lot of proj,~cts that a lot of people have been talking about, including all ~)f us from time to time. He noted that George Hunt is work~.ng on this program, which will include a suggested priority system, as it is very difficult with a lot of projects to figure out which is most important. This ~ay of looking at priorities is m~ant to be a ~elpful suggestion, obviously there will be a lot of massaging of priorities. There will be several ideas regarding funding, as there are a variety of possibilities. We will suggest alternatives and have discussions about those. Those items in the Capital Improvements Program will include the things we have discussed--Police, Fire, Library, adjustment to this building, Public Works, inventory activity, the issue of the gymnasium and the issue of parks development. Mr. Cheney added that is is easy to say we need a new gymnasium or a new fire sta- - 5 - PUBLIC HEARING 1984/85 BUDGET BOYNTON BEACH, FLORIDA SEPTEMBER 6, 1984 tion, but all of these issues must be addressed as part of a package. Mayor Zimmerman remarked that the $300,000 budget reduction Councilman Cassandra had proposed set the millage at just about the rate of this last year; without the sinking fund it would be 5.9084--that is the lowest of the suggestions and proposals given. He asked if any of the Councilmen had questions. Vice Mayor Ferrell asked if we were just setting the millage rate tonight and finalizing it at the next hearing. Mr. Cheney said he would think so, although another workshop could be held between now and then if the Council wanted it. The next hearing is scheduled for September 24, but could be extended if more time is needed; however, the issue has to be solved by the end of the month. Councilman Wright asked what percent of increase is 5.9084 and what percent of increase it is over last year. Mr. Swann, Finance Director, answered that it is 1.7 percent over rollback; actually rollback is 5.8110. It is 3.2 percent over last year. Mr. Cheney responded to one of the questions in the letter Mayor Zimmerman read earlier, asking why there was any adjustment to the millage because of all of the growth and development. New value in tax rolls this year produced $300,000 in new income. We think we are getting a lot from development, he said, but we are not yet. A lot of the residential development has the homestead (exemption) on it. As the years go on, it will produce more, but there is a lag between new value and new construction and the dollars it will ro- duce. P In r~sponse to Councilman Wright's question of what percentage the increase for 83/84 was over 82/83, Mr. Swann answered 10.4 percent. Mayor Zimmerman announced for the public's information that the proposed General Budget as advertised is $14,339,981, the General Revenue Sharing we anticipate is $549,212. The proposals will be to do some paring here that will affect the General Budget. He asked if anyone had a question or comment at this time before we go into the resolutions and fill in the blanks on them. As no one responded, he closed the public audience and proceeded to the next item on the agenda, which is the consideration of the first resolu- tion, adopting a tentative budget for the fiscal year and adopting a proposed aggregate millage rate fOr the upcoming fiscal year, and - 6 - PUBLIC HEARING 1984/85 BUDGET BOYNTON BEACH, FLORIDA SEPTEMBER 6, 1984 instructing the publication of a Notice of Final Hearing for Adoption of Budget and setting a hearing date for the final adop- tion of budget. Mr. Cheney asked what tentative millage rate is to be used at this point. Mr. Ferrell said he tends to go with Alternative 93, but not necessarily agreeing to include everything in Alternative 92, subject to further discussion at the next meeting. He then made a motion to go with the General Fund tax millage of 6.5580. Mayor. Zimmerman said we really did not need a motion; the recommended figure should be set, put it in the resolution, and pass the resolu- tion. Mr. Cheney said if they wanted to do what Mr. Ferrell has just suggested, on Resolution No. 84-UUU in Section 2 the blanks would be filled in to show 6.6245 for the Proposed Tentative Aggregate Millage Rate for the 1984/85 Fiscal Year, in parenthesis 6.5580 for the General Fund and .0665 for the Publicity Fund, plus .2071 for Voted Debt Service for a Total Proposed Tentative Millage Levy of 6.8316 for the 1984/85 Fiscal Year. In Section 3, the Millage Rate exceeds the computed rolled back rate by 14 percent. Mr. Wright asked What percent the 6.8316 is over last year's total of 5.9871, and Mr. Cheney said that percentage does not take into con- sideration adjustments in set value--rollback is the rate that takes into consideration the adjusted property value prior to new construc- tion. Mr. ~heney stated there were two ordinances to be passed° The first one Has filled in on Section 1 and Section 2 with the same figures shown in Section 2 and Section 3 of Resolution No. 84-UUU above. For the second ordinarce Mr. Swann provided the calculations to be filled in the appropriate Section 21- $14,6 Section 5!- $944, Section 7 - $225, The procedure, Mr. read the first rea September 24 there the amended ordina blanks as follows: 4,635; Section 3 - $175,992; Section 4 - $5,858,209; 75, $1,806,000 and $2,750,475; Section 6 - $56,450; 50; Section 8 - $549,212; Section 9 - $936,609 and Cheney said, would be to adopt the resolution and ding of the two ordinances. At the next meeting of will be a new resolution and the second reading of nces. Mr. Wright asked if the next meeting would be on a Saturday, and Mr. Cheney replied that last year they changed from Saturday to Monday night, as Saturday meetings did not produce any more participation than nights. - 7 - PUBLIC HEARING 1984/85 BUDGET BOYNTON BEACH, FLORIDA SEPTEMBER 6, 1984 Mayor Zimmerman asked Attorney Doney to read Resolution No. 84-UUU, and he read it in its entirety. RESOLUTION OF THE CITY OF BOYNTON BEACH, FLORIDA, ADOPTING A TENTATIVE BUDGET FOR THE FISCAL YEAR 1984-1985; ADOPTING A PROPOSED AGGREGATE MILLAGE RATE FOR THE FISCAL YEAR 1984-1985; INSTRUCTING PUBLICATION OF A NOTICE OF FINAL HEARING FOR ADOPTION OF BUDGET AND SETTING A HEARING DATE FOR THE FINAL ADOPTION OF BUDGET. Mr. Ferrell made a motion to adopt the resolution, and it was seconded by Councilman Warnke. The motion carried 4-0. Attorney Doney read by title only, first reading, Ordinance No. 84-37. AN ORDINANCE OF THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF BOYNTON BEACH, FLORIDA, STATING THE AGGREGATE MILLAGE RATE TO BE LEVIED AGAINST PROPERTY OWNERS WITHIN THE CITY FOR THE 1984-1985 FISCAL YEAR; PROVIDING THAT THE CITY MANAGER SHALL HAVE THE AUTHORITY TO ADJUST THE AGGREGATE MILLAGE RATE UPON RECEIPT OF THE FINAL TAx ROLL; PROVIDING FOR AN EFFECTIVE DATE AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES. Mr. ~arnke moved for adoption of proposed Ordinance No. 84-37 on first reading, and Mr. Ferrell seconded the motion. Mrs. Kruse took a roll call as follows: Councilman Wright - Aye Mayor Zimmerman - Aye Vice Mayor Ferrell - Aye Councilman Warnke - Aye The motion carried 4-0. Mr. Wright said he thought everybody should realize that these are just being adopted until they get a chance to study what the City Manager is recommending. Mayor Zimmerman confirmed this and said if there are any proposed changes from the audience, the next hearing of September 24 will be the last chance to get your word in. He then asked for the reading of the second ordinance. Attorney Doney read by title only, first reading, Ordinance No. 84-38. AN ORDINANCE OF THE CITY OF BOYNTON BEACH, FLORIDA, ADOPTING A FINAL BUDGET FOR THE FISCAL YEAR BEGINNING OCTOBER 1, 1984, AND ENDING SEPTEMBER 30, 1985; PROVIDING FOR AN EFFECTIVE DATE AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES. - 8 - PUBLIC HEARING 1984/85 BUDGET BOYNTON BEACH, FLORIDA SEPTEMBER 6, 1984 Councilman Wright moved that the proposed ordinance be adopted, and Vil Mayor Ferrell seconded the motion. Mrs. Kruse called the roll: Mayor Zimmerman - Aye Vice Mayor Ferrell - Aye Councilman Warnke - Aye Councilman Wright - Aye The motion passed 4-0. Mr. Cheney mentioned the discussion of Utility and Golf Course budgets, and it was decided those would be covered at a separate meeting. Councilman Wright made a motion to adjourn, Councilman Warnke seconded the motion, and the meeting was adjourned by Mayor Zimmerman at 8:35 p.m. ATTEST: Deputy' ~ity Clerk ~R~r y One Tape e CITY OF BOYNTON BEACH Vice Mayo ~~lma - 9 -