City Council Special Meeting

July 17, 2012 The Bastrop City Council met in Special Workshop Meeting on Tuesday, July 17, 2012 at 6:15 p.m. at the Bastrop City Hall Council Chambers, 1311 Chestnut Street, Bastrop, Texas. Members present were Mayor Terry Orr and Council Members Willie DeLaRosa, Joe Beal, Ken Kesselus and Kay Garcia McAnally. 1. CALL TO ORDER At 6:15 p.m., Mayor Terry Orr called the meeting to order with all members present, with the exception of Dock Jackson who was absent because he was ill. 2. WORKSHOP SESSION – THE BASTROP CITY COUNCIL WILL CONVENE INTO A WORKSHOP SESSION TO DISCUSS: A. 2012-2013 BUDGET – A REVIEW AND DISCUSSION WITH THE CITY MANAGER REGARDING FISCAL YEAR 2013 BUDGET FOR THE CITY OF BASTROP. At 6:16 p.m., Mayor Orr convened the Bastrop City Council into a workshop session to discuss: A. 2012-2013 Budget – A review and discussion with the City Manager regarding Fiscal Year 2013 Budget for the City of Bastrop. City Manager, Mike Talbot distributed a Memorandum regarding the “Preliminary Summary of the General Fund Proposed FY-13 Annual Operating Budget, as of July 17, 2012”. Mr. Talbot stated in order to give Council more time to analyze the City’s revenues and expenditures he gave the Council a proposed preliminary budget. Mr. Talbot stated in reviewing the preliminary proposed Fiscal Year 2013 General Fund Operating Budget he wanted to highlight several factors: 1) Council will note an increase in the cost of City operations; 2) Council will note that the City’s contribution to the Employee Health Plan is projected to be approximately 12%; 3) Council will note that the City Manager is recommending a Salary Adjustment (or Cost of Living Adjustment – COLA) of 2% and 2.5% for step adjustment on the employees anniversary, based upon satisfactory performance evaluation to address the salary compression issues; and 4) Council will note that the proposed Capital Expenditures are $84,390.00. Mr. Talbot reviewed the Memorandum which included: General Fund Summary, Summary of General Revenues, General Fund - Sales Tax Revenues, General Fund – Property Tax Revenue/Property Tax Rate, Property Tax Distribution Calculations, General Fund – Electric Fund, General Fund – Franchise Fees, General Fund – Municipal Court Fees, General Fund – Intergovernmental Transfers, and Summary of Proposed Expenditures for FY-13 which included Personnel and Operation and Maintenance Expenditures. Mr. Talbot stated the focus of this year’s proposed preliminary proposed Fiscal Year 2013 General Fund Operating Budget was to keep the City Department expenditures within the range of Fiscal Year 2012’s Operation and Maintenance expenditures, while at the same time addressing “Personnel Requests” and “Capital Equipment Items” that had been cut from previous budget requests. Mr. Talbot stated clearly, not all the Departmental requests could be, or were, funded. Discussion was held among Council and Mr. Talbot regarding the proposed preliminary Fiscal Year 2013 Budget. Mayor Orr stated if there are areas in this proposed preliminary budget that Council is concerned with they should let Mr. Talbot know. Mayor Orr stated he supports the salary increases and the extra funding necessary being taken from Bastrop Power & Light because if there is extra sales tax revenues received in Fiscal Year 2013 he would like to have that applied to capital expenditures. Mayor Orr stated he did not want any City employee operating unsafe equipment. Joe Beal stated he is against raising taxes, but this time he would not hesitate to do it, if that is what the Council needs to do because of the abnormal situation that we find ourselves in (fire and decrease in ad valorem taxes). Mr. Beal stated he would want an increase in taxes to be the last resort. Willie DeLaRosa stated he was against a tax increase period. Ken Kesselus stated there is $75,000 the Council has to deal with and why don’t we take it from the Water/Wastewater Funds instead of Bastrop Power & Light Funds. Mr. Kesselus stated he did not think any of the Council wants to raise taxes. Kay Garcia McAnally stated if the Council even thinks about raising taxes, the Council needs to be showing cuts in their budget as well. 3. THE BASTROP CITY COUNCIL WILL ADJOURN WORKSHOP SESSION AND RECONVENE INTO SPECIAL SESSION TO TAKE ANY NECESSARY ACTION(S). At 8:20 p.m., the Bastrop City Council adjourned workshop session and reconvened into special session to take any necessary action(s). No action was taken. 4. EXECUTIVE SESION – THE BASTROP CITY COUNCIL WILL MEET IN A CLOSED/EXECUTIVE SESSION PURSUANT TO THE TEXAS GOVERNMENT CODE, CHAPTER 51.086 (CERTAIN PUBLIC POWER UTILITIES: COMPETITIVE MATTERS) TO DISCUSS THE FOLLOWING: A. CERTAIN PUBLIC POWER UTILITIES: COMPETITIVE MATTERS – BASTROP POWER AND LIGHT BUDGET 2012-2013. 5. THE BASTROP CITY COUNCIL WILL ADJOURN EXECUTIVE SESSION AND RECONVENE INTO SPECIAL SESSION TO TAKE ANY NECESSARY ACTION(S). No Executive Session was held. 6. ADJOURN At 8:21 p.m., Kay Garcia McAnally moved to adjourn. Seconded by Joe Beal and carried unanimously. APPROVED: ATTEST: _________________________ ___________________________ Terry Orr, Mayor Teresa Valdez, City Secretary