Mayor & City Council

MINUTES College Park City Council Meeting Budget Worksession #2 Tuesday, April 2, 2024 7:30 p.m. – 11:55 p.m. HYBRID In Person in Council Chambers of City Hall Virtual over Zoom PRESENT: Mayor Kabir; Mayor Pro Tem Mitchell; Councilmembers Hernandez, Hew, Esters, Whitney, Adams and Mackie. ABSENT: Councilmember Rigg ALSO PRESENT: Kenneth Young, City Manager; Bill Gardiner, Assistant City Manager; Janeen S. Miller, City Clerk; Gary Fields, Director of Finance; Teresa Way Pezzuti, Director of Human Resources; Robert Marsili, Director of Public Works; Jatinder Khokhar, Director of Public Services; Miriam Bader, Director of Planning; Ryna Quinones, Communications and Events; Michael Williams, Economic Development; Kiaisha Barber, Director of Youth, Family & Senior Services; Dhruvak Mirani, Student Liaison Mayor Kabir opened the meeting at 7:30 p.m. and outlined the budget process. Opening Presentation: Mr. Young provided an overview of the budget at the current tax rate, the City Manager’s proposed tax rate, and the tax rate at the end of the March 23 budget Worksession. He also showed other tax rate scenarios. Tonight’s discussion is to talk about any additional changes/subtractions to the budget. College Park City Council Budget Worksession #2 April 2, 2024 Page 2 City Council Discussion: Budget Items to add Amount Straw poll Page P 51 Add College Park Parade Hernandez/Whitney + 33,000 Passed 6-0-1 Adams/Mackie amendment “or another event in north CP and have a Worksession about it first” Yes = 3 No = 4 Amendment failed No Adams/Mackie - Add back the needs based +37,500 Failed page # rental assistance grants program that was Yes 1 eliminated in the 3/23/24 budget No 5 Worksession – no specification at this time Abstain 1 pending future W/S Mackie/Whitney amendment to specify this is for graduate students Yes: 2 No: 4 Abstain: 1 Amendment failed 2-4-1 Items to cut Amount Straw poll No Hernandez/Mitchell -40,000 Passed page # Re the AARP Age Friendly F/T lead person: 7-0 change from a F/T staff person with benefits to a contracted position. Was $85K, now $45K P 51 Events: Remove Adult event -12,000 Failed Mitchell/Mackie Yes 3 No 4 College Park City Council Budget Worksession #2 April 2, 2024 Page 3 P 51 Events: Remove both Big 10 Events (2 @ -12,500 Passed as 12,500) amended: Mitchell/Mackie Yes 5 No 2 Whitney/Esters: Amend to cut one Big 10 Event for 12,500 – Amendment passed 6-0-1 Yes – 6 No - 0 Abstain – 1 P 51 Events: Remove Can-Ducky Derby -4,000 Failed Mitchell/Mackie Yes 2 No 5 P 32 Emergency assistance funding: Reduce by -25,000 Passed 25K for new total of $75,000 Yes 6 Whitney/Esters No 1 Adams/Mackie - Amendment to cut another 25K to get down to -50,000 reduction Yes – 2 No - 4 Abstain - 1 Amendment failed P 32 Food service organizations: Reduce by 25K -25,000 Passed for a new total of 100,000 (originally $125K) Yes 5 Whitney/Esters No 2 Amendment Adams/Mackie to reduce an additional $25,000 to do a reduction of - 50,000 Yes 3 No 4 Amendment failed College Park City Council Budget Worksession #2 April 2, 2024 Page 4 P 33 Restorative Justice Commission - reduce -8,500 Passed 200,000 request by 8,500 (video person) and Yes 6 provide service with in-house staff = 191,500 No 0 Whitney/Esters Abs 1 Amendment Adams/Mackie Increase cut by $16,500 for a total cut of $25K Yes - 1 No - 5 Abs – 1 Amendment failed 5-1-1 P 37 Consultant fees for businesses – reduce from -25,000 Passed 175K to 150K Economic Development Yes 4 consultant No 3 Adams/Mackie P 48 Racial Equity Training – reduce from 65K to -20,000 Fails 45K Yes 2 Adams/Mackie No 5 Elderly Property Tax Credit – move back to -15,000 Passed $150 credit instead of proposed $200 credit Yes 6 Adams/Mackie No 1 P 85 Neighbors Helping Neighbors – they asked -15,000 Fails for 35K, reduce to 20K Yes 2 Adams/Mackie No 5 No Translation grants for civic organizations was -7,500 Passed as page # added on 3/23 at $15K amended Adams/Mackie Yes 6 No 1 Mitchell/Esters Amend to 7,500 for this year Yes 6 No 1 College Park City Council Budget Worksession #2 April 2, 2024 Page 5 Amendment passed 6-1 P 44 Credit Card fees – recover 100% of the -67,500 Need more convenience fee from the customer, currently information at 50% so leave out for now P 51 Reduce printing costs from 60K to 34K for -26,000 Passed Resident Information Guide once a year Yes 4 Mackie/Whitney No 2 P 51 Reduce Marketing and Advertising from 180K -10,000 Fails to 170K Yes 2 Mackie/Hew No 4 P 31 Employee bonus set aside, reduce from 75K -50,000 Fails to 25K and find other ways to fund the Yes 2 balance No 4 Mackie/Hew P7 Reduce staff increase: remove bilingual -45,000 Fails coordinator from F/T position to Yes 2 accomplishing the work with contractors No 4 Mackie/Hew Reduce the transfer to CIP in FY ’25 for the -125,000 Table for north College Park Community Center – now spread out the promised contribution over 3 years instead of 2 years Whitney/Hew Whitney/Mitchell to table this until we get more information Yes 6-0 Proposal to use 100,000 from ARPA funding Failed for Aging in Place to fund the food service 1-5-1 College Park City Council Budget Worksession #2 April 2, 2024 Page 6 grants, so Aging in Place would be funded at 150,000 instead of 250,000 from the General Fund. Adams/Hew Councilmember Adams left at 11:04 p.m. Motion by Councilmember Hew to suspend the rest of the meeting because there is no District 3 representative at the meeting. Motion failed for lack of 2nd. Wrap Up: Interest in reducing the Commercial tax rate by 1 cent to 0.39; and to set the Residential rate at 33.68. ---------------------- Mr. Fields and Mr. Young explained that we can’t set the tax rate above what is advertised, but we can go below it. Therefore, for budget advertising purposes, use Commercial at 40 cents, and Residential at 34.1, with the understanding that you might be able to drop the rates as mentioned above. Adjourn: 11:55 p.m. Mackie/Whitney 6-0 Respectfully submitted, Janeen S. Miller, City Clerk