Sales Tax Citizens' Oversight Committee

MINUTES OF JANUARY 10, 2017 MEETING OF THE SALES TAX CITIZENS OVERSIGHT COMMITTEE Chair Gerbosi called the Regular Meeting to order at Town Hall Council Chambers, 300 Tamalpais Drive, Corte Madera, CA on January 10, 2017 at 4:00 p.m. 1. CALL TO ORDER, ROLL CALL Committee members Present: Chair Gerbosi, Vice Chair Flahive and Committee members Greenbaum, Howard and Morton Committee members Absent: None Staff Present: Town Manager Todd Cusimano Director of Administrative Services/Town Treasurer George T. Warman, Jr. Town Clerk/Assistant to the Town Manager Rebecca Vaughn SALUTE TO THE FLAG: Chair Gerbosi led in the Pledge of Allegiance. 2. OPEN TIME FOR PUBLIC COMMENT REGARDING NON-AGENDA ITEMS - None 3. GENERAL BUSINESS A. CONTINUED REVIEW AND DISCUSSION OF THE OCTOBER 28, 2016 REPORT TITLED, “FY 2015-2016 SALES TAX OVERRIDE TRANSACTIONS AND ENDING BALANCE ON ACCRUAL BASIS” The Committee members continued to review the report, FY 2015-16 Sales Tax Override Transactions and Ending Balance on Accrual Basis” and asked questions of staff. Committee member Greenbaum asked a question regarding the budget, in particular, the amounts held in reserves, and how that is explained in the context of Measure B. Mr. Warman explained that there is a statement in the Measure about building up reserved. It is not one of the listed items, but it is stated in the information that was distributed to the public. Mr. Warman read the following quote from the public information mailer regarding the purpose of Measure B: “To address the ongoing budget deficit, depleted reserves, and long-deferred local maintenance and repair needs while maintaining current levels of service, the Council voted unanimously to place Measure B on the ballot.” He stated that the Council took great effort to ensure that what was represented to the public was what was included in the budget. Sales Tax Citizens Oversight Committee Minutes 2 January 10, 2017 Discussion was closed and Chair Gerbosi moved to Item 3.B, discussion and review of draft Fiscal Year 2015-16 report. B. DISCUSSION AND POSSIBLE DIRECTION TO APPROVE THE DRAFT FISCAL YEAR 2015-2016 REPORT ON THE REVENUE AND EXPENDITURES OF THE TRANSACTIONS AND USE TAX AND DIRECTION TO FORWARD THE REPORT TO THE TOWN COUNCIL FOR REVIEW The Committee reviewed the draft report provided and discussed modifications to the content and format of the report. Committee member Howard discussed his suggested edits to the draft report to replace the final paragraph with the language he supplied: The Committee feels obligated to note that the original Measure B Resolution No. 28/2013 listed six essential Town services as priorities for the measure:  Fire Prevention  Flood Control  Streets and potholes  Disaster Preparedness  Safe Routes to Schools  Senior and youth programs Mr. Warman stated that, at the last meeting there was a discussion regarding Disaster Preparedness. He knows that work was done prior to June 30th. The Central Marin Police Authority has indicated that Larkspur had not included any funds in their budget so that is why no bill has been paid yet. Committee member Howard stated that the NRG Coordinator has been working steadily since July, so there should have been a bill submitted. He added that both the Town of Corte Madera and City of Larkspur were supposed to have budgeted $20,000 to cover the cost of the coordinator. Mr. Cusimano responded that the Town expended approximately $7,000 last fiscal year. This current year, we continue to spend money, but it is being paid through the Central Marin Police Authority. He will go back and look at invoices to make sure it is correct and that Larkspur and Corte Madera are invoiced back since we have $40,000 sitting in our account now. We will send $20,000 over to CMPA and will ask Larkspur to do the same. Chair Gerbosi stated that it seems that one of the observations of this committee is that funds for earthquake and disaster preparedness are underrepresented based upon how the funds are being used, how much is coming in and how much is being allocated to these items. Perhaps the Coordinator should be giving input on how much should be allocated, at least on the Corte Madera side. Sales Tax Citizens Oversight Committee Minutes 3 January 10, 2017 Mr. Cusimano informed the group that, in the next Fiscal Year, will be getting input from the Disaster Committee, the Police Department and the Fire Department about what types of training we want to accomplish, what types of programs we want to do, etc. That will be coming before the Council this fiscal year, and that would be a good opportunity to have the discussion about what that dollar amount should be. Chair Gerbosi called for any additional comments regarding the draft report.  Committee member Greenbaum: Would like to remove the word “significant” in the second paragraph.  Committee member Greenbaum: Would like to the middle portion replaced with a grid, with all six categories listed along with their expenditure percentages, with a 0% listed next to the ones that did not have expenditures.  In order to create the chart, the committee then went through each individual expenditure related to the Sales Tax Override in FY 2015-16 and assigned each item into its respective category  Chair Gerbosi discussed inserting language urging the Council to allocate funds toward Disaster Preparedness and Senior and Youth Programs  The final paragraph of the draft will be replaced with the last paragraph of Committee member Howard’s suggested language as noted above.  The committee members discussed various ways to footnote the two items where there was little to no expenditure. Such as: o Disaster Preparedness Coordinator: $20,000 was budgeted for Disaster Preparedness Coordinator for this Fiscal Year. Invoice for expenses incurred has not yet been received. o Senior and Youth Programs: $89,236.08 expended for this fiscal year was paid for park maintenance vehicles and equipment. Staff received the directions necessary to finalize the report. Discussion was closed and Chair Gerbosi moved to Item 3.C, approval of minutes of the December 1, 2016 meeting. MOTION: Moved by Howard, seconded by Flahive, and approved by the following vote: (Ayes: Flahive, Gerbosi, Greenbaum, Howard, Morton; Noes: None To approve the draft Annual Report as amended pending final review by Chair and Vice Chair and direct staff to schedule presentation for a future Town Council meeting. Sales Tax Citizens Oversight Committee Minutes 4 January 10, 2017 C. APPROVAL OF MINUTES OF DECEMBER 1, 2016 MEETING Chair Gerbosi and Committee member Morton provided several edits to grammatical errors. MOTION: Moved by Greenbaum, seconded by Flahive, and approved as amended by the following vote: (Ayes: Flahive, Gerbosi, Greenbaum, Howard, Morton; Noes: None To Approve the Minutes of the December 1, 2016 meeting. 4. DISCUSSION OF NEXT MEETING AND ADJOURNMENT The next meeting may be scheduled for April or May, dependent upon when the 2017-18 draft budget is ready for review. The meeting was adjourned at 5:05 p.m. to the next Sales Tax Citizens Oversight Committee meeting, date to be determined.