Finance Committee

200 South Hamilton Road City of Gahanna Gahanna, Ohio 43230 Meeting Minutes Finance Committee Michael Schnetzer, Chair Karen J. Angelou Brian D. Larick Jamie Leeseberg Nancy R. McGregor Brian Metzbower Stephen A. Renner Kimberly Banning, Clerk of Council Monday, April 9, 2018 Council Committee Room Immediately Following Committee of the Whole CALL TO ORDER Chair Schnetzer called the meeting to order at 7:27 p.m. Present 7 - Brian D. Larick, Michael Schnetzer, Stephen A. Renner, Karen J. Angelou, Nancy R. McGregor, Brian Metzbower, and Jamie Leeseberg 2019 BUDGET DISCUSSION ITEMS: - Budget process and assumptions Schnetzer said asked administration to explain steps taken in Budget Process; more than just capital; Bury walked through some of the tools they use to come up with budget numbers; showed how they look at personnel budgeting; all information gets put into a spreadsheet with some history; FinancePlus allows for only 1 year look out; we look 5 years out; look at anything unusual in past years; then explained what departments get; in 2018, pulled back on some operating expenditures; looked at 3 year actual spend and what was budgeted in 2017; if increases were needed, notes were required; did not allow for emergency buffers in the budget; emergencies are an OK reason to ask for a supplemental; also go into what the current staffing level is; then looks at revenue - operational and external, like property taxes; economic indicators are positive going into 2018; Metzbower asked with economic indicators - where do those come from; Bury said a ton of resources; some other revenue streams are easy because we get the numbers; Angelou asked who are our advisors are; Bury said New Albany; Metzbower asked if we get into trend lines; Bury said we have a 12 month rolling; look at a 12 month rolling stream; are we seeing peaks and valleys; rolling seems to work well; Bury said everything is then put into City of Gahanna Page 1 Finance Committee Meeting Minutes April 9, 2018 tabs and rolled into one spreadsheet; Metzbower asked how many changes are there operationally; Bury said as far as the SOM goes - all pretty consistent; then we have our annual operating resources; then we look at shortfall; then we go back to departments and go line by line; widdle down; then we meet with the Mayor; go line by line; then we start to talk about what departments requested as part of their one-time; then it goes to departments one more time to look at numbers; big book is then created and dropped off to Council. Schnetzer said on expenditure side; that is fixed; not too much of a variable; asked for explanation of other expenses; Bury said contracts; operating programs; training; supplies; Schnetzer said historically, Council focuses on capital improvements; through this process - starting now vs. October, Council will have input on other budget items, not just capital improvement projects; Metzbower thanked Bury for this information; Angelou asked if our policies are working well; Bury said yes; typically can go 5 years for investment policy; same for debt policy; not heavy debt issuers; do not really change much; Larick said when we passed legislation, we put clocks on those; look at when those were done (possible 2007 and 2005); Schnetzer asked how often we look at banking piece; Bury said we sign a 5 year agreement; just upped that agreement; look at banking fees and our level of customer service; having customer service is vital; is expensive to do an RFP; only way to get good information is to do a full blown one; last one done was in 2012 and was awarded in 2013; likely look again next year; Schnetzer suggested looking at a lot of contract services; possibly do an RFP for those; Mayor Kneeland said Service and Engineering has to do competitive bidding; can get more information on that; always review of services at a department level; constantly looking at those services to make sure we are getting the best price; Barr said this year for example we are saving $1,000 on fireworks; Leeseberg asked if large projects get better prices; Priestas said absolutely; McGregor asked Franey about getting lower responsive bids due to the length of time left in the contract; Franey said this year we are asking for them to invest in the carts; better if it is a longer contract; just depends on contract; Schnetzer asked about building permit fees, are they calculated with development’s; Jones said have a model they use to determine revenue; permit fees are handled through Service; have targets to meet each year; Priestas said not a full analysis, but it is taken into consideration; have to have a good idea of economic temperature; Franey said have brought forward changes to fee schedule; Leeseberg asked how far we look at benchmarking us with other communities; Priestas said just did that with building fees; looking at zoning fees now; have done that with engineering fee schedule; Leeseberg asked if we charge for engineering review; Priestas said yes; Franey said we also review our code annually; City of Gahanna Page 2 Finance Committee Meeting Minutes April 9, 2018 Larick asked if Bury gets information from a revenue side; Bury said looks at trend; also looks at how the economy looks overall; looks at growth; Jones explained how his revenue model works; his estimates are just estimates; Larick asked to drill down more into that, possibly next time. 2018-0073 2019 Budget Discussion Documents ADJOURNMENT 8:05 p.m. City of Gahanna Page 3