Board of Commissioners Budget Workshop Meeting

BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS MEETING MINUTES MINUTES WERE NOT APPROVED BUDGET MEETING August 16, 2016 Page 1 of3 A Budget Workshop Meeting of the City of Madeira Beach Board of Commissioners was held at 7:00 p.m. on August 16, 2016 in the Patricia Shontz Commission Chambers at City Hall, located at 300 Municipal Drive, Madeira Beach, Florida. Mayor Palladeno called the meeting to order. MEMBERS PRESENT: Travis Palladeno, Mayor Housh Ghovaee, Vice-Mayor Terry Lister, Commissioner Nancy Hodges, Commissioner MEMBERS ABSENT: Ellaine Poe, Commissioner CITY STAFF PRESENT: Shane Crawford, City Manager Vicent M. Tenaglia, Assistant City Manager Aimee Servedio, City Clerk Thomas Trask, City Attorney Dave Marsicano, Public Works/Marina Director Michelle Orton, Planning and Zoning Director Doug Andrews, Recreation Director A. CALL TO ORDER Mayor Palladeno called the meeting to order at 7:00 pm. B. ROLLCALL City Clerk Aimee Servedio gave the roll call. C. TOPICS 1. DISCUSSION OF 2017 FISCAL YEAR BUDGET - Shane B. Crawford, City Manager and Vincent M. Tenaglia, Assistant City Manager Mayor Palladeno said he would like the Commission members to provide their comments and input prior to staff presentation. He thanked staff members for their great work on the budget for the individual budgets. Commissioner Lister said budgets are a guideline. He read somewhere that budgets should be skipped every other year. He stated that a budget is not necessary every year. They may want to think about this in the future. Staff members come to the Commission and tell them what they need. They still have the same millage rate as they did 30 years ago. It is great the staff members are finding new ways to bring in more money. Mayor Palladeno commented that he would like to add one item to the budget. A lot of mothers take their kids to the park during the softball games at night. The park does not have any lighting, so he approached the manager to get funding from the current budget. They don't need to make a budget request this year. Mr. Crawford said he had a consensus from the commission to freeze the millage rate at 2.2. Madeira Beach has the lowest millage rate in Pinellas County. They have the highest assessment rate with a 9.9% growth. Under Section 5.4 [City Charter] its states the manager shall prepare and submit a budget on an annual basis. He indicated that he appreciates staff's involvement and thanked people from the citizenry for showing up. He thanked Vince for all he does for the budget. He takes care of all of the year to year type things. Department heads came in with their requests. The budget is becoming more sophisticated. They are going to try to limit the amount of budget amendments they make. The City was behind in getting projects completed so they had to find funding. If the Commission decides to add something to the budget, they will need to make budget cuts in other places. They have an individual that comes in to do the research on the internet for short term rentals. They decided not to borrow $3,000,000 to complete the utility burying. BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS MEETING MINUTES. MINUTES WERE NOT APPROVED BUDGET MEETING August 16, 2016 Page 2 of 3 They will have poles that run east to west. It has been one of the most strenuous projects that he has worked on because of all the bureaucracy. Lots of utilities do not play well with each other. Revenues are up so some expenditures are up. Doug is purchasing a 16-passenger van. Mayor Palladeno indicated that they had the lowest property values of the beaches in Pinellas County. Now they are number one in the county. They have started discussing what they are going to do for beautification funds. The City has completely changed since the time he originally moved here. Crime has gone down a lot. A lot of young people are moving into the city. Mr. Crawford directed the Commission to tab one, page four, and said they reclassed a couple positions. One position was done away with and another was created. They are offering a 4% pay increase to all employees. Madeira Beach has a lean staff that works really hard and is paid well. The worker compensation insurance has gone up. His promotional budget has gone done. Dave needs this money in his budget. They were shelling out a lot of money for contract work. They now have Michelle Orton on staff and it is working out well. Commissioner Hodges said she would like solar panels in the budget. Mr. Crawford commented that solar panels are only for creating heat and would not be needed. They would also have to explore if the building is engineered for solar panels. Dave said they would have to get back to the Commission about how the building is set up. They do use them in lighting. Mr. Crawford suggested the solar panels cannot be used to cool. Dave responded that they could be used for cooling. Mr. Crawford said they would have to look into it. They can get the ball rolling and have an engineer look at it for the next budget cycle. He said they have not received any public comments on the budget. Mayor Palladeno asked Dave if they can look at something to do a low-cost project at the marina. It's a small building and they can probably do something there. Mr. Crawford indicated that they explored the cost savings for this building and it was not going to be worth it. Vice-Mayor Ghovaee said there are opportunities out there that they are not aware of. He asked if they can bring in an expert to come talk with the Commission to get more information. Everyone is going in this direction. The City could secure a grant for the design of the marina. Mr. Crawford said this is permitted for 122 sail boats. There is not a significant demand for sail boats as everyone uses power boats. The permitting process has been very slow. They need the permit to construct the facility. They have three years to use the money. Commissioner Lister responded that Seminole constructed their emergency management and public works buildings with solar panels. They sell solar energy back to Duke Energy. People want to use solar energy and there are grants out there for it. Mr. Crawford said he is meeting with their lobbyist next week and will see if there is funding from the State for renewable energy. He commented that if the Holden property gets developed, the High and Dry is a slam dunk for the City. BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS MEETING MINUTES- MINUTES WERE NOT APPROVED BUDGET MEETING August16,2016 Page 3 of3 Mayor Palladeno said he was on the planning commission when they started discussing the dock project. Now they need to get the county to adopt the plan. No new permits have been approved since 2007. He asked if any one in the audience has any comments. There was none. Mr. Crawford thanked Vince and the department heads for all of their work on the budget. D. ADJOURNMENT Mayor Palladeno adjourned the meeting at 7:30 pm. The August 16, 2016 BOC Budget Meeting was approved on _ _ _ _ __ _ __ _ _ __ Maggi Black, Mayor ATTEST: Clara VanBlargan, MMC, MSM, City Clerk