City Council

CITY OF SARATOGA SPRINGS CITY COUNCIL MEETING CITY COUNCIL ROOM WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 17, 2004 6:00 P.M. PRESENT: Commissioner Thomas Curley, DPS Michael Lenz, Mayor Commissioner Matthew McCabe, Finance Commissioner Thomas McTygue, DPW Commissioner Stephen Towne, Accounts STAFF PRESENT: Erin Dreyer, Deputy Commissioner, DPS Debbie Harper, Deputy Commissioner, Accounts Alicia Wardell, Deputy Mayor Lynn Bochner, Finance 2005 BUDGET WORKSHOP Commissioner Matthew McCabe said the Council was here this evening to discuss the budget. He adjusted some figures since yesterday. He does not want to inhibit the services to the residents. He hoped the City would meet sales tax expectations. There were also some adjustments to the mortgage tax. Commissioner Stephen Towne said the budget this evening is at $5.17, which is a significant increase from last year. He offered $50,000 at the last meeting by reducing expenditures and increasing revenues but there still needs to be more adjustments. Commissioner Thomas Curley agreed the budget still needed some work, however, it needs to be a responsible budget that ensures the safety of the community. Commissioner Matthew McCabe said this is a responsible budget. He added $75,000 to the mortgage tax revenue and $25,000 to sales tax revenue. The combined tax rate is now at $5.17. Commissioner Thomas McTygue said in his department the difference between the 2004 budget and the 2005 budget was $285,283 which does not include the additional costs for health insurance. His budget has been reduced by $119,474. His first budget was a five percent increase and now it is down to a three percent increase which does not include contractual obligations. He has not increased any permanent staff although their responsibilities have increased with the increase in approved streets and roads. Any cuts should be made across the board. The Council needs to work together on this matter. There are some departments where the workload has lightened and said that those employees could take on more responsibilities. His budget is only three percent over last year. Commissioner Matthew McCabe said there have been cuts to the initial budget. The Council needs to work together. Mayor Michael Lenz said there were many legitimate requests for funding from not-for-profit agencies. He explained to those agencies that their requests may not be met. The charter calls for new positions in the amount of $300,000. He was able to fill two of the positions at $60,000 and is looking to fill the third at a much lower cost. He appreciated the work by Commissioner Matthew McCabe, but is still uncomfortable with the tax rate. Commissioner Matthew McCabe said that all departments have been affected by the new charter. He understood that many are uncomfortable with the tax rate, but the City has many responsibilities. There is health insurance, contractual obligations, etc. It would be a disservice to adjust the numbers any further. Page 1 of 5 City of Saratoga Springs City Council Meeting Minutes Wednesday, November 17, 2004 Commissioner Stephen Towne said they have a difference of opinion on a responsible budget. He has been open with his concerns about the proposed budget. He outlined a plan. He is having a hard time with the 18 percent increase. The budget is irresponsible. If the City cannot operate with an 18 percent increase in the tax rate then the Council is doing something wrong. We have to do things differently. An 18 percent increase is substantial. Commissioner Thomas McTygue said Council members do not want to vote for a tax increase if it’s not necessary. He said he was willing to go along with cuts to the unnecessary items but services need to be maintained. He said the agencies such as the senior center continues to get funding from the City and maybe it was time to decrease their funding proportionately. He was willing to take more cuts to his budget. Commissioner Stephen Towne said Commissioner Matthew McCabe has the authority to make those cuts. Commissioner Matthew McCabe said the average price of a home in the City is $239,000 and those residents are looking a 9.35 percent increase in their taxes. He said past practices have gotten the City to this point. Expenditures are exceeding revenues. The Council needs to decide what services are going to be reduced. He said he would stand by his revenue estimates. Commissioner Thomas McTygue said there are not enough votes here tonight to adopt the budget. If it means more drastic cuts then it should be done but the cuts need to be done proportionately. He said that many years ago the Council spent many late nights here working out the details on contracts, but now they have hired professionals to do those negotiations. He said the Council used to generate the necessary revenues to cover those increases. The ice rinks have a mechanism set up to pay for their debt service. The new Zamboni machine did not cost the taxpayers anything because it was paid for out of funds generated from the ice rink. The carousel also now has a special account with funds that will cover expenditures for the carousel. The casino generates revenues and the veteran’s brick walkway generated $50,000 which will be used for restoration on the war memorial. His budget usually comes in at 2 1/2 or 3 percent increase. He has made changes in his department. Several years ago, he asked his employees to take one week with no pay. He said he could not do that now. He would have to eliminate positions if the budget is reduced more. Commissioner Matthew McCabe said he has been working on health insurance and sales tax issues for some time now. This is a responsible budget that will serve the City well. Commissioner Thomas McTygue said that Commissioner Matthew McCabe recommended some numbers as the last meeting to cut from the budgets. He suggested that Council members start with 25 percent of those numbers and continue to work their way up until a budget is passed. Commissioner Stephen Towne said there is a difference of opinion. Commissioner Matthew McCabe has done a lot of work on this budget. The City’s Risk Manager was brought on board in a cost neutral method. There is also a revenue stream for the additional Assessment Department Staff to be hired. He said he was not interested in layoffs. Before focusing on existing positions, the Council should look at new positions that are not covered with new revenues. The Council should also look at nonpersonnel related matters. Commissioner Thomas Curley said the Council needed to be careful to not ignore the things that need to be taken care of. Equipment is in bad shape and maintenance needs to be reviewed. Often DPS keeps their vehicles passed their useful lifetime. Maintenance can be put off for only so long. Commissioner Thomas McTygue said that several years ago he asked for chairs for the Casino. He then made a deal with the Finance Commissioner that his department would purchase the chairs, the casino would rent them out for functions and the profits would be placed in a special account to be used for Casino maintenance. Mayor Michael Lenz said he too has looked for ways to generate revenues for the City. When he was Finance Commissioner, they did the simple thing of transferring City funds to different higher interest earning accounts Page 2 of 5 City of Saratoga Springs City Council Meeting Minutes Wednesday, November 17, 2004 which generated between $50,000 and $60,000 more in funds for the City. There was also a property auction which raised a significant amount of money. That extra money was then put into the parking solution fund which is now at about $300,000. Now the City is looking at building a parking structure at little or no cost to the taxpayers. They have also formed a partnership with the County to generate revenues. Commissioner Thomas McTygue said the money the City brings in is a good investment for the City. There should be some discussions though with the County on the OTB and Admissions taxes. The County has a $20 million surplus. Commissioner Matthew McCabe said if the city wants to continue the same services it comes with a price. There being no one else wishing to speak, Mayor Michael Lenz closed the public hearing. CALL TO ORDER Mayor Michael Lenz called the meeting to order at 7:00 p.m. PUBLIC COMMENT PERIOD Linda Terricola, Recreation Director, distributed a memo to Council members requesting that they consider adding the $45,264.38 back into their budget. If it is not added it will result in a reduction in programs. Equipment will also need to be cut. Last year they received a donation of a copy machine. They have a bare bones budget. Her department generates more than half of their funding through fees for programs. They also do a lot of fundraising for equipment and programs. The fees have been increased over the years but it would be unfair to increase them again. If this money is taken out of the budget, then programs will need to be reduced or eliminated. John Krause, 227 Grand Avenue, said the Council is heading in the right direction but it was not there yet. Revenue generation is good but there must be some cuts. The Council needs to establish a target at perhaps $4.95. The rate should be below $5.00. It will take another $500,000 to get to that amount. It will still be a 14 percent increase though. The Council needs to continue to work on this. Mark Lawton, 209 Nelson Avenue, reminded Council members that the Comprehensive budget includes all budgets and they should be adopted together. He said any public expenditures made by any public official must be accompanied by an appropriation otherwise it is illegal. All outside funds must be brought into the City’s budget. There needs to be work on the capital plan. It does not meet the requirements of the charter and a six year plan needs to be adopted by the end of the year. John Kaufman, 44 White Street, said he was concerned about the Anderson property. The City in the Country theme is a powerful image. This is a big issue and it likely to be bigger than the Home Depot issue. If the Council does not come through and support what the neighbors are asking for it will be an issue during the next election. Residents are disturbed about the traffic and are concerned that this project will compromise their quality of life. The Council members should not renege on what they campaigned on. Dave Bronner, 5 Royal Henley Court, complimented the Council on the good budget discussions. He said he was concerned though that many City employees work only 33 hours weeks with full benefits. The Council needs to look at that issue. The City cannot continue to do business in this manner. The co-pay for medical insurance also needs to be looked at. Nancy Goldberg, 66 Sarazen Street, said she emailed all Council members about the Lake Avenue/Gilbert Road issue and she would like confirmation that they have read that email. She said that when the Andersons purchased this land they knew that it was zoned RR1. There are boards in this City charged with reviewing these matters. Residents have a right to rely on zoning. The Council should vote to zone this area RR1 and Page 3 of 5 City of Saratoga Springs City Council Meeting Minutes Wednesday, November 17, 2004 then leave the traffic and other details to the Planning Board. She does not believe what is good for the developers is necessarily good for the City. The inner core needs to be developed. Carol Maguire, Caroline Street, asked for clarification on the surplus in connection with the parking deck. Mayor Michael Lenz explained that the City does not have a surplus, but there are funds available for the parking deck through dedicated funds and grants. He said the cost of the parking structure is estimated to be at about $2.6 million, the County has offered $1.2 million, the City sold the adjacent lot for $600,000 and there is $300,000 in a reserve account. Bonding will pay the remaining amount. Those dedicated funds can only be used for their stated purpose and not to balance the budget. Nancy Goldberg asked if the City had any control over the school budget. Mayor Michael Lenz said no. The only control was through voting for school board members. Commissioner Stephen Towne said the school tax rate was $13.40 and the library rate is $1.40. Commissioner Stephen Towne said that many phone calls to City Hall are to complain about school taxes. He said the combined tax rate for the school, library and city is approximately $22.00. Commissioner Thomas Curley said there are 165 people in his department and only 7 are 33 hour week positions. The remainder are 40 hour positions. Teresa Capozolla commended Commissioner Matthew McCabe for bringing forward the Lake Avenue/Gilbert Road issue three times. She hoped that the Council would remain consistent with their 2003 vote. She asked the Council to do the right thing. There being no one else wishing to speak, Mayor Michael Lenz closed the public comment period. FINANCE DEPARTMENT 2005 Budget (04-224) Commissioner Matthew McCabe moved and Commissioner Thomas McTygue seconded to approve the 2005 preliminary budget in is entirety, as presented this evening, as the comprehensive budget. Mayor Michael Lenz said in the past, the Council has adopted the budgets separately. Commissioner Matthew McCabe said he would like the budget adopted as presented. Commissioner Thomas Curley said the Council needs to look at its responsibilities. There are some critical decisions to be made. He said he wanted to assure residents that the services would be maintained. There would need to be some internal changes though. It was his intention to support the budget. Roll call vote: Commissioner Stephen Towne No Commissioner Matthew McCabe Aye Commissioner Thomas McTygue No Commissioner Thomas Curley Aye Mayor Michael Lenz No Motion denied. Lake Avenue/Gilbert Road Area Zoning Amendment Petition (04-225) Commissioner Matthew McCabe moved and Commissioner Thomas McTygue seconded to accept the Lake/Avenue Gilbert Road Zoning Amendment for study and to send the entire 124 acres and not just the 80 acres to the City Planning Board for an advisory opinion to rezone the 124 acres to RR1. Ayes all. Page 4 of 5 City of Saratoga Springs City Council Meeting Minutes Wednesday, November 17, 2004 DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC WORKS Kuchesky Subdivision Proposal Country Club Estates Submission Commissioner Thomas McTygue requested that a public hearing be set for December 9 at 7:00 p.m. to discuss the Kuchesky Subdivision and the Country Club Estates Subdivision. Mayor Michael Lenz said the final date for the contract approval for the Kuchesky parcel is December 15. He asked if there was time to get this matter on the Planning Board agenda for subdivision approval by December 15. Matt Dorsey said if the subdivision is not approved by December 15 the contract will be cancelled. He cautioned the Council about setting a public hearing in advance of the Planning Board and said this public hearing does not take place of the Planning Board public hearing. The Planning Board is the board that has the authority to make the subdivision approval and not the Council. There is no reason for the Council to not have a public hearing, but this was uncharted ground. He said the other issue was that the City ordinance requires that prior to submitting an application for subdivision review the applicant must have a signed water service fee agreement from DPW. Therefore, there is some legal question as to whether there is an application pending because technically the applicant cannot apply until there is an agreement in place. Commissioner Thomas McTygue said he will deal with that matter after the public hearing. He said he recently signed a number of single unit water service agreements. He also pointed out that there will be no street opening permits issued until spring. Matthew Dorsey said there would be up to four water connections at the Kuchesky parcel. Commissioner Thomas McTygue said he is not holding up the Kuchesky’s appearance before any board. Mayor Michael Lenz said this is a difficult situation because the agreement should be signed first. He has a proposal to change the ordinance. He said the Council is cutting this close. The easiest thing to do is for DPW to sign the agreement in order for the applicant to get in the line up for the December 15 Planning Board meeting. Commissioner Thomas McTygue said he was not holding up the process but there have been concerns expressed by the neighbors. He said the neighbors need to have an opportunity to discuss their concerns. Mayor Michael Lenz said the ordinance precludes the applicant from appearing before the Board without a signed agreement. 2005 Budget It was agreed the Council would meet again on Monday, November 22 at 6:00 p.m. to discuss the budget. ADJOURNMENT Mayor Michael Lenz moved and Commissioner Thomas Curley seconded to adjourn tonight’s meeting at 7:50 p.m. Ayes all. There being no further business, Mayor Michael Lenz adjourned the meeting at 7:50 p.m. Respectfully submitted, Kathy Moran Clerk Approved: Page 5 of 5