City Council

City of Saratoga Springs City Council Meeting Minutes Thursday, November 16,2006 CITY OF SARATOGA SPRINGS CITY COUNCIL MEETING CITY COUNCIL ROOM THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 16, 2006 5:45 P.M. PRESENT : Valerie Keehn, Mayor Commissioner John Franck, Accounts Commissioner Ron Kim, DPS Commissioner Matthew McCabe, Finance Commissioner Thomas McTygue, DPW SUPERVISORS: Cheryl Keyrouze, Absent Joanne Yepsen, Absent STAFF PRESENT : Lynn Bachner, Deputy Commissioner, Finance Michele Boxley, Deputy Commissioner, Accounts Frank Dudla, Deputy Commissioner, DPS Eileen Finneran, Deputy Mayor Michael Englert, City Attorney 2007 BUDGET PUBLIC HEARING Commissioner Matthew McCabe said this is a public hearing continued from previous meetings. The workshops are completed and the budget is scheduled to be voted on this evening. At this time, the average tax rate increase is 4.6 percent with an average tax rate per thousand of $4.93. He then opened the public hearing. Matthew Jones, appearing on behalf of Saratoga Hospital, said there has been a lot of discussion on the project at Myrtle and Church Streets. He has discussed this issue with the hospital administration and there is support from both the City and the hospital to see this project come to fruition. The issue is the 20 percent share which needs to be worked out between the hospital and the City. He hoped to return to the Council at the beginning of December to discuss viable options to get this project moving. The question at this time is whether the 2007 budget can be amended in 2006. Commissioner Matthew McCabe said that was a legal issue being researched; however, he was also looking at other alternatives. Mark Lawton read a prepared statement from John Kraus. The statement included the following: John Kraus was glad that Lynn Bachner had called him today to discuss the proposed increases. He was glad the increase was 4.6 percent per thousand and that it was close to last year’s rate of $4.50 and it does not exceed $4.72. He suggested that the Council take separate votes on all of the budgets. These budgets – City Center, Water and Sewer – need to be addressed at the Council table. He noted that there recently was a transfer from the general fund to the City Center Authority budget and questioned why that budget was not in balance. There is also a deficit in the water fund. The questions of how those budgets are put together, who reviews them, are they balanced, where the revenues come from, etc., all need to be answered. The fact that the County’s rate is low does not lessen the impact of the City’s rate. Commissioner Matthew McCabe clarified that the average tax rate increase is 4.6 percent and the average rate per thousand is $4.93. The transfers in the City Center Authority’s budget were within their own budget from line to line and not from the City’s general fund. All budgets will be adopted at one time as they have been in the past. Dave Bronner, 5 Royal Henley Court, said the proposed water project is a major expenditure that has not been included in the capital budget. It seems as though there has been no discussion on this matter during the capital budget discussions. All of the other capital budget expenditures have been discussed in great detail. He encouraged the Council to include this item in the capital budget discussions. 1 of 6 City of Saratoga Springs City Council Meeting Minutes Thursday, November 16,2006 Commissioner Matthew McCabe said at this time, there have been no funds requested for the water project. There is a water budget that stands on its own with those funds being use to expand and/or maintain water related items. Once the Saratoga Lake water project receives all of its final approvals, then the capital project committee and the Council could discuss its inclusion in the capital budget. He also noted that there are several ways to fund that project. Commissioner Thomas McTygue said the Saratoga Lake water project has been a very open process with considerable discussions at the Council table. He found it interesting though, that the County recently turned down a $10 million grant from Congressman John Sweeney for the County’s water project because they did not want the EPA oversight. That changes their project considerably and that needs to be brought to the attention of the County residents. He said the Hudson River project has been brought forth because of the proposed chip plant in Malta. The water should be coming from Stillwater rather than the upper Hudson. He suggested that residents attend the County meetings to see what the County is doing in connection with that project. The City knows how it is going to pay for this water system – the County doesn’t. Mayor Valerie Keehn said this topic was discussed at capital budget meetings and the Saratoga Lake water project clearly qualifies as a capital project. She said, though, that discussions on funding will be held when the City gets to the appropriate point in this project. DPW has indicated that the funding could come from the water fund. No matter which fund it comes from, it is still a capital project and there will be much discussion. Miriam Scarborough, Saratoga Springs resident, was concerned with the across the board full assessments two years in a row coupled with the rate of inflation and the tax increases to the budget and asked how the 4.6 percent compared to previous years. Commissioner Matthew McCabe said this year; the average tax rate increase is 4.6 percent. Over the two previous years it was 10 percent; however, that average would drop when adding the 2007 rate. He explained that there was approximately $93,000,000 in new construction added to the City’s assessment roll; however, that creates only $450,000 in additional revenue for the City. Health insurance costs are at $4 million which is up more than $750,000 from last year. He said the City is getting more revenue; however, expenses are going up as well. The cost of a new EMS facility would take at least 16 new $1 million homes to cover that cost. Growth does not pay for everything the City needs. Commissioner Matthew McCabe said it was his duty to bring a comprehensive budget to the table which he has done. He then reviewed the budget process explaining how the Finance Department monitors the budget, processes the requests from the departments, analyzes the request and then develops the comprehensive budget. This budget was completed without cutting services or personnel. This is a budget that the Council and residents can live with. The budget went from a 6 percent increase down to 4.6 percent. If the Council does not adopt a budget, the comprehensive budget becomes the budget. Commissioner John Franck reminded everyone that 70 percent of the taxes that residents pay are school taxes. He said it is clear that residents do not understand why their taxes are going up when there is all of this new construction. Saratoga Springs has the lowest city tax rate in New York. Saratoga Springs is run very efficiently. Mayor Valerie Keehn clarified that the 4.6 percent tax rate increase is the amount based on last year’s rate of $4.73 and this year’s rate of $4.93. She noted that the tax increase is directly related to assessed values. If everything was equal, taxes would decrease when assessments go up, however, often that does not occur because spending goes up. She said with regards to the increased costs for health insurance and pensions, those are costs that the City needs to pay. There has been progress in reviewing the budget and bringing it down to a good number, however, she did not think that the Council was where it should be with that number. She said she is willing to cut more from her budget and she has continued to talk about reducing expenditures. The Council has until November 30 and there is time to do more work on this budget. CALL TO ORDER Mayor Valerie Keehn called the meeting to order at 6:25 p.m. DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC WORKS 2 of 6 City of Saratoga Springs City Council Meeting Minutes Thursday, November 16,2006 Capital Budget Amendment Commissioner Thomas McTygue moved and Commissioner Matthew McCabe seconded to add the capital budget amendment item to the agenda. Ayes all. Commissioner Thomas McTygue requested that a public hearing be set for November 21 at 6:40 p.m. to discuss the transfer of funds in the capital budget to pay for the sprinkler system at the Church Street parking deck. PUBLIC COMMENT PERIOD Mayor Valerie Keehn opened the public comment period. Erin Dreyer, former Deputy Commissioner of Public Safety, said it was brought to her attention that there will be an executive session concerning her litigation matter with the City. She wanted to be clear that she was not settling this law suit and would not agree to sign a release in regards to this case. The City needs to allow this lawsuit to go forward and let her accusers come after her. She said she understood it is less expensive to settle, however, the Council should not put a price tag on letting the truth come out. She wants to go to court. She said she worked with many Commissioners and she supported Commissioner Matthew McCabe in the budget process. She held the DPS budget in line. She was able to work with the Commissioners to maintain budgets and she supported the Commissioners. They are suing her because she was not letting the contracts and budgets get out of control. She said she would defend those budgets and support the contracts that the Council had approved. There being no one else wishing to speak, Mayor Valerie Keehn closed the public comment period. MAYOR’S DEPARTMENT Nothing at this time. ACCOUNTS DEPARTMENT Nothing at this time. FINANCE DEPARTMENT 2007 Budget (06-194) Commissioner Matthew McCabe recapped the budget. The Administrator of Parks and Open Space funding was further reduced. The proposed preliminary budget has a net reduction of $93,942 and additional revenues of $73,900. The tax levy is $13,052,155 with an average tax rate of $4.96 and average tax increase of 4.6 percent. He has reviewed all of the changes. If all of the requests been honored, the tax rate would be much higher. There was no agreement on which requests should be honored but all Council members agreed to maintain the lowest possible tax rate. All of the City’s services can be fulfilled with this budget. There were savings in the liability and self insurance lines of approximately $141,000 and the retirement payments were reduced to $38,000 for police and $44,000 for all other City employees. Commissioner Matthew McCabe then reviewed the proposed budget as follows: Mayor’s Department: the Administrator of Parks and Open Space position funding was reduced, there is $5,000 for Comprehensive Plan Review Secretary and a total decrease to that budget of $38,000 3 of 6 City of Saratoga Springs City Council Meeting Minutes Thursday, November 16,2006 Finance Department: additional $8,000 for disability and software program. Budget reduced by approximately $725,000. Accounts Department: increase of $4,000 in operational expenses. Total net change of about $9,800. Recreation Commission: No changes and total savings of $12, 000. Department of Public Safety: Sick leave pay out increase of $161,000, increase in uniforms, contractual increases offset by contingency lines. Total change to DPS was $850,000 increase. Commissioner Matthew McCabe said the 2007 preliminary budget stands at $54,115,267 with the general fund at $35,517,438. Total revenue is at $22,465,323 with a tax levy of $13,052,115. The average tax rate is $4.96 per thousand which is a 4.6 percent increase. This equates to a $43 increase in taxes on a $200,000 home. This is a good, sound budget which provides for the EMS facility and the indoor recreation facility. Commissioner Matthew McCabe moved and Commissioner John Franck seconded to adopt the 2007 preliminary budget which includes all budgets as presented. Commissioner Ron Kim said he would not support this budget. There was just a debate on the City’s form of government and the public spoke loudly that this is still the commission form of government. As such, he intends to run the Department of Public Safety, to set goals and prioritize projects accordingly. In 2004, the Council approved a contract between the City and Navy Housing for the City to provide fire, police and EMS Services to that area. The amount of $90,000 was based on $408 per unit. He said there is a 3 percent escalator clause in the contract. That motion was on October 19, 2004. In that motion, it so stated that the funds would go to DPS in a designated account for DPS to provide those services. Now those funds will no longer be placed in a designated line. This was an action by the Council that is being abrogated by this Council. Perhaps this is one of those areas where the Charter is deficient. The funds were to be used to purchase an emergency response vehicle. Because of that, he will vote against this budget. He also noted that in 2005, there was a second motion reconfirming the October 2004 motion which authorized the Mayor to sign the contract with GMH. He said if this budget is adopted this evening, he will send a letter to GMH informing them that the City is in breach of the contract because the funds are not flowing to DPS and are not being used to provide services as outlined in the contract. The funds are being diverted to the general fund. Commissioner Ron Kim said the second issue was the unfunded mandates from the state. As of January 1, 2007, the City will be required to begin inspections of all multi-family dwellings, including dormitories, within the next three years. There is no money to fund this mandate. Included in the budget was an increase in hours for the code enforcement office. These inspections will create a revenue line for the City. His department has discussed this issue with state officials and they have told them that the City should not do any inspections during the first year of this program. The first year should be devoted to completing an inventory of the units. He said there is software available. He did not believe the Munis software system was the appropriate software. He said recently he tried to hire a firm to collect the $300,000 in unpaid parking tickets. Even though that contract was not going to cost the City anything, it took him six months to get it approved. It will be difficult to do this inventory without the software. He would not support this budget because of the loss of these reasons. Commissioner Matthew McCabe disagreed with Commissioner Ron Kim. From an accounting method, the revenue is going to the correct line. He said the point is that Commissioner Ron Kim wants to buy an emergency response vehicle and he cannot do it because the funds are already being used for manpower. He said it was a fundamental disagreement between the two. DPS had these funds and grants available to them for years and failed to take advantage of that opportunity. Mayor Valerie Keehn said she did not believe that there had been enough discussion at the table on the budget. The Council is charged with prioritizing the needs for the residents and those discussions have not taken place at the table. She said perhaps there was time within the next few weeks to continue to prioritize and discuss these kinds of issues. The Council should continue to work towards a decrease in the tax rate and come to an agreement that all can embrace. Commissioner Matthew McCabe said the Council has been discussing the budget for six weeks. There have been more meetings and workshops than in past years. There is a fundamental disagreement between 4 of 6 City of Saratoga Springs City Council Meeting Minutes Thursday, November 16,2006 Commissioner Ron Kim and him on the Navy Pilot situation. He was concerned though that the Mayor seemed to be alluding that somehow this has not been an open process. He said if the Mayor does not want an increase in the budget, then there needs to be $1 million in cuts. This is a good budget that allows for the indoor recreation facility, design for new police department and other capital budget line items. He resented the implication that this had not been an open process. He reminded everyone that the recent contract settlement cost the City $800,000. These are hard choices and will continue to be with the other proposed projects. About 90 percent of the budget is salaries. If the Council wants a zero percent tax increase, they will have to lay off at least 6 police officers, 12 DPW workers and there will be no new facilities. Mayor Valerie Keehn said whether this was last minute or six weeks ago, she had been talking about making this a bare bones budget for some time. This budget reflects on the Council as a whole and the Council owes it to the taxpayers. The Council has two weeks before the November 30 deadline. She is not suggesting that the budget have a zero percent tax rate, but did believe there was work to be done. She was not sure if all Council members believed that enough work had been done on the budget. Commissioner Ron Kim said he would not support this budget based on principle. There was a dedicated line for this revenue that was approved by a prior Council. This money has been ripped out of his budget and is no longer dedicated to DPS. It was not appropriate that Finance was making the decision when it was a prior Council’s decision. Commissioner Matthew McCabe said that Commissioner Ron Kim was incorrect and the revenue has been included in the budget. There are other revenue lines that are not dedicated to departments for their spending. Commissioner Thomas McTygue said it was frustrating that Council members want to blame this form of government. Commissioner Ron Kim said he was not blaming this form of government. Commissioner Thomas McTygue said it was frustrating that there are concerns with this budget when the real issue is the contract negotiations. The Council recently settled a contract that added between $600,000 and $700,000 to the budget. DPS comes to the table with the biggest budget and the largest increases and then wants to vote against the budget because of $95,000. He has been running his department with part time, temporary help for many years. He wanted to make a few of these people full time, but the Council did not see fit to do so. This community is spoiled when it comes to the services that it provides. There is fire, police, DPW, etc., when surrounding towns use the Sheriff’s Department. He said he would not vote for any more contracts with substantial increases, unless there was some assurance from Council members that they would vote for the budget. About 90 percent of the City’s budget is spent on employees. It’s difficult to say that there is more that can be cut when the largest portion of the budget is labor related. He questioned how Commissioner Ron Kim could not support a budget that gave his department nearly $700,000 for contract settlements. All Commissioners knew there would be sacrifices to be made when settling that contract. Commissioner Ron Kim said his comments were being misinterpreted. He would not support the budget based on principle that this Council was abrogating its powers to the Finance Commissioner. If this Council wanted to put a motion on the table to change the prior motion, that would be different. This is precedent setting and all Commissioners should be concerned. Commissioner Thomas McTygue said the Council needs to look at the bottom line. The DPS budget was increased by nearly $2 million and now Commissioner Ron Kim was whining about $90,000. Commissioner Thomas McTygue said he was somewhat concerned that the City was going into the ambulance business. Commissioner Ron Kim said he was not proposing to buy an ambulance but rather an emergency response vehicle. Commissioner John Franck said this is not new to him. This has been brought up before in budget discussions. Commissioner Ron Kim said this is not a negotiable item with him. It goes to principle and the core value of the commission form of government. Commissioner John Franck said he did not believe that these funds were removed from DPS. The money did not disappear. It’s still within DPS. He said that Commissioner Ron Kim should think about cutting his budget by $600,000. This was the correct accounting method for this money, however, if Commissioner Ron Kim wanted to seek a legal opinion that was his prerogative. The revenue is there, it is just being used differently from what Commissioner Ron Kim wanted it used for. He said this form of government works and it shows through the City’s tax rate. He said Commissioner Ron Kim was advocating to increase the budget. 5 of 6 City of Saratoga Springs City Council Meeting Minutes Thursday, November 16,2006 Commissioner John Franck said the original budget was at 6 percent increase which he did not support. Since that initial budget, he has done a lot of research on the consumer price index and others. The index that he could find that was closest to municipalities was from the BLS Economic Indicators which showed a 4.6 percent increase in the Albany-Schenectady-Troy area. He informed Commissioner Matthew McCabe that he would not support any budget that had an increase of more than 4.6 percent. He pointed out that there are long time employees in the City and the longer they are here, the higher their salaries. He believed the police contract was fair and equitable. He noted that if the contract had not been settled, the money would still have been allocated in the budget in the contingency line. He said it did not matter whether there was a commission form of government or not, the important issue was to adopt a budget. He believed that Commissioner Matthew McCabe had done his job and the budget should be adopted. Commissioner Matthew McCabe said the revenue from the Navy contract was included in the budget and the services are the cost of day to day business. He did remove the line for the EMS vehicle that had nothing to do with the Navy contract. There is an agreement between the City and the Navy to provide services. No department is self-sufficient. DPS costs are more than half of the City’s budget. He said he is glad to advance the EMS facility. This is a good budget. It provides a good foundation to build on. The budget continued to evolve and just recently there was a gaping hole, that was remedied, due to anticipated retirements in DPS. He said he was pleased with the structure of this budget. The Council worked hard on this document and has done a good job. If the Council wants a zero percent increase, then there needs to be some cuts. Mayor Valerie Keehn said she did not advocate to increase the budget after the initial budget was presented. She only advocated to decrease the budget. Commissioner John Franck said that was not true. Shortly after the budget was presented, the Mayor’s Department came to the table with proposed increases that increased the tax rate to 8 percent. He said she only recently, just before the election, decreased her budget. She did that when she realized the elections were not going her way. Mayor Valerie Keehn said she did not advocate for an increase. Commissioner John Franck commended her for removing those requests but said that she did include them in the budget. Commissioner Matthew McCabe said this is a healthy sound budget and he requested that a vote be taken. Roll call vote: Ayes – four (Commissioners John Franck, Matthew McCabe & Thomas McTygue and Mayor Valerie Keehn); Nays: one (Commissioner Ron Kim). Motion carried. DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC SAFETY Nothing at this time. EXECUTIVE SESSION Mayor Valerie Keehn moved and Commissioner Thoams McTygue seconded to adjourn the meeting to executive session to discussion litigation matters at 7:25 p.m. Ayes all. Council members returned at 7:45 p.m. and reported that no action was taken. ADJOURNMENT Commissioner Thomas McTygue moved and Commissioner John Franck seconded to adjourn the meeting at 7:45 p.m. Ayes all. There being no further business, Mayor Valerie Keehn adjourned the meeting at 7:45 p.m. Respectfully submitted, Kathy Moran Clerk Approved: 6 of 6