City Council

CITY OF SARATOGA SPRINGS CITY COUNCIL WORKSHOP MEETING CITY COUNCIL ROOM THURSDAY, OCTOBER 11, 2007 5:00 P.M. PRESENT: Valerie Keehn, Mayor Commissioner John Franck, Accounts Commissioner Ron Kim, DPS Commissioner Matthew McCabe, Finance Commissioner Thomas McTygue, DPW ABSENT: Supervisor Cheryl Keyrouze Supervisor Joanne Yepsen 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 CALL TO ORDER Mayor Valerie Keehn called the workshop meeting to order at 5:00 p.m. Commissioner Matthew McCabe said that all of the budgets are on the City’s web page. He informed Council members that the sales tax revenue is $200,000 lower than last year at this time. He noted that the admissions tax is also down a little. He said though that he would speak to the state sales tax people on this because it seemed as though this was a better year – less rain, more shoppers, etc. He said that the City is one percent higher in sales tax revenue than last year; however, we are behind in the revenue projections. Commissioner John Franck said it appears that the state is saying that the City had $13.5 million less in sales. Commissioner Matthew McCabe said this did not make sense and he would question these figures with the state people. There was also some discussion on the VLT revenues. Commissioner Matthew McCabe said the lottery commission had been quoted as saying that VLT revenues are up; however, he is using the numbers given to him by the NYS budget office. He had spoken to the budget department on several occasions and he stands by those numbers. He noted that at the last meeting there was some question as to the director's salaries and his department has reviewed and verified that those numbers are correct. Some of the larger increases in those salary lines are due to step and longevity increases. Commissioner Matthew McCabe said that some of the departments had submitted budget request changes for lines such as the Geyser Road bridge sidewalk (DPW), property tax refund line (Accounts Department) and others. He said those specific items would be discussed at the next meeting on Tuesday. Commissioner Matthew McCabe said that Commissioner Ron Kim wanted to wait until next Tuesday to discuss his department's requests. The Council needs to determine how thoroughly it wanted to discuss the capital budget. He said that distributing a new City of Saratoga Springs City Council Budget Workshop Meeting Minutes Thursday, October 11, 2007 RFP for the DPS facility and getting responses to that RFP before the adoption of the budget was very tight. He asked the City Attorney to do some research on how much latitude the Council had with amending the 2008 capital budget before the end of 2007. He said it was his understanding that the 2008 capital budget could not be amended until 2008. Commissioner Thomas McTygue said he was disappointed to see that there was no press at this meeting and only a few members of the pubic. This information needs to get out to the residents of the City. Mayor Valerie Keehn said this is a working meeting for the Council and agreed that it was unfortunate that there were only a few residents in attendance. Commissioner Matthew McCabe asked Michael Englert if the Council could amend the capital budget after November 30 and before December 31. Michael Englert said it would be difficult because the tax rate needs to be established. He said though that the capital budget could be amended anytime during the capital budget program year which meant that it could be amended during 2008. He was not sure that it could be amended in 2007. Commissioner Matthew McCabe said the following dates were set for budget workshops: October 17, noon workshop, October 23, 6:00 p.m. public hearing, October 29, 9:30 a.m. workshop and November 1, 6:30 p.m. workshop. Commissioner Matthew McCabe asked for questions from Council members. Commissioner Thomas McTygue expressed his concern with the reduction in the repair/maintenance lines for vehicles. He said if they were not going to be allowed to purchase new vehicles, they would need the funds to make repairs. Mayor Valerie Keehn said it would be good for Council members to have a break down how much it took to increase/decrease the tax rate by one cent. She asked if all of the current requests were to be included in the budget how much would the tax rate go up. Commissioner Matthew McCabe said he did not have that number, however, it was less and a penny. She also asked for other scenarios such as if the capital program was $5 million less, what would the tax rate be. Commissioner Matthew McCabe said that they have run many hypotheticals, such as simply reducing each line by 10 percent. Lynn Bachner, Deputy Commissioner of Finance, said the payment for the first year of a $5 million capital budget would be at $116,000 and the second year it would be $500,000. Commissioner Matthew McCabe said cutting items from the general budget might not achieve the results that the Council was looking for. Mayor Valerie Keehn said this is information that the Council needs. She said the Council needs to know what the capital budget is going to cost from year to year. Commissioner Matthew McCabe said that information could be provided, however, he believed that this was a philosophical discussion on what was the tolerance level of the tax payers on a tax rate. Commissioner Matthew McCabe said that revenue sources needed to be discussed, such as paid parking. There needs to be revenues identified to pay for these projects. He said the suggestion by Commissioner John Franck to increase the sales tax rate to 8 percent was a good suggestion, however, the City cannot do it alone. It would need to be a County wide tax rate increase. The County might also be entitled to half of 2 of 4 City of Saratoga Springs City Council Budget Workshop Meeting Minutes Thursday, October 11, 2007 whatever the City is seeking in that sales tax increase. Commissioner Thomas McTygue said the County should be approached and there should be some detailed discussions on this matter. He said if the City were to explain to the County that the increase would be used only for a new public safety facility perhaps the County would be willing to forego their percentage of the increase. Commissioner Matthew McCabe said he believed that there were only three counties remaining at less than 8 percent in sales tax. Commissioner Ron Kim said he believed that the operating budget numbers could be brought down slightly. Lynn Bachner said she could run hypothetical numbers all day long. She said she could develop numbers that show how much is saved by the taxpayers for every $100,000 cut from the budget. She said that Commissioners should be looking at the budget and if there were any expenses that "stood out" they should contact her. Mayor Valerie Keehn agreed that each department should go back and review their budgets again, however, she believed that most departments were already operating at the minimum levels. Commissioner Matthew McCabe said much of the discussion was hinging on the capital budget. He said there are some necessary expenses that must be included such as new personnel for the waterfront property and the wading pools. He believed it was the capital budget that would drive these conversations. Mayor Valerie Keehn said the public needs to know that the Council is working hard on these budgets. Commissioner Thomas McTygue said that $200,000 had already been removed from his budget. There was nothing left to take out. He said he had only two lines that he was really concerned with and those were vehicle maintenance and concrete material. He said they were only asking for $15,000 to cover the cost of concrete for sidewalks and a slight increase to cover the cost of vehicle maintenance. Mayor Valerie Keehn opened the meeting for public comments. John Kraus, 227 Grand Avenue, said this is the best budget workshop he had attended. He said there was good discussion today. He agreed with Commissioner Matthew McCabe that there needed to be more detailed discussion on the capital budget. He believed that $5.18 was a good number for the tax rate. He asked for the opportunity to make a presentation to the Council on where the tax rate could be based on certain assumptions. He said though the bottom line is the tax rate and $5.20 was achievable and likely acceptable to taxpayers. The $5.20 could be achieved through increasing revenues or decreasing expenses. The Council needs to ask itself what is the public willing to pay. When developing the capital budget, the full amount of payments should be factored in so that residents know what the second and third year payments are. He said the public safety building needs to be included in the capital budget. He suggested at the last workshop that the $1.4 million for the lease/buy buy back program be budgeted and that the Council absorb $700,000 and the taxpayers pay the other $700,000. That $700,000 would equate to a 24 cents increase in the tax rate. The Council should be working backwards. Set the tax rate and then make everything fit into that number. 3 of 4 City of Saratoga Springs City Council Budget Workshop Meeting Minutes Thursday, October 11, 2007 There being no one else wishing to speak, Commissioner Matthew McCabe closed the public comment period. ADJOURNMENT There being no further business, Mayor Valerie Keehn adjourned the meeting at 6:00 p.m. Respectfully submitted, Kathy Moran Clerk Approved: 4 of 4