City Council

October 23, 2012 CITY OF SARATOGA SPRINGS Budget Workshop City Council Room 6:00 PM PRESENT: Michele Madigan, Commissioner of Finance John Franck, Commissioner of Accounts Anthony Scirocco, Commissioner of DPW Christian Mathiesen, Commissioner of DPS STAFF PRESENT: Shauna Sutton, Deputy Mayor Lynn Bachner, Deputy Commissioner, Finance Sharon Kellner-Chille, Deputy Commissioner, Accounts Tim Cogan, Deputy Commissioner, DPW Eileen Finneran, Deputy Commissioner, DPS EXCUSED: Scott Johnson, Mayor RECORDING OF PROCEEDING The proceedings of this meeting were taped for the benefit of the secretary. Because the minutes are not a verbatim record of the proceedings, the minutes are not a word-for-word transcript. BUDGET WORKSHOP Commissioner Madigan opened the workshop at 6:06 p.m. Commissioner Madigan stated this is the 3rd budget workshop. Time has been set aside for the Department of Public Works and the Accounts Department. Department of Public Works Commissioner Madigan advised she believes Public Works will be requesting changes, however she did not receive any requests in time to compile them for this meeting. Commissioner Scirocco stated he has a few changes they would like to make to the budget. He provided the Council with a handout (attached) which lists the changes. The changes are as follows: o Re-instate $127,000 in the streets labor line. The 2012 adopted budget was $1,565,847.00; they requested $1,649,394.00 for 2013 and received $1,522,163.00. Commissioner Madigan stated she has $1,626,434 as the 2012 adopted for streets labor. Commissioner Scirocco stated the difference equates to 1 full time and 4 part time people to be laid off. Commissioner Madigan stated in the amount requested, Commissioner Scirocco had 2 part time new hires and unapproved raises for part time employees. She advised he is still up $80,000 in the labor line over 2011. Budget Workshop 10/23/12 Commissioner Scirocco stated if they don’t get this money re-instated, they are going to lose 1 full time and 4 part time employees. They are down 29 employees from 2008. Commissioner Madigan stated it looks like he has requested 5 new positions; a plumber, a reservation coordinator. Commissioner Scirocco advised none of those requests are in the streets labor line. Commissioner Madigan advised she feels he can manage with what he was given in his labor line and it does not require lay offs. Commissioner Scirocco advised the streets budget is the same streets budget they had last year; there is no change. The 2012 and the 2013 street labor line is the same. They probably had to increase the line for contractual increases; they didn’t’ add anyone to those lines. Commissioner Madigan stated she expected they would be getting his change request forms. Commissioner Scirocco stated this hand-out is the form she is going to get. He gave a spreadsheet to her deputy. o Streets – Miscellaneous Equipment: the 2012 adopted budget was $15,000; the requested amount for 2013 is $50,000, and they received $15,000. Commissioner Scirocco stated they averaged $25,000 a year over the past 6 years. This line covers the purchases of trailers, plows, tarps, and small miscellaneous equipment. They have spent $23,000 to date this year. o Streets/Rubble – they use this line for patching, blacktopping small alleys, parking lots; anything not covered by the CHIPS budget. In 2012 the budget was 60,000; the requested amount for 2013 is $80,000, and they received $60,000. They have averaged over the past 6 years over $100,000 per year. They have spent $99,000 to date this year. They are requesting $80,000 be put back in the line. o Street Signs – they are trying to upgrade all the signs in the City to the green reflective signs. In 2012 the adopted budget was $2,500; the requested amount for 2013 is $4,500, and they received $3,000. They have spent $6,000 to date. They are requesting $4,500 be put back in the line. Commissioner Madigan confirmed he is looking for a total of $4,500 in this line and a total of $80,000 in the streets/rubble line. o Highway- Other Supplies: the 2012 adopted budget was $4,100; the requested amount for 2013 is $4,100, and they received $2,600. They averaged $6,900 in this line per year over the past 6 years. They are requesting $4,100 be put back in this line. Commissioner Franck asked where the money has been coming from to make up the difference needed in these lines. Where there transfers from other lines to pay for this items? Commissioner Scirocco stated they have transferred the money from different lines. It was brought to their attention this year that the Finance Department wanted them to do a better job budgeting and putting money in their lines for the money actually needed. He understands there is room to play with some of this money but there was also an issue with the number of transfers. Commissioner Madigan stated since he made the transfers, he should bring the lines he transferred from down. He is making a lot of requests we don’t have the money for. What is going on with the line you are transferring money from? Kathy Moran advised it is a matter of priorities. When they get to this time of the year they have to decide if they are going to buy more street signs or are they going to buy snow blowers. She is taking money from where they should be buying something and putting it where they have to buy something. Page 2 of 5 Budget Workshop 10/23/12 o Storm Water Carriers: the 2012 adopted budget was $15,000; the requested amount for 2013 is $16,000, and they received $12,000. They averaged $26,000 in this line per year over the past 6 years. They are requesting the amount for this line be $15,000. o Compost Equipment Rental: the 2012 adopted budget was $30,000; the requested amount for 2013 is $30,000, and they received $4,500. He is ok with this amount. He questioned how long it will take to get the trommel screen. He would be more comfortable with having at least one screening rental in the budget; $12,750. Commissioner Madigan asked if they have started looking for the machine. Commissioner Scirocco stated they have to wait until after the first of the year. Kathy Moran advised according to purchasing, they have to have the money in the budget to do it. o Recreation Overtime: the 2012 adopted budget was $12,000; the requested amount for 2013 is $15,000, and they received $12,000. They have used $18,000 to date this year. Kathy Moran advised this is the regular recreational line; not Weibel or Vernon. This is for the fields and there are 5 people paid out of this line. Commissioner Scirocco stated they want that line to be increased to $15,000. o Recreation Professional Services: the 2012 adopted budget was $2,750; the requested amount for 2013 is $5,000, and they received $2,750. This line is used for port-a-john rentals. We have spent approximately $4,200 this year. They are requesting that line be put back to $5,000. o Indoor Recreation Building Maintenance: the 2012 adopted budget was $3,000; the requested amount for 2013 is $5,000, and they received $4,000. They have already spent $6,500 this year. This line is used for locks, lights, window repair, air conditioning, bathrooms, floor maintenance, etc. They are asking for $5,000 be put back in that line. o Compost Sales Revenue: the adopted revenue for 2012 is $67,000, the requested revenue for 2013 is $50,000, and the proposed amount is $120,000 for 2013. There was confusion in his department regarding the amount of sales that could be generated with the purchase of a trommel screen. It would be a year before the department could make that money; therefore, they are looking at $70,000 in revenue. Commissioner Scirocco stated he doesn’t feel his requests are unreasonable. The total to re-instate everything back in his budget is $177,000. Commissioner Madigan stated that expense increases of that amount relates to a tax increase. Commissioner Franck stated by doing a quick calculation, the tax increase is 1% for every $150,000 - $160,000. Commissioner Madigan stated they do have to consider the revenue decrease. Commissioner Scirocco stated in the bigger scheme, this is not a lot for a $39 million dollar budget. Commissioner Franck stated it is 1%. Commissioner Scirocco stated we have contingency money and money from the sale of properties this year. There is no ‘fluff’ in anything he talked about. These services are essential. Page 3 of 5 Budget Workshop 10/23/12 Commissioner Madigan stated Commissioner Scirocco is up $300,000 in the 2013 budget over the 2012 budget. He has a manageable budget; no of his lines were zeroed out. Commissioner Scirocco stated Commissioner Madigan doesn’t have a clue. Commissioner Madigan stated she does have a clue. She feels he can manage this and doesn’t need to lay anyone off. She wants him to understand what he is asking for will raise the tax rate. Commissioner Scirocco stated he doesn’t believe that will raise the tax rate. Commissioner Franck stated the rule of thumb is the tax rate increases 1% for every $150,000 - $170,000. Commissioner Madigan suggested Commissioner Scirocco reduce the lines he transfers money from and make his lines more accurate. Commissioner Scirocco stated they are trying to produce a budget to reduce the number of transfers they have to make throughout the year. They tried to comply with what the Finance Department was asking. Every number is attached to a person, so that can’t change. If it changes, then someone has to go. Commissioner Madigan stated this budget is strong in essential services. Commissioner Scirocco stated if Commissioner Madigan cares about essential services than she needs to find cuts someplace else. Commissioner Madigan summarized by saying she did a comparison of the adopted and requested comprehensive budget and DPW has no new revenue stream and requested a $1.1 million dollar increase. Cuts are not easy but she made them where things seemed exaggerated. The DPW budget is still $300,000 greater than last year; they received almost $850,000 in equipment; offsets are nominal; labor lines are higher than 2011 actuals by $122,000. She feels this job can be done without lay offs. Commissioner Scirocco stated those facts couldn’t be further from the truth. Accounts Department Commissioner Franck summarized his budget since he has been in office. This year his requested budget is $1,224,480.29; which is less than the 2012 budget. The first budget he did after he took office was 2007 which was $1,177,462.29; in 2008 his budget increased by $72,000 to $1,249,607.59 due to the amount of new building. In 2009 his budget dropped by $179,000 again to $1,070,297.57. Of that $179,000, he gave $120,000 to Commissioner Scirocco to help with his labor line. This amount came from the refund tax line and he did get that amount back the next year. Also, due to retirements, we filled positions at a lower salary. The jump from 2009 to 2010 reflects the receiving of the $120,000 back in his budget. His budget from 2010 to 2011 went up $3,000; the 2012 budget went down $23,723 and his 2013 budget went down another $22,633. These are his requested budgets; no cuts. He wanted to show he is working with less money. He hasn’t put any requests in for increases. He may have to change a couple lines but it will not change the final number. Commissioner Franck stated there has been talk that the assessments have gone down from year to year and people have questioned how that could happen. He explained that the assessments haven’t gone down; we actually went up about $2 million dollars in a roll. We had total gains in our roll of over $22 million dollars in the past year but there have also been a lot of decreases. There were foreclosures that went off the roll when the City took ownership of those properties, but these properties will go back on the roll once ownership changes again. We also had properties acquired by not-for-profits; property was acquired by the IDA; property was acquired by the State of New York, etc; which were all removed from the roll. As a whole we still had an increase of $2 million dollars. We don’t have the building we once had. Page 4 of 5 Budget Workshop 10/23/12 Commissioner Franck stated overall his budget is down from an expense point of view. Commissioner Madigan provided the Council with a spreadsheet of all the changes she has received. She announced the Mayor’s Department has requested 3 changes which have been entered. The Mayor’s Department stated they were not consulted regarding the changes made to their budget; they were treated the same as all other departments regarding the comprehensive budget. One suggestion the Mayor’s Department made was the use of the rent from the National Grid lease to offset some of the amounts they requested in their budget. These funds cannot be used in this manner at this time. They are tied to a reserve and must go into a specific reserve for renovations to the Weibel garage for when National Grid leaves that garage. With the signing of the new lease, they are looking into options in regards to those rents and how this reserve can be redirected. Commissioner Madigan announced the next public hearing is scheduled for Tuesday, November 6th before the next scheduled City Council meeting, and the next budget workshop is Monday, October 29th at 9:30 a.m. The workshop concluded at 7:02 p.m. Respectfully submitted, Lisa Ribis Clerk Approved: 11/20/12 Vote: 5 - 0 Page 5 of 5