City Council

October 10, 2012 CITY OF SARATOGA SPRINGS Budget Workshop City Council Room 6:00 PM PRESENT: Scott Johnson, Mayor 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-Byrnes, Deputy Commissioner, Accounts Eileen Finneran, Deputy Commissioner, DPS ABSENT: Tim Cogan, Deputy Commissioner, DPW 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. CALL TO ORDER Mayor Johnson called the meeting to order at 6:12 p.m. PUBLIC COMMENT Mayor Johnson opened the pubic comment period at 6:13 p.m. No one spoke. Mayor Johnson closed the public comment period at 6:13 p.m. BUDGET WORKSHOP Commissioner Madigan advised this is the second public workshop for the discussion of the Department of Public Works and the capital budget. Department of Public Works Commissioner Scirocco stated overall the budget is good. He has a few items of change he would like considered. The first item is in the Storm Water Carriers labor line. Because of the highly specialized nature of this position, they must be paid from the general budget and not the water and sewer budget. Over the last several years, this crew has been working to upgrade our storm water carrier infrastructure; therefore more labor costs have been charged to the Storm Water Carrier line; $35,000 is not enough. They would like to explore an interfund transfer from the water/sewer budget to the general fund budget at the end of each year to fund the line. If that is possible, the $35,000 can be removed from the line; if it is not possible he would like to request an additional $50,000 in that line. They are originally asked for $100,000; now he is asking for an additional $50,000 to bring the line to $85,000 total. Budget Workshop 10/10/13 Commissioner Madigan asked how much of this crew’s salary comes out of the water budget. Commissioner Scirocco stated he didn’t have that number but can get it. Commissioner Madigan advised the actual in 2012 was $100,582; put $35,000 in it for 2013; Commissioner Scirocco requested $100,000 and cut it back to $35,000. She confirmed he is asking for an additional $50,000 to bring it to $85,000. Commissioner Scirocco stated that was correct. Commissioner Madigan stated she doesn’t believe they can do an interfund transfer. She understands he has money left in the water and sewer budget. She asked if there is any other line that can be looked at as their budget is up $150,000 this year over last. She is willing to meet. Commissioner Scirocco stated the second request is for the repair and maintenance of the vehicles. The adopted budget for 2013 was $135,000 and they requested for 2014 $175,000. They have spent to date the entire 2013 budgeted amount and gone past it to $154,000. He anticipates the need to transfer another $25,000 to cover the remainder of the year. Budgeting $125,000 for 2014 is not enough. He would like them to take another look at that as the fleet is aging. Commissioner Madigan advised he has 3 new pick-up trucks in 2014; 4 in 2012; and 1 this year. She hopes with receiving of the new vehicles and the retiring of some of the older ones; the repair costs are going to go down. Commissioner Scirocco stated that is true. The third request is relating to highway vehicles. The 2013 adopted budget amount was $36,000; they requested $46,000 for the 2014 budget but the line was reduced to zero. His department would like to get on a replacement cycle of 1 or 2 each year. He is requesting funding for an additional vehicle. They have 8 more pick-ups that need replacement. He would like to look at why some of the vehicles can’t be considered as part of the capital budget. Commissioner Scirocco advised the fourth item he is requesting is a full time account clerk. Purchasing, payroll, and processing invoices consumes the bulk of the hours of a day of 3 full time administrative staff. The needs of the residents would be better served with the addition of a fulltime administrative staff person. He suggested taking the $10,000 from the part time account clerk line and engineering overtime be moved to the account clerk full time; and the engineering overtime, water overtime, and sewer overtime be used to fund 7 extra hours per week for the administrative assistant. The administrative assistant would no longer do the water and sewer work; this would be done by the account clerk. Commissioner Madigan stated the issue with this request is he neglected to include the costs for retirement and social security. It is really $63,000 for an account clerk; it doesn’t have all the wages and benefits for a full time hire. Commissioner Scirocco stated he understands that but it is a position he really needs. She could be more beneficial to the public being a full time employee. Commissioner Scirocco stated they had Bollam, Sheedy & Torani to review their water budget to make recommendations. They believe we are on the right track. There could be rate increases in store for the users. When the final report comes in from the auditors, he will ask them to make a presentation to the City Council. In regards to the sewer budget, it is slightly lower than the 2013 adopted budget; down by about $61,000. Commissioner Madigan stated these requests total $148,000. An increase of $185,000 would increase the tax rate by 1%. Page 2 of 3 Budget Workshop 10/10/13 Capital Budget Commissioner Madigan advised she made 2 changes to the capital budget but left them in the capital program. She removed the evidence storage shed and one piece of equipment. She felt the storage shed needs more planning and the piece of equipment was one of the lower items of priority. Commissioner Mathiesen stated the land swap that was being proposed for this isn’t going to work out. The City property Weibel Avenue is still being looked out but the biggest problem there appears to be power. The contractor is talking about how to phase the project. The fear in the Police Department is if they just put the parking area on Weibel Avenue and delay the building, the building will never go up. They are committed to the location on Weibel Avenue. He hopes to have a new set of numbers in the near future and possibly a way to phase this. Commissioner Madigan stated it is still in the capital program. She made the recommendation to revisit this when they have more information. It sounds like they can get started with vehicles. Commissioner Mathiesen stated he would like to get started with vehicles as long as they have a real commitment that they are following through with this and it is not just a facility that stores vehicles. Commissioner Madigan stated it was portrayed that this is a bare bones buildings; but $572,000 is very expensive for a bare bones building. Commissioner Mathiesen stated $572,000 is more than it was projected to be. If public works would be able to do some of the work, that would save money. They would also like to phase this to spread out the money. They are talking with the contractor to get more itemization of where the expenses are and how to bring the costs down. Commissioner Madigan stated she stands by leaving it out of the capital budget until they get more plans. ADJOURNMENT Mayor Johnson moved and Commissioner Franck seconded to adjourn the meeting. Ayes – All There being no further business, Mayor Johnson adjourned the meeting at 6:48 p.m. Respectfully submitted, Lisa Ribis Clerk Approved: 11/4/13 Vote: 5 - 0 Page 3 of 3