City Council

October 23, 2017 CITY OF SARATOGA SPRINGS Budget Workshop City Council Room 1:00 PM 1:00 PM CALL TO ORDER ROLL CALL SALUTE TO FLAG PUBLIC COMMENT PERIOD / 15 MINUTES PRESENTATIONS 1. Nothing at this time. CONSENT AGENDA 1. Nothing at this time. MAYOR’S DEPARTMENT 1. Nothing at this time. ACCOUNTS DEPARTMENT 1. Nothing at this time. FINANCE DEPARTMENT 1. Discussion: 2018 Budget Workshop: Mayor, Public Safety Department PUBLIC WORKS DEPARTMENT 1. Nothing at this time. PUBLIC SAFETY DEPARTMENT 1. Nothing at this time. SUPERVISORS Matthew Veitch 1. Nothing at this time. Peter Martin 1. Nothing at this time. ADJOURN Budget Workshop 10/23/17 October 23, 2017 CITY OF SARATOGA SPRINGS City Council Meeting City Council Room 1:00 PM PRESENT: Joanne Yepsen, Mayor Michele Madigan, Commissioner of Finance John Franck, Commissioner of Accounts Anthony Scirocco, Commissioner of DPW Christian Mathiesen, Commissioner of DPS STAFF PRESENT: Meg Kelly, Deputy Mayor Mike Sharp, Deputy Commissioner, Finance Eileen Finneran, Deputy Commissioner, DPS Vincent DeLeonardis Peter Martin, Supervisor EXCUSED: Maire Masterson, Deputy Commissioner, Accounts Frank Coppola, Deputy Commissioner, DPW Matthew Veitch, Supervisor 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 Yepsen called the meeting to order at 1:05 p.m. PUBLIC COMENT Mayor Yepsen reminded the public and Council that rules have been adopted regarding the public comment period. She reviewed these rules for all. Mayor Yepsen opened the public comment period at 1:06 p.m. Lois Celeste of Saratoga Springs and executive director of the Senior Center thanked everyone for hearing them last week and reinstating their funding. Mayor Yepsen closed the public comment period at 1:07 p.m. Page 2 of 4 Budget Workshop 10/23/17 FINANCE DEPARTMENT Commissioner Madigan advised this is the third workshop and will cover the Mayor’s Department and Public Safety. Mayor’s Department Commissioner Madigan advised the overall budget is down $3,000 or .5% compared to the 2017 adopted budget. The 2018 expense budget is up approximately $226,000 or 9.6% compared to the 2017 adopted budget due to benefits and retirements. Personnel services are up approximately $105,000 due to contractual salary increases and the City being fully responsible for Park, Open Space and Historic Preservation position. This position was previously partially funded by a grant. Contractual services are up due to land use board legal services, other outside legal services, and an increase in liability insurance. They received an updated budget request form from the Mayor’s Office last week. They will continue to revisit each department’s priorities as they continue towards an adopted 2018 budget. Funding has been reinstated in its entirety for the Senior Center and the Center for the Family. Mayor Yepsen stated there was an increase in land use board applications and building permits. Collective bargaining agreements are in place with City Hall, fire chiefs, firefighters, police chiefs and PBA. The lieutenants and DPW contracts are close behind. They are requesting the upgrade of 2 staff positions as their top priorities – parks and opens space and communications clerk. They have identified revenue increases and expense reductions to support these upgrades. Commissioner Madigan advised she received the budget request changes from the Mayor’s Office. Mark Cacozza, a commission on the Civil Service Commission asked that the purchase of software for the Civil Department be considered as they are behind the times by doing manual entries. They maintain the records for 1,000 employees. This software will enable them to look up employment time needed to finalize an employee’s retirement. The estimated cost of the software is $36,000 of which $20,000 will be paid for by the school district. Commissioner Scirocco asked if that would be a capital budget item. Commissioner Madigan advised she is looking into that. Department of Public Safety Commissioner Madigan stated the 2018 proposed revenue is down $194,000 or 6.8% compared to the 2017 adopted budget. This number is skewed due to a $573,000 FEMA Safer Grant budgeted for in 2017 but did not receive. If this grant was excluded, the Department of Public Safety would be up $379,000 in revenue due to fire inspection fees, ambulance transport, and parking tickets. The 2018 expense budget is up $352,000 or 1.3% compared to the 2017 adopted budget and personal services are up. The requested revenue for 2018 is increased $233,000 and the expenses for 2018 decreased by $1.2 million dollars. DPS initially requested 10 new hires including firefighters and police officers. A budget change request form has been received from the Department of Public Safety. She asked for clarification of the organizational chart within the Police Department. Commissioner Mathiesen asked Chief Veitch to explain the organization of the Police Department. Chief Veitch stated they are not looking to increase the number of sergeants, just replacing a retirement. They are only replacing vacancies. Assistant Chief (AC) Catone advised they always had 4 lieutenants and a captain. They did away with the captain position when they did their last contract to save money. They had to fill the other lieutenant position because they are a young department and needed someone there at night. Page 3 of 4 Budget Workshop 10/23/17 Commissioner Mathiesen asked one of the chiefs to speak to funding the Tritech System and the Axon service contract and why it is so important. AC Catone stated the reinstatement of the money in the software line is necessary. They have been working for 3 years towards the Tritech project; a 3 county project where they are moving toward the computer aided dispatch, record management, and mobile. Almost all of this project has been paid by grant money. We are responsible for a certain number of licenses and can’t get into that system without it. The project will allow the counties to share information real time. Axon is the body camera system. They would like to increase the number of body cameras from 6 to everyone in the patrol division. They have exceeded data storage limits and need to upgrade equipment. They are used as evidence tracker and helps with insurance costs. Commissioner Mathiesen stated it is important to keep dispatch fully staffed as it is a highly stressful position. The DPS garage needs another full time person; go from 4 part time to 2 part time and hire 1 full time. Commissioner Madigan advised Mark Benaquista is the last person to ask for anything. Finance is working with Danielle Willard and the deputy on this. One of the things she did not include in the comprehensive budget was savings from utilities as she needed 3 months worth of data. There may be more movement within the budget when she has this number. She is also waiting on occupancy tax numbers. AC Catone suggested considering the department costs for racing season. We get $16,000 for traffic and our costs are 10 times that; traffic costs alone are $57,000. The City should talk with NYRA to ask them to kick in more money. Commissioner Madigan stated she would like to work on this with the next commissioner of public safety. th Commissioner Madigan advised the next budget workshop is scheduled for October 30 at 1 p.m. for general discussion for all Council members. ADJOURNMENT There being no further business, Mayor Yepsen adjourned the meeting at 2:07 p.m. Respectfully submitted, Lisa Ribis Clerk Approved: 11/6/17 Vote: 5 - 0 Page 4 of 4