City Council Special Meeting / Workshop

CITY OF STAR, IDAHO CITY COUNCIL SPECIAL MEETING / WORKSHOP City Hall - 10769 W State Street, Star, Idaho Tuesday, June 11, 2024 at 6:30 PM 1. CALL TO ORDER – WELCOME Mayor Chadwick called the meeting to order at 6:30 p.m. 2. ROLL CALL ELECTED OFFICIALS: Mayor Trevor Chadwick, Council President David Hershey and Council Members Jennifer Salmonsen and Kevan Wheelock. Council Member Kevin Nielsen joined at 6:39 p.m. STAFF: Clerk/Treasurer Jacob M Qualls, Assistant City Planner & Code Enforcement Officer Ryan Field, Youth Recreation Coordinator & Grant Writer Annie Pew, IT Manager Shane Dale, Public Information Officer Dana Partridge and Star Police Chief Zack Hessing 3. PRESENTATIONS A. Budget Workshop FY 2024 / 2025 Mayor Chadwick reviewed the L2 Worksheet and shared the city would have an estimated $2,014,430.00 available in Property Taxes based on the market value of the city. He said revenue sharing projections provided by the AIC are $200,000 less for the upcoming year; liquor revenue is projected to increase; power and natural gas franchise fees will increase but cable will reduce. He reviewed revenue from licenses, Home Town Celebrations, park reservations, rentals of riverhouse, ITD Grant – getting another police grant for Star as well as Parks & Pathways Grant and Transportation Grants. He stated that court fines have increased significantly. Building Permit fees are based off of 500 permits, the city may double that. Average collections come from building plan review fees; electrical, plumbing, mechanical, and Reinspection fees, some of these fees are pass throughs. Park impact fees are based on 500, ACHD fees won’t change until October, fire impact fees went up earlier this year. ITD Proportionate Share is based on Final Plats, Canyon Highway District #4 fees are based on 50 permits in Canyon County. Zoning administrative fees is going up about $20,000. Bonding changes are all relative to when projects come in for final plats Ryan Field clarified that few cash bonds are being seen, more are performance bonds or letters of credit. Recreation and sports fees this year are about $173,000, classes and activities fees are $194,000, and Ion Grants are about $5,000. Interest revenue is budgeted at $210,000, donations of $9,000, miscellaneous passport and photo revenue. Mayor Chadwick said he may be bringing mitigation fees to the council to triple these fees, because they are not able to pass the bond. He discussed issued created by House Bill 389 creating the need for the mitigation fees, he has discussed this with the BCA and realtors and he stated there is a bill being drafted asking that 100% of new construction be allowed to be collected strictly for police and fire for public safety. $15,535,000 is the total for the revenue side of the budget. Mayor Chadwick reviewed the expenditures included in the budget including public retirement and health insurance increase. There was discussion about health care which is currently offered to city employees. Councilmember Nielsen proposed to offer coverage for employee’s family members as well as exempting this where employee’s family members have other insurance options available with an intent not to provide double coverage but rather to make insurance available to those who don’t have it. The exemption for those who have insurance options available may not be legally allowable. Page 1 of 3  CITY OF STAR, IDAHO CITY COUNCIL SPECIAL MEETING / WORKSHOP City Hall - 10769 W State Street, Star, Idaho Tuesday, June 11, 2024 at 6:30 PM Councilmember Neilson stated for employees to cover dependents it comes out of their check making their wage less livable. The cost to the city to offer coverage to dependents was discussed. Mayor Chadwick discussed a 3% and 5% increase on each of the department’s payroll for cost of living. There will be some for HR adjustments (merit increases), travel and per diem, training for engineers and building officials. The city attorney contract is not increasing, outside legal costs increased by $30,000. Ada County Prosecuting Attorney is increasing about $11,000 due to the number of cases from the area as well as salary increases within the county, Canyon County Prosecuting Attorney may double to $200 per month, student scholarships remain the same. ICRMP insurance cost is doubling this year. There was a substantial increase last year as well as again this year due to claims and underwriting changes. Some IT improvements are needed. Keller Associates and the transportation consultant will be removed. Professional dues are based on population. The Valley Regional Transit has always paid to be a seat at the table but asking for another $8,000 in addition to the $11,000 the city currently pays to help fund them, this is a state agency mandated and not funded by the state with the state limiting city’s ability to pay for things. Expansion is being worked on with the new agency Director; however, council members don’t see the program being beneficial with the City of Star and surrounding areas not being serviced. State code requires the program to exists but doesn’t provide funding, putting the cost on the cities. Mayor Chadwick reviewed budget for utilities, added VOIP and cellular service. Fiber is being added throughout the city for the parks. Impact fees are a pass through. ACHD has a new director and is good to work with, they are working on a new agreement as the current agreement is expired. The Building Inspector is now in house. Electrical, mechanical and plumbing inspections were discussed. Various parks and facilities projects budgeted for were reviewed. The Downtown Revitalization Plan and lighting for downtown was discussed. Animal control will remain the same. The law enforcement budget incudes the Administrative Sergeant position, K9 and Resource officer that was discussed during the previous budget workshop. Training of police dogs was discussed. Mayor Chadwick said that mitigation fees will cover the Police portion of the budget. Capital projects including replacing the HVAC at City Hall, repainting City Hall interior, and equipment were reviewed. The benefits and costs of purchasing the equipment versus paying rental costs and staff time were discussed. The Kabota stand on Loader was removed. Councilmember Neilson would like to add a temporary ice skating rink at the Riverhouse. Mayor Chadwick isn’t sure it is feasible. Parking shortage for use of the Riverhouse was discussed, adding a skating rink could make this more difficult as the parking is often full. Using General funds or increasing the building permit number as ways to balance the budget were discussed. Keeping the permit number low is a conservative approach that allows for a potential cushion that could be used for unanticipated expenses or savings, while increasing it is a potentially more realistic number unless something happens to cause a decrease in development in which case without that budgeted funding some projects may not be fundable. Obtaining a forecast from major developers was discussed. Changes made by the legislature that restricts funding options for cities was also discussed. Page 2 of 3  CITY OF STAR, IDAHO CITY COUNCIL SPECIAL MEETING / WORKSHOP City Hall - 10769 W State Street, Star, Idaho Tuesday, June 11, 2024 at 6:30 PM Two seasonal and one full time employee position for Parks and Recreation are included in the budget. 4. ADJOURNMENT Mayor closed the workshop at 8:08 p.m. ___/s/___________________________ ATTEST: ___/s/_________________________ Mayor Trevor A. Chadwick Shelly Tilton, City Clerk Page 3 of 3