HomeMy WebLinkAboutMIN 08.24.2010 CC-Wm11111! pillpigil
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The City Council of the City of Georgetown, Texas, met in Regular Session on the above date with Mayor
George Garver presiding.
Council Present:
Patty Eason, Gabe Sansing, Danny Meigs, Bill
Sattler, Pat Berryman, Dale Ross, Tommy
Gonzalez
Council Absent:
All Council Present
Staff Present:
Paul E. Brandenburg, City Manager; Mark Sokolow, City Attorney; Jessica Brettle, City Secretary; Micki
Rundell, Chief Financial Officer; Jim Briggs, Assistant City Manager; Elizabeth Cook, Community
Development Director;
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A Public Hearing on the proposed 2010/11 Annual Budget -- Micki Rundell, Chief Financial Officer
Berryman absent from the dais.
With a Powerpoint Presentation, Brandenburg introduced the Public Hearing for the 2010/2011 Annual Budget.
He noted the budget process is a lengthy one and starts back in January. He spoke about what is involved in
the City's budget making process. He said staff is facing the same economic conditions that everyone is dealing
with at this time. He said it was a challenging year to do more with less and added it is a compliment to the
Finance Department and Division Directors to be able to tighten their belts and provide citizens with tremendous
services. He said staff did not want the citizens to feel the pinch. He said the City has one of the lowest tax
rates in Texas. He noted the budget will be $187 million, which is a 2.1 % decrease from the prior year. He
showed Council a pie chart of the budget revenues as well as budget expenses. He also showed Council a
chart of the general fund revenue sources. He said it is a status quo budget and the "budget contingency" mode
will continue into its second year. He added 22.5 positions remain frozen and noted, if things start to look better
into 2011, the City will look into unfreezing some of those positions. He said the focus will be on current
employees, including a 2.5% COLA for non -civil service employees. He said the budget includes the public
safety step increase and it also minimizes healthcare increases to the employees.
Rundell said the 2010/20111 budget is policy compliant. She said all funds are presented with fiscal
compliance. She noted operating budgets are balances with sustainable funding sources and all remaining fund
balances are used for one time expenses only. She said the Contingency Reserves amount to about $14.75
million City-wide, which amounts to 75 days of expenses. She spoke about the general capital projects for this
year, including the Fire Station 5 design and construction, Williams Drive widening, a new security system for all
city facilities, improvements for the Madella Hillard Center, upgrade to security cameras at the recreation center
and move forward with the 2008 voter authorized projects for road and parks bonds. She described those bond
projects.
Rundell spoke about the capital improvements on the utilities including 2006 annexations, Edwards Aquifer
Recharge Zone compliance, system improvements and electric upgrades as well as various drainage
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improvements. She said they will be issuing some debt this year and noted they will be issuing general
obligation bonds in October and the CO issue is planned for May 2011. She said utility rates will be looked at
closely this year and noted utility revenues have slowed. She added water services are related to weather
impacts. She spoke about potential rate adjustments to electric rates, water rates and sewer rates and she
described what those changes could be. She said there is another potential rate adjustment related to storm
water drainage as well. She said storm water drainage is very regulated and the City must follow strict
processes. She said the garbage and recycling contract update will be in the Spring of 2011.
Rundell spoke about the proposed property tax. She said the certified assessed valuation is $4.06 billion and
noted the estimated rate is about $.004 lower than prior year. She noted the proposed rate for this year is
$0.35622 and added this is the third year for that particular rate. She showed Council a graph demonstrating
the certified appraised valuations over the past fifteen years. She spoke about the city assessed valuation per
capita and noted it has gone down slightly. She repeated that the proposed rate is $0.35622 and she spoke
about the components of that rate including both debt service (interest and sinking) and general fund
(operations and management). She said the proposed tax rate is the same as current year and includes $0.03
sales tax for property tax relief. She said the effective rate is higher than what the City is adopting at $0.379539.
She explained how this could happen and attributed this to the frozen properties in the City.She showed the
Council the "thermometer" graph showing tax rates throughout the area and noted Georgetown is at the bottom.
She spoke about the next steps in the budget process.
Gonzalez asked and Brandenburg spoke about the 6 positions that are frozen in the Georgetown Utility System
Department and how the City is able to function without them. Rundell said they were expected growth positions
in the 2008 budget and they were never filled. Ross spoke about frozen property and Rundell said the impact of
new and existing frozen value will be almost exactly the same as it was the previous year. She said, last year,
there was a 26% of frozen property. Ross asked what would happen if the November election street
maintenance sales tax does not pass. Rundell said if the election does not pass, staff will have to come back
and do budget adjustments to make up for the lost revenue. Ross asked and Brandenburg said staff is working
on educating the public on that election. Sansing asked and Rundell said it would take an overturning by the
voters to reallocating the sales tax for property tax relief. Gonzalez asked and Rundell said the City knows more
about Sun City regarding frozen properties compared to the rest of the City. She noted, with the new software,
staff hopes to be able to gather that data more easily. Gonzalez said the extrapolation of how that data will
effect Georgetown will be huge, unless there is a big real estate boom to offset it.
Berryman arrived at the dais.
Sattler asked and Rundell said the property tax of a house is frozen when the residents are over 65 but their
valuation goes up or down over time. He asked, if that house is sold, the new person will assume the valuation
as well as the property tax to go along with that new valuation as well. Rundell confirmed that there could be a
reset when someone buys a house whose property taxes were previously frozen. Ross said there is a
misconception that most people who live in Sun City have frozen properties. Ross asked and Rundell confirmed
she will update the report given to Council last year showing the frozen properties in Sun City. Rundell said the
demographic of Georgetown does make it unique. There was much discussion regarding the age
demographics of Georgetown and its effect on taxes.
Public Hearing was opened at 4:29 p.m.
No persons were present to speak.
Public Hearing was closed at 4:29 p.m.
B Consideration and possible action to provide direction to the Housing Advisory Board and staff regarding the
completion of the Housing Element of the Comprehensive Plan -- Jennifer C. Bills, AICP, LEED AP, Housing
Coordinator and Elizabeth A. Cook, Community Development Director
The item was pulled from the agenda.
Meeting recessed to Executive Session under Sections 551.071, 551.087, 551.074 and 551.072 -- 4:30 p.m.
Meeting returned to Open Session and adjourned -- 6:34 p.m .
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The meeting was adjourned at 10:30 PM.
Approved
MaTor George'Garver fy Secretaryessica Brettle
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