HomeMy WebLinkAboutMIN 07.12.2010 CC-Wing Body
Cas
The City Council of the City of Georgetown, Texas, met in Regular Session on the above date with Mayor
George Garver presiding.
Council Present: Council Absent:
Danny Meigs, Gabe Sansing, Tommy Gonzalez, All Council Present
Pat Berryman, Dale Ross, Bill Sattler, Patty Eason
Paul E. Brandenburg, City Manager; Mark Sokolow, City Attorney; Jessica Hamilton, City Secretary;
Micki Rundell, Chief Financial Officer; Jim Briggs, Assistant City Manager; Mike Peters, Information
Technology Director; Randy Morrow, Community Services Director; Kimberly Garrett, Parks and
Recreation Director; Laurie Brewer, Assistant Finance Director; Lisa Haines; Danella Elliott; Eric Lashley,
Library Director; Glenn Dishong, Water Services Director; Robert Fite, Fire Chief; Kathy Ragsdale, Utility
Office Director; Wayne Nero, Police Chief; Elizabeth Cook, Community Development Director; Keith
Hutchinson, Public Communications Director;
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A. Workshop overview, discussion, and possible action regarding the 2010/11 City Manager's Proposed Budget --
Micki Rundell, Chief Financial Officer and Paul E. Brandenburg, City Manager
Berryman, Sattler absent from the dais.
Brandenburg said Council has received the City Manager proposed budget and he described the various
elements of that document. He said the City has had trying economic times over the past two years. He said, in
the past, development has paid for the city and what it does. He said their goal is to make sure that the
residents do not feel the impact of the budget constraints. He said the City has not had to make any cuts. He
added this proposed budget will be a status quo budget with no change in service levels and no new programs.
He said the City will continue with the budget contingency plan with the freeze of 22.5 positions. He said the
current budget is $186.4 million with the amended 2010 budget as $179.1 million. He showed Council a graph
demonstrating the various budget expenses as well as budget revenues. With a chart, he described the various
general fund revenue sources. He said the budget is also policy compliant and all funds are presented within
the Fiscal and Budgetary Policy. He spoke about what's in and out of the budget. He said one time
expenditures are in, including Fire Station 5 construction, replacement of the security system for all facilities,
desktop virtualization program and the replacement of 10 patrol vehicles and other miscellaneous equipment.
He listed other one time expenditures, including continued funding of the AMI/CIS project, implementation of
2010/11 CIP, public safety "step" increases, 17.5% increase in health insurance, fully funded annual TMRS
retirement obligation, adding two positions to the recreation center staff and adding a part time position to the
animal shelter staff. He spoke about what is not in the budget, included no added funding for travel and training,
22.5 positions remain frozen, no funding for employee performance bonus, no cost of living or merit adjustments
and no operational increases without warranted need.
Berryman arrived at the dais.
City Council Meeting Minutes/
Page 1 of 3 Pages
Brandenburg described the operating highlights for each department, including community development,
finance department, the fire department, Georgetown Utility System, management services, police department
and transportation. Brandeburg spoke about the general capital projects in the City, including the fire station 5
design and construction, the Williams Drive Widening, security system for all City facilities, improvements for the
Madella Hillard Center and upgraded security cameras for Recreation Center. He spoke about the GCP Voter
Authorized Projects. He spoke about the capital improvements planned for water services, electric services,
transportation services and storm water drainage. He spoke about the projected debt and said the total will be
about $17,455,500.
Rundell said, when looking at the financial overview of the budget, general fund revenues have stabilized. She
noted this includes a 2.5% increase in sales tax for 2010/11, development revenues are projected to be flat,
recreation center revenues have increased to offset costs of staff additions and interest revenue continues to
decrease and property tax revenue increases. She described the utility revenues and noted they have had slow
growth rates. She summarized some potential rate adjustments to the electric rates, water rates, stormwater
drainage and garbage/recycling. She mentioned the 2010/11 contingency reserves and said it is $14.66 million,
or 75 days. She spoke about the 2010 General Obligation Bond issue. She said it is planned for $12.5 million
in 2008 voter approved bonds including issuance costs. She said the estimated tax impact of the total bond is
$12.5 million. She spoke about the proposed property tax. She said the assessed valuation is flat or slightly
down and noted there was an increase estimated at $100 million in new annexed property. She said there were
minimal changes in frozen values. She noted the 2009/10 tax levy total is $700,000 less than budgeted. She
said the tax roles certified at 60% of protest values. She showed Council a graph of the appraised valuations
over the past 15 years and said the estimated effective rate is less than 40 cents. She noted the proposed tax
rate is the same as the current year at $0.35622. She said there was higher projected revenues in 2009 and
2010, which will offset 2011 debt payments. She said they see no change in the general fund revenue. She
described the next steps in this process and said there will be no public hearings on the proposed tax rate as it
is below the effective rate. Rundell said Council had asked her to talk about the AA+ cities and how Georgetown
could become a AAA city. She said the City needs to have a continue of trends and also needs to have a
growth in the tax base ($5 billion in valuation threshold and 90 day reserves in General Fund)
Gonzalez asked about the three vacant positions in the police department. Brandenburg said there are five
positions that are still open in addition to those three frozen positions. Gonzalez asked if the City needs those
positions at this point. Brandenburg said, if the economy comes back, the first positions to becomes unfrozen
will be the public safety positions. Gonzalez said and Nero noted the police department is actively recruiting
and it will be well into next year when the five positions will the filled and put on the street. Meigs asked about
the health insurance and how it will affect the budget. Brandenburg spoke about this and said the City needs to
be more bold about their insurance. He spoke about the possibility of doing a consortium with the County, GISD
and other entities. Gonzalez asked and Brandenburg said they have looked into joining with GISD and said the
City and staff will continue to look into those options. Sansing said the City can look at TML to the point where a
person can be self insured. Ross thanked Brandenburg and Rundell for their presentation and said everything is
on the table with respect to health insurance. He said, if anything, it should be open for discussion. Ross asked
about Fire Station 5 and said staff should look into a design and build option. He said Jarrell did that and cost
savings is about 150,000 dollars. Brandenburg noted they talked about doing that and said the goal is to save
money. Ross said, if the risk shifts from the City to the contractor, it will allow any excess costs to go to the
contractor and not the tax payer. He said, if there are any extra funds, he would like for those to be allocated to
the employees. He spoke about the customer service survey needing to be as anonymous as possible. Ross
asked and Rundell said she thnks the City will get to the AAA rating when the valuation hits $4.6 million.
Brandenburg agreed and said it should happen within the next two years. Mayor thanked staff for their hard
work on the budget.
.E
Mayor
City Council Meeting Minutes/
Page 2 of 3 Pages
Motion by Ross, second by Berryman to adjourn.
Meeting adjourned at 3:44 p.m.
j®urn Brat
The meeting was adjourned at 03:44 PM.
Jessica Brettle
City Council Meeting Minutes/
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