HomeMy WebLinkAboutMIN 05.11.2010 CC-WThe 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:
Ben Oliver, Gabe Sansing, Bill Sattler, Patty Keith Brainard, Dale Ross
Eason, Pat Berryman
Staff Present:
Paul E. Brandenburg, City Manager; Mark Sokolow, City Attorney; Jessica Hamilton, City Secretary;
Micki Rundell, Chief Financial Officer; Laurie Brewer, Assistant Director of Finance; Robert Fite, Fire
Chief; Jim Briggs, Assistant City Manager for Utility Operations; Clay Shell, Assistant Fire Chief
A Presentation of issues outlined in the Mid Year Budget Update -- Laurie Brewer, Assistant Director of Finance
and Micki Rundell, Chief Financial Officer
With a Powerpoint presentation, Rundell presented the Mid -Year Budget Update to the City Council. She said
this is a presentation of the overview of financial conditions of the City. She said they updated their projections
as of March 31. She said, starting with the general fund, revenues are expected to be $800k less than originally
budgeted. She spoke briefly about sales tax revenue and said the Wolf Ranch development is holding its own.
She showed Council a graph illustrating the trends in sales tax and noted the current numbers are not as bad as
2005/2006, but it is down from previous years. She spoke of development revenues and said total development
revenues are up 4.6% over the prior year through March (but less than budgeted). She listed the amount of
residential building permits and development applications filed. She showed Council a graph of the building
permit trends over the past 5 years. She also showed Council a graph of building permits compared with
surrounding communities. She noted Georgetown is at the top of the list with Cedar Park. She said court
revenues are up slightly from last year. She noted they are seeing more instances of people doing community
service over paying fines. She said the interest income is less due to market conditions and the library
revenues are off slightly. She noted recreation revenues continue to be higher than budgeted.
Rundell spoke about other factors affecting the fund balance. She showed Council a graph demonstrating the
number of court cases over the past five years. She said there are revenue exceptions and said the parks and
recreation revenue is at a 52% increase or $200k higher than projected. She said the ROI/Franchise Fees are
down 3.6% from last year because it has been a wetter winter. She added the City is down $150k on Atmos
fees due to lower gas prices. She showed Council a graph demonstrating the recreation center memberships.
She said the general fund's unreserved ending balance is projected to be about $750k, but was originally
budgeted at $1.5 million. She said the revenue shortfalls will be about $800k less than what was anticipated.
She noted sanitation is $302k less, offset by expenditure savings. She continued to described the condition of
other revenues throughout the City. She said, in conclusion, the revenues continue to lag. She noted expenses
are being monitored closely to look at any potential savings. She noted the projections are realistic and current
frozen positions will remain frozen. She said the City has less money than it did last year to buy down the tax
rate.
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Rundelll moved on to the utility funds. She said electric revenues are overall 7.23% higher than the prior year.
She said the wastewater revenue is less than projected due to slower customer growth. She said the water is
20.25% less than projected as well. She added, however, summer weather will impact those revenues. She
showed Council a graph of a comparison of utility revenues. She also showed Council a graph demonstrating
the potable water sold in 1000s of gallons through the past five years. She said, looking at utility funds,
expenses are within the budget. She said there will be operating savings in fuel costs. She spoke about other
funds and said the airport revenues and expenses are within budget, tourism continues to decline and
stormwater drainage are slightly less due to slower growth. She showed Council a graph of the "HOT" Tax
Revenues.
Rundell spoke about the 2010/11 General Fund Forecast and said the estimated assessed valuation is $4.2
billion. She said the existing values are expected to be slightly lower than previous years. She said the prior
year valuation was also $4.2 billion and preliminary numbers are expected by the Appraisal District by mid-May.
She noted there will be a decrease in sales tax that will affect the effective rate. Berryman arrived at the dais.
Sattler asked and Rundell said residents whose taxes are frozen will be frozen at whichever year they turn 65.
She said the City expected a slight growth in net sales tax and the revenues are estimated to be 2% higher than
FY 10. She said development revenue is expected to stay the same. She said the recreation revenue is
projected to be about the same as last year as well. She said the budget operating shortfall is currently
projected at $965k. She spoke about the health insurance and benefits budget. They said they are fully funding
the TMRS contribution for 2010/11. She described other expense savings being made within the City. She
described the utility funds forecast and said there is increased revenue and related contract expenses due to
system growth. She said the development related revenues are flat. She said there will be $20 million in utility
capital projects that will be funded through combination cash and debt. She noted $4 million of that amount will
be debt funded. She said staff is reviewing rates to ensure cost recovery and noted the 2010/11 Budget
Conclusion will be to maintain service levels. She said it will be a tighter budget year, the City will maintain
status quo and there will be no new programs. She added there will be possible declining revenues and the
motto is "doing the same with less." She described the various steps and upcoming meetings in the 2010/11
Budget Process.
Rundell presented Council with a tax rate preview. She urged that this is preliminary and can and will change.
She said the current estimated effective rate is $0.37688. She spoke about what is included in the rate and in
this year's debt service. She spoke about the Citicorp abatement and noted, the City collected revenue last
year, but nothing this year. She said the City will assume that it will be full -funding its debt service. She said
using the same tax rate as last year would result in a General Fund revenue shortfall of over a million. She
noted, in conclusion, the debt service requirements will impact the 2010 tax rate and there will be a minimal
opportunity to "buy down" the rate because there will be minimal excess funds. She said lower sales tax
revenues mean less revenue for property tax relief. She said the good news is there is no real change in the
frozen valuations. She mentioned the Citicorp abatement impacting the 2010 revenues and noted the effective
rate is higher than the current tax rate.
Oliver asked and Rundell said, this year, the excess money will be available to balance the budget and offset
the deficit in next year's budget. Mayor asked and Rundell said staff will be bringing more information to Council
as it becomes available. Rundell said they will be bringing Council information on at least a monthly basis. She
said actual recommendations for the tax rate will be brought to Council at the first meeting in July. Sansing
asked and Rundell said staff will be bringing many solutions and options to the table for Council to consider.
Brandenburg stresses the importance of not cutting essential city services to citizens. Rundell said there are a
lot of other communties with much larger deficits. There were many questions.
B Workshop discussion and possible action regarding the upcoming 2010/11 budget priorities and annual budget
process -- Laurie Brewer, Assistant Director of Finance; Micki Rundell, Chief Financial Officer and Paul E.
Brandenburg, City Manager
With a Powerpoint presentation, Brewer said, even though the City does not have a lot of money to work with,
staff is taking this as an opportunity for strategic planning. She said they know things will get better and they
want the City to be prepared to implement improvements in the next 5 years. She said one of Council's 2010/11
priorities is to increase operational efficiency and financial integrity. She listed the many things staff plan to do
in order to implement that priority, including enhancing desktop support through a virtualization program,
implementation of a utility office call center, evaluate and plan for implementation of a new AMR and financial
system, expand recreation online registration process to increase efficiency and customer service, develop and
implement an online request system for mapping/GIS customers, as well as the implementation of video
streaming and equipment for public meetings. Eason spoke about the needs of recording the Workshops and
playing them online and public access television as well as the regular meetings. Brandenburg spoke about the
efforts made to explore future streaming of meetings online. He said the goal would be to expand the streaming
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to other Boards throughout the City. He continued to describe the benefits of this service. Brewer said staff is
looking into expanding the MuniAgenda program to other Boards and Commissions as well. She said they will
address records management needs through technology and review economic development marketing
expenditures. Mayor spoke about MuniAgenda and the cost savings the program has brought to the City.
Brewer spoke about installing energy management systems in facilities to comply with SECO requirements.
She added they are also looking into fiber and signalization upgrades. She said they spoke a bit about the
customer information system software and she said the first demo went really well. She said they will be
coordinating an update of the facilities plan to ensure operational efficiency. She spoke about the expansion of
the internal control program. She said staff is analyzing the benefit of replacing city vehicles with electric and
propane vehicles as well as decommissioning of the City fuel station in San Gabriel Park. She said they have a
pilot system for LED lighting and they are looking at the expansion of the renewable energy program. She said
one of the next projects will be to develop an RFP for solid waste and recycling services to increase services
and contain cost.
Mayor asked and Briggs said they have considered using sample LED lighting on a particular street so that staff
can evaluate the possibility of using that type of lighting throughout the City. Brewer said staff is reviewing
opportunities to expand social media to increase communication and reduce print media costs. She said they
are also preparing for the election to renew the street maintenance sales tax. She said they have other
Workshops scheduled to cover some of the other priorities.
C Fire and ESD Workshop -- Robert Fite, Fire Chief
Brandenburg gave a brief overview of what the Emergency Services District (ESD) is and what duties they
perform for the City. Mayor asked about the Extra Territorial Jurisdiction (ETJ) and how that relates to the ESD
boundary. Fite covered some of their current services and said the Fire Department is the EMS Response
agency for the City. He noted the fire department does the hazardous material response for the City as well.
Berryman asked and Fite said this means the firefighters must be EMT certified and added some are also
paramedics. He said the department has an ISO Rating of Class 2. He said a number 2 rating will give citizens
the best insurance rate possible. He noted they do numerous public education programs. He said 911 calls for
service have increased each year since 2003. He said there has been a steady incline since then. He said they
are on track for 5,700 calls for 2010. He said the department is bending with the times and trying to stretch their
servics. He gave Council a 2009 summary of the fire department. He said there was a leadership transition,
major responses and drought, internal changes (payroll, assignments, tracking of data, grants), operational
changes (apparatus, policies/procedures, training, SCBA, promotions, hiring and attitude), and added they
brought in numerous grants for the department. He spoke about an officers meeting that was recently held in
2010 to talk about the direction of the fire department. He said the 2010 direction is to come up with Fire Station
5 land design, airport protection, and to become NIMS compliant. He said the new CAD and Records
Management system will be coming on board, there will be quarterly officers meetings to help improve
information flow, fire stations 2 and 3 and added they will begin a strategic planning process. He said they are
projected to bring in about $2,167,000 in revenues and grants in 2010. He showed Council the current fire
station coverage map. He said there is an obvious gap in some areas of the City. He continued to speak of the
service gaps in the Georgetown area.
Fite reviewed the upcoming challenges in the next few years. He said the EMS and Medical Response demand
will increase dramatically and the department would like assigned ambulances to be dedicated to the City and
not those just borrowed from other entities. Brandenburg said and Fite agreed that the firefighter job duties have
changed recently. Mayor asked and Fite said the County charges a transport fee for their ambulances which is
supplemented by the County tax rate. Fite said another key strategic challenge they have is fire prevention. He
said the planning department is currently charged with the fire prevention role, and he would like to move that
role into the fire department. He added the fire department needs to define its role within the community. He
noted, as they grow, the fire department needs a better place for their fire fighters to train. He said they will
need to get a planning process in place. He noted the department will also need to address some of their
facility issues. Fite said Fire Stations do not get a break and they are used 24 hours a day. He said those
buildings only last about 20-25 years. Sattler asked and Fite said the ESD zone covers a very wide area and
that is why fire trucks may be seen in rural areas that are just outside of the City.
Fite introduced Tony Callaway, Vice President of the Emergency Services District #8. Callaway thanked Council
for the opportunity to speak. He said an Emergency Services District (ESD) is becoming very popular across
cities in Texas. He introduced members of the ESD Commissioners. Callaway said all of the surrounding areas
are dealing with the issue of growth and emergency services coverage. He complimented staff and the work
they do for the City. He said ESD #8 is facing the same challenges as the Georgetown Fire Department. He
gave Council a brief history of the ESD. He said ESD #8 was created in May of 2005. He said their effective tax
rate is about 9 cents and noted they can adopt a tax rate of up to 10 cents per $100 valuation. He spoke about
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the current contract amount they have with the City at this time. He said the ESD's projected revenue is
$1,442,500. He said there is a current credit of $113,333 with the city right now. He spoke about the 6
firefighters being funded by ESD #8 and said they are being utilized for shortcomings instead of using those
positions to supplement the department, like was originally intended. He spoke about how they came up with
the cost of service of the ESD #8. He said it is very difficult to find out the cost of an emergency run. He said the
ESD would like to move forward with a 5-10 year strategic plan. He spoke about some successes from the
partnership with the City, including self containing breathing apparatuses. He said he would like the ESD to full
fund a study to determine where new fire stations should be located in the area. He reviewed three things he
would like to see in the future as a vision for a true partnership. He spoke of the need for more internal staffing
as well as to continue the transition from Quint concept to a more maneuverable apparatus. He also mentioned
the construction of a new fire station. Ross arrived at the dais. There was much discussion. Sansing said he is
grateful that the ESD is willing to help in terms of funding mechanisms.
Recessed to Executive Session under Sections 551.071, 551.072 and 551.074 -- 4:47 p.m.
Meeting reopened and adjourned -- 6:10 p.m.
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