HomeMy WebLinkAboutMIN 02.26.2013 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:
Patty Eason, Danny Meigs, Tommy Gonzalez, Bill Sattler
Rachael Jonrowe, Troy Hellmann, Jerry
Hammerlun
Staff Present:
Paul E. Brandenburg, City Manager; Bridget Chapman, Acting City Attorney; Jessica Brettle, City
Secretary; Micki Rundell, Chief Financial Officer; Laurie Brewer, Assistant City Manager; Jim Briggs,
General Manager for Utilities; Christ Foster, Chief Financial Analyst;
Minutes
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A Discussion of the results from the 2013 City of Georgetown Quality of Life Citizen Survey -- Micki Rundell, Chief
Financial Officer
Rundell spoke about how the City has changed vendors, Wyoming Survey and Analysis Center, to administer
the survey. She said the City has not done a survey since 2010. She introduced Michael Dorssom who
proceeded with the results of the survey.
Dorssum said he is here today on behalf of the Wyoming Analysis Center to discuss the results that they have
obtained through data collection efforts that took place in December and January. He said the results that
Council will see are not preliminary, but noted they are different because they are presenting results before the
survey report is finalized. He said they are a department of the University that specializes in all sorts of survey
research. He provided a brief summary of the survey, the history, the survey modes and respondents. He said
confidentiality was a key focus of the survey. He said this is what they call a dual mode survey which provides
both a paper and an online version for the citizens to fill out. He said those two modes work well together. He
said they used a random sample of all mailable addresses in the city limits and spoke about how they broke the
City into quadrants. He said they are confident that they will be able to generalize the results from this sample
and apply it to the population of Georgetown. He said they used the Fillman Method of mailing, which is a four
piece sequence. He described this method for the Council. He said, in most cases, they usually send out a
mailed out version of the survey a week after the pre -notification letter. He said each survey that comes back is
scanned, which allows them to minimize any errors due to manual data entry. He said there is an over 99%
accuracy with high volume scanners. He said, out of the sample that was sent out, they received a 44%
response rate. He said that speaks volumes of how the engaged the citizenry is with its city. He said his
conclusion is that the survey shows Georgetown really is the City of Excellence. He said this gives them a
margin of error of + or - 3%. He said the percentages seen in the results were weighted so it will be
representative of the whole city. He again reviewed the timeline with the Council. He showed Council a map
broken into quadrants. He said one of the things they noticed is they received a great deal of responses from
the Sun City portion of the town, which isn't a surprise demographically. Gonzalez asked and Dorssum said they
made sure each of the quadrants of the survey had the same weight as the population in real life. He spoke
about the demographics and said the majority are retired, majority live in the home and most work outside of
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Georgetown and noted there is a broad age distribution. He said it is difficult to get survey responses for those
under 30. He continued to review the surrey results for the City Council. He said, from the survey, it seems the
top issue Georgetown will face is managing growth and development. He spoke about what the respondents like
most about living in Georgetown is the location as well as the good, caring nice people and added only 2% said
they do not like living here. He said the thing that would make Georgetown a better place to live is the traffic
situation. He spoke about the results of the survey questions related to Parks and Recreation services. He said
this gets a high percentage. He spoke of the results for which of the Parks services and programs people have
used in the past year. He spoke about the ratings for special events as well as how safe people feel living in
Georgetown. He reviewed the survey results for the conditions of local neighborhood streets. He spoke about
the issue of economic development in Georgetown. He said the survey shows that the citizens do not want to
increase property tax in Georgetown for any reason. He reviewed the results of the survey addressing the
importance of particular city services. He said they are seeing a very similar distribution with a positive trend as
more people have more value for their City tax dollars.
Gonzalez asked and Dorssum said the surveys went out only in English. Gonzalez said it would have been good
to have offered surveys in Spanish. Rundell said this is something the City should incorporate in future surveys.
Jonrowe agreed with Gonzalez and apologized to some of the Spanish speaking citizens who may have had
trouble with the survey. Jonrowe asked and Dorssum said the Council is just as likely as anyone to receive the
survey. Mayor said he did receive the survey and completed it. Jonrowe asked and Dorssum said the data from
other communities is available for review as well. Meigs said he appreciates the results and noted he found it
interesting that the highest responses came from the first listed question. Hellmann asked and Dorssum said he
can not think of any particular item that received a non -response. Dorssum said the longer the survey, the less
responses the City will receive. He noted a longer questionnaire is doable but is determined by budgetary
reasons. Eason spoke about some questions the City should add in the future. She spoke about the question
regarding building a rail system from Georgetown to Austin and added it is very misleading. Eason said the City
needs to pay more attention to the facts that are in each of the questions so that people who are not highly
involved with the City can understand.
B Recommendation and possible direction to staff to draft and agenda item recommending increasing the Electric
Franchise Fee rate on Pedernales Electric Cooperative (PEG) from 2% to 4.5% of gross annual revenues.
Follow up to answer questions regarding PEG, Electric franchise, and Telcomm franchise fees stemming from
the workshop held on November 27th, 2012 -- Chris Foster, Chief Financial Analyst and Micki Rundell, Chief
Financial Officer
With a Powerpoint Presentation, Foster gave a presentation to Council on Franchise Fees. He provided the
Council a list of the current Georgetown Telcomm rates. He spoke about Electric Franchise Fees and what
would happen if the City increased the rate from 2% to 4.5%. He said this would add $86,000 annually to the
general fund. He said this option is now available to the City because San Marcos recently signed a new
agreement with PEG that increased their rate to 6.5%. He noted the City's contract allows the ability to match
that rate if desired. He noted PEC is wondering if Georgetown is going to do that. He said he did a brief survey
of GFOA cities in the area and noted most charge between 4% and 5% with their electric franchise fee. He
briefly summarized how franchise fees work within the City of Georgetown. He spoke about ONCOR and how
they are asking to move the rate. He reviewed some of the street maintenance department notes and said the
cost of repairs to both ONCOR and PEC services are about the same. He provided Council with a PEG Channel
Update. He said he is asking for direction from Council on whether or not they want to change the rate on PEC
from 2% to 2.5%. He said they are also asking for approval to change the Oncor rate from 4% to
$0.002629/kwh. He said staff will bring back the recommendation of Council as a regular agenda item for final
approval as early as March 12. Hellmann asked and Foster spoke about why the two rates are different.
Hammerlun spoke about why he may not be able to support going to the 4.5%. Briggs described why staff feels
theses recommended rates are fair and equitable. There was much discussion and many questions. Gonzalez
said he does not feel there is a consensus on anything staff discussed. Rundell said staff will bring forward an
item with a recommendation and Council can then decide whether or not to move forward with it.
C Overview of the City's current outstanding and proposed debt obligations -- Micki Rundell, Chief Financial
Officer
With a Powerpoint Presentation, Rundell provided a presentation to Council regarding the current and proposed
debt. She spoke about the types of debt and described them for the City Council, including the General
Obligation Debt and Certificates of Obligation. She spoke about self-supporting CO debt and the interest
savings by issuing CO debt rather than revenue bonds. She said there are other types of tax supported debt,
including limited tax notes and certificates of participation. She said the City has $97.3 million worth of
tax -supported debt and she spoke about the history of authorization of this debt. She said there are a little under
$19.5 million worth of self-supporting COs. She showed Council a historical view of the CO debt in the City. She
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spoke about the debt capacity and said the current levy is $0.17363. She said the percentage of allowable used
debt capacity is 11.58%. She said anywhere less than 12% is a good mark. She said most of this debt is in
facilities, including the public safety facility. She showed Council a graph showing the historical GO and CO
debt. She spoke of revenue bonds and said the bonds fund the city's utility infrastructure. She said coverage is
required for these bonds at 1.35 times, but the City Fiscal and Budgetary Policy requires 1.5%. She provided
the outstanding balances for the revenue bonds. She showed Council a graph of the utility revenue bond
coverage issues. She showed Council a graph of the historical revenue debt as well. She reviewed the current
debt conditions. She spoke about the bond ratings and said there are rating agencies that review financial and
management conditions. She said the goal of the meeting with the bond rating agencies is to determine the
city's credit worthiness, which will impact the cost of issuance and funds. She showed Council a graph of the
total tax guaranteed debt per capita. She said the City is fortunate because it has not seen a lull in the City's
assessed valuation growth. She said the new growth has been quite stagnant. She showed Council a graph of
the total tax supported debt compared to the general sales tax revenue growth. She showed Council a graph of
the debt to assessed valuation comparison with other cities in the area. She showed Council an illustration of
the utility customer growth as well as the outstanding utility debt per customer. She spoke about the different
factors the bond rating agencies look at when determining credit worthiness. She reviewed the proposed debt
included in the 2012/2013 budget. She said they are always looking for ways to lower debt. She said there are
about $285,000 remaining after funding the public safety compensation plan. She spoke about the 2013
certificates of obligation and said the net bond funding is $1.3 million. She said the COs will not have impact on
the property tax rate. She said the debt service would be funded by the electric and water service utilities and
will have no impact to the property taxes. She said the City is also recommending that the City issue some of
the GO bonds in order to finish the Public Safety Facility as well as Park Land and related improvements. She
reviewed the tax impacts of the proposed GO Bond Issue. She summarized the information just presented for
the 2013 bond issue. She said the total tax supported GO bonds would be $9.5 million, the total self supporting
CO bonds would be $4 million and there are refunding opportunities. She spoke about the next steps of this
process.
Hellmann asked and Rundell said she has an estimate of the tax rate of around $0.43 and $0.435. Meigs said
this struggle for him is always how much to issue in a reasonable and responsible way. Hammerlun said he
wants to make sure the City expedites the sidewalks and ADA improvement projects. Jonrowe said it seems the
City is seeing good trends as far as growth and revenue potential but noted it is also good to stay a bit
conservative. Jonrowe asked and said the City will have to see how it turns out this fiscal year as the cash
needs are not until next year. Rundell said there is always timing delays or looking at other opportunities. She
said any impact could be negated again by the growth. Jonrowe agreed with Hammerlun and said the sidewalk
project should be move up to the top of the list of projects. Gonzalez said it is important to take into account that
the citizens are tax averse. He said the City need to be mindful as to the continual pressure to sell bonds. There
was much discussion.
D Presentation and discussion regarding the Gateway Northwest Project -- Paul E. Brandenburg, City Manager
Brandenburg said he wanted to touch base on a project that has spanned several years. He introduced the
members of the Texas Housing Foundation as well as the Housing Authority. He said this project was formally
known as the "Sierra Ridge" project back in 2007. He noted this was right about the time the economy started
going south. He said, in 2008, the project no longer became viable. He said the Georgetown Housing Authority
(GHA) was burdened with the debt and left with the land. He said, in 2010, GHA entered into an Memorandum
of Understanding with the Texas Housing Foundation to develop a new project, the Gateway Northwest Project.
He said, after several meetings with various groups, it looked like there was a potential with moving forward with
the Gateway Northwest Project. He said the City has been partnering since 2010 to make this work. He said, in
2012, the city council approved a Resolution approving Housing Tax Credits for this project. He showed Council
an aerial map of the proposed project. He showed Council the area for the multi -family development as well as
the retail and commercial. He said the green on the map is a water quality pond. He said the win/win is that it
gets Georgetown Housing Authority aware from their debt as well as approximately 70 acres that will be opened
up and developed for commercial and retail on the Wolf Property. He continued to speak of the win win and
said it will result in an improved transportation network and the creation of regional stormwater system. He said
the Council approved the Planned Unit Development (PUD) for the area on April 10, 2012, called Fontana
Plaza.
He said, in 2012, the Texas Housing Foundation moved forward of trying to get their mortgage insurance issued
from the Texas Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and HUD denied the application. He
said the Housing Foundation sent an appeal and, in 2013, the City was notified that it was denied by HUD. He
said the group got into a letter writing campaign to HUD in support of the Gateway Northwest Project. He said
Senator Cornyn and Congressman Carter got involved with writing to HUD as well. He sad it came as a surprise
to everyone that HUD denied this application. He noted a meeting on February 7 occurred between HUD, P&Z
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and the Housing Foundation. He said HUD was receptive of the issuance of the mortgage insurance under
certain conditions and he described those for the City Council, including waiving certain fees for the project. He
said there is an item on the regular agenda to look at waiving fees in order to support this project. He described
the City's "skin in the game" related to this project.
Gonzalez asked and Brandenburg said the fee waivers would not have been applicable if the request was not
denied by HUD. Jonrowe said she does not have any questions right now and said, at this time, she is okay with
this proposal. Hammerlun spoke about the connection between Williams Drive and Gateway Drive.
Brandenburg said it will not impact Rivery because this project was being discussed far in advance of Rivery.
Meigs asked and Brandenburg said a letter will be sent stating they will waive fees. Hellmann asked and
Brandenburg said there has not been another other requests from HUD or the Housing Foundation at this time.
Eason said the $100,000 waiver of fees is a substantial reduction in terms of commitment. Eason agreed this
project will be a definite win-win for that area and said she is anxious for it to become a reality.
Recessed to Executive Session under Sections 551.071 and 551.072 of the Texas Local Government Code --
4:45PM
Appro
Mayor Gedrge Garver
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Returned to Open Session and adjourned -- 6:40PM
A Journment
The meeting was adjourned at 06:40 PM.