Loading...
09-24-2007 - Special CITY COUNCIL OF EDGEWATER SPECIAL MEETING SEPTEMBER 24, 2007 7:00 P.M. COMMUNITY CENTER MINUTES CALL TO ORDER Mayor Thomas called the Special Meeting to order at 7:00 p.m. in the Community Center. ROLL CALL Mayor Michael Thomas Councilwoman Debra Rogers Councilman Dennis Vincenzi Councilwoman Harriet Rhodes Councilwoman Judith Lichter City Manager Jon Williams City Clerk Susan Wadsworth City Attorney Carolyn Ansay Present Present Present Present Present Present Present Present INVOCATION, PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE There was a silent invocation and pledge of allegiance to the Flag. Mayor Thomas announced that they have new carpet and new chairs in the Community Center and they would like to take care of them as best as they can. Only drinks with lids will be permitted in this facility. PUBLIC HEARINGS 1. 2nd Reading on Ord. 2007-0-15, adopting final millage rate of 5.20 mills per $1,000 of assessed taxable value City Attorney Ansay read Ord. 2007-0-15 into the record. Finance Director Brett Tanner made a staff presentation. Mayor Thomas opened the public hearing and asked for Council comments. Page 1 of 22 Council Special Meeting September 24, 2007 Councilwoman Lichter stated she had a thought concerning some of the way the public has responded to the Council and directed some remarks to them. She thinks everyone should try to understand that she is a senior. She needs the fire and police services as much as anyone else. She is a citizen and a taxpayer and she cares. She is doing the best she can with what the State has directed them to do. She has the same needs, the same feelings and she is trying the very best she can in an honest manner. That is what she has done for the City for ten years. When they talk to each other, she tries to give them the utmost respect. 99% of the public gives the Council the utmost respect. The other 1% makes it like they are not human and not caring. She knows they all may differ on things but she really does care and she thinks she speaks for her fellow Councilpeople as well. The following citizens spoke: Dominic Capri a , 606 Topside Circle, stated he is also a senior citizen. Maybe Councilwoman Lichter or others misunderstood what he said at the last meeting. He said there was room for lowering the tax rate and he gave examples. He thinks the City Manager did a good job on it. He wants to make the point he is also a senior citizen and all he was trying to say is the Council should have done more homework than they did because it is already proven that if they did, the tax rate would have been lowered. Linda Small, 1629 Willow Oak Drive, stated that the State mandated roll back rate is 4.89%. She understands that the 5.2% is -3.2% over the roll back rate. Even though the legal counsel has advised them that because they had the appropriate vote there may not be a penalty for failing to reach the State mandated roll back rate, if the Constitutional Amendment passes in January the 4.89% and the 5.2 the difference 3.2 will be right off the top of next year's budget for failing to reach the mandated roll back rate so they begin next year minus 3.2%. It is stated that way in the legislation to keep Councilmembers from year over year not achieving the roll back rate by virtue of their majority vote. She thinks probably it is going to come to a legal challenge at some point but she feels certain that had they focused on the 4.89 as much as they focused on the 15% reserve to comply with the Charter that they perhaps could have also achieved the 4.89% mandated roll back rate. Page 2 of 22 Council Special Meeting September 24, 2007 Carol Ann Stoughton, 2740 Evergreen Drive, stated she thinks now is a good time to congratulate the fact that they went in and proved there was money in different funds and now the police and firemen don't have to be threatened with the loss of their jobs that they are finally proving that there are moneys there and they are finally starting to show up. Mayor Thomas commented on what Ms. Small said. Mayor Thomas stated he was in a VCOG meeting at 5 p.m. and one of the candidates, a member of the School Board, got an e-mail that said a Leon County judge had ruled that ballot amendment unconstitutional. He asked if anybody heard that. Councilwoman Rogers stated it is true, the property tax. They aren't going to have it on the ballot. Mayor Thomas stated but that's not to say the Legislature doesn't have Plan B and Plan C. Councilwoman Rhodes stated but will they agree on it. Mayor Thomas stated they had until October 29th to do that. Mike Visconti, 316 pine Breeze Drive, congratulated everyone, the Council and City Manager Williams, and anyone else who was involved with the new carpet and new chairs in the community Center. Mr. Visconti stated he looked up his tax record since 2004 and at that time the rate was 6.4 mills and the rate went down. According to his estimation and what he pays in taxes, he saved $81 a year, which is less than $1.50 a week. When they lower the tax and divide the money up with the citizens of this City, the tax rate is so small, maybe $20. If they didn't lower the rate and kept it as it was, the City would have more money, it would be one lump sum of $800,000 instead of him saving $1.50 a week. He feels they should look into that in the future. They can't do much about the property tax. He suggested doing away with it. Instead they should have a State tax, and maybe raise the State tax to 8% and let everyone pay their share of the taxes. The property owners wouldn't have to be burdened every year with the property tax. He feels they should look out for the City and the City's interest. Mayor Thomas closed the public hearing and entertained a motion. Page 3 of 22 Council Special Meeting September 24, 2007 Councilwoman Rogers moved to approve the second reading of Ord. 2007-0-15, second by Councilman vincenzi. The MOTION CARRIED 5 - 0 . 2. 2nd Reading on Ord. 2007-0-16, adopting final budget for fiscal year 2007/2008 City Attorney Ansay read Ord. 2007-0-16 into the record. City Manager Williams commented on how they have arrived at the final budget. They believe if everything comes through as they planned they are projecting their cash reserves will be at the minimum level of $1.9 million or exceed the minimum level by $121,000. He commented on a meeting he had with the Directors on September 14th and began a last push to achieve this minimum requirement for the Charter as it is specified. They set a goal at the Town Hall meeting of a 10% reduction over FY 2007. When they met with the departments, they removed the increase contribution to fund the general employees defined benefit plan and compared the proposed 2008 figures to the 2007 to determine which departments were successful in actually achieving a 10% reduction as they originally identified in the Town Hall meeting. Of those they went back to the department heads and said for those that achieve the 10% they said thank you for your hard work. For those that did not achieve the 10% reduction, they sent them back to the drawing board and asked them to think about how they would achieve those reductions over the weekend and they would meet on December 17th and that they were to reduce those reductions in writing so he could provide them to Council and the public. They meet on Monday. The Department Heads submitted their requests. Some of those recommendations involve the elimination of some very high profile positions. They left the meeting and said go ahead and start notifying the employees. It should have been communicated to them that this was subject to the final decision that would be made tonight. The Departments did what they were asked to do. They began to notify their employees. He went home and pondered the consequences of some of the recommendations. He looked at the numbers again and scheduled a meeting for Tuesday morning so he and the Finance Director could sit down and go over the proposed numbers again. He asked him to confirm the ending cash balance. They looked at the actual request for reductions from each department and began addressing some of the high profile positions with Page 4 of 22 Council Special Meeting September 24, 2007 the department heads and informed him he didn't know if he could support it, and that the citizens and Council would not support this. They set some new targets and sent that out the door with the Department Heads and informed them they had a deadline to get the final budget in place and that they had to advertise it in accordance with TRIM compliance. While it may have been a little over anxious in notifying some of the employees, the end result is that they were able to come back to the table and not recommend that some of those high profile positions be cut. They have before them tonight actually how and whose department the cuts were made from and the dollar amounts each department had to come up with. They had to add back in the requirement to fund the General Employees Defined Benefit Plan. He commented on a meeting he participated in with the General Employees Defined Benefit Plan. He feels confident telling the Council and the citizens that modifications will be forthcoming. Right now Principal is drafting those modifications. They believe there will be a contribution towards cash reserves of about $222,000. He commented on the $601,000 that each Department was requested to come up with. The Department Directors were present if they had any questions. Mayor Thomas stated he heard it was like pulling teeth. City Manager Williams informed him it was tough. He was very proud of the Department Heads and employees for coming forward for making suggestions and recommendations. There hasn't been anything easy about the budget process. The topics that they have had to address are highly controversial and in some cases there is no way they can approach individuals without being offensive or coming off as somewhat threatening. They had to respond. Situational management if you will. He commented on the economy and what has happened in a short period of time. He feels this group of managers has responded to that. If they come out of this fiscal year increasing their contribution to cash reserves with the way the economy has reacted this year, he feels that is impressive. Councilwoman Lichter stated the only thing she might suggest in the circumstances that happened this past week, is after City Manager Williams talked to the department heads and ex-amount had to be cut from that particular budget, maybe instead of right away informing an individual that that was the person that would get the ax, that it might have been a little more diplomatic and not so heart Page 5 of 22 Council Special Meeting September 24, 2007 wrenching if they just sent out to their employees or met with their employees and let them know it looked like they might have to cut this much out of the budget and they were going to try to do everything they could to work around people but that they weren't saying it wasn't going to happen. It happened and in the end it didn't have to happen. It is a heart-wrenching thing to think you are going to be laid off and then you're not laid off. She felt they could handle that in a more diplomatic manner. City Manager Williams agreed 100%. It's an emotional roller coaster. There is a lot of passion that goes into putting the numbers together and trying to make projections for next year and they walk away from every situation with an experience and something to learn from it and they will certainly do something different in the future. Councilwoman Rhodes stated she spoke to City Manager Williams more this week than she has since he became City Manager. This has been exceedingly difficult. She knows what it's like to have politics and other people decide your fate. Very often you don't have any input. Her job is not to be a policeman's wife. Her job is to represent the taxpayers and to do their will. When it is all said and done the taxpayers pay the freight for all of them and that is who they need to answer to at every level in this City. There is a saying. Put your treasure where your heart is. When the taxpayers decided the amount of tax they were going to pay by virtue of the whole process through the Legislature, that is their treasure. They decided what services they can offer to this community. While every department had the luxury of just concentrating on their department and seeing the things that are happening within their department and their lives, sitting there she has to look at all of the departments. When the water is bad, the water department is who you want. If you are being robbed the police department is who you want. If your house is on fire, the Fire Department is the most important to you at that time but all these departments have to work together to make the City function and to provide the services the taxpayers pay for. Are they paying for less services? It might end up that way but that is what the taxpayers chose so that is what they have to do. She is fully conscious that these are people's lives and that money comes out of your pocket and when you work for a city it stinks because you don't make much to begin with so you take some away and you really don't make Page 6 of 22 Council Special Meeting September 24, 2007 much. She understands that but the person in Finance doesn't make much, the Firemen doesn't make much, the Policemen doesn't make such. How do you decide which one is more important? Circumstances decide that for you. If it was left up to her, it's anybody that their job requires them to give their life for somebody else. That is the most important job in the world, be it a solider, a policeman, or a fireman. That is their job everyday. But they aren't the only ones in the City. They are the ones they see and they are very valued but there are so many other people that work in the City for the Water Department, the Finance Department, Personnel. Personnel is down to one person now. People think Parks & Recreation is kind of frivolous and not that big of a deal but when the grass in the medians gets up so high and this town looks like a dump then Parks & Recreation is going to be very important. She feels City Manger Williams and the Department Heads, employees did a wonderful job. She thinks they cut it to the bone. Her heart goes out to the people that are affected by this. If any taxpayer wants to give more money so she can increase benefits or increase salaries, she would be more than happy to do it. The money they get is the money they have to spend and this is the most fair and the most economical way to do it in her opinion. They talk about Economic Development and raising revenues in the City and they need that more than anything but they cut Economic Development's budget 90%. Unless they are going to put some money behind it, it isn't going to happen. She feels in the coming year they need to focus on what they need to do to make this happen and then they need to do it so they don't have to do this anYmore. Councilman Vincenzi feels this has been one of the most challenging years he has had on the Council. They have people in the audience all the time that say they did okay, and could have done more. He thinks they have looked at each department and put pressure on Department Heads more than they should have and they have done a decent job. He thinks one of the things that nobody on Council wanted to see was anybody lose their job, especially in key vital positions like public safety. There is a balance that needs to be met every year and this year happened to be one of the roughest he has ever encountered. He feels they did the best shot they could. He was talking to Mr. Visconti the other day in Publix and he gave him the same speech he gave, which he thinks is great. He admires people like him that says instead of lowering taxes and it only makes a Page 7 of 22 Council Special Meeting September 24, 2007 difference of a dollar or two a week to go ahead and raise them and keep them up there. He told him for every time he gets up there, he gets a call after the meetings from some poor person in town that can't afford their mortgage payments anymore and they ask him how they can raise the taxes when they can't afford food or their mortgage. You have to find a balancing act somehow and he feels they tried to do the best they could on Council. He thinks he is done pressuring people for this year, except City Manager Williams. He is happy with the budget the way it is. He thinks this is a good budget and one of the first times they really had 15% reserve cash as a reserve. That isn't to say that money won't be dipped into later on in the year if things like on-going contract negotiations don't go the way they are supposed to or other things happen. It's nice they have the reserve. The Charter says they need it and they should have it. He wants to see the budget go through and to get the City moving again. Councilwoman Rogers stated there has been a lot in the newspaper regarding the Fire Department. Her big concern is that they are to be a team. The Fire Department and the City Manager and the Police Department and City Manager. That is a communication. She feels communication has been broken down with the Fire Department at this point. When she looks at the numbers from the first and second public hearings, the night of their first public hearing they were given a budget as soon as they sat there and it was a different budget. The Friday before the first public hearing they received a budget for their budget workshop. Between that Friday night and the first public hearing numbers changed. Fortunately she had at the first public hearing a copy of her budget. She asked a question at that time why specifically the Fire Department, between the Fire Administration and Fire Operations, numbers went up $85,000 and then she asked why the Police Department numbers went up $185,000. Now when they can see the comparison between the first and second public hearings, it shows the Police Department shaved off approximately another $50,000 and in her recollection they still received a net gain of $135,000. The Fire Department went up $80,000. They are losing $355,000 in Fire Administration and Fire Operations. The net gain is a loss of $275,000. If they are going to increase police by $185,000, if they would have done the same for the Fire Department they would only be dealing with a negative $175,000 below instead of the amount they are dealing with. She understands there has been all these Page 8 of 22 Council Special Meeting September 24, 2007 issues about overtime. She asked Fire Chief Barlow if he had spoken previously about this at any time to the Finance Director or City Manager. She feels it seems they had to do a lot in a short period of time and that is a huge amount of money to take a hit this fast, this hard. Fire Chief Barlow stated he has been communication with the Finance Director and City Manager as far as some of the cuts and budget adjustments. Councilwoman Rogers asked Fire Chief Barlow when it was first brought to his attention that he would have a cut this large. Fire Chief Barlow stated he has been working with the City Manager and Finance Director through the whole process along with the other Department Directors in trying to extrapolate as much savings as they can in the budget. The first largest cut was on Friday. They were requested to have additional cuts and to present back to the City Manager on Monday. Councilwoman Rogers stated they were given a memo where a memo was given to Fire Chief Barlow on September 19th. She asked if that was the memo and subject he was talking about, the alternative to the firefighter scheduling. City Manager Williams stated they met Tuesday morning after he met with Bob and said here is the alternative schedule that was brought forward for them to evaluate that with that memo attached from that perspective. Fire Chief Barlow stated he provided that packet to him on Tuesday and asked him to evaluate and respond back. He is in the process of putting together the response. Councilwoman Rogers stated Fire Chief Barlow is still working on response and they have just approved the millage and now they are approving a budget. So too late more or less. The money is being cut. She asked if she was hearing this correctly. Fire Chief Barlow informed her if she was talking about the Fire Department budget he believed it was being established and he assumed there would be other opportunities for budget adjustments that would probably be brought back before Council. Councilwoman Rogers asked him about adjustments to increase or decrease the budget. Fire Chief Barlow explained he ran several different scenarios and he couldn't decrease his budget anymore without any further reduction in services. Councilwoman Rogers stated she wasn't asking for any further. She feels it is a lot to do in a short period of time and the firemen are very concerned for their jobs and the longevity of everything in the department. Fire Chief Page 9 of 22 Council Special Meeting September 24, 2007 Barlow stated that was part of the discussion he and City Manager Williams had on Tuesday. He provided additional funds if he could assure that all firemen had their job and that he has. Councilwoman Rogers asked Fire Chief Barlow how he felt about going into the next year with the numbers he has for his department. Fire Chief Barlow stated the budget that is presented there has no overtime backfill, which means if any employee is off it will reduce the daily staffing from the current eight they have now. They pledge to do the best they can with the resources provided to them. Councilwoman Rogers stated her concern and her hope is that they don't have the same scenario next year so they need to take steps now so they aren't in the same position with the Fire Department next year and having to give it to him at the end and having him push and go backwards and forwards. They have to be more proactive. She encouraged him to communicate with the City Manager and provide the Council with copies of any communication as the year progresses and as his budget is modified. Fire Chief Barlow stated he wasn't going to discard the multiple renditions of budget he has this year and he agreed to provide those as that occurs. Councilwoman Rogers expressed her concern with the Leisure Administration and Leisure Operations. She asked if the shuffleboard courts were included in this. She was informed no. Councilwoman Rogers then commented on the 89.5% reduction in Economic Development. She understands there was a large line item removed for the membership for the Southeast Volusia Chamber of Commerce but they are not putting out the correct message to the Economic Development Board and these business people that are trying really hard to bring business into the City. It may not look as if they have succeeded every year because they can't quantify it but they have struggled and worked very hard. Councilwoman Rogers asked Bob Lott, 'Chairman for the Economic Development Board, what the Board could do with $1,600. Mr. Lott informed her they could do one direct mailing to their own businesses. He thought there was some confusion last week. The largest piece of his budget is the Chamber of Commerce contribution and people may think Page 10 of22 Council Special Meeting September 24, 2007 it's just like a membership fee. They do a tremendous amount with the Economic Development Board. They help them with the County. He put together a package for each one of the Councilmembers to explain to them this isn't just a membership so they can go to a BRA or a ribbon cutting. There is a tremendous amount of effort going into tax reform. They were in Deland and Tallahassee and he didn't see anyone from the Council in Tallahassee. He feels it is very important to communicate with their State government. This is what the Chamber does for them so the Council doesn't have to go. He recalled someone saying this is the toughest year they have seen as far as the budget and the taxes. There are only three things they can do. Increase the tax base, increase the millage rate or cut the services. It's that simple. They really need to send a better message out to the State and the Nation that we are a place people would want to bring their business and their families. They are asking him to go out and get high-end jobs. They don't want the low-end jobs. He asked where he is going to put them and where they are going to live. They need to build that infrastructure in this City. It's not just about asking businesses to come. It's about developing this City to make it a place that people want to live. Once they paint that picture, then they have to go and tell the story. They have an awful lot of work to do and he feels they are going a little bit backwards. Councilwoman Rogers asked how many people in the audience think they should put the extra $15,000 back into the Economic Development Board so the City can still be a member of the Chamber of Commerce. City Manager Williams then commented on the cash reserve requirement in the City Charter. He again commented on the excess above the minimum of $121,000. They have talked at length about their emerging capital needs, the lack of proper funding to begin for the replacement of the very method by which the services are provided such as cop cars, fire trucks, lawn mowers, etc. That is what the $121,000 was targeted as. They could take that money, after they have adopted the budget, they can do an amendment and put the money back in the line code for Economic Development and the Chamber dues, which he feels are extremely warranted at this time. They are going to start messing with the excess moneys that they need to fund for their emerging capital needs. That is his recommendation. It is certainly something that could be done with relative ease. Page 11 0[22 Council Special Meeting September 24, 2007 Councilwoman Rhodes feels Economic Development gives them a return on that investment. City Manager Williams agreed 100%. Councilwoman Lichter stated no one knows more than she does how the Chamber has helped them. To change that right now she feels would be disastrous. They have 22,000 people in this City and they are asking how many people want to put their hands up in this room to increase a particular thing on the agenda. There are things they could do to help small businesses in this community and it wouldn't cost them a nickel. It has to do with more efficiency with the permitting process. There are things that can be done without spending money. She feels that is important and the Chamber is important but what is more important is what they have to weigh at the moment. They do not want to lay off a person at all so you can't do everything when you are told to roll back. Things can be done to help small businesses and businesses without it cost very much money on their own for the minute. Mr. Lott stated he didn't come up there to ask the Council to change this tonight. The Chamber is going to be there for the Council. They aren't going to abandon them. They are part of the community of Southeast Volusia County. All they are asking is if they find a way and find the money in the budget down the road, they would like to make sure they don't forget what they do. City Manager Williams commented on removing the estimated figures and changing them to actual numbers as they finalize this fiscal year. They may find out very shortly that the $1.2, that they were a bit conservative and that it actually is a $1.3 number. As they start finalizing some of those numbers throughout the fiscal year he thinks the opportunity exists for them to keep in mind some of the items they have identified to remove from the budget. They would like to keep the opportunity to keep the lines of communication open with Mr. Lott and the Chamber in an effort to come forward and find the necessary funding. Councilwoman Rogers feels it is very important, especially with the development that is going to be coming into this City, the developer that is west of 1-95. She asked Mr. Lott if he has spent any time with Mr. Mears or talked to him regarding the proposed development that is going to be west of 1-95. Mr. Lott informed her absolutely. Page 12 of22 Council Special Meeting September 24, 2007 Councilwoman Rogers was concerned with the people that are here, specifically trades people and small businesses that don't want to travel out of the area to work. What Councilwoman Lichter said as far as her asking the audience, it is kind of unique because that question has been asked of the audience many times and never has it been picked on as it has been until tonight. They have not had any thing come about in this City to bring in what she was suggesting. It's not something that happens over night. She believes the people on the Council have worked very hard to push and do things. It is a process. The fruit of their labor is going to show up in the next couple of years. She doesn't think this amount of money is that much. Last year they did two things that she voted no on. One was when they gave $12,000 to ACT and then they find out later a building gets sold and they are merging areas because they don't have enough funding. Was our money well spent, absolutely not? She then commented on the $15,000 that was spent to do surveys in the City. She would rather see the money spent within the City so they can help drum up businesses and networking and things like that. Councilwoman Rogers would like to see that line item added back so they can fund the Chamber of Commerce one more year. She informed Mr. Lott to communicate to her. Councilwoman Rogers commented on being busy and the different meetings that are attended by the Mayor and Councilmembers. After every couple of years people get moved around and maybe it is time a Councilperson gets involved with the Economic Development Board so they can help drum in businesses into this area. That is what is going to help with the tax base, not the developments. Not like a business is. Mr. Lott stated as always any Councilmember is invited. It is an open meeting and a public meeting and they relish the Council's input and the opportunity for them to attend their meetings. Councilwoman Rogers stated but if you had a Councilperson with you when you do certain things it may help. Mr. Lott stated it always does. Councilwoman Rhodes stated when they started the budget process the directive that was given to every department Page 13 of22 Council Special Meeting September 24, 2007 head was to cut their department by 10%. Some made it and some didn't and some didn't even come close so they had to cut more but no one department was asked to do anything another department wasn't asked to do. The way the Department Head did it, that was his option. That was direction from Council to the City Manager. This wasn't something the City Manager dreamed up. At the end of the process when the budget came back and they had it last week it occurred to her in talking to Mike Hayes that they started out with 10% budget cut in every department, why doesn't that still apply. That is how this got started. This is where they are now. Mayor Thomas asked for all the City employees and Department Heads to stand up. He asked them if this sounded familiar to them. Sleepless nights. Knots in your belly. Emotion and pain. He's been there too because when he got here he adopted everyone into his family. He apologized for what they had to do. It was not easy for him. He felt some of that pain but they got there. He is very proud of each and everyone of the employees. He gave them a round of applause. He thanked everyone. Councilwoman Rhodes stated they want money, not applause. Mayor Thomas opened the public hearing. The following citizens spoke: Ted Cooper, 3028 Mango Tree Drive, also applauded the employees and Council for doing a very difficult task. He spoke in support of Mr. Lott and the Chamber of Commerce. They want to bring business in. They want certain business in. They want green and clean business in. Perception is reality. They have to look like what they want and they aren't doing that. He realizes it costs money and they have to go after it. Anybody in business knows you have to spend money to make money so they have to take a different look. Mr. Cooper went over what City Manager Williams brought up earlier. He stated he said could they get a hands on or reality pitch from the local department heads on what this really means minus the number jargon. He would like to know how the services are going to be affected by these cuts, by the individual department heads. They are also our long-term management people. He looks for them for Page 14 of22 Council Special Meeting September 24, 2007 long term planning. Part of the problem today is they didn't have enough long term planning for this problem. If Ms. Small is correct, they need some more long term planning very fast. He would like to hear from the Department Heads individually what this means to the citizens and how they are going to fix it from this point forward. Chris Balmer, 148 William Street, stated he wanted to confirm some facts because he was confused. Apparently they are projecting their reserve requirement to be met at $1.9 million and above and beyond that they are going to have an excess of approximately $121,000. At first you would say great job to everybody. He was confused how they have an excess of $121,000 and they haven't met the State roll back number. They are cutting firefighters from trucks. He commented on the level of service going down. They have also cut the Economic Development Board budget. So the City has $121,000 in a savings account. Above and beyond that the City has $1.9 million in a savings account. If it was his savings account, he would be spending that money. He doesn't know what constitutes to use the $1.9 million but if they are changing the level of service of the Fire Department. If they are cutting Economic Development Board which is going out there trying to get businesses to come into this community to grow the tax base and they aren't meeting the State requirement, which next year will be a further penalty to the City, he can't think of another good reason why to use that $1.9 million. Dave St. Mier, 1914 Juniper Drive, stated if they want to increase anything you have to spend money to make money. They have to give the Chamber the funds to get out there. They all say they want to bring things into the City but he questioned what exactly is being done to do it. He doesn't see much improvement. He thought a couple of meetings ago someone challenged someone to come up with some creative ideas to do something for the good of the City. He hasn't seen anything creative yet. In life nothing ever goes down, things go up such as milk and gas. Unfortunately, there are some people who do live here that are limited means but they may have to face the fact that they cannot afford to live here anymore. They can't keep going on the same taxes. If everything stayed the same they laid off ten people. The expenses are still going to increase. They have to keep raising the tax base to get this in. They are cutting the City's services to the bone. There is Page 15 of22 Council Special Meeting September 24, 2007 no more money to cut. They have to raise the money and bring stuff in to do it. Agnes Witter, 224 Flagler Avenue, stated if they were in a make believe world they wouldn't be worrying about all these problems. Unfortunately it is the debt that they have been handed and they have to handle it the best they can. People are upset because property taxes have gone up. Whose fault is it? Basically it's an increase in property values that was brought about not by the residents who have resided here two, ten or fifty years. It's what happened with the real estate market. They are all paying the price. They can complain all they want but they are where they are at. This is going to be a tough year for the City She asked City Manager Williams if there are any debts or anything that will be reduced in sufficient amounts this year to make next year easier on them. City Manager Williams stated if Ms. Witter's question refers to debt in terms of loan payments, certainly there are. He commented on selling the remaining acreage in ParkTowne. That was financed over an 18-month period. We are due to get another payment next year in August of about $1.2 million. All of that money that is collected from that payment will be sent directly to FIND to reduce the amount of outstanding debt. Within another six months from that period they will receive the final paYment. Ultimately resulting in a total reduction of debt in the General Fund of 30%. There seems to be some confusion out there with regards to the City's debt. When the City approaches the debt they have, they approach it under each one of the funds, the General Fund, the Water & Sewer Fund, the Refuse Fund and the Stormwater Fund. Those are businesses in a sense under the umbrella of the city. Every year they are able to meet our debt service paYments and they have met those paYments forever. If the City was not capable of meeting those payments, in the CAFR there is a management letter that is issued by the auditors. There would be a comment in there that said the City was not able to meet those payments and therefore they may be in default of certain agreements. They are making provisions. They make provisions in the budget that is before the Council tonight. All of their debt service requirements are out there and are funded. Ms. Witter stated if there are expenses that they incur this year for new equipment of some sort, they can assume Page 16 of22 Council Special Meeting September 24, 2007 then that next year they won't have to spend that money so they would be able to use money next year towards reinvesting back into something that Mr. Lott was speaking about, the Chamber, or into departments. She asked if every year would be as rough and tight as this year or can they envision next year will be a little bit better and the year after that will be a little bit better. City Manager Williams stated they are trying to get into a more of an optimistic outlook. As things go on and the threat of additional property tax reform before us, he thinks they have to plan for a worst case scenario to some extent. He has participated in most recently a luncheon that was held by the FLOC and Ken Small was one of the folks making a presentation. They are going to have him here on the 18th to do some revenue enhancement training and to take a whole different look at the way they conduct business today. He is saying if in January this constitutional amendment is not successful you can bet the next Legislative Session they will have a tremendous amount of bills on the floor to address the property tax reform issue. If it isn't successful then on the next election in November 2008 they will come back at it again. Everybody in the industry today and his colleagues, when they discussed this, the general feeling is they will probably be dealing with this for the next three years. One of the sayings Mr. Small said was for years cities have been holding strategic planning sessions to expand the services that they currently provide today. They are going to have to go back into those strategic planning sessions and change their outlook and start redefining their core services to look at how they achieve some of the cost savings that are going to be mandated as a result of tax reform. Jim Sylvester, 2209 Orange Tree Drive, stated a redneck from the Smoky Mountains in North Carolina where milk costs the same and gas costs the same however property taxes are lower. In North Carolina they actively encourage small business to come to their area. They advertise in trade magazines outside the area in the northern states where it is cold. They spend money advertising. By cutting the Economic Development Board's budget they have planted the seeds to starve this community. Gigi Bennington, 121 Virginia Street, stated the last public hearing the Council had, it didn't seem to be a Page 17 of22 Council Special Meeting September 24, 2007 primary issue that they met their Charter requirement. The City Manager didn't seem that concerned. Now all of a sudden they are meeting it plus. Part of that is a numbers game. She is a numbers person and has gone over this. She applauded the Council for sitting through this. Numbers and things have been switched around. The resurfacing program has been deleted and put into the Charter reserve. We have no resurfacing plans for this next year on any of the roads. The animal shelter was taken from under the General Fund and put into an Enterprise Fund at $771,000, $500,000 is the money they have the bond for already. They are assuming they are going to have this amount of money if this and this and this meet. They adopted a balanced budget on the first reading and now they are looking at a different balanced budget with different figures and some of the items have been deleted prior to their knowledge. This reserve money they have is our savings account. What some of these people are asking is if something happens, where is that money going to come from? The reserve fund? They are cutting funds and services to build up an imaginary figure to satisfy the budget. Several people stated the Charter. Ms. Bennington stated it wasn't a concern the last time they had this meeting. Councilwoman Rhodes stated it has been a concern of hers every year she has served on Council. Ms. Bennington stated they haven't met it every year and they have accepted it. Councilwoman Rhodes stated she never accepted it. Ms. Bennington informed her she meant the whole Council, not just Councilwoman Rhodes individually. The whole Council has voted to accept a proposed budget previously that didn't meet all of the State requirements and the Charter amendment. Now all of a sudden it is a big issue. The people need to know this is imaginary. These are just assumptions. All of this is based on assumptions and moving money around to make it look good for the City. Sue Williams, NSB Resident, Legislative Chair for the Southeast Volusia Chamber of Commerce, stated she has heard a lot about encouraging the small businesses. They have had volunteers at all of Edgewater's meetings. She could tell them a difference in small business that has been encouraged and has been a success. It has been on the City's books for four years to encourage businesses to move here. It's called the Residential Planning Zoning. No one ever took advantage of it. It was up in front of the Planning & Zoning Board this year. They had volunteers here that spoke on behalf and encouraged it and now they Page 18 of22 Council Special Meeting September 24,2007 have a new small business, the kind of business the City is looking for and that they helped encourage. Mike Visconti, 316 pine Breeze Drive, stated at one time he wrote an article about the taxes solution. It is inevitable that they have to pay their taxes and die. Death they can't control. Taxes they could. United we stand, divided we fall. They divided the tax base, they divided the tax money, they distributed along to everyone and it is so small where they are talking about now they could have had $800,000 in the budget that they divided. Also the saying goes a half a loaf is better than none. Instead of letting someone go, either cut their pay a little bit and take a half of the loaf instead of the whole loaf. Pat Card, 3019 Willow Oak Drive, stated by cutting this budget to the bone what they have done is defer a good deal of a number of things that need to be done in this City. If you don't maintain your roof, it leaks. If you don't fix the leak, water comes in, it gets in the ceiling and you get some mold. If you don't fix it after that it falls in on somebody and you get a $100,000 workmen's compensation claim. What happens when you don't fix the roads? Eventually they get so bad in Florida Shores that they have to do a special assessment and assess everybody in Florida Shores to repair the roads there. If they aren't going to repair roads, that is what is going to happen. What happens when a 220-pound lady starts not being able to focus her eyes properly and is talking slurred and they only have two people on a truck to come out from the Fire Department as the first responders? What happens then? Two people can't lift a 220-pound woman. He wants them to understand every time they cut people in the emergency area they really cut it to the bone. Somebody is going to die as a result or be a vegetable for the rest of their lives because they have lost part of the time in that golden hour that they have to recover people from strokes. The City has one of the finest emergency medical provider groups in the State. Don't let it to go hell in a basket. Mayor Thomas asked City Manager Williams if the State mandated that they go to 4.89 and that it took a 4 person vote to go to the 5.2. City Manager Williams informed him that was correct. Page 19 of22 Council Special Meeting September 24, 2007 Linda Small I 1629 Willow Oak Drivel stated there are 220- pound men also. She wanted to address an individual who continues to talk about how his property taxes only went down $1.50 per month or $20 per year. She explained that the reason property taxes didn/t go down any further is because the taxing districts that come under the State referendum did not lower their taxes to the State mandated rate. The City of Edgewater is at 5.2. The mandated rate is 4.89. Gap. The taxes didn/t go down. Bert Fish they hit the State mandated rate but they got 3.2% more money than they did last year. You have Volusia County who went below the State mandated rate. This person also likes to say that only $.25 on every dollar comes back to the community. Quite candidly she goes to Volusia County tax meetings and she is the only Edgewater resident therel except her husband. She doesn/t believe the State went far enough in mandating taxing .districts. They gave exemptions basically to some taxing districts. The School district has a reduced enrollment and they increased their budget. St. John/s doesn/t come under the State mandate and their budget went up 315% year after year. She hasn/t gone to Palatka to tell them how she feels about that but she might next year. If the taxing districts had all gone to the State mandated rate, there would be more of a reduction in the property taxes. If the constitutional amendment doesn/t pass in JanuarYI perhaps the State Legislature will go back and correct the problems they have created by exempting certain taxing districts from participating in the roll back rate. Mayor Thomas thought Councilwoman Rogers could make her motion and include the $15/000. He asked City Manager Williams if she could do that. City Manager Williams stated he thought the item at hand was to adopt the budget. If they adopt the budget as it is proposed, as they close this meeting and open up their next meetingl then they can go back and address the additional funding requirements for Economic Development as they have described. He informed the Council it would come out of the projected cash reserves of $601/000. They have the ability to really address as much items in the budget to the tune of $121/000. If they go below thatl they are going to be below the required minimum to maintain 15% Charter reserve requirements. His recommendation would be to pass the budget as it is proposed certainly recognizing that there are some needs to go back and look at additional Page 20 of 22 Council Special Meeting September 24, 2007 items. He will keep the communication open with Mr. Lott and the Chamber and place that on the list as an emphasis to be done and any other items that come up. Mayor Thomas entertained a motion. Councilwoman Lichter made a motion to accept Ord. 2007-0- 16, which adopts the final budget, second by Councilwoman Rhodes. Mr. Balmer called for a point of order. He didn't think they could adopt the budget knowing they are going to change it. He asked for a legal opinion on that. He believed the budget had to be fixed and then adopted correctly. City Attorney Ansay stated if the budget is adopted now and there is a desire later to amend the budget in any regard that could be dealt with at a later action. Mr. Balmer questioned it being done an hour later in the next meeting. City Attorney Ansay informed him they could. City Manager Williams stated typically their processes are this simple. Budget amendments they can take two different approaches and the policy they have taken in the past is they have a General Fund budget that is proposed at $13 million. At the end of next fiscal year if that is well under the $13 million there is no need to do a final amendment to it. You do final amendments when the proposed expenditures exceed what they have adopted tonight. Through the Charter he has the authority to do line item transfers as long as it doesn't change the total value. That is regular practice. Mayor Thomas stated there is a motion on the floor by Councilwoman Lichter, seconded by Councilwoman Rhodes. He asked for a roll call vote. The MOTION CARRIED 5 - 0 . ADJOURNMENT Mayor Thomas entertained a motion to adjourn. There being no further business to discuss, Councilwoman Rhodes moved to adjourn. The meeting adjourned at 8:24 p.m. Page 21 of22 Council Special Meeting September 24, 2007 Minutes submitted by: Lisa Bloomer Page 22 of 22 Council Special Meeting September 24, 2007