05-07-2007 - Workshop CITY COUNCIL OF EDGEWATER
WORKSHOP
MAY 7, 2007
6:00 P.M.
COMMUNITY CENTER
MINUTES
CALL TO ORDER
Mayor Thomas called the Workshop to order at 6:00 p.m. in the
Community Center.
ROLL CALL
Mayor Michael Thomas Present
Councilwoman Debra Rogers Present
Councilman Dennis Vincenzi Present
Councilwoman Harriet Rhodes Present
Councilwoman Judith Lichter Present
City Manager Jon Williams Present
City Clerk Susan Wadsworth Present
City Attorney Carolyn Ansay Present
MEETING PURPOSE
The purpose of the meeting was to discuss the City Manager's
goals for 2006/2007.
Mayor Thomas turned the meeting over to City Manager Williams.
City Manager Williams informed Council pursuant to Section 4B of
his employment agreement he was required to update them on the
status of the previous set goals. He had before Council all the
goals that had been set for him and the status of those goals.
In the interest of time, he tried to take all the common goals
and lump them and then provide them an update in order to move
through this. There were about 5 pages of where they are and
what they've done in terms of those goals.
City Manager Williams went over the list of goals. (Attached)
City Manager Williams felt it was important that they set a time
to have a town hall meeting or a workshop in the very near
future prior to the special session dealing with the property
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May 7, 2007
tax reform to have an open discussion with their citizens
regarding the level of services, lack of adequate funding for
emerging capital needs and debt management strategies. He
suggested the first Saturday in June. If they could all come
out of this meeting with that consensus, they could send out
notices in the water bills and try to encourage those folks to
come out and tell them what they want and what they are willing
to pay for.
City Manager Williams then commented on the executive sessions
that were held on February 26 and April 30 to discuss contract
negotiations. The City has proposed to allow buy back time to
continue with the following limitations: the employee may only
cash one week of accrued leave as long as they maintain half the
maximum accrued vacation and sick bank. That was what they had
proposed today but they had not been successful in negotiating
those contracts to this point.
City Manager Williams spoke of currently preparing for the FY08
budget. Staff has been instructed to plan on a 30% reduction in
total expenditures, which provides relief from property tax,
water /sewer fund transfers and improves their cash reserves.
Each department director has been instructed to prepare a 3 -year
pro forma business plan which should include at a minimum, an
executive summary, which should include suggestions for
enhancing revenues and expenditures, a financial performance,
where applicable. They are asking them to prepare 3 -year pro
forma income statements which should include provisions for
capital projects, contingencies and transfers. He also
suggested they prepare a cash flow statement, a break -even
analysis which will help in establishing appropriate rate
structures.
City Manager Williams further stated the goal that they've
identified for the major funds, the Water and Sewer Fund and the
General Fund, is to generate excess cash of $500,000 per year.
They've also asked them to dedicate a component to what they
call continuous improvement efforts, referencing the internal
business processes, efficiency of operations, re- engineering
reorganization, a section specifically dedicated to capital
planning where they identify those capital projects and for
their emerging, rolling capital needs. They are looking at the
feasibility of establishing what they call an Equipment
Replacement Fund for those items greater than $5,000. They also
want them to include a mission statement, goals and objectives
for each department, a swab analysis. They have asked them to
do all that for those proposals to be presented to this Council
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no later than July, 2007. Right now the management team is
currently evaluating several options for cost savings and as
they look at these options, he felt it was important for him to
point out that their number one emphasis was to keep everyone
employed currently that they have. They were not looking at the
easy way out and saying that they were going to do a reduction
of force in order to achieve savings and so forth. They've
already begun evaluating contract services, such as janitorial
services. They are going to be bringing back a proposal to
terminate that contract. They're going to bring that in -house
and make it the responsibility within the departments and set up
a rotating schedule to keep those cleaned. That has a cost
savings attached to it of about $36,000. He then commented on
beverage services and median maintenance. They were looking at
how they could bring those functions back in -house and save
those costs. The contract for median maintenance is a little
over $100,000 so by bringing that back in -house they know they
would have to invest in some capital but they're trying to
determine whether or not they can absorb that with the current
staff that they have. That's why he thinks it's important to
come out with this town hall meeting. Right now they have a
frequency of mowing those medians twice a month. They have a
vacant position but they have not allowed them to fill that
vacant position. At the current staffing level, they may only
be able to mow it once a month. Those are the things that they
want to know and want to hear from the citizens.
City Manager Williams informed Council they were evaluating
options to control cost associated with the General Employees
Defined Benefit Pension Plan. Staff has received termination of
free studies and has a way for actuarial studies to be completed
by Foster and Foster for outlining additional cost savings. To
date, they have frozen all vacant positions and they have
postponed all capital projects. He suggested that they expand
that freeze to include all expenditures and that they suspend
active union negotiations until the special session concludes in
June.
Councilwoman Rogers stated as far as the last item, to postpone
all capital projects, City Manager Williams was aware that she
has been in communication with the shuffleboard members and the
fact that they already have FEMA money that's been reimbursed to
the City, she didn't want that to include the shuffleboard yet.
They needed to talk about this further and look into what they
have received. City Manager Williams informed her they had not
received any FEMA reimbursement with regard to the shuffleboard
court. Councilwoman Rogers asks why that was. City Manager
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Williams commented on FEMA's process. They go out, they engage
the work, they do the work, they submit the cost and then they
get reimbursed. Councilwoman Rogers remembered they get
reimbursed after the project was completed. City Manager
Williams stated with regard to the proposed costs for
reimbursement, the City did receive insurance. They requested
that he get them that information. It was still a shortfall and
he would caution against proceeding with completing this project
in an environment where they're talking about reduction of
benefits and laying off employees. Councilwoman Rogers stated
but at the same time this was something that was to be
reimbursed and then as time went on, the amount of
reimbursement, the percentage, continually went down, so when
they get into the actual Council meeting tonight at 7:00, she
wanted to discuss that so she wanted to leave this one item open
until they got through the meeting this evening.
Councilwoman Lichter stated City Manager Williams made the
statement that one of his goals or that he wasn't necessarily
looking to cut staff or personnel. She didn't think that was
the impression that staff and personnel received when they got
some of the plans from Port Orange and other places, some
comments that they might have to go in with the Sheriff's
Department and with the fire guys combined. She felt that
needed some clarification because that's the first time she
heard him say he wasn't planning to cut personnel.
City Manager Williams felt it was the unknown that they don't
know. They have engaged all of their employees to come
together with some cost saving ideas to try and present a
unified front. What can we all do to limit the impact that this
may potentially have on us? They have prepared an absolute
worst -case scenario. The department heads have provided the
proposed property tax reduction forms that they presented to the
Senators the night that they had the conference call. That all
came from the department heads. An absolute worst -case scenario
would involve, unfortunately jobs but they could start today in
trying to identify those services that they can keep people
here. The question that's out there is what happens if property
tax doesn't take place this year? They still have to address
their current financial condition and they are trying to right
now with some of the proposals that they were looking at. If
they eliminate the contract for service, they know they can keep
people employed.
Councilwoman Lichter stated but the last house proposal would
probably involve big cuts. The Senate wasn't quite as bad and if
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they have the brains to wait until the Commission that was
directed to study this situation so they get a handle on every
aspect of it, it might not be as bad. So there are really
probably three scenarios. She didn't think the house was going
to end up the one.
City Manager Williams said that the important thing to remember
was that they support property tax reform as long as it is a
comprehensive approach. Councilwoman Lichter said they can't
"scare" either. City Manager Williams said they weren't trying
to scare anybody. They were only trying to look forward to some
of these consequences. He met with about 40 employees on Friday
and had a very good discussion with those folks. He and the
Mayor met with about 200 of them in this room and they provided
them with the contact information of their local delegate
because they are voters. They provided to them discussion
points and they encouraged them to reach out and make that
contact. He asked those employees in the room the other day,
how many had actually done that? About 4 hands went up. He
told them they couldn't wait and that they needed to be making
the phone calls today to encourage these folks that they support
tax reform as long as it's comprehensive and encourage them to
wait on the tax reform commissioner to come forward with these
proposals. It is their intention and has always has been their
intention to keep employees on the street, however, the reality
of such is that if they lose 37% of their tax revenue, they
don't have any other way of making it up, unfortunately.
Councilwoman Lichter said the Senate plan looked about 20%.
City Manager Williams said they had a goal for a City Hall.
Right now any property tax reform at the State and local level,
financial and budgetary constraints, would require funding for a
City Hall to come from a voter approved referendum or developer
contribution. They were currently conducting a sensitivity test
and a survey to see if the electorate would support voter
approved referendum at $16 million or $150 per year per hundred
thousand taxable value, $12 million or $110 dollars per year per
hundred thousand taxable value and $9 million or $65 per year
per hundred thousand taxable value. Once they got those
results, they would certainly bring that back to Council.
Councilwoman Rhodes asked how long he thought this would take.
City Manager Williams felt they should know something by the end
of this month so if they were going to look at those
initiatives, they would have something in June or July. They
had a goal to sell the remaining land in ParkTowne Industrial
Center. On June 8, 2007, staff presented an offer of a cash
purchase of $3.6 million dollars. Council voted 4 to 1 to
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accept a minimum of $4.5 million dollars. On April 16, 2007,
staff informed Council that the City had received a contract on
the remaining land. The contract was currently being reviewed
and would be presented back to Council for action on May 21,
2007.
City Manager Williams stated they had a goal to follow up on the
dredge material. On August 18, 2007, he presented a proposal for
the sale of dredge material to FIND. On September 14, 2006 they
received a reply from the FIND Board that they rejected the
proposal per State Statute. In March of 2007, he sent down
another request to the FIND Board to use approximately 20,000
cubic yards for a Public Works Road Project. The FIND Board had
preliminary approved the use of that sand for that, however,
they needed State approval for that before they could continue.
City Manager Williams stated they had goals to slow growth and
pursue quality development. They had a goal to pursue
commercial growth and higher paying jobs and they had a goal
that Hibiscus and Guava businesses should re- establish and
spruce up the area. Basically, current market conditions,
limitations on building heights and revisions to the Land
Development Code have slowed the rate of growth. Staff was
working with the Economic Development Board to create
incentives. The City recently executed a new agreement with
Cuda Marketing to develop a free business directory to try to
re- establish some of those business groups and pull them into
one document. He suggested that Council create a Vision
Committee made up of one member from the Planning and Zoning
Board, one member from the Economic Development Board, one
member from the Recreation /Cultural Services Board, one member
from New Smyrna Beach High School Student Government
Association, one member from the Indian River /Edgewater
Elementary PTA, one member from the Council on Aging and one
member appointed at large. The goal should be to establish a
vision of what Edgewater should look like in 50 years. He then
commented on the Planning & Zoning Board that was currently
conducting visioning sessions. He felt if they brought forward
a group like he suggested, he thinks they have a pretty good
representation of the demographics to the City of Edgewater. He
also suggested that the City currently evaluate creating a
concept of small communities within a community with the
intention of signing each member of their executive team as a
point of contact to those communities with the ultimate goal of
creating small business and homeowners associations. He felt
like that would provide for better and more involvement from our
community and enable them to bring forward their ideas and
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suggestions for what they want with the City and just a more
fluent transition process.
City Manager Williams stated they had a goal of building
consensus among Council members. He listed the number of
workshops they had or different sessions in order to try and
develop the consensus and he thought this update was really an
indication of the consensus that's out there. In many cases
they had the same ideas; they just communicated them slightly
different. He felt there was a consensus there. He thought
there were always some areas where each of them needs to have
some give and take. In December 2006 they had a workshop to
discuss the Charter Amendment of limiting building heights where
they ended up coming out of that with a list of projects that
were vested. They had a strategic planning session in January
2007 where Council came together to list goals and priorities
for the future of the City. In February 2007, they had an
executive session to discuss contract negotiations and again on
April 30 They were here tonight to discuss the goals
established for him. They had a goal to limit the meeting time
to 4 - 5 hours starting at 6:00 p.m. or 6:30 p.m. They also had
a goal to make the length of the meetings no later than 11:00
p.m. They presented a proposal to recess business at 11:00 p.m.
Council would then reconvene the next day at 7:00 p.m. for all
unfinished business. It was the Council's consensus to maintain
the status quo. They had a goal to contact their local
representatives and to have better communication with their
House and Senate representatives. He and Senator Lynn met face
to face to discuss her support for acquiring additional lands
for conservation purposes. They were actively communicating
with the local delegate on the effects of the proposed property
tax reform. They had a goal to have workshops with the public
to identify their problems. Evidenced tonight was to advertise
for a workshop in June to bring those folks in. He has had the
pleasure of participating in two town hall meetings with
Councilwoman Rogers to identify some of the residents' concerns
and thoughts of those two periods. They've also had the
workshops discussing the Charter Amendments and a strategic
planning session. They were still trying to put together a
citizens' task force to address property tax reform, however, he
thought the workshop would probably be better served in that
respect. Then again, request a town hall meeting to address the
level of services.
City Manager Williams stated they had a goal for continuing
education for the City Manager. He was planning to attend the
2007 ICMA Conference however; budget constraints may prohibit
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him from attending the conference. They had a goal to use
innovation and creation so what he had done was listed some of
the things that they've tried to do and some of the things that
they would like to do in order to get some consensus and
direction from Council. He informed Council they would start
with the proposal where they solicited a local veterinarian who
may be interested in co- locating a veterinarian /emergency clinic
with the City of Edgewater's Animal Adoption and Rescue
Facility. They had been negotiating property swaps for
infrastructure development in ParkTowne Industrial Center, which
he felt really created a win -win for everybody. They would like
to have Council's consensus tonight to proceed with establishing
non -ad valorem assessment districts for a street light district,
which had a savings of $120,000. The services were provided
right now under the umbrella of the General Fund. They would
pull that out. They would bill the property owners. It would
be a non -ad valorem assessment district and there would be a
cost savings associated with that. They would also like to take
the Stormwater and Refuse Fund and build that via a non -ad
valorem assessment district. This service would no longer be
billed monthly. Fees would be collected via the tax bill and
from a collections standpoint. At the time of the cash flows
this would be beneficial to the City. He then commented on
evaluating establishing a road resurfacing assessment to fulfill
their obligations for road resurfacing. Estimated savings
associated with that at this point was about $200,000.
Councilwoman Rhodes asked how that would save $200,000. City
Manager Williams said because the property owners would be
paying for it via non -ad valorem assessment. Councilwoman
Rhodes said the homeowners were paying for it anyway. City
Manager Williams says they were just asking for that evaluation,
they weren't saying that's where they wanted to go.
Councilwoman Rhodes was just asking how he was getting the
figures of the savings. The taxpayers were paying for it
anyway. City Manager Williams said they wouldn't allocate any
money in the budget for that. He was going to show Council some
slides tonight that showed the taxpayers weren't really paying
for the services they get. Councilwoman Rhodes stated the people
of the City are paying for it, someone is. City Manager
Williams informed her if she'd like, at the end of this he could
bring that up and show them some of the things. Mayor Thomas
wanted to see that.
City Manager Williams then stated staff would also like
direction from Council as to whether or not they were interested
in establishing Fire Services as a Proprietary Fund. They would
need to have consultants come in to establish appropriate user
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fees for residential and commercial customers.
City Manager Williams again commented on the goal to create
incentives for employees coming up with money saving ideas and
they were reviewing an incentive program right now that was
developed by Pinellas County.
City Manager Williams stated that was the status of the goals,
where they are, where they would like to go with the Council's
direction for feedback.
Councilwoman Lichter had something she wanted to bring up. She
commented on City Manager Williams being very financial -
oriented. That's his background and she understood that totally
but there was one suggestion she wanted to have in terms of the
public and very often they will get calls from the community
with a problem that they need a little help with the red tape of
how to get it accomplished. In their Charter, it is not against
any Charter rule, that they can't go to a department head and
ask a question or try to get information to relay to that person
and she knows he doesn't want something to pop up about the
subject or whatever so he wanted all these things relayed to him
however, they don't all get followed through. She finds that's
a problem in terms of that constituents' interaction with her.
In the past she has been able to search out the problem, get the
information, not direct any director but she got information to
help her be more knowledgeable for her constituent. She thinks
that needs a little tweaking of how they are going to handle
that. City Manager Williams recognized what she was saying and
the only thing he was asking in that respect was that he didn't
want to be in a public situation like this and they turn to him
and go what about this and hold him accountable for something he
may know of and that's his only concern that he had was that in
their daily routine, sometimes it may not get communicated to
him that they've asked that question or vice versa.
Councilwoman Lichter stated that could be part of it but
meanwhile she's gotten no feedback from this person that he's
even been contacted. Mr. Williams stated and he has dropped the
ball on that. He informed her he was sorry. Councilwoman
Lichter stated she was just saying, they get elected by the
public to do that type of thing also and the department heads,
in the past really have probably let him know that that question
was asked but at least they can help them in some ways and
they've got to tweak that area a little bit.
City Manager Williams commented on what he had done in an effort
to provide some better education to our citizens, Council and
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staff. He went in and they were attempting to find a normally
distributed bell graph with regards to their property tax values
but the graph he had wasn't normally distributed in statistical
terms. The graph showed a taxable value from $0 to $500,000 and
incorporated 97.3% of all the developed properties in the City
of Edgewater. They had 50% of the parcels in the City of
Edgewater that were below $70,000 taxable value, 62% that are
actually below the average taxable value of $96,400 and change
which meant that the average money they collect in the City of
Edgewater at $96,554 last year, it cost $1,160.36 per parcel to
provide the services in the General Fund. What they did was
they said let's back into the numbers and find out exactly what
kind of taxable value they would need to generate $1,160. They
would need a taxable value of $203,000 so what they did was they
said how many parcels in the City of Edgewater out of that
10,000 are actually paying at $1,160? They had 645. Six
percent of the parcels in the City of Edgewater are actually
generating enough tax dollars to pay for the services that they
get. So they said, let's graph this; let's look at actually
what those parcels were. He then referred to the map of the
City of Edgewater. All of the highlighted parcels in red were
paying at $1,160 or more. He thought from the graph they could
set the stage to ask really two questions: does growth really
pay for itself and is the tax system broken? He thought they
could address it from that perspective and go forward. These
were some of the things that they were going to try and bring
forward in communicating to Council and to our citizenry.
There's a large portion of the City out there that is not paying
for the services that they get, recognizing that there are a lot
of other revenue sources that do come in. However, when they
start talking about their funding needs, proper planning,
capital, fire trucks, police cars, those are types of things
that they have got to properly plan for that they have not.
Under the current rate structure and millage rates that they
had, they're having challenges doing that. He thought that was
why they needed to come forward and really ask themselves, what
are they willing to pay for and what level of services did they
want because from his perspective, as these folks are being
given the orders to develop efficiency plans, they will come up
with some efficiencies, there's no doubt about that but he
didn't know that there was enough efficiencies they could
develop without having the revenue coming in to give them the
adequate funds to provide the services that they get.
City Manager Williams informed Council that was all he had
unless Council had some questions /comments regarding this.
Mayor Thomas asked the Council if anybody had any questions on
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any specific item.
Councilwoman Rhodes stated she still didn't see the savings.
She still didn't see where he was getting those figures on the
road resurfacing and on the streetlights. City Manager Williams
says all he was saying was that those folks that are in Florida
Shores for example, they were going to pay for the streetlights
if they wanted them. In Coral Trace, Mariners Gate, and
Majestic Oaks, there are homeowner association fees in there.
Those folks pay for that service. They could take and free up
those resources to start properly planning for the replacement
of some of the capital needs. That's where they get the savings
and vice versa with road resurfacing. If they set up road
resurfacing districts and they said this community was made up
here and they were going to assess so much money per year and
that money was going to be collected, he wasn't even sure they
could do that. He just wanted to evaluate it. He knew the
streetlights could be set up. Those monies were collected
within that district, those monies are reserved and are set
aside for that road repaving and it's not a line item.
Councilwoman Rhodes stated but if he does that they cannot lower
the millage rate. City Manager Williams felt it boiled down to
what these people were willing to pay for. Mayor Thomas said
what they were looking at was like a user pay. Councilwoman
Rhodes stated she understood that the people that use it right
now pay for it. City Manager Williams stated it would allow
them to free up resources to allow them to properly plan for
what they know they've got coming down the road in order to
continue to provide the level of services they provide.
Councilwoman Rhodes felt it was not savings and that it was
extra tax. City Manager Williams thought there was this
presence out there that they wanted this to operate more on a
business platform. Councilwoman Rhodes says and that's a fine
way to do it but she thought construing it as a savings was a
misnomer. City Manager Williams admitted he stood corrected.
He explained it freezes up resources to allow them to properly
plan for the replacement of police cars, fire trucks, tractors,
dump trucks. Councilwoman Rhodes stated it gives them more
money to do that but they are not saving the City any money and
they are not saving the taxpayers any money. It's still going
to cost them the same amount of money to do the same stuff.
They're just adding an extra tax to get the money. City Manager
Williams informed her they were just asking for Council's
permission to proceed with the legal umbrella to see whether or
not they could do this and how they do it because it's not
something that would be in place next year. It would 2009's
budget before they could implement something like this.
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Councilwoman Rhodes stated if they were saving money then she
wouldn't have a problem spending $200 an hour for her to
research it. If they're not saving any money then she might
have a problem with it because now they're spending money to not
save anything. City Manager Williams stated the point he was
trying to make was that he thought they had reached a point
where it's going to be very hard for this City to continue to
provide the level of services without the appropriate resources,
funding, money collected, and taxes to continue to do the jobs.
That's why he was saying they should have the town hall
meetings. Councilwoman Rhodes asked if those people in those
districts get to decide if they want their roads resurfaced or
does the City decide and put the tax on them? City Manager
Williams thought they had an obligation that they've got those
roads in place. Councilwoman Rhodes stated then they've changed
nothing by doing that. City Manager Williams stated the point
he was trying to make to Council was that they had set a goal
for him in the strategic planning session to maintain the
current level of services that we have. Councilwoman Rhodes
stated yes and they could do the same thing by raising the
millage rate and not have to pay her. Personally she thought it
was a waste of money. She feels he did a great job. She liked
that he was trying anyway and she liked that it may be a way to
go but told him not to say it's saving anybody any money. It's
not and if he's going to make her pay for her road resurfacing
then don't tell her when she needs it resurfaced. She asked him
if he knew what she meant. If he was going to put a special
assessment on her, to be in charge of her road, then he should
let her be in charge of her road.
City Manager Williams stated they couldn't because then they
have everyone going out there and saying well they don't like
asphalt so they are going to do concrete or use a rubberized
base. Councilwoman Rhodes stated no, however you break it up.
Your small districts would be the ones that would make those
decisions. Then she thought he would probably need some kind of
a Board with a representative on it of every district. City
Manager Williams stated generally those roads come with a useful
life and they know that when they build a road in twenty years
they are going to have to resurface it or ten years depending on
the traffic that is going up and down that road. That's how
they establish the methodologies for resurfacing those roads.
He felt they had to find some consistent method that they can go
back to and defend and say this is really when the road is going
to be resurfaced. Right now they were having some troubles in
doing that so they were looking at alternative ways to come up
with the funding in order to achieve those objectives.
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Councilwoman Rhodes said in her eyes it's this special
assessment or it's the tax millage rate, either way the taxpayer
is going to pay the money.
Councilwoman Rogers stated most local governments that she had
worked with that use special assessments use them when there is
a particular service that they want the particular user to pay.
She thought it was true that there may be people who do indeed
save because they're not paying for a particular service that
they don't use and the users of that service do pay. For
instance, street lighting, people who are in neighborhoods that
have associations and are already paying for street lighting,
they wouldn't be paying for street lighting on someone else's
street so there's a distinction in that it's a shift from an
across the board tax scenario and in the end the dollars are the
dollars. Councilwoman Rhodes stated she didn't necessarily
disagree with that but she thought the user assessment situation
was not maybe a bad thing but she did think it's a misconception
to say you're saving money when you are not saving any money.
She doesn't mind paying for what she uses.
City Manager Williams stated they may get into a situation where
they can lower their millage rate by $120,000 bucks but he told
them from what he was seeing right now that what they've got
coming down the pike, there's some general concerns over their
planning and appropriate planning to replace. He spoke of
having 4 police cars next door that have mileage less than
100,000 miles so there's a whole new realm of operations that
you get into, such as maintenance. When they start talking
efficiencies, when they take for instance a tractor, if the
outcome for the week is to mow 5 acres of grass and you spent 3
days of that week with it in the shop trying to get it to where
you can get out and mow, from an efficiency standpoint, they are
not going to be because they are never going to obtain that
outcome. So, they've got to strike that balance and they haven't
done it yet. They were way behind the eight ball in that
respect. Councilwoman Rhodes said she was willing to do that and
that she didn't have a problem with that. She disagreed with
saying that this is a savings. Mr. Williams stated he used the
wrong words and that he stood corrected.
Councilwoman Lichter asked Mayor Thomas if they had given some
consideration to the service they provide for their firemen when
they get to a home where there's an emergency before the
ambulance arrives. She asked if there could be a fee involved
in that? City Manager Williams stated that was what they would
like direction on tonight. He then commented on a model the
Page 13 of 19
Council Workshop
May 7, 2007
City of Tallahassee uses where they have taken that service and
they have set it up as a business, an Enterprise or Proprietary
type fund. The consultants come in and establish that the
commercial properties get assessed the fee of x, y, z and then
they get into billings associated with actual costs for
services. Because he argued that point from a citizen's
perspective, there were about 3,000 calls last year. There were
a lot of folks in the City that didn't use the services that
they are paying for but there is a general benefit of having it
there and that's why the methodology. That's what they'd like
for Council to tell them tonight. Can they proceed with
evaluating? Councilwoman Rhodes said then they get into the
person who can't afford the service. She asked what his
intention was to do about that. What if she needed the Fire
Department but she can't afford to have them come to her house?
How do you deal with that? Is health insurance going to cover
these things? Would that be a possibility? City Attorney Ansay
stated just to make it clear, the structure that the City of
Tallahassee uses and some other cities are putting into effect,
wouldn't be an if you come to my house you pay $300 for the
visit. It is an annual assessment that goes on your tax bill so
instead of paying for fire services across the board out of the
General Fund, they look at each individual property. There are
consultants that do nothing but this for local governments and
they say the general proposition, most fire service calls go to
commercial, schools, other than single- family homeowners that
they were shifting some of the costs to those who actually incur
it more so they are not paying it when the fire truck comes to
the door, they are paying it annually on their tax bill but it's
classified as a special assessment and it's derived based on the
benefit that a single- family homeowner or a commercial property
owner receives. It's really just a policy shift that a lot of
cities have to decide. Do they like this concept of the user
pays versus an across the board millage rate and taking it out
of that type of scenario and she thought that's just really what
the question boils down to. It's really a policy question.
City Manager Williams suggested when they bring in these folks
for this town hall meeting that they ask them if it is
acceptable to them that they no longer provide advanced life
support because there is a price tag to providing that service.
They would just go back and require basic life support. Is it
acceptable to them to run with two firemen on a truck rather
than three? They should tell the Council what they are willing
to pay for and they'll design the services around it and go
forward. He feels it is important that they engage their
citizens by bringing them in and asking them and telling them,
this is where they are, this is what they're seeing, this is
Page 14 of 19
Council Workshop
May 7, 2007
what's coming down from the State Legislature. These are the
challenges that they have to have. How do they want them to
achieve this and what compromises are they willing to make as
well? When you go to the Leisure Services Department, you walk
out there, they have some of the most beautiful parks there are
but are they willing to compromise that? Are they willing to
compromise that they may not be able to provide such luscious,
green parks for their children to go play. They may not be able
to cut them as frequently. They may be knee deep before they
could get to them. Councilwoman Rhodes informed him that
violated Code. City Manager Williams said that was what they
needed to know so that they could properly allocate the
resources and establish funding mechanisms to provide the
services that they need. They know that the General Fund says
that they have to have between 15 and 25% of Cash Reserves.
They obtained that. They also need to start setting up the
funding mechanisms to replace their police cars and their fire
trucks. They've got to do that and they were not doing that
today and they are really setting themselves up for failure by
not doing so.
Councilwoman Rhodes asks if he could add that to the special
assessment list. The fire trucks and the police cars, that would
be the replacement of them because new ones are funded by impact
fees right? City Manager Williams said as long as they can't
replace, if they are expanding the services as a result of
growth they can but they can't renew and replace.
Councilwoman Lichter then commented on having to look carefully
at the grants they get. Sometimes they think they are getting
something but they have difficulty matching it or keeping it up
at a certain point so their grants need more scrutiny. City
Manager Williams said that was one of the challenges that they
have with some of budgetary constraints was obviously coming up
with the cash match to adequately obtain those grants. He wanted
to point out that with the strategic planning session, there
were a whole new set of goals that were established with that
session and this is really running in a different direction than
what was established with that. He thought what he was setting
the stage to do was they were having an election coming up in
November and he suggested they set up another strategic planning
session for January and then they could can define goals around
that strategic planning workshop again for him to pursue and go
forth because some of the goals conflict from what they
established under the strategic planning session before.
Councilwoman Rogers felt as far as City Manager Williams needing
Page 15 of 19
Council Workshop
May 7, 2007
Council to give him consensus to proceed with establishing a
non -ad valorem assessment, she was not there. She didn't want
to see it happen either. There are senior citizens, for
example, that own their own homes so they pay their tax bill
once a year and they could put their money in an account and let
it earn interest and then pull it when it's time to pay the tax
bill or if they're paying it quarterly, by doing it the way he
was suggesting, she would rather still that they be able to tick
away at this one payment a month because they're bill could vary
and by doing it the way he was suggesting, they're missing out
on where the bill will vary. As far as when he was talking
about the Stormwater Fund, she asked him if he was saying this
would just be a fixed amount that's going to stay consistent
throughout. City Manager Williams informed her it's a fixed
cost billed each month right now. If it's $6.00, it would be
billed one time at $72.00. The City would receive the $72.00
less the 4% or whatever 3% reductions that they would get by
paying it with their tax bill on November 30 or January,
December and so forth. Councilwoman Rogers said to then reverse
what she just said because basically it goes the other way. If
they're paying it every month whereas if it becomes part of the
bill then it would look like it would save them in that example
of what she just said. People are going to perceive this as
being a tax, no matter how they want to call it, term it,
disguise it, it's going to be like another form of a tax. Her
concern was that this would then go to the County. She asked
how fast the City would get these funds. City Manager Williams
said under the scenario, they would have received about 75% of
their funding for the year at this point so they would know from
a cash flow standpoint what resources they have gotten, what
they've received in the bank today. Obviously there are some
opportunities from interest earnings and so forth on the City
side. They don't get into uncollectables. It's guaranteed
money basically. It can go uncollectable for two years but when
those tax certificates go on the block, they're guaranteed to
get their money. Councilwoman Rogers said she wanted to feel
that it's not affecting the seniors in a negative way. On one
hand she was thinking it did and now she's discussing it and it
appears it would be a benefit to them. They need to spell it
out. They need to look at it and make sure that they see all
the opportunity for them as well as for the City because it's a
definite opportunity for them and if we could make it be that
way for them, it's a win /win. City Manager Williams agreed. He
wasn't asking that they say definitively tonight that they were
going to support it but before he goes and invests staff time in
putting together a proposal to come back to Council, he wanted
to know if they were interested. It's going to involve the City
Page 16 of 19
Council Workshop
May 7, 2007
Attorney. They're going to have to evaluate it and they're
going to have to look at it and there's a process that they're
going have to go through to set up those districts.
Councilwoman Rogers referred back to the graph. She asked City
Manager Williams if he had thought of taking what he did for the
City of Edgewater and expounding it into the County, Volusia
County, because obviously everybody gets a TRIM notice and part
of their bill is for the County. She asked him if he was doing
anything as a City to go to the County to try to get the County
to reduce what they are having to pay so that it helps everyone
as well? She asked if they were looking at that. Are they
looking at trimming everything? Are we trying to put together
committees when he was sitting here talking about all these
different visioning committees? She felt they have enough
committees doing visioning. She would rather see committees
hitting every line item on that TRIM notice and going to
everyone of those areas when they have their meetings and start
nailing them just like the citizens nail the Council. Let's
start nailing every one of those line items. City Manager
Williams said in order to accomplish what she was saying those
were the folks they need to get engaged to go to the County and
start saying their services. Councilwoman Rogers stated not
just the County but the School Board, the Hospital District.
You name it all the way down the line because they're not just
paying them, they're paying everyone of them and if they aren't
getting as many people coming out to those meetings pounding
them, where's their accountability?
Mayor Thomas asks if any of the other Council wanted to speak.
Councilwoman Lichter commented on attending some of the tax
meetings that Councilwoman Rogers was talking about. There's
been some criticism of Gilreath and the way he taxes and perhaps
he could look at things a little differently and that was coming
from an elected official so she thought that was interesting.
They get one quarter out of every dollar. The dollar goes to
the County and we get approximately 25 cents back. Councilwoman
Rogers referred the graph and commented on City Manager Williams
commenting on the number of citizens that have property within
the City that aren't paying their fair share. Property taxes
were initially generated so that services could be paid for to
provide the services to the citizens and there are several
people, unless they have a two person household, maybe a one
person household or four and they're paying for a family of six
and then they have to go back to Gilreath, to find out why he
wasn't assessing these properties more fairly? Everything
needed to be looked at, not just the State, not beating the
Page 17 of 19
Council Workshop
May 7, 2007
House and Senate up but every aspect and so again, more
committees, visioning committees, she didn't think so. They
need to go back and look at the guts of what's happening.
City Manager Williams felt they could ask two questions out of
this. Is the property tax system broken and does growth pay for
itself? What he did try to do and he'd been unsuccessful at
this point was to have them take those 645 properties that are
generating at or above $1,160 per year and try to correlate that
to the year they were built but he was having a little bit of a
challenge finding that on the County's website. Councilwoman
Rogers asked if he was going to give them a copy of that too.
City Manager Williams informed her they were welcome to it.
Councilwoman Rogers would love to have a copy of it. City
Manager Williams commented on his efforts to try and communicate
the effects of property tax reform to establish what it really
costs to run the City at this level of service. Councilwoman
Rhodes said but this happened all the way down the line, from
the Federal Government on down, the haves help pay for the have
nots and in her opinion, she's probably one of the have nots.
They're not paying their share and she appreciated all his help.
But she thinks as a society that is how they do business. The
haves help pay for the have nots and she thinks that's the right
way to do business. Councilwoman Rogers says the Federal
Government is doing it and she disagreed at the City level.
Mayor Thomas stated they were going to come to a conclusion on
this and have a small break before the regular meeting. What
they've asked City Manager Williams to do is to come up with
some innovation, some creations, some ideas. We don't have to
particularly like them but they can critique his ideas if we
like them but basically he's got the checkbook. He tells them
how much money it's going to cost to write the bills so they
have to give him enough money to do that, to fund, and they need
the public input to tell them what they want to spend this money
for. City Manager Williams asked if it was Council's consensus
to go ahead and look at a town hall meeting or a workshop the
first Saturday in June. He would be happy to make himself
available. Councilwoman Rhodes said she wasn't going to be here
the first Saturday in June. Councilman Vincenzi asks what the
date was. Mayor Thomas said June 16 was the growth summit so
they couldn't do it the second. City Manager Williams felt it
was important to try to have this prior to the special session
that was going to be conducted and that was June 12 through
June 22 It's a necessity to have every one of the Council
there. Councilwoman Rhodes asks if the first Saturday in June
was the second. She asked about June 9th? City Manager Williams
Page 18 of 19
Council Workshop
May 7, 2007
says June 9 th was fine if that's what Council wanted. Mayor
Thomas asked if that was after the special session of the
Legislature. City Manager Williams said the special session
started June 12 and ran through June 22 Councilwoman Rogers
felt it would be better to do it after. Mayor Thomas also felt
it would be better after because then they would know what they
have to work with. City Manager Williams said either approach
they wanted. Councilwoman Rhodes stated they were not going to
know. Mayor Thomas felt they would have an idea. Councilwoman
Rhodes didn't think they would. City Manager Williams felt it
was important even prior to the property tax reform that they
ask this question because right now, they know they've got
challenges ahead of them that they were struggling to put the
adequate funds in place. Councilwoman Lichter said and they've
got 22,000 people in this community. They get a room full and
they are also getting a verbal group with one idea, sometimes
the Council. They've got to listen and City Manager Williams
had to respond but he also had to lead. City Manager Williams
stated right now they have the ability and they could conduct
citizen surveys via the Internet. They have a little over 2,000
folks that were registered to pay their utility bill via click
to gov. He could use that in starting to get some feedback in
asking these folks to prioritize the level of services and they
could start using that as a tool to try and bring back and
communicate that information to Council. He really felt it was
important that they go out and ask that question right now
because that's really going to dictate the funds that are
necessary to continue to provide the services.
Mayor Thomas adjourned the workshop at 6:50 p.m. with the
Regular City Council meeting to start at five minutes after
seven.
Minutes submitted by:
Lisa Bloomer
Deputy City Clerk
Page 19 of 19
Council Workshop
May 7, 2007
. .
CITY MANAGER
2006/2007 GOALS
Goal: Lower Taxes; shave another Y:z mill off tax rate by next year to 5.2
Goal: reduction in excessive employee benefits to save tax money, referencing buy back of sick
and vacation leave
Goal: if employees not permitted to buy back time, comparison in cost of taking vacation verses
cost in overtime to cover
Goal: within each department, establish efficiency plan
Goal: Debt Management
Goal: Road Funding
Goal: seek more grants - specifically historical
Goal: Expedite projects, Animal Shelter, Shuffle Board and Tennis Courts
" .J~ll'~!~
2/26/07 and 4/30/2007 Executive Session to discuss Contract Negotiations, the City has
proposed to allow buy back of time to continue with the folio wing limitations: Employees
may only cash one week of accrued leave as long as they maintain half of the maximum
accrued vacation and sick bank. Ex. Police Max is 1440 hrs. to be eligible to cash in one
week an employee must have 720 hrs.
FY2008 Budget Preparation is underway; staff has been instructed to plan on a 30%
reduction in total expenditures, which provides relief from property tax, water/sewer fund
transfers and improve cash reserves.
Department Directors have been instructed to prepare a three (3) year Pro Forma Business
Plan. The plan should include, at a minimum, the following key components:
o Executive Summary (should include suggestions for enhancing revenues and
reducing expenditures.)
o Financial Performance (Where applicable prepare: 3 years Pro Forma Income
Statement, which should include provisions for capital projects, contingencies
and transfers. I would also suggest that you prepare a Cash Flow Statement
and a break even analysis, which will help in establishing an appropriate rate
structure) Goal is to generate excess revenue of $500,000IYear.
o Continuous Improvement Efforts (internal business process: efficiency of
operations, reemdneerinf!/reorf!anization, etc.)
o Capital Planning (Proposed Capital Projects) & (Equipment Replacementfor
purchases greater than $5,000)
o Mission Statement and Goals/Objectives for your department
o SWOT Analysis
. .
. .
Proposals are to be presented before Council no later than July 2007.
· Management Team is currently evaluating several options for cost savings:
Contracts for Services: Janitorial, Beverage, Median Maintenance.
Combining Departments/ Functions and Positions for increased efficiency and
effectiveness.
Evaluating options to control costs associate with the General Employees Defined
Benefit Pension Plan. Staff has received Termination! Freeze Study, and is awaiting
for Actuarial Studies to be completed by Foster & Foster outlining additional options
for cost savings.
Frozen all vacant positions and postponed all Capital Projects, suggest we expand to
include all expenditures, and suspend active union negotiations until the special
session concludes in June.
Goal: City Hall
Pending Property Tax Reform at the State and Local level, Financial and Budgetary
constraints will require fundingfor a City Hall to comefrom Voter Approved
Referendum or Developer Contribution.
Staff is currently conducting sensitivity testing via survey to see if the electorate will
support voter approved referendum at 16 million or 150 per year per hundred thousand
of taxable value, 12 million or 110 per year per hundred thousand of taxable value,
and 9 million or 65 per year per hundred thousand of taxable value.
Goal: Sell Remaining Land in the ParkTowne Industrial Center
1/8/07 Staff presented an offer for a cash purchase ($3.6 million) from NAI Realvest,
Council voted 4-1 to accept a minimum of $4.5 million.
4/16/07 Staff informed Council that the City has received a contract on the remaining land,
contract is currently being reviewed. Contract will be presented to Council for action on
May 21, 2007.
Goal: Follow up on Dredged Material
8/18/07 Staff presented a proposal for the sale of dredge material; 9/14/06 Reply was that
FIND Board rejected per State Statue
3/2007 FIND Board approved City use (Road Project) of 20,000 cubic yards of sand within
the containment site, needs state approval.
. .
Goal: slow growth & pursue quality development
Goal: pursue commercial growth & higher paying jobs
Goal: Hibiscus & Guava businesses should reestablish group to spruce up area.
Current Market Conditions, Limitation on Building Heights and revisions to the Land
Development Code have slowed the rate of growth.
Staff is working with Economic Development Board to create incentives. The City recently
executed an agreement for Cuda Marketing to develop afree Business Directory.
I suggest that Council Create a Vision Committee made up from the following:
I Member from Planning and Zoning Board
1 Member from Economic Development Board
1 Member from Cultural and Recreation Board
1 Member from New Smyrna Beach High School Student Government Association
1 Member from Indian River or Edgewater Elementary Parent Teacher Association
1 Member from Council on Aging
1 Member appointed at large
The Goal should be to establish a vision of what Edgewater should look in Fifty (50) years.
**The P&Z Board is currently conducting visioning sessions.
I suggests that the City evaluate creating a concept of small communities within the
community, assign each member of our executive team as a point of contact with the
ultimate goal of creating small Business and Home Owner Associations.
Goal: Build consensus among Council members
12/11/06 Workshop discussing the Charter Amendment Limiting Building Heights.
1/26/07 Strategic Planning Session Council came together to list goals and priorities for
the future of the City.
2/26/07 Executive Session to discuss Contract Negotiations.
4/30/2007 Executive Session to discuss Contract Negotiations.
5/7/2007 Workshop to discuss goals establishedfor City Manager.
Goal: Limiting meeting time to 4-5 hours, starting at 6 or 6:30
Goal: Length of meetings and to end no later than 11 pm
Staff presented a proposal to recess business at 11pm; Council would reconvene the next
day at 7:00 PM for all unfinished business. Council's consensus to maintain status quo.
. .
Goal: Contact with our local representatives
Goal: Better communication with our House and Senate Representatives
Senator Lynn and I have discussed her supportfor acquiring land, actively communicating
with the local delegate on the affects of Property Tax Reform.
Goal: Workshops with public to identify their problems
Staff has participated in two Town Hall Meetings with Councilwoman Rogers
12/11/06 Workshop discussing the Charter Amendment Limiting Building Heights.
1/26/07 Strategic Planning Session Council came together to list goals and priorities
for thefuture oftlte City.
3/5/07 Forming Citizens Task for to address Property Tax Reform.
Town Hall Meeting or Workshop to discuss current level of services, lack of adequate
funding for emerging capital needs and debt management strategies.
Installation of Citizen Survey is complete, staff now has the ability to conduct surveys
regarding service needs/satisfaction.
Goal: Continuing education for City Manager
City Manager planning to attend October 2007 ICMA conference. Budgetary constraints
may prohibit manager from attending the conference.
Goal: Use innovation and creation
Staff solicited proposals from local Veterinarians who may be interested in co-locating a
Veterinarian/Emergency Clinic within the City of Edgewater's Animal Rescue/Adoption
Facility.
Staff has negotiated property swap for infrastructure development in the Parke Towne
Industrial Center. This proposal allows the City to hedge against future increases in
construction, while fulfilling obligations for infrastructure development. Win/Win for
everyone.
Staff needs Council consensus to proceed witlt establishing Non-Ad ValOrem Assessment
Districts for the following services:
Street Light District - estimated savings $120,000
Storm Water Fund - Service would no longer be billed monthly; fees are collected via tax
bill. From a collection standpoint and timing of cash flows this would be beneficial
Refuse Fund- Service would no longer be billed monthly; fees are collected via tax bill.
From a collection standpoint and timing of cash flows this would be beneficial
Road Resurfacing- estimated savings $200,000
Staff would like direction from Council as to whether or not Council is interested in
establishing Fire Services as a proprietary fund. Consultants would need to be retained to
establish appropriate user fees for residential and commercial customers.
~
. '
I suggest that Council Create a Vision Committee made up from the following:
1 Member from Planning and Zoning Board
1 Member from Economic Development Board
1 Member from Cultural and Recreation Board
1 Member from New Smyrna Beach High School Student Government Association
1 Member from Indian River or Edgewater Elementary Parent Teacher Association
1 Member from Council on Aging
1 Member appointed at large
The Goal should be to establish a vision of what Edgewater should look in Fifty (50) years.
Possible suggestions for revisions to the Land Development Code.
I suggests that the City evaluate creating a concept of small communities within the
community, assign each member of our executive team as a point of contact with the
ultimate goal of creating small Business and Home Owner Associations.
Goal: Create incentive for employees coming up with money saving programs
Staff is reviewing an incentive program that was developed by Pinellas County