Loading...
09-08-1982 - Special , . u u CITY OF EDGEWATER CITY COUNCIL SPECIAL MEETING September 8, 1982 Mayor Christy called the Special Meeting to order at 7:00 P.M. in the ~dgewater Community Center. ROLL CALL Mayor Robert Christy Councilman Jacob Lodico Councilman David Ledbetter Councilman Wilbert Pendleton Councilman John Wilbur Present Excused Present Present Present City Atty. M.J. Henderson City Mgr. Joseph Mitchell City Clerk Nancy B1azi Police Chief Earl Baugh Present Present Present Present There was a silent Invocation and a salute to the Flag. Mayor Christy said that the purpose of this Special Meeting was to hold hearings on the FY 1983 budget, to introduce the ordinance on the FY 1983 budget, to introduce the proposed millage, approve the bills and accounts, award a contract for bids on the 1982 Florida Shores road program loan and the appointment of a City Attorney. These would be the only subjects at tonight's Special Meeting. Mayor Christy requested that the bills and accounts be taken up first before the Public~Hearings on the budget and millage. The Council is asked to includ~ a supplement to the bills and accounts. Councilman Wilbur motioned to add the supplement bills and pay the bills and accounts, seconded by Councilman Pendleton. Motion CARRIED 3-1. Mayor Christy voted NO. Ordinance 82-0-30 was introduced. It was read by title only. AN ORDINANCE SETTING A FINAL BUDGET AND APPROPRIATING REVENUES TO BE COLLECTED FOR THE CITY OF EDGEWATER, VOLUSIA COUNTY, FLORIDA, FOR THE FISCAL YEAR BEGINNING OCTOBER 1, 1982, AND ENDING SEPTEMBER 30, 1983, TO THE VARIOUS ITEMS OF THE GENERAL FUND; THE FEDERAL REVENUE SHARING FUND FOR 1982-83; THE WATER-SEWER FUND; THE REFUSE COLLECTION FUND AND OTHER WATER-SEWER FUNDS; REPEALING ALL ORDINANCES OR RESOLUTIONS IN CONFLICT HEREWITH; PROVIDING FOR PUBLICATION OF THIS ORDINANCE, AND PROVIDING FOR AN EFFECTIVE DATE. The Public Hearing was opened. Mr. Neil Asting questioned various aspects of the budget including some present expenditures that do not appear to have been accounted for in the preparation of the proposed budget. He questioned an expenditure in the Police Dept. for machinery and equipment. The City Manager explained that monies were received from a special grant for police departments only. The balance of this money which is estimated to be about $4,000. is shown in the proposed budget. There will also be money forthcoming from an insurance settlement on a damaged police car. This will account for the money spent in that category since it could not be estimated in advance that there would be a need to replace a damaged vehicle. Mr. Mitchell pointed out that the budget was based on figures established as of June 30, 1982. Mr. Asting also questioned some expenditures in Public Works and the computing of interest anticipated for the coming year. Mr. Mitchell noted that interest on C.D. accounts has dropped in recent months and his computation is based on that fact and also shows a more conservative approach to establishing anticipated revenues. u u Special Council Meeting 9/8/82 - 2 - Mr. Robert Griesse questioned if there would be money for a new foot- ball field and also the present status of the paving of certain streets in the City. He was told that there would be no money for an additional football field this year and that certain streets in the City are scheduled to be paved with funds from an urban grant. These funds will be handled by the County. Mr. Ed Sergeant asked about the use of sales tax money to enhance services. Mr. Mitchell replied that cities must use at least 40% of this money for reduction in taxes and the remainder may be used to improve other services. This could be used for example to increase the services of Public Works or Buildings and Grounds, etc. There was a rather lengthy discussion in regard to the sales tax monies. Councilman Ledbetter noted that the tax assessor's office was primarily responsible for the reduction in millage. The cities had to follow their instructions in this matter. Ib Mr. Walter Gross talked about the amount of money the City had in savings and the anticipated interest for the proposed budget. The City Manager again explained that he had used a conservative figure. The auditors will redistribute the interest earned so that all the monies do not stay in General Fund. No monies can be spent that have not been appropriated by Council. Additional funds collected, if any, go into a fund balance. Mr. William Phinney spoke about urban grant money. Mr. Mitchell replied that this money will be spent on paving and work is expected to start in October. Mr. Walter Scofield interrupted Mr. Phinney and asked why copies of the budget were not available to the general public. Mr. Mitchell responded by saying that there were copies available at City Hall for review. Councilman Ledbetter said that copies of the budget should be available for the citizens. 2a Mayor Christy said that he was not sure the public hearing had been advertised properly. He quoted from the state law that requires publication in a local newspaper of general readership that whenever possible should be a paper published at least five times a week. He also wanted to know if copies of the budget had been posted. Mr. Mitchell said that after the ordinance was passed copies of the budget and the ordinance would be posted in the usual manner. The City Attorney reminded the Council that this public hearing is not only for the budget but also for the proposed reduced millage. Mayor Christy asked who had authorized the preparation of the budget ordinance and quoted from Sec. 2-5 regarding the authorization for the preparation of ordinances. He claimed this section had been taken out of the book and not voted on by the people. Mr. Phinney continued talking to the Council and raised the question of having a Building Official as a regular employee versus the present contract arrangement. He asked the individual Council members and the Mayor their opinion on this matter. The Mayor and Council agreed that it would be preferable to have the Building Official as a regular employee. Mr. Phinney requested that the budget reflect the Council's preference. There was also a discussion about grants. Mr. Phinney noted that the obtaining of grants should be a primary concern of the City Manager. Mr. Phinney also questioned the salary of the Civil Defense Director and why the Council has felt it necessary to pay someone for this position when up to a couple of years ago this was a volunteer position. Mayor Christy said that he still had not seen any certificates from the present Civil Defense Director to show that he had been properly certified for this job. Mr. Phinney criticized government employees that are not concerned wlth spending money and often wasting money. u u Special Council Meeting 9/8/82 - 3 - 2b Mr. Frank Opal criticized the lack of a monthly cash statement, talked about money wasted by the City, no copies of the budget available for citizens, the necessity of a special audit to find out what is really going on and also said the City was not following the TRIM bill. The City Attorney said that she had talked with Mr. Turner in the Tax Assessor's office and he told her that the city has complied with the TRIM law in all respects. Mr. James Cameron requested that extra copies of the budget be made available at the Library so that they could be signed out and taken home for review. Mr. Scofield again spoke to the Council about the charges per page of copies at the Library as opposed to the charges at City Hall. Mr. John Wharton noted that according to Fund 10, the anticipated revenues for 1981-82 was $1,165,000 and the monies actually collected was $1,103,000 which means we must expect to collect for the next two months $61,000. The actual expenditures made through Julv 1982 was $886,000 which means we can expect to spend for the next two months $279,000 which would leave the City $217,000 short. He wanted to know if we would take this money out of our investments or put it into next year's budget. Mr. Mitchell answered that the City would not be sh~rt.. He noted that Mr. Wharton was referring to the cash statement whlch lS posted every month. The City expects to show a surplus in opera tions. Nearly all. tl:1e General Fund revenue has been collected and is on hand to pay the $279,000 rernalnrng expenses. ~ouncilman Ledbetter asked the City Manager about the $460,000 that lS supposed to be in savings but that some of it is part of the bond indebtedness. Mr. Mitchell explained the different funds, the restricted funds and the amounts in these funds. Mr. Asting asked about the $98,000 that is to be used to enhance the different services and wondered how they would be disbursed. The City Manager explained that the full amount of $164,000 had been put under revenues, the ad valorem revenue was reduced with part of this money and the rest was added to the total revenues for General Fund. The money is assigned to the departments according to their needs. Mr. Walter Gross requested that the record show the figures Mr. Wharton quoted. Mr. Mitchell informed the Council that the charge the City is spending more than they are taking in is a totally false allegation. He can show from the financial statements that the budget is in very fine condition. and that the City will finish the year with a surplus. Mr. Gross noted that the figures Mr. Wharton had quoted showed that the City was spending more than it was taking in. The City Attorney again reminded the Council they need to discuss the proposed millage of 5.049 Mr. Scofield again spoke about the lack of information on the budget. He added that he had not heard a direct answer from the City Manager on the way the money will be spent to enhance services. Mr. Mitchell replied that the City was required to use the word enhance and it means increase. This hearing was duly advertised and the advertisement states that the proposed budget is available for review at the City Hall. Mr. Gross asked who arrived at the millage rate. Mr. Mitchell answered that the Tax Assessor did. u u Special Council Meeting 9/8/82 - 4 - 3a Mr. Gross then asked if the Council had participated in this decision. Mr. Mitchell noted that the Council were each given a copy of the proposed budget. The millage rate of 5.049 representing a reduction of 809 per thousand was set by the State law and worked out by the Tax Assessor. The rule is that you may charge that millage or less. The hearings tonight and Sept. 20 are to discuss this so that the Council may decide whether to charge that millage or less. The Council is the sole decider. Councilman Ledbetter noted that the 809 per thousand reduction was a requirement of the roll back law but there isn't a lot of taxpayer savings because property evaluation has been increased. This increase was made by the County. Mr. Frank Opal asked to have the TRIM law explained by the attorney. Mrs. Henderson said she was not prepared to discuss this law at this time. " I Mr. Mitchell briefly explained that the trim bill pertains to millage and certain requirements for advertising as well as certain procedures for advertising specifically when millage was increased. We have abided by the regulations since we are not raising the millage. The procedural schedule is prepared by the County. Mr. Ed Sargeant again brought up the sales tax money. which affects the millage rate and said "that the millage-would probably be increased if there had been no sales tax money. Mayor Christy noted that the subject of Federal Revenue Sharing is also a part of this public hearing. The City Clerk read the proposed appropriations to the various depart- ments under the Federal Revenue Sharing Funds. Mr. Scofield asked about the Federal Revenue budget. Mr. Mitchell explained that these federal funds were used entirely for capital expenditures. The various department heads have submitted requests and the Council discussed these requests and trimmed the requests to the present figure. The federal money is appropriated to a separate budget and not connected with General Fund. Mr. Scofield continued to discuss these funds and the total amount of 3b money to be spent by the City and the various expenditures. There was a lengthy discussion about the items listed in the Federal Revenue Sharing Fund. Mr. Walter Gross spoke about a grant that should have been available for the City. The information on this grant was given to Mr. Wolfe the then Chairman of the Board of Governors. Mr. Wolfe was supposed to work with Mr. Mitchell on that grant. Mr. Mitchell said that Mr. Wolfe had not approached him on this matter, but he would get in touch with Mr. Wolfe about it. Mayor Christy closed the Public Hearing. Ordinance 82-0-30 was read again by title only. Councilman Wilbur motioned to adopt the ordinance, seconded by Councilman Pendleton. Motion CARRIED 3-1. Mayor Christy voted NO. Councilman Ledbetter motioned to have 20 co~ies of the budget available at City Hall for citizens to borrow for review. They should sign out for copies and return them in three (3) days, seconded by Councilman Pendleton. Motion CARRIED 4-0. . . -. . u II. U Special Council Meeting 9/8/82 - 5 - The subject of the copies informed the Council they these are not free copies for review at no cost but copies. Councilman Wilbur motioned to have the City Attorney prepared a resolu- tion adopting the millage rate of 5.049, seconded by Councilman Pendleton. Motion CARRIED 4-0. Councilman Pendleton motioned to adjourn the meeting. Mayor Christy said that he had requested the subject of the City Attorney be taken up at this meeting. of the budget was discussed. The City Attorney should be sure that everyone realizes that of the budget. Records are always available there is a charge set by ordinance for personal Councilman Pendleton noted that the Council had postponed a decision previously until the full Council was present and they should continue to wait until the full Council is present. Councilman Wilbur seconded the motion to adjourn. The meeting was adjourned at 10:00 P.M. Minutes submitted by: Nancy Blazi .f0 Mayor Christy /'7 (" Leec-/cIf~;,.< ~ --;:/2& -/ / Councilman Lodico ~ I .' \- C \ {A\ J 1~ ik ~~" ' ^-(l J...,- ,~ h.;. Councilman Ledbetter ~ \..l '" . )~ Councilman Pendleton "71>- :> \\ 'P- I '" , .. . J <.~ l' ,.\ .' >t" '""I ,.... ~' '. \ .,,) ATT-7~.",,~ fp~ ' City' ilirtj' C <t t!-- Approved this oZtJ day of September, 1~8~ 'l AI ~