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1995/06/12 City Council MinutesRohnert Park City Council Minutes 1995 -96 Budget Work Session June 12, 1995 Adj. Mtg. The Council of the City of Rohnert Park met this date in adjourned 1995 -96 Budget Work Session commencing at 6:00 p.m. in the City Offices, 6750 Commerce Boulevard, Rohnert Park, with Vice Mayor Linda Spiro presiding. CALL TO ORDER: Vice Mayor Spiro called the adjourned budget work session to order at approximately 6:00 p.m. ROLL CALL Present: (4) Councilmembers Flores, Gallagher, Reilly, and Vice Mayor Spiro Absent: (1) Mayor Eck Staff present for all or part of the meeting: City Manager Netter, Finance Director Harrow and Planning Commissioner Linda Branscomb. Mr. Lou Shapiro, representing a local contractor was also present. UNSCHEDULED PUBLIC APPEARANCES: Vice Mayor Spiro stated that in compliance with State Law (The Brown Act), citizens wishing to make a comment may do so at this time. Mr. Lou Shapiro introduced himself and indicated he was a small contractor, residing at 1535 Holly Avenue, and wanted to request Council's consideration in amending the business license ordinance for contractors. He indicated that he is a general contractor which falls under classification D, which is $250 a year, but only does small projects. He also felt it was unfair that contractors have to pay $250 when other professional contractors pay less. He referenced business license fees for other cities, such as Petaluma and Santa Rosa, indicating they are on a gross receipts basis which results in a lesser fee. City Manager Netter explained that the Council reviewed the business license ordinance several years ago and discussed going with gross receipts, but decided not to implement that system due to costs of administration, auditing provisions, etc. City Manager also indicated that staff has discussed this matter with Mr. Shapiro and has recommended a small contractor fee to be more in line with the other cities. There was general discussion on the definition of a small business and Vice Mayor Spiro indicated she wanted to make sure that, if we define small businesses, that it does not conflict with the definition used by federal or state agencies. Rohnert Park City Council Minutes ( 2) June 12, 1995 Adj. mtg. It was the consensus of City Council for staff to develop a new fee for small contractors and define this procedure in a manner that would not conflict with state or federal definitions of a small contractor or business. Vice Mayor Spiro thanked Mr. Shapiro and indicated that this matter would be brought back to the City Council for formal adoption once the drafting of the ordinance is completed, which would amend the section of the Municipal Code. PROPOSED 1995 -96 BUDGET: Vice Mayor Spiro requested the City Manager to briefly review the Proposed 1995 -96 Budget for Council's information. Mr. Netter indicated that this year was somewhat out of sync with previous years as the Council has just received the document at tonight's meeting. He indicated the majority of the time allotted for this budget work session would be in review and explanation of the printed document. He recommended getting into more questions and answers at the second budget hearing when the Mayor would also be in attendance. City Manager Netter began with the Budget Memorandum and outlined the details regarding how staff was recommending balancing the budget which included close to $1 million short fall of expenses over revenues which were balanced by approximately $680,000 from General Fund Reserves, $110,000 from Reserve for Self - Insured Losses, and some additional recommended revenue enhancements as shown on page 1 -M of the Budget Memorandum. Mr. Netter continued to discuss how the budget was detailed in reference to pages t -/. 1 through 17. 3 or the Budget, indicating that this years budget was detailed in a "baseline budget" which included no new hires with the exception of four (4) PSO's in the Public Safety Department and one (1) CSO in the Public Safety Department. These personnel were approved a few months ago via the Crime Bill, COPS FAST and COPS MORE grants. These grants are generally funded at the 50% level for a three (3) year period. Other than these grant personnel, the baseline budget does not include any additional personnel. Councilman Reilly asked about the dedication of full time personnel to Fire Services and hoped that these individuals were not being shifted to other programs. City Manager Netter indicated `no', that the intent of hiring Fire Services Personnel was continuing and, actually, several individuals have been hired over the last several months. There was a short period of time, because of workers' comp injuries, that the Department had to re- allocate and temporarily shift personnel, but it was for this short period of time. The coverage was handled by the Detective Division which manned the engine during that period of time. Mr. Netter indicated that, as far as he was aware, things were back in line with the Fire Services ices Personnel. Rohnert Park City Council Minutes ( 3) June 12, 1995 Adj. mtg. A City Manager Netter presented the Department of Public Safety's Fire Service Plan, which was a Five (5) Year Plan developed by the Director and Fire Service Commander of the Department of Public Safety. Mr. Netter briefly summarized the plan and referenced the funding options available to assist in providing resources to implement this plan. Councilman Reilly indicated he would like to defer this matter bring this item up at the regular Council meeting. City Manager Netter then began to review some other items in the budget including how the budget changed from 1994 -95 to 1995 -96. He referenced page 2 -M of the Budget Memo and indicated that $325,000 has been set aside in the 1995 -96 budget for an amount reserved for employee negotiations which would include salary, benefits, working condition item, equipment, etc. Other items increasing over last year included the Community Center roof at $160,000. Council commented that, if a roof is completed at this location, staff should seriously consider looking at a synthetic type roof with a 50 year warranty and not shake or shingles that only last 15 to 20 years. City Manager Netter continued to detail the budget and mentioned that the General Plan expense of $200,000 was also included, which was recommended to be funded by $65,000 from the Community Development Commission's Housing Set Aside Funds for $65,000 to assist in the Housing Element portion and $135,000 from the Annexation Fee Account. Mr. Netter also indicated that the Departmental Operation Expenses increased over the last year by about $484,000, which included items such as insurance, telephone, maintenance, and costs of new facilities, such as the Animal Shelter, etc. City Manager Netter indicated that the budget also included a 5% salary increase as authorized by state law. Councilman Reilly indicated that he did not want to see Councilmembers' salary increased and it was the consensus of the other three (3) Councilmembers not to raise Council's salary. City Manager Netter also indicated that $20,000 has been set aside in the budget to do a comprehensive labor /market study, classification study, and job description re- writing for the majority of the positions in the City. He indicated a price was received from a high of $35,000 for the complete City to a low of $9,700 for fifteen (15) positions. He indicated that he felt $20,000 would be sufficient to pick up most of the positions that were in need of review. Councilman Reilly requested staff to check with other companies to see if the cost could be brought down, mainly for comparison purposes, to make sure of getting a reasonable price. Vice Mayor Spiro indicated, if this study is completed, she would like to see the comparison between private and public, but she would also like to see them done separately, so a true comparison of public against public and public against private could be accomplished. It was also indicated that staff should contact the League of California Cities for additional resources in such a study. Rohnert Park City Council Minutes ( 4) June 12, 1995 Adj. mtg. Discussion continued on the budget, including the Health Care Program offered to the City employees which included the Ca1PERS Plan. City Manager Netter discussed the difficulties with offering the Ca1PERS Program because of several Rohnert Park City policies which were established many years ago. These policies were in conflict with the PERS law which mandated a five (5) year vesting program for all employees of which medical premiums would be paid. Extensive time was spent on discussing reasons why cities such as Rohnert Park's size could nn e not anora to pay all costs of medical premiums for aii retirees into the future and that City Manager Netter was successful in negotiating a 2 -tier type program two years ago with the employee groups. City Manager Netter indicated he was in discussion with the employee groups with the possibility of developing a 3rd tier which would totally eliminate payment of premiums on medical benefits retirees for those employees hired after July 1 st, 1995. He indicated he was not receiving much success in development of this 3rd tier, but would continue to discuss this matter with the employee groups. There was continued discussion on the philosophy of payment of retirement benefits. Councilman Reilly indicated he does not want medical benefits removed for retirees and felt the City should be looking at a solution for funding health benefits for all retirees in the future. Councilman Flores could understand why the City could not afford to pay retiree health benefits for all retirees in the future and agreed a phase -out program should be developed. Discussion then centered on the availability of General Fund Reserves. City Manager Netter indicated the Council had set a policy several years ago of not going below 10% of operating expenses for its General Fund Reserve. The Budget, as proposed, reduces the General Fund Reserve to approximately 7.9 %. Councilman Flores indicated he would like to retain the 10% rule, if possible. Councilwoman Gallagher requested information on the Wine Center's promotion events and wanted a list itemizing the expenditures for this. Vice Mayor Spiro also requested information on revenues generated by the Senior Center so that Council would have that information when it reviews the budget for the Recreation Department. Discussion continued on the costs of the General Plan of $200,000. Vice Mayor Spiro indicated, if this program could be accomplished less expensively by having staff do the work, she would recommend this. Rohnert Park City Council Minutes ( 5) June 12, 1995 Adj. mtg. City Manager Netter briefly outlined other revenue enhancements, such as the Real Property Transfer Tax, the Landscaping Lighting Assessment District, Utility Users Tax, etc. The Council indicated that these items should be discussed in more detail with a full Council. SELECT TIME AND DATE FOR ADDITIONAL BUDGET WORK SESSIONS: City Council agreed to defer this item to the City Council meeting of June 12, 1995 to set a time and a date. ADJOURNMENT. There being no one signifying an interest to discuss any further matters at this time, Vice Mayor Linda Spiro adjourned the meeting at approximately 8:05 p.m. City Manager /City Clerk JDN /jh r Mayor Pro- Tempore