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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMinutes 1982-07-20Mayor Roberta Cerri Teglia Vice Mayor Mark N. Addiego Council: Ronald G. Acosta Emanuele N. Damonte Gus Nicolopulos MINUTES 22.L CITY COUNCIL City Council Conference Room July 20, 1982 NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN, pursuant to Section 54956 of the Government Code of the State of California, that the City Council of the City of South San Francisco will hold a Special Meeting on Tuesday, the 20th day of July, 1982, at 4:00 p.m., in the City Council Conference Room, 400 Grand Avenue, South San Francisco, California. Purpose of the meeting: Adoption of a Resolution that rescinds Resolution No. 70-82 and changes the wording of the ballot measure on the General Election of 11/2/82. A RESOLUTION ORDERING AND CALLING A SPECIAL MUNICIPAL ELECTION TO BE HELD ON NOVEMBER 2, 1982 FOR THE PURPOSE OF SUBMITTING TO THE VOTERS A CITY MEASURE TAXING THE BUSINESS OF OPERATING A COMMERCIAL PARKING FACILITY AND REQUESTING A CONSOLIDATION WITH THE GENERAL ELECTION TO BE HELD ON THE SAME DATE AND RESCINDING RESOLUTION NO. 70-82 ADOPTED JULY 7, 1982. Dated: 2. Fi scal overview of the 1982-83~~u~t.~~~ ~Y~: '~~~/~/ ~ ~e~ta Ce~ri Tegl ~a,~yor City of South San Francisco July 16, 1982 A G E N D A SPECIAL MEETING PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE CALL TO ORDER: City Manager Requested: ACTION TAKEN SPECIAL MEETING Recited. 4:08 p.m. Mayor Teglia presiding. Council present: Acosta, Nicolopulos, Addiego, Damonte and Teglia. Council absent: None. A Closed Session to discuss litigation and the Mayor requested discussion of a personnel matter at the beginning of the meeting. So ordered. 7/20/82 Page 1 AG E'N D A A C T I O N TAKEN CLOSED SESSION: RECALL TO ORDER: CITY MANAGER Adoption of a Resolution that rescinds Resolution No. 70-82 and changes the wording of the ballot measure on the General Election of 11/2/82. A RESOLUTION ORDERING AND CALLING A SPECIAL MUNICIPAL ELECTION TO BE HELD ON NOVEMBER 2, 1982 FOR THE PURPOSE OF SUBMITTING TO THE VOTERS A CITY MEASURE TAXING THE BUSINESS OF OPERATING A COMMERCIAL PARKING FACILITY AND REQUESTING A CONSOL- IDATION WITH THE GENERAL ELECTION TO BE HELD ON THE SAME DATE AND RESCINDING RESOLUTION NO. 70-82 ADOPTED JULY 7, 1982. Council adjourned to a Closed Session to discuss litigation and a personnel matter at 4:10 p.m. The meeting was recalled to order at 4:50 p.m., all Council present, no action taken. CITY MANAGER City Manager Birkelo stated that the adoption of this Resolution would rescind Resolution No. 70-82 and changes the wording of the ballot measure in the General Election in 1982. He stated that this had to do with the proposed tax to be submitted to the voters on private commercial parking operations in the City. He stated that when this matter was presented to the Council at the last meeting there had been limited time for the City Attorney and the Manager's Office to develop the tax rate to be applied. He stated that since that meeting when the 8% had been recommended as being in line with the Transient Occupancy Tax - however the two were not similar as the transient tax was authorized by State law and this tax is a business license tax on the operator. He stated that the matter had been looked into extensively in terms of service levels that the operations need from the City and the impacts that the business produces. He stated that this led him to conclude that the 8% rate is too high, that a 5% rate is more justifiable and particularly in a circumstance of litigation. Mayor Teglia asked if anyone in the audience would like to speak on this issue. Mr. John Penna, South San Francisco Chamber of Commerce, stated that the Chamber was opposed to this measure in any form and it was looked at as the first step of a gross sales tax that could be put into the business community. 7/20/82 Page 2 AGENDA ACTION TAKEN CITY MANAGER 1. Adoption of a Resolution - Continued. CITY MANAGER He stated that the Chamber looked at this as a measure anti-business and respectfully request that this be dropped immediately. Mayor Teglia questioned if this was a vote of the Board. Mr. Penna stated that it was a vote of the subcommittee that will be reporting back to the Board. Mr. Louis Poletti stated that he had not been notified of the last meeting on this issue and wondered if it was a public hearing. He stated that he was preparing a parcel of land for a parking facility. He questioned why parking facilities were chosen to be taxed and felt that a 5% tax was wide open and could not be compared with the motel/hotel tax. He stated that vehicles park at the facilities and the passengers are carted to the Airport and do not use City facilities. He spoke of the hardship this tax would impose upon Park and Fly when the firm was just beginning to break even financially. He spoke of previous attempts to effect a gross receipt charge in the City that had been defeated. He stated that this election was going to be messy and questioned why it could not be upset in the courts. He stated that the City had not gone through the business tax structure often enough wi%h input from the business community before going into this tax measure. He stated that Park and Fly had nine facilities and could well afford to spend money to defeat the tax measure. Mayor Teglia stated that Park and Fly payed a 5% tax on gross receipts to the City of Millbrae for their operation. Mr. Penna stated that there was not a Park and Fly operation in Millbrae, that the parking facility was owned by the owners of the Holiday Inn. 7/20/82 Page 3 AGENDA ACTION TAKEN 224 CITY MANAGER 1. Adoption of a Resolution - Continued. CITY MANAGER He said that he did not believe it was a 5% fee, rather than that a lump sum fee paid to Millbrae, which was different than the situation being discussed. He said that the use was intended to be for hotel use and that the parking lot use was a temporary situation until the owners decided to build a hotel on the site. Mr. Poletti suggested that the City make the parking facilities non-comformin9 uses that will be phased out eventually and apply business license taxes on the operations, instead of taxing on gross receipts. He asked how the tax would be applied and whether there would be a grace period before the tax was applied. City Manager Birkelo stated that an Ordinance would have to be drafted which would cover the administrative details of the tax when approved by the voters. He stated that there had been discussion of a grace period; payment on a once a year annual basis. Mr. Poletti stated that the City had fifteen million dollars of marketable assets that could be sold or leased to bring in a million a year in revenue to alleviate the financial crises that brought about the tax measure. Discussion followed on the the City's property tax and business licence tax revenues. Mr. Tim Chavez, Parking Corp. of America, stated that he believed that 8% was ridiculous and that 5% was still too high. He spoke in detail of the rates charged by his company and his competitor. Ms. Laura Harper, Park and Fly, stated that Mr. Bloom had said that the City should increase the business license taxes so that every business would pay its fair share. 7/20/82 Page 4 ACTION TAKEN CITY MANAGER 1. Adoption of a Resolution - Continued. CITY MANAGER City Manager Birkelo stated that the two facilities paid a total of $18,400 of which $2,900 represents the City's share of the property tax. Mr. Poletti stated that everyone wanted to pay some kid of a tax, but not a gross receipts tax. Councilman Addiego questioned the fairness of a tax based on the number of stalls and whether the stalls were to be based upon being empty or full. Discussion followed on business license taxes versus gross receipts taxes; the business community being afraid of a gross receipts tax; the turn over of stalls in a regular time period; the charge of $200 a month for vans to pick up patrons;that the operators pay for six vans; the fact that all agenda material was on desplay at three locations in the City for the citizens and that requests for copies were honored at fifteen cents a copy; what the difference would be in revenue if the proposed tax was lowered to 5% rather than 8%; occupancy levels of the lots; other options available to the City for revenue rather than a gross receipts tax against the parking facilities; the fact that a 1% gross receipts tax would produce $25,000 to the City in revenue on the parking facilities; that a business license tax increase would have to be a ballot measure to be voted on by the people, etc. Mr. Penna asked if it was better to take money from the General Fund to balance the budget or to reserve money for the $700,000 needed this year by coming up later with a well thought out taxing program to facilitate the future. M/S Addiego-Damonte - To adopt the Resolution to impose a 5% tax on gross receipts. 7/20/82 Page 5 AGENDA ACTION TAKEN CITY MANAGER 1. Adoption of a Resolution - Continued. 2. Fiscal overview of the 1982-83 Budget. CITY MANAGER RESOLUTION NO. 75-82 Carried by majority roll call vote, Nicolopulos voted no. City Manager Birkelo stated that the Council had received a report that gave more accurate budget figures which were based on the same proposal of a week ago that calls for a cut back of seven positions. Mayor Teglia asked what had been done about getting a proper evaluation of the City's property holdings. City Manager Birkelo stated that some figures had been given to the Council but if the Council wanted to sell some land Staff could supply some fairly good estimates. Discussion followed on the depressed state of the market and the time not being right to sell property. Director of Finance Lipton gave an in-depth analysis of the revenues received and stated that it was 99% of the estimated revenues. He stated that the estimate represented an 8% growth of assessed valuations in the City by the County Controllers Office. He continued, saying that there was a conservative increase in sales tax and licences and permit fees. He spoke of the decrease in some of the subventions and interest income and other sources of revenues. He stated that to arrive at the $15,809,250~ Staff planned to transfer funds from revenue sharing to cover the capital outlay, etc. A discussion followed on City properties; the Downtown Assessment Bonds, dates of future budget hearings; the 2nd week in September to be set as a Study Session with the Sister City Committee, etc. 7/20/82 Page 6 ADJOURNMENT: RESPECTFULLY SUBMITTED, Barbara A. Battaya, City~lerk City of South San Francisco Carried by unanimous voice vote. Time of adjournment 7:10 p.m. APPROVED: '--~erta Cerri Tegl i a, magyar C~ty of South San FranciSco The entries of this Council meeting show the action taken by the City Council to dispose of an item. Oral presentations, arguments, and comments are recorded on tape. The tape and documents related to the items are on file in the office of the City Clerk and are available for inspection, review and copying. 7/20/82 Page 7