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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMinutes 1995-06-26Mayor Robert Yee Council: Jack Drago Joseph A. Fernekes 'lohn R. Penna Roberta Cerri Teglia MINUTES City Council .. ~ Municipal Services Building Community Room June 26, 1995 SPECIAL MEETING CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF SOUTH SAN FRANCISCO JUNE 26, 1995 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 Monday, the 26th day of June, 1995, at 6:00 p.m. in the Council Conference Room, City Hall, 400 Grand Avenue, South San Francisco, California. Purpose of the meeting: 1. Study session on the Budget. 2. Adjournment. Dated: June 21, 1995 City Clerk City of South San Francisco CALL TO ORDER: ROLL CALL: AGENDA (Cassette No. 1) 1. Study session on the Budget. 5/2,0 A_CIIQN TAKEN 6:05 p.m. Mayor Yee presiding. Council Present: Drago, Penna, Teglia and Yee. Council Absent: Fernekes. City Clerk Battaya stated Councilman Fernekes had an emergency at work and was unable to come to the meeting. City Manager Wilson gave an overview of the Bud- get: it is a maintenance budget; the budget was for three years; what he sees is a flat economy, so a lot of the costs are focused on the expenditure side rather than the revenue side; staff has not been apprised by the League that the State is looking at 6/26/95 Page 1 AGENDA ACTION TAKEN ,._!.1. Study session on the Budget - Continued. 6/26/95 Page 2 any great additional tax this year; he has tried to maintain service levels; some dollars were built in for labor relations; he has looked at consultant fees, position adjustments and the components of the organization; the Fire Marshall will oversee the Building Division and the WQCP will be retained in Public Works; there will not be a Permit Coordi- nator which will allow funds for a full time Eco- nomic Development Manager; recommendations to raise the Librarian II to a III, Engineering Drafts- man to Engineering Technician, Building Technician to Senior Building Inspector, Senior Typist Clerk to a Secretary I, a salary adjustment for the Recreation Superintendent that is built into the budget; Finance Director Brooks will go through the revenues and expenditure tables; etc. Director of Finance Brooks went through and de- scribed: each of the revenue tables; the anticipated deficits in coming years through additional cuts in revenues; a decrease in sales tax from the Price Club because of the opening of the new store in Foster City; records are available to research sales tax history of individual companies in his Office and he would make them available to Mayor Yee for data on the Price Club and Costco; he will find out for the Mayor if the Price Club and Costco plan to open more outlets, such as in Pacifica; FY 1995-96 sales tax estimate shows a 3% to 4% increase in sales tax recovery; rumor has it that the Price Club will recover lost revenue because they feel the redis- tribution will come back to us because they are one company with Costco; rumor also has it that Costco is going to close; etc. Discussion followed: City Manager Wilson stated the City's major sales tax player hit a bump and now the City goes back to the slow growth and no change in the allocation of the jet fuel at the Airport; the State took away 10% of our property tax; there have devaluations of properties with reassessments; the County also takes away increments which are different calculations; talking to our legislators; look for other sources of income; there are no assump- tions for any revenue from the Shearwater Project; Genentech applied for a reassessment; S.S.F.'s assessed valuation will go up 2.5%; T.O.T.; there is an increase in the paramedic fees; major restorations should be done in-house rather than contract out; where is the Callan money for street improvements; Westborough's old section needs attention; can this ~ENDA 1. Study session on the Budget - Continued. Councilman Penna Left the Meeting. 6/26/95 Page 3 ACTION TAKEN City sponsor bingo during the day or evenings and can the money be used to totally subsidize child care programs; City Attorney will check definitions for the use of the money; if Council continues the va- cancy factor in parks, then it must make it less labor intensive; Councilman Drago wants a parks and landscaping tax put on the November ballot; $50,000 was not used in the stormwater program, however, it stays in the account; a rash of people are tripping over broken sidewalks and Councilwom- an Teglia suggested using youth employment to map out the broken sidewalks; there was talk of putting that on the property owners to share the repair cost or pay it all; City pays a greater portion on lawsuits when it is an adjoining property owner; library is using more pages and cutting back on books; librar- ies have a 300% increase in book borrowing; library received money from Lithotype for a CD ROM Station; the children's section of the library should be expanded; Councilman Drago wants to put mon- ey in the Cultural Arts Commission, say $25,000, for the train station mural; there should be additional clean-ups in alleys and neighborhoods; should have one Code Enforcement Officer to do nothing but check alleys; tomorrow is a meeting for BART and Councilwoman Teglia wants a clear understanding from BART, also look at whether we need a S.S.F. station; she wants staff to check out Section 8 hous- ing; City Manager wants direction as to when the Council wants the $25,000 agendized for the mural; etc. Mr. Frank Veirera, Historic Preservation Commis- sion, asked the Council to continue putting money in the money matching grants program, otherwise it is pointless for the Commission to continue without money for grants. City Manager Wilson stated he will check out the Mills Act. Discussion followed: whether cities can tax Cable and Telephone Companies; City Treasurer has modest investment policies; $450,000 deficit; 9 or 10 vacancies in current budget; etc. Councilman Penna left the meeting at 7:03 p.m. and did not return. Discussion followed: vacancy factor of 4; garage will remain consistent; this is a windy city and AGENDA ACTION TAKEN 203 ._3.1. Study session on the Budget - Continued. 6/26/95 Page 4 Council cannot cut back residential medians; Phase I examines the personnel side; $412,000 is budgeted this coming year for stormwater management; how much money has been spent on stormwater; should get Patrick Sweetan from Daly City to respond; he will be at the public hearing; Park & Recreation has a vacancy of 2 1/2 park maintenance people; there are two vacant custodian positions and no one is there for after school programs and the City saves $25,000 for the programs; Councilwoman Teglia is concerned with the at-risk kids and maybe the City can run a bingo game on Friday nights; can park in- lieu fees be used for one time work, because some parks are beaten up; cutting back trends of Council in the last four years; the Assistant City Manager is involved in the Arroyo studies; City Manager had three issues to be explored - develop- ment fees as they pertain to the planning and engi- neering costs associated with new development; the City was recapturing 10% of the planning costs and the question is whether or not we want to absorb that on the planning side or look at a more cost covering structure; Recreation has a 50% cost re- covery; in planning you cannot have a 100% cost recovery; on a project you could; Councilwoman Teglia stated this has been done at least three times and found the other cities charge more, and the City gets down to the base - that it is part of the taxes they pay; the City could base business license fees on gross receipts; that was also done at least three times; Councilman Drago will not support any more taxes and feels the paramedic program was not meant to be a money maker and was to provide emergency care; he is not sure that the seniors are not being penalized because Medicare pays a per- centage of the bills; there was substantial revenue in 1988 because of the sale of the Chestnut lots; in 1991-1994 the City was running on the General Fund and using it to balance the budget; a bright spot of revenue is gas tax and Measure A; last year and this year the City has had a balanced budget; the City has eliminated positions and not given increases for three years; a second election was not antici- pated when the City Clerk's budget was prepared; an increase in hours in the City Attorney's Office due to quite a demand on his Office; Councilwoman Teglia is pretty pleased with the City Attorney's Office; the Permit Coordinator had been pulled out of the budget; there is funding in the Parking Place Commission to pay for a parking enforcement offi- cer; the Non-Departmental Budget is $362,000; AGENDA ^CROON r^KEN ,_J.. Study session on the Budget - Continued. ADJOURNMENT: eliminating the part-time typist clerk in the interim and bringing in a full-time secretary to round out the Department and move the personnel assistant to the analyst slot; Councilwoman Teglia did not re- member reading anything about the personnel assis- tant being elevated; Vice Mayor Drago wants to s~ the new titles, positions and reorganization of the building division into fire inspections; City is re- cruiting for an Economic & Community Develop- ment Director which should be finished in August; CDBG, Fire and Police budgets; etc. Discussion followed: how long the City can go without filling vacant positions; staff was maintain- ing vacancies; on an explanation of one-time reve- nues; etc. M/S Teglia/Drago - To adjourn the meeting. Carried by unanimous voice vote. Time of adjournment was 8:30 p.m. ESPECTFULLY SUBMITTED, Barbara A. Battaya, City Clerk ~// City of South San Francisco APPROVED. City of Soutl'_ San Francisco The entries of this Council meeting show the action taken by the City Council to dispose of an item. Oral communica- tions, 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. 6/26/95 Page 5