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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMinutes 1997-06-10Mayor Joseph A. Fernekes Council: James L. Datzman Eugene R. Mullin ~ohn R. Penna ?,obert Yee MINUTES City Council 079 City Council Conference Room City Hall June 10, 1997 SPECIAL MEETING CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF SOUTH SAN FRANCISCO JUNE 10, 1997 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, 10th day of June 1997, at 4:30 p.m. in the City Council Conference Room, City Hall, 400 Grand Avenue, South San Francisco, California. Purpose of the meeting is a study session: 1. Call to order. Proposed Budget for Fiscal Year 1997-1998 Adjournment City Clerk City of South San Francisco Dated: June 5, 1997 A~ENDA A~TION TAKEN CALL TO ORDER: (Cassette No. 1) 4:38 p.m. Mayor Fernekes presiding. ROLL CALL: Council Present: Council Absent: Datzman, Mullin, Yee and Fernekes. Penna. Proposed Budget for Fiscal Year 1997-1998. City Manager Wilson related: start off and ask Mike Brooks to walk the Council through some of the summary pages and discuss the revenues, then shift over and go through the various Depts. one at a time; all Dept. Heads are here to respond to any questions; and the overhead will be saved for the public meeting. Director of Finance Brooks highlighted the reve- 6/10/97 Page 1 A~ENDA ACTION TAKEN Proposed Budget - Continued. _Councilman Penna Arrived at 5:11 p.m. 6/10/97 Page 2 ',. 080 nues: the City is substantial under the Gann limit, so there is no problem with the appropriation; he expects the operating revenues will increase overall for all funds from $45 million to $48,676,044; expenditures for next year are projected to increase 6.79% over last year; pie chart shows the operating revenues; estimated operating expenditures for all funds - $47,987,769; all funds cost summary; etc. Discussion followed: there is a substantial increase in expenditures in the City Attorney's Office; this is for outside legal expense for Molieri; the increase in non-departmental is the contingency for labor rela- tions (MOUs) and money for social services; sum- mary by operating category; why is the debt service lower than subsequent years; one is the MSB and the other is the Public Facilities and there is debt; it is going to be paid off from reserves; some of the debts have been retired; there was a missing figure from the plant that was put in the budget; there is a modest drop in debt service; the budget will increase $3 million from last year and most of that is in salaries and benefits; a couple of new positions are being proposed; there were increases for elected officials and the retirement costs are in there also; the budget is relatively status quo; increases in sales tax 6%-7% and property tax 3%4% even with the adjusted assessments for assessed values; the Gener- al Fund is balanced there was an over payment of sales tax that has to be paid back because the report was filed incorrectly; we appealed and it was denied and we asked for a third quarter mitigation, but the originating city has control and refused us; sewer revenue will increase 10% for the debt service re- duction; the County administration fee of $120,000 is a fee for their collecting our tax and has nothing to do with delinquent charges for we only get the tax and they get the interest and delinquent charges; this is just an overhead they are charging; encumbranc- es; advances to other funds, such as the Redevelop- ment Agency that are shown as receivables for when the redevelopment projects are in a more financial condition in the future, then money will be repaid to the General Fund; the El Camino Corridor advance was $1 million without any revenues of any amount, and advances to the Gateway that are still waiting to be paid back through tax increments; on-going inventory supplies; Finance Director recommends keeping close to a 10% contingency in the balance; the undesignated balance is money available for able for projects and other contingencies; can any of ~ENDA _Proposed Budget - Continued. 6/10/97 Page 3 ACTION TAKEN }.. 081 that amount be transferred to the CIP for the Corpo- ration Yard; that is being funded out of Orange Park; staff shall come back with what amount can be transferred to the CIP for the Corporation Yard for Councilman Yee wants to get a feeling on it when we start moving Orange Park forward; Vice Mayor Mullin stated use of the undesignated funds are a discretionary decision of the Council; what is the figure remaining after the Corporation Yard; there was a transfer of undesignated reserves into the CIP; Councilman Yee wants to know the number of property owners that pay Proposition 13 rates; pre or post Prop. 13; property owners that have not sold their houses; $6.9 million in property tax, so Coun- cilman Yee's question is how much of that amount represents the pre-13 area; staff will have to check it out at the County level; that is going to change in a year when the capital gain tax where you have $600,000 exempt, so those properties are going to turn over so this is going to be at a higher percent- age; Finance Director stated he and the Assessor, Terry Flinn, don't think there is a high percentage of pre-13 and don't know what effect there will be from the tax law change; Councilman Yee ques- tioned the Price Club, for that percentage could change from what we are receiving; we get $400,000-$500,000; but what if they sold it or closed it; they have a contract with us and there is a loan on the first piece, which is paid, now we are on the second piece and it's a margin that goes over a million dollars; since Price Club opened up the two other stores the sales are dram- atically less, but still our number one sales tax reve- nue; Price Club pays twice what Genentech pays, for they pay sales and use tax; communication ser- vices to Colma are retroactive billings; etc. Council went through the following budgets: the City Clerk's budget is status quo other than a salary increase and money for the election; there was a wage increase for the City Treasurer; City Manger had an adjustment, a merit step increase and retire- ment benefit factor kicks in and there were some minor adjustments; increases building maintenance and equipment; the Finance Administrative Assistant was removed, materials and services increased slightly; administrative charges are done by an outside consultant for services done by departments for other departments; City Attorney's Budget - we pay for an on-site Secretary for slightly less than half-time, the materials and service remain the same AGENDA ACTION TAKEN _Proposed Budget - Continued. 6/10/97 Page 4 082 and that is our contract with the firm and covers the retainer that has not changed from last year; it has a $90,000 contingency to handle the defense on the Officer's case; City Attorney Mattas stated the amount that his firm charges the City has not changed, and the increase in the budget is reflective of the amount put aside for Molieri, the Conference Center condemnation matter that carried over and for the Johnson action for $235,000; Councilman Yee does not remember what the Attorney's contract calls for and wants that number so Council can know what it is dealing with; Councilman Yee ques- tioned where the money came from that is shown in the Non-Departmental Budget, which is a six digit number; once MOUs are in place the money will be redistributed to the operating Departments because of the multi-year contracts; a 2% factor was built into the budget and that will be held in Non-Depart- mental and later redistributed after the MOUs are settled; money is set aside for the acquisition of the clinic and the computer center on Linden and other programs discussed in the past; funds for stormwater management for C/CAG and the future allocation for the San Mateo County Convention and Visitors Bureau; using the money for the Conference Center rather than the Bureau; change it to read Con- vention and Visitors Bureau without mention of San Mateo County; the Hotel Assoc. wants the Council to continue that commitment somewhere locally; SAMCAT, this is the group the City got involved in for they are the watch dog for negotiating telecom- munication contracts and the funds are for dues so we can deal in mass with a JPA for negotiating commonality and usage; the cable rates are outside Federal control and SAMCAT started off to negoti- ate the conditions and has expanded into a variety of telecommunications; the City is not committed to spending the $12,000.00, if they have a working program and we think it meets our needs then we can participate in the studies; depending on what transpires with Cable and a relationship with San Bruno - this might terminate quickly; the Summer Youth Job Program is administered by the County; CDBG funds were previously allocated by Council; Finance made a change in accounting for debt ser- vice in CDBG; Economic & Community Develop- ment - $250,000 for the previous year's general plan project; yes, that represents a large piece of that; how did we come out with a $250,000 increase; money is in the budget for the Director to use for things that come up requiring outside assistance, but AGENDA Proposed Budget - Continued. 6/10/97 Page 5 ACTION TAKEN · 08 , is not set aside for any specific purpose; Council- man Yee felt these funds should be under the Non- Departmental Budget, because not only planning has needs but every other Dept. has similar needs; the City Manager is trying to keep the money close to the Dept. that initiated the expense, such as the City Attorney is to manage all outside attorney costs and that is why the funds are built in; Councilman Yee stated, even though the City is in a sound position today, sooner or later we are going to hit the bottom and if you ask each Dept. to take away 5% of their budget then this Dept. has an easy 5 % to take away when there should be conformity; Councilman Datzman remembers working with a lean, mean budgets as a Dept. Head, but agreed with using outside sources to assist us with tasks with computer resources; there are a number of computers being supplied which are part of the bigger picture; Vice Mayor Mullin concurred with Councilman Yee, but believed the money should stay in the Dept. but Council should be aware the money is there; money is set aside for the Director of Economic & Community Dev. to bring in additional help part- time or consultants to assist him in any proj- ect that comes up that is not undesignated; there is money for display boards, so when we go to the trade shows this will assist the presentations being made; there is $200,000 for the general plan in the Planning Division budget, $25,000 for other special- ized studies that may occur, $10,000 set aside for mapping, money for chairs; $30,000 for the Historic Preservation Commission, however, they have $15,000 from the prior year and we set aside $15,000 for next year to bring it back to the $30,000; the whole County is mapping; it means you can pull up neighborhoods and see it block by block; Councilman Yee stated it is important that the City has that capability for it could save a lot of money in future efforts in terms of getting things done, but he hates to see a haphazard project that we are going to do any old way, like they did with computers; he wants it done right; Economic & Community Dept. has money for additional clerical support and landscape assistance as opposed to rehabilitation specialist; the landscape specialist, that was Larry's old position, so the question is whether we are going to hire a landscape architect to work both housing and landscaping; it is a one person job to keep up with the housing rehab in the various improvement with CDBG; the Director is using some landscape and plan checking up here, we are ~ENDA Proposed Budget - Continued. !ayor Fernekes Left the Meeting at 6:20 p.m. RECESS: RECALL TO ORDER: 6/10/97 Page 6 _AC_TIQN TAKEN ... 084- doing contract work for landscaping and architectur- al services and that is how we plan check improve- ments like the Metro Hotel and the Bocci Bldg. and the person will go in and verify that the contract bids are not inflated; CDBG funds set aside for various improvements; slight increase in the Park Place District, the same level of effort with the parking meter collector with a slight increase; vehi- cle replacement fund has $14,200 for parking meter repair and replacement; two years ago the budget was changed to charge the Parking District to pay for the meter enforcement and this year we built in sufficient funds to pay for both of the Meter Offi- cers; Personnel - hire Personnel Director, Personnel Analyst and Secretary II; bringing people in for group seminars and adding some additional contract support to catch up on the policies and procedures; there are a considerable number of applicants for the Personnel Director position, there will be a screen- ing process and the oral board process; Councilman Datzman stated there was a decision to use outside sources for recruitment and he questioned if there is money to continue to new brochures; yes there is money; Councilman Datzman felt the brochures are positive and he was glad the $20,000 for the poli- cies and procedures is not included in the objectives and asked if it was an oversight; etc. Mayor Pro Tem Mullin called a dinner break at 6:30 p.m. and the meeting was recessed. Mayor Pro Tem Mullin recalled the meeting to order at 7:00 p.m., all Council was present with the exception of Mayor Fernekes. Discussion of the Operating Budget continued: Fire Dept. - the quint, second ambulance and increase in labor is tied to the MOU; leasing is less expensive than buying outright, for the City is on a seven year program and the quint and ambulance will be paid for at the end of the lease, rather than buy over a twenty year period; Fire Dept. administrative, mate- rials and services have not changed, but we budget 5 % of the communications cost to Fire; Councilman Datzman thought the Fire objectives were ambitious; those things are in the CIP; the multi-year strategic plan is headed up by Susan Kennedy, who is work- ing with the County to put together an sense of logical order; paramedics were shifted to the second ambulance and off the rig; the telecommunica- tions/computer system program; there are 1.3 police A~ENDA _Proposed Budget - Continued. 6/10/97 Page 7 AC!!QN TAKEN 085 officers per 1,000, six officers were cut in pre- vious years and 15 years ago it was 1.5 officers per 1,000; Councilman Yee wants the police count increased because the City is in a good position for the first time in a long period of lean budgets; Po- lice Chief says, ideally, he needs six new officers; six is out of the question, how much is one officer; $65,000 including benefits; the City is $2 million on the plus side this budget year and Councilman Yee feels the City should reinvest some of that money for police protection for the public by hiring another officer; the public has suffered in recent lean years because of the cuts in public services and in this year of prosperity something should be given back to the citizens they can readily see in services; some of the revenue is not applicable to the General Fund and we are using that to balance the budget; City Manager responded that the City could afford to put another police officer on the street; Councilman Yee asked if the Council wants to fund at least one officer next year; Mayor Pro Tern Mullin asked what that would trigger in higher demands, and would be more comfortable looking at quantifiable changes and what is the staffing in the Fire Dept., and how is that affected statistically in the way we are performing; what are the ways to quantify the adding of one officer; there is money to do it, but once you build it in you have the person, so to the Mayor Pro Tern, it goes beyond a single employee in a department we have to look at; City Manager has held back this year on expanding, but there are three areas where it is needed - police, the Parking District, because of the square footage and we al- lowed one operator and tried to curtail it in Eco- nomic & Community Dev. by using contract labor; Councilman Penna wants a report to come back to the Council on the need for an additional police officer; Mayor Pro Tern Mullin agreed; Councilman Yee believes a police officer means more in the public's eye and if we have the money, then time is of the essence for we could study it to death, but when people sit and see that the City has more money and cannot see Council not hiring more officers; Mayor Pro Tern Mullin stated we are talk- ing off the shelf on service levels; Councilman Datzman stated the basic object is to approve this budget, and perhaps look at more officers in future; City Manager stated he could combine what was being suggested, for the Police Chief is going to ask for additional bodies in the next budget and is being cooperative to his budget plan; his plan to the A~ENDA ACTION TAKEN Proposed Budget - Continued. 6/10/97 Page 8 ¢ 08.6 Subcommittee was to cut the budget and then up- grade facilities and last year put a lot of money .into'. equipment, and now into the people and next year expanding the organization because we saw the economy growing; Councilman Yee reiterated that the single most important thing the public wants is more police patrol; Mayor Pro Tem Mullin wants staff to look at the Police Dept. in terms of service levels, but he does not want this to turn into a dept. by dept. reanalysis after the budget has been looked at; he wants staff to come back with the budget in two weeks and maybe Councilman Yee's suggestion will have high priority; Albert is the Network Specialist and will be on an hourly basis and police materials and services bduget is increased in software; Public Works Director is separating engineering from construction management, it will be a separate division that reports to him; will Mr. Rozzi work for this person; yes; what is the person going to do; he will head up inspections, and in winter will be back with engineering and help with the CIP and overall contract documents for next year's work; this is needed for the hook ramps and Terrabay; we did not have good control of as-built projects and line items and the engineering staff is not used to change orders and money matters; this is different than the one related to BART; yes, but that person will report to this Department; City Manager will bring in a professional earmarked for BART; WQCP; the net is $1.3 million excess over expenditures and that is what we expect to have at the end of the year; Councilman Yee questioned why depreciation was being shown in the budget; Park & Recreation; increase in insurance costs; there is a decease in garage cost through a reduction in vehicles; the Library has some reduction in hours, however, some were restored last year by adding to the Orange Library but three years ago we lost a lot of hours; how much would it cost to bring back some of that; staff looked at expanding the Grand Avenue hours on Monday and Saturday; $46,000 to reopen mornings at West Orange, for right now we are closed Monday and Tuesday and Thursday mornings; Councilman Yee stated maybe we should not take the big bite now, but he thinks we could give some back similarly as we want to do with the police, if we have money available to give more back; the Library is easier to quantify because of hours open to the public; Councilman Yee felt, if there is a great demand, that is where we could concentrate our resources, and feels we could start AQENDA _Proposed Budget - Continued. ADJOURNMENT: _AC_TIQN TAKEN · 087 moving in that direction because of what we cut back on and give back to the community; two things happened in the libraries, the community lost hours of open facility and the second, the City Manager cut back on the quality of two positions into one librarian and one technician; what happened to the Starbucks concept; City Manager wants to add a few dollars for a conceptual master plan for Orange Avenue, for there is a need to push out the back of the building for more footage because the library is crowded; that can be allocated in the Capital budget, but it is not in there yet; Councilman Yee asked if the downstairs of the W. Orange Library can have nice chairs and coffee; Project Read uses it, there is tutoring and a variety of programs; if we extend out the back we would want to do it as a two story and maybe accommodate the reading capability; the computers and the internet are used principally by the public; Redevelopment Agency - how much is still owed to Homart; Oyster Point widening would go up to the Shearwater, but we can only widen our property, so as the City goes up it is easier to take and use the Southern Pacific right-of-way, otherwise we would have to move into CC&F; retirees under Medicare have to pay a part of the rates and Council is rebating that fee; equipment replacement fund; the City picks up part B of Medicare and this was a decision by Council because a retiree pays and we reimburse him so he is fully covered; sport utility vehicles for the P.D.; Councilman Yee wants staff to discuss the library hours and an additional police officer; etc. MIS Yee/Datzman - To adjourn the meeting. Carried by unanimous voice vote. Time of adjournment was 9:25 p.m. RESPECTFULLY SUBMITTED, Barbara A. Battaya, City Clerk ~,/ .City of South San Francisco APPROVED. 6/10/97 Page 9 A~ENDA AC~!QN TAKEN 088 .The entries of this Council meeting show the action taken by the City Council to dispose of an item. Oral communica- )ns, arguments and comments are recorded on tape. The tape and documents related to the items are on file in the ~ce of the City Clerk and are available for inspection, review and copying. 6/10/97 Page 10