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HomeMy WebLinkAbout06-12-1995 City Council Minutes MINUTES SAI~TOGA CITY COUNCIL TIME: Monday, June 12, 1995 5:30 p.m. PLACE: City Hall Administration Meeting Room, 13777 Fruitvale Ave. TYPE: Adjourned Regular Meeting 1. ROll Call The meeting was called to order at- 5:30 p.m. Councilmembers Jacobs, Moran, Tucker, Wolfe and Mayor Burger were present. Staff Present: City Manager Peacock, Public Works Director Perlin, Recreation Director Pisani, Interim Finance Director Smith 2. Report of City Clerk on Posting of Agenda The City Clerk reported that pursuant to Government Code 54954.2, the agenda for this meeting was properly posted on June 9. The notice of adjournment from the June 6 Council meeting was properly posted on June 7. 3. City of Saratoga 1995-97 Budget, including Proposed Resolution Increasing various Fees for Services (continued from June 7, 1995) Mayor Burger indicated that before she asked for a report from the C~ty Manager she would entertain comments from the public. She also noted for the record that the City Council had received letters from the Saratoga Area Senior Coordinating Council, Cindy Ruby, Trustee for the Saratoga Union School District, and Dick Drake. These letters had been received after the agenda was sent to the City Council. Ed Vincent stated that people who want to have programs saved should also indicate where cuts should be made to balance out the budget, rather than just adding to it. The City Manager indicated that the City Council had asked about several items as a result of the discussions on June 7th. First he indicated that the cost to broadcast regular City Council meetings had been misstated. The $12,000 cost included other part time staff which works for KSAR for which the City acts as employer, and costs are reimbursed in the amount of about $8,500 a year. The actual cost for broadcasting the meetings is approximately $3,000 to $3,500 a year, which is paid for through a fee paid by South Bay Cablevision. Under their franchise agreement they are to pay the City $5,000 a year for three years to pay for the cost of the broadcasts. So far they have paid $10,000 and we have spent about $5,000 since October 1993. He apologized to the city council for the mistake of not recognizing the revenue side of the equation in projecting the cost of such a cut. He indicated that the Council had asked about the cost to the general fund of providing various youth programs, and the Recreation Director has prepared a schedule which shows the programs which would be cut and what they cost compared to the revenue received. He indicated that he was asked to comment on providing for partial payment of a new sheriff's station and gave a history of how the city came to have to help pay for such cost, indicating that if the City had to pay $482,000 for its share that the City may wish to rethink its position regarding having a west side station altogether. Vice Mayor Jacobs commented on the information he had received from the City Manager regarding CAW and the SASCC endowment. Since that has proven to be incorrect, he wondered what other things may be wrong in the budget. He indicated that in his view the goal of the City Council this evening should be to increase revenues and cut expenses in a combination which would add up to $487,000. Councilmember Moran passed out an overall proposal for cuts and revenue increases. These would include consideration to uselong City Council Minutes 2 June 12, 1995 term financing to finance the (:ity's share of the sheriff's station, an increase in planning fees of 50% over the current charges (but assuming only an increase in revenue of $57,000 instead of the projected $114,000), and delaying any action on improving the financial system software and hardware until the City is more able to afford the estimated $100,000 expense. Vice Mayor Jacobs suggested cutting the Saratogan' newsletter from the budget for a savings of $11,400. This cut had not been included in the staff options of June 7th. By consensus the City Council agreed to work from the list of cuts and revenue increases presented by Councilmember Moran. After discussion it was agreed to remove the General Governmant Transfer from the list of cuts, as this was an interfund transfer, not a true cut. After reviewing and revising the list, it was agreed that there were cuts of an additional $145,000 which still needed to be made. At this point the City Council took a 15 minute recess, the time being 7:45 PM. At 8:00 PM the City Council reconvened with all members present. Further cuts were made as follows: Animal Control Services-S30,000 Youth-Services-S28,000 Commissioners Conferences and Stipends-S3,000 Senior Service Grants-S17,000 Community Groups Support-S10,475 Library Funding-S19,000 Personnel Management-S1,500 Miscellaneous Noticing, Advertisements and the Saratogan-$10,000 Vice Mayor Jacobs noted that the coast of providing minutes for the regular City Council and Planning Commission meetings cost almost $14,000 a year. He inquired as to the legal requirement for such minutes and compared those to court transcripts where, unless the parties asked for and paid for the production of the transcripts, all they were furnished was the decision of the court. The City Manager indicated that he believed that the only requirement was for action minutes, such as thosE! received by the City Council relating to actions of the Planning Commission, but he would need to verify that with the City Attorney. He was asked to do so. The City Manager indicated that he could make a further suggestion relating to cuts in personnel which, when combined with the other cuts already agreed to, would put the City Council beyond its $487,000 goal. Me indicated that, since the cut would involve a specific position in the organization, he would request the City Council consider discussing the matter in closed session. He handed out a memo regarding the proposal. While the City Council considered whether to adjourn to closed session, the City Manager attempted to reach the City Attorney by telephone, but was unsuccessful. After reviewing the situations for calling a closed session, it was the opinion of the City Council that they could do so under the provision relating t:o public employee discipline/ dismissal/release, as the action 'they would be discussing would result in the release of an employee from the City service. Accordingly they adjourned to closed session to conduct an item of business'in accordance with Section 54957 of the Government Code at 9:15 PM. The City Council returned from cloe~ed session at 9:25 PM and Mayor Burger. announced that the City Council had accepted the recommendation of the CityManager regarding further cuts in staff. The City Council then recapped the revenue increases and cuts to assure themselves they had reached their target. Needed to cut: $487,000. Accept revenue enhancements'of $78,000, $57,000 from planning fees and $21,000 from increased state subventions relating to increased )~opulation, leaving $409,000 in City Council Minutes 3 June 12, 1995 cuts to be made. These were as follows: Police Services $94,000 Code Enforcement 29,000 Emergency Preparedness 700 Building Services 2,600 Street Maintenance 54,000 Sidewalks 2,000 Hakone 5,000 Recreation 6,000 Paratransit 12,600 City Council 3,400 Commissions 16,000 City Manager 1,200 Personnel 11,000 Equipment Replacement 500 Facilities Maintenance 7,225 Leave Payout 8,000 Community Development Staff 44,500 Animal Control Services 30,000 Youth Services 28,000 Commission Conferences and Stipends 3,000 Senior Service Grants 17,000 Community Groups Support 10,475 Library Funding 19,000 Personnel Management 1,500 Miscellaneous Noticing, Advertisements and the Saratogan 10,000 Total $416,700 The'City Council further discussed the financing of the sheriff's station. COuncilmember Moran stated again that this should be financed using bonds. Vice Mayor Jacobs indicated that he assumed that Councilmember Moran is thinking this would be done through an election. She confirmed that assumption. Discussion continued concerning the timing of such an election and that it should be assumed the election would be for a general obligation bond to finance the City's share of the cost. This too was confirmed. The City Manager indicated that if the measure was put before the voters in March 1996 that the City Council would have to finalize its decision in this matter in November to assure a spot on the March 1996 ballot. Vice Mayor Jacobs indicated that if the matter were not firmed up by that time that the next opportunity would be the November 1996 election. The City Council reviewed its policy on the general fund reserve and the contingency reserve and agreed that the policy for the next budget cycle would be to have a reserve of 25% of general fund appropriations or $2,000,000, whichever was greater, and that the 1995-96 and 1996-97 budgets should include a 3% general fund operating contingency appropriation. The City Council indicated that it would consider the adoption of the 1996-97 budget at a later date, since the staff needed time to revise the budget to conform with the decisions made this evening and bring back a report on cuts needed to be made in 1996-97 to preserve or increase the general fund balance. The City Manager indicated that he would have a budget resolution for 1995-96 and the revised fee resolution prepared for the June 21, 1995 City Council meeting. 4. Adjournment The meeting was adjourned at 9:50 PM. Respectfully submitted, Harry R. P City council Minutes 4 June 12, 1995 City Manager