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HomeMy WebLinkAbout03-26-1996 City Council Minutes MINUTES 8ARATOGA CITY COUNCIL TIME: Tuesday, March 26, 1996 6:00 p.m. PLACE: City Hall Administration Meeting Room, 13777 Fruitvale Ave. TYPE: Adjourned Regular Meeting/Budget Workshop with Finance Advisory Committee 1, Roll Ca~l The meeting was called to order by Mayor Jacobs at 6:20 PM. Councilmembers Present: Councilmember Burger, Vice Mayor Moran, Mayor Jacobs (Councilmember Wolfe arrives at 6:40 PM). Councilmembers Absent: Councilmember Tucker. ~inance Advisory Committeemembers Present: Committeemembers Hahn, ~gw, Ousley and Chairperson Van Hoesen. Committeemembers Absent: Committeemember Koen. Staff Present: City Manager Peacock, Public. Works Director Perlin, Community Development Director Curtis, Finance Director Fil, Recreation Director Pisani, Codes Administrator Oncay, Assistant to the City Manager Hanlon. 2. Report of City clerk on Posting of Agenda The City Clerk reports that pursuant to Government Code 54954.2, the agenda for this meeting was properly posted on March 22. The notice of adjournment from the March 20 Council meeting was properly posted on March 21. 3. Request by Joint Venture Silicon Valley for Funding in the Amount of $2,000 At the request of Vice Mayor Moran the city manager indicates tha~ he has discussed the JVSV request with the JVSV staff and informed the- staff that on February 3rd the City Council has made a tentative decision not to restore cuts made in the~1995-96 budget to the 1996-97 budget, which would include this request. The members of the City Council indicate to Abbie Doresin from JVSV that they have read the material submitted with the request but action, if taken, will be in the overall context of the budget policy previously stated. 4, Reselution increasing Salary Range for Part-time Temporary Employees The City Council continues this item to later in the evening in the anticipation that Councilmember Tucker will be arriving late as she has expressed a particular interest in this topic. 5."' Request by the Saratoga Business Development Councif f0~ Funds to ,-. Promote Sara~aMarket Day City Manager Peacock reports that at the SBDC meeting this morning the Committee on Marketing presented a proposal for publicity to establish Saturdays as Market Day in Saratoga in conjunction with the scheduled return of the Farmers Market on May 4th. The Committee is seeking some $8,!00 in funding for thfs effort. He states that most of the funding would be required in the current fiscal year (about $6,100) and that the current $20,000 budget for the activities of the SBDC and economic development are already completely committed. He also reports that a total of $10,000 has been appropriated in next year's budget but that these funds will not be available before July 1st. Councilmembers express concerns that the SBDC does not as yet have an overall plan for marketing, that this request may not fit in with the overall marketing scheme presently under development, and that there appears to be no direct financial participation from the various businesses who would benefit from this marketing effort, the entire cost being the responsibility of the City. Vice Mayor Moran suggests that this matter be referred to Councilmember Wolfe and to the City's marketing consultant Dave Kilbourne for review and that it be discussed further at the April 3rd city council meeting. There is consensus on this suggestion. (Councilmember Wolfe arrives at this point in the meeting). City Council Minutes 2 March 26, 1996 5. City Of Saratoga Budget ' Finance Director Fil presents a summary of the budget proposals for the base budget for Fiscal 1996-97 and 1997-98 covering both revenues and expenditures. He highlights the significant changes in both revenues and expenditures proposed for Fiscal 1996-97 which are different from the budget approved by the City Council in'July of last year. In some categories of revenue, receipts are larger than expected, due primarily to the higher than expected building activity in the City which has occurred at a faster pace than orlginally expected. He also notes that franchise fee revenue and sales tax revenue are below projections and that there is no expectation that these numbers will not remain soft. Accordingly, the expected revenues from these sources for the next two fiscal years have been adjusted downward. He notes that there are proposed rollovers in some capital projects due to timing differences. He then presents the various decision packages for changes from the base budget prepared by the staff and the Finance Advisory Committee and discusses the priority rankings of the various decision packages and the effects of each on expenditure, revenue and various fund balances. The report of the Finance Director and the proposal by the Finance Advisory Committee to establish a Bond Redemption Fund for the City Center Bonds, to provide funds to pay off some of the bonds early when they can be retired in the year 2000 rather than letting them go to maturity in 2011, was thoroughly discussed, along with the other proposed decision packages. At the conclusions of these discussions the City Council, by consensus approves including the following decision packages in the proposed draft budget. -The technology master plan -A second traffic patrol unit -Special project funding for use of facilities at West Valley College and Saratoga High School -Replacement of Community Center and Senior Center furnishings -Increased staffing for the Recreation Department and HCDA marketing of Sharp loans -Changes in temporary part-time employee salary ranges. -Include the creation of a Bond Retirement Fund by transferring as much money as possible from the general fund to the bond fund which still leaving the general fund balance at a level of at least $2,000,000. -Provide for an unspecified general fund revenue reduction (a revenue haircut) of $300,000 for fiscal 1997-98 as a hedge against further state action or economic downturn. The decision package relating to preparing a possible business plan for operation of the Mountain Winery should the City acquire the concert venue was not~ approved. It was the feeling of the member~' of the~City Council that such a prospect was too tentative at the-time although. i~t would be a desirable goal to pursue. To this end the City Manager was authorized to conduct inquiries as to plans toacquire the property by other parties, based on the understanding the property was again available for sale and that unless there is a strong interest expressed by the City in having the concert series revived that a future owner would only be interested in acquisition of the site for its development potential. 6. Resolution Increasing Salal7 Range for Part-time Temporaz7 Employees The City Council returns to this matter despite the absence of Councilmember Tucker. It is moved by Councilmember Burger, seconded by Vice Mayor Moran and passed 4-0 to approve Resolution 96-15 increasing the salary ranges for various part-time temporary employees. 7. Finance Advisory Committee Projects for 1996-97 The Committee reports that it has not completed its own suggestions in this regard due to the postponement of a prior meeting and the fact that on the evening before the entire meeting was devoted to review of the decision packages and the development of recommendations regarding same. Council requests that the Committee return in a couple of months if it has concrete suggestions for additional projects for the City Council Minutes 3 March a6, 1996 remainder of the year. S. Self-Evaluation of Previous Meeting Council reviews the discussion relating to the recision of the Heritage Landmark designation resulting from significant changes made to the MgCarty House. Council reaffirms that it would like the Commission and staff to review whether the City is doing all it can under the current laws to preserve the City's historic buildings. This should be a matter of discussion at the next joint meeting with the Heritage Preservation Commission. 9. Agency Assignment Reports City Manager Peacock reports that the SBDC and the Economic Development consultant have scheduled a community workshop on April 18th, from 6 to 8 PM in the senior day care wing of the Community Center to discuss marketing themes, the results of all the surveys which have been conducted, civic beautification opportunities, and the feasibility and process for establishing a Business Improvement District in one or more of the four shopping districts in the City. 10. Adjournment The meeting is adjourned at 9:55 Respectfully submitted, Harry R. Pea~ock~/' City Clerk