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HomeMy WebLinkAbout02-03-1997 City Council Minutes MINUTE8 SARATOGA CITY COUNCIL TIME: Monday, February 3, 1997 - 6:00 p.m. PLACE: Senior Center, Large Room, 19655 Allendale Avenue TYPE: Adjourned Regular Meeting/Town Hall Meeting 6:00-7:00 p.m. Closed session pursuant to GoVErnment Code Section 54956.9 (a): CONFERENCE WITH LEGAL COUNSEL-EXISTING LITIGATION Name of case: Guadalupe Rubbish Co. vs. City of Saratoga Mayor Moran announces that no final action has been taken at the closed session. She then calls the meeting to order at 6:00 PM. 1. Roll Call Councilmembers Present: Mayor Moran, Vice Mayor Wolfe, Councilmembers Bogosian, Jacobs and Shaw. Staff Present: (For the closed session) City Manager Peacock and City Manager Riback, (For the open session) City Manager Peacock, Public Works Director Perlin, Community Development Director Curtis, Finance Director Fil, Recreation Director Pisani, 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 January 31. The notice of adjournment from the January 13 Council meeting was properly posted on January 14. .. " The City Council goes into closed session to discuss existing litigation and recesses to open session at 6:54 PM. 3. Oral Communications from the Public on Non-Agendized Items - None 4. Discussion of City Budget Mayor Moran welcomes those in attendance to the session on the budget and asks the City Manager to review the agenda for the evening and the process the City Council will be following. The City Manager explains that, after the Finance Director presents his report on the result of the first six months of operations for the current fiscal year, there will be a ni~mber of presentations from the commissions on their recommendations on budget priorities. Comments from the public will then be entertained, and the'Council will th~n discuss its next step in developing the budget priorities for.the:next fiscal year. a. Report on Second Quarter Year to Date Results - December 31, 1996 ~ Finance Director Fil presents highlights for the first six months which indicate that revenueslate greater than expected for this time of the year, primarily because of earlier than anticipated property tax revenue and the continuing high level of activity surrounding development in the City. He indicates at this point he expects that the overall revenue target for 1996-97 will be exceeded. Until the third quarter results are in, however, a firm prediction as to the extent is not possible. He notes that overall expenditures are somewhat below what had been expected, but this is primarily because of the lag in billing for law enforcement services. He also notes that in the first half of the year very little of the contingency appropriation was required, so the contingency budget still has some $195,000 of its $200,000 uncommitted. b. Review Data from City Commissions and Staff Regarding Service Delivez7 Priorities City Council Minutes 2 February 3, 1997 Presentations on service deliverypriorities and the development of the budget for the next fiscal year are presented as follows: 1. From the Finance Advisory Committee by Chair Richard Van Hoesen. 2. From the Library Commission by Jennifer Hanlon. 3. From the Parks and Recreation Commission by Chair Kathryn Weiner. 4. From the Planning Commission by Commissioner Mary-Lynne Bernald. 5. From the Public Safety Commission by Chair Hugh Hexamer. 6. From the Youth Commission by Commissioners Laura Prolo, David Mount and Jennifer Chen. Mayor Moran thanks the various presenters for all the work put in by everyone in preparing for each presentation, which was excellent, and refers to the material in the handouts prepared for the meeting which covered, in detail, each of the presentations. Mayor Moran then opens up the meeting for comments from the public. There is one comment made which urges the City not to rely on either the Federal Government or the State Government for funding but rather to rely on the resources available locally. Mayor Moran then asks the City Manager to briefly review the data prepared by the staff covering the various areas of the budget. The City Manager discusses the information developed by the staff on service priorities in areas which were not covered by one of the previous presenters. He indicates that in many areas staff had also provided its perspective on service priority areas covered by the presenters so that both perspectives would be available as discussions on priorities continues. The City Manager then introduces a matrix which catalogues each of the presentation priorities made this evening and the work of the staff, all of which is contained in the handouts. He suggests that the council use this as a guide to the various inputs which have been made and invites the public to take the matrix home and check which service priorities they think are important and send them back to City Hall. Next the members of the City Council make some individual observations and discuss the next step in the process. Councilmember Wolfe observes that numbers have yet to be put to these various service categories; he feels that is the next task which needs to be accomplished. Councilmember Jacobs observes that he feels the council needs to deal with the larger picture first, including what the essential basic minimum services which need to be funded are, and what the city's revenue.will be. In response tO proposals for across;the board salary cuts he states that he would not be in favor of that. He would rather reduce the size of the staff, and he states several reasons why he had reached this conclusion. Councilmember Shaw observes thae he agrees with what Councilmember Jacobs has said, but he also feels that the matrix prepared by the staff to chart all the input to date is a useful tool and a good place to start. Councilmember Bogosian agrees with both Councilmember Jacobs and Shaw but adds that thought also needs to be given in terms of changing the city machinery and considering selective pay cuts. Perhaps cost recovery should be pursued first before staff reductions in the areas where full cost recovery is being considered. Mayor Moran observes that it is now time to rethink what the city does and how it does it. Councilmember Shaw observes that perhaps it would be best to start with a worst case scenario, assuming no extra revenue and then add services until the money runs out. City Council Minutes 3 February 3, 1997 After further discussion the City Council decides to continue discussions to February 20th at 7 PM, at which time they will make initial determinations on service priorities and instruct staff as to budget preparation. 5. Other - None. 6. Adjournment The meeting was adjourned at 9:15 PM. Respectfully submitted,