HomeMy WebLinkAbout08/12/2019 - Special Minutes - City CouncilWKSHP081219 Minutes Page 1
MINUTES OF THE CITY COUNCIL BUDGET WORKSHOP
CITY OF COLLEGE STATION
AUGUST 12, 2019
STATE OF TEXAS §
§
COUNTY OF BRAZOS §
Present:
Karl Mooney, Mayor
Council:
Bob Brick
Jerome Rektorik
Linda Harvell
Elianor Vessali
John Nichols
Dennis Maloney
City Staff:
Bryan Woods, City Manager
Jeff Capps, Deputy City Manager
Jeff Kersten, Assistant City Manager
Mary Ellen Leonard, Finance Director
Carla Robinson, City Attorney
Mary Ann Powell, Deputy City Attorney
Tanya Smith, City Secretary
1. Council and CMO budget lunch.
2. Call to Order and Announce a Quorum is Present
With a quorum present, the Budget Workshop of the College Station City Council was called to
order by Mayor Karl Mooney at 12:30 p.m. on Monday, August 12, 2019 in the CSU
Meeting/Training Facility, 1603 Graham Road, College Station, Texas 77842.
3. Presentation, possible action, and discussion on the FY 2019-2020 Proposed Budget.
Jeff Kersten, Assistant City Manager and Mary Ellen Leonard, Finance Director, provided a
review of the proposed FY19-20 budget and citywide budget issues. The proposed FY20 budget
is $341 million, this is $19.7 million below last year’s due to the timing of capital project
appropriations.
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Public Hearing for the Budget to be held on Thursday, September 12, 2019 at 6:00 pm. Key
decision points include public safety, maintenance needs, capital project planning and funding,
compensation and benefits, wastewater rate increase, service level increases to address growth and
maintenance needs; and the proposed budget recommends a tax increase of 2.8777 cents per $100
of assessed valuation. The budget and tax rate are scheduled to be adopted September 26th. The
FY20 Budget makes provisions a 1% increase over the FY19 budget as the city will not make the
FY19 budget by almost $600,000. The FY21-FY24 Forecasts include increasing the sales tax year
over year by 1.75% in FY21 and FY22 and by 2% in the remainder of the forecast. Current
estimate is that there will be a slight increase in fund balance when the existing year closes.
Jeff Kersten, Assistant City Manager, presented Council an overview of the continued population
growth in the city. Growth in both the resident population and the student population needs to be
addressed and is a significant factor in budget request. Between 2010 and 2019 the population of
the city, as determined by Planning, has grown 30.58%, and has been forecast to continue to grow
by 2.5% annually in FY20 thru FY24. He stated that the city also has to meet the needs of a
growing student population as they use the roads, parks and of course need to be safe. Overall,
the student population has grown 33.5% from 2008 to 2018 (the last enrollment statistics from
TAMU); and enrollment statistics do not include the impact to College Station of RELLIS opening
last Fall in Bryan. There are no budget assumptions related to student impact over the general
population growth provided by planning.
Collectively, the management of the City recommends that the tax rate be increased to the rollback
rate to strategically address the funding for existing commitments as well as the known needs of
the future. In FY20, sales tax will comprise 34.5% of the budget and Ad Valorem Tax at 35.3%.
That means that there will be a fundamental shift in the primary revenue source for funding the
majority of services in the City, away from sales tax. It was recommended that approximately one
third of revenue generated this year be held in the fund balance to provide for those known needs
of the future. Therefore, the proposed budget recommends a tax increase of 2.8777 cents per $100
of assessed valuation. The proposed tax rate is 53.4618 cents per $100 assessed valuation the
Maintenance and Operations rate be 31.3174 cents per $100 assessed valuation; and the Debt
Service rate be 22.1444 cents per $100 assessed valuation.
GENERAL FUND EXPENDITURE OVERVIEW
Mary Ellen Leonard, Finance Director, stated that the percentage of expenditures in the General
Fund has remained relatively constant since 2011, decreasing .7% to the current percentage of
73.5%, the number of employees per 1000 people in the City has decreased significantly from 9.68
people in 2011 to 8.36 people in 2019.
Over the last decade, a significant amount of expenditures related to Public Safety have been added
to deal with the population growth. In 2009 Police and Fire made up 35.3% of the total amount
spent in the General Fund and in 2019 Police and Fire will make up 51.1% of General Fund
Expenditures. Capitalization of costs related to construction of assets in Public Works and
reductions in General Government and Parks have contributed to the switch. The City will
continue to look for efficiencies in all departments to focus expenditures on the areas most needed
by the community as a whole.
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Mrs. Leonard, explained that to continue to provide the service that is expected by the community,
18.5 Full Time Employees (FTE’s) are planned to be added in the FY20 Budget; however, 11 of
those positions are being provided by the elimination of the jail in the new police facility. Of the
remaining 7.5 FTE’s 6 of those positions will only be hired if a SAFR grant is awarded to the Fire
Department. We will not know about the award of the SAFR grant until mid to late August.
Excluding Public Safety and City Managers, city wages have lagged behind the national average
by 4.8%. The National Average Wage Index is prepared by the Social Security Administration
and provides insight into the direction of wage trends and for FY20, the budget includes an average
of 2% scale movement for non-public safety, 1.5% for Merit Pool for non-public safety and 2.0%
step increase for public safety employees. It imperative that the compensation plan work done in
prior year continue in order to attract and retain well qualified employees and to close the gap
between the national averages.
Source Level Adjustments (SLAs)
Jeff Kersten, Assistant City Manager, provided department summaries, along with Service Level
Adjustments (SLAs) and proposed projects:
Police SLAs: Five patrol and two vehicles based on staffing study results indicated the
need for twenty-three (23) additional sworn officers (20 patrol officers, (1) training officer
and (2) investigators); five assistants will be added. The study indicated (3) additional
civilian police assistants were needed, with the elimination of the jail, the agreement
Council signed with Brazos County requires some additional recurring funds in FY20. The
Service Level Adjustment total is $1,082,518.
Fire SLAs: Additional personnel are needed for Fire Station #7. However, the hiring is
contingent upon the award of a SAFER Grant which would reimburse 75% of the cost of
employment in year one and two and 35% in the third year. Also, the City is responsible
for 50% of the maintenance costs at Station 4, Easterwood Airport, for an additional
$18,508. The Service Level Adjustment total is $514,283 expenses and $334,331 revenue.
Public Works SLAs: $582,898 for Attenuator Truck for safety, Corrective Maintenance
Building Funds, APWA Reaccreditation, and Street Signs Plotter.
Parks and Recreation SLAs: $535,308 for staffing and equipment needed for maintenance
of Southeast Park, which is scheduled to open in late summer FY20. This new facility will
be used to host numerous tourism events; therefore, the expenses will be split 50% to the
General Fund and 50% to the HOT Fund.
Economic Development SLAs: $310,900 in service level adjustments for continuing to
enhance the attraction of business to the City, cash assistance, and the addition of an
Economic Development Coordinator.
Information Technology SLAs: $140,000 for a Security Operations Center (SOC) and staff
augmentation.
Fiscal Services SLAs: $193,000 for Software Implementation Assistance and server as
Municipal Court’s current software is no longer sold or supported by the vendor.
At 2:34 p.m., the Mayor recessed the Budget Workshop.
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The Budget Workshop reconvened at 2:48 p.m.
GENERAL FUND REVENUE OVERVIEW
Mary Ellen Leonard, Finance Director, presented Council an overview of the General Fund
Summary.
Ad Valorem Taxes and Sales taxes make up 68.83% of the general fund.
Second largest revenue sources is from the City’s “owned businesses” of the Electric,
Water, Wastewater, Drainage, Solid Waste, and Northgate Parking, which the City gets
approximately 8% return on the revenue generated.
Other Taxes of 3.54% were the Franchise fees that the state eliminated for next year. Last
year, the Other amount was 4.03%.
Fund Balance is the “equity” component of the government. It’s the City’s safety net for
a downturn and shortfalls.
Bond Rating agencies desire 25% of expenses balances to receive the lowest interest rates.
FY20 Budget proposes formally moving the fund balance requirement from 15% to 18%.
Despite the surplus budgeted for FY20, the fund balance is forecasted to drop next year
and continue to be below the 25% desired.
Fund Balance could decreases even faster and will dip below the current 15% within 5
years unless significant cuts in service are made.
Over 50% of our expenditures are in Public Safety and in the Property Tax Cap legislation,
cuts cannot be made to Public Safety.
It is fiscal policy to continue with conservative revenue estimates and includes property
value and tax rate increases.
4. Presentation, possible action and discussion on calling public hearing on the City of
College Station FY 2019-2020 Proposed Budget for Thursday, September 12, 2019, 6:00 PM
in the City Hall Council Chambers.
MOTION: Upon a motion made by Councilmember Harvell and a second by Councilmember
Rektorik, the City Council voted seven (7) for and none (0) opposed, calling public hearing on the
City of College Station FY 2019-2020 Proposed Budget for Thursday, September 12, 2019, 6:00
PM in the City Hall Council Chambers. The motion carried unanimously.
5. Presentation, possible action and discussion on the 2019-2020 ad valorem tax rate; and
calling two public hearings on a proposed ad valorem tax rate for FY 2019-2020.
Jeff Kersten, Assistant City Manager, stated that the proposed tax rate is 53.4618 cents per $100
assessed valuation the Maintenance and Operations rate be 31.3174 cents per $100 assessed
valuation; and the Debt Service rate be 22.1444 cents per $100 assessed valuation. If we move
forward with proposed tax rate the two public hearings will be held on August 22nd at 6:00 p.m.
September 13th at 6:00 p.m., and possible adoption of proposed tax rate on September 27th at 6:00
p.m., in the Council Chambers at City Hall. Each cent on the tax rate generates approximately
$820,000; and as a reminder the Effective Tax Rate is the rate that will raise the same revenues
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on the same properties as last year and the Rollback Tax Rate is the highest rate that can be adopted
before citizens can petition to lower the tax rate to the rollback rate.
MOTION: Upon a motion made by Councilmember Rektorik and a second by Councilmember
Nichols, the City Council voted seven (7) for and none (0) opposed, to hold two public hearings
on the tax rate of 53.4618 cents per $100 assessed valuation the Maintenance and Operations rate
be 31.3174 cents per $100 assessed valuation; and the Debt Service rate be 22.1444 cents per $100
assessed valuation on August 22nd at 6:00 p.m. September 12th at 6:00 p.m., and possible adoption
of proposed tax rate on September 26th at 6:00 p.m., in the Council Chambers at City Hall. The
motion carried unanimously.
6. Executive Session
No Executive Session was held.
7. Take action, if any, on Executive Session,
No action was required from Executive Session.
8. Adjournment
MOTION: There being no further business, Mayor Mooney adjourned the budget workshop of
the College Station City Council at 3:31 p.m. on Monday, August 12, 2019.
________________________
Karl Mooney, Mayor
ATTEST:
________________________
Tanya Smith, City Secretary