HomeMy WebLinkAbout1997-06-18 Transcription (2)June 18, 1997 Council Work Session page 1
June 18, 1997 Special Council Work Session
Council: Nov, Baker, Kubby, Lehman, Norton, Thornberry, Vanderhoef
Staff: Atkins, Helling, Karr, Yucuis.
Tapes: 97-100, all.
City Finances 97-100 S1
Nov/Can we just start?
Council/(All talking).
Norton/I want to do something about how we are proceeding .... I understand the
guideline but I want to back up and make sure I got the right premise. Looking at
Steve's document, handout of April 21 .... and this subsequent one where he kind
of broke it down. I want to be sure I am right... assumptions .... I just want to be
sure I understand this properly. According to your big spreadsheets that you put
out here... existing conditions, let's not assume for a moment nothing new, status
quo but not the new stuff that we have on the horizon .... And as you projected,
your bottom line says the way things are going over this period... face a deficit of
$1,400,000. That we have to come up with adjustments... reductions or additions
in resources that total $367- or so per year...
Arkins/$367- for four years... then you are done.
Nov/So one set of cuts that get you a net of $367,000 that can be there in perpetuity will
do the job?
Atkins/No. I took the $1.4 million and spread it over four years ....
Norton/So you have to do a total of $1.4-
Atkins/Approximately that, yes.
Norton/So there are four $367,000 cuts?
Atkins/Yes.
Norton/Or income.
Nov/We have some flexibility .... we don't have to say absolutely four years.
1:55 PM
This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City council
meeting of June 18, 1997
WS061897
June 18, 1997 Council Work Session page 2
Baker/
Vanderhoef/
Atkins/Our projections on that four year plan .... by year '06, our cash position will return
to 20%... begin to move up... restore services and or reduce taxes ....
Norton/Is it better to start down the side of looking at how we can approach this
number... by reductions and shifts or is it better to start looking within existing
categories of where revenues might change?
Atkins/That is your call.
Norton/Because we got to go down both of those... back and forth ....
Atkins/You do or I think you should.
Nov/We have to somehow combine some cuts with some increases and get to the point
where it makes sense.
Kubby/For example... risks with associated with decreasing reserves .... You might incur
the higher risk for only a set period to time ....
Atkins/... you just have a dip... and you do recover. The strength of the system will bring
it back, all things being equal. These are ten year projections... and you do have
variables well beyond your control.
Nov/
Kubby/We could dream for a fair tax system.
Norton/I would like to find... I would certainly like to see us come to... how much can
we realistically expect through reducing reserves ....categories in which we can
attack this thing.
Kubby/What is the number .... what amount of money .... is acceptable for a four year
period .... ?
Vanderhoef/If you were to shift into debt service, how much might we be able to recover
into the General Fund?
This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City council
meeting of June 18, 1997
WS061897
June 18, 1997 Council Work Session page 3
Atkins/What you asked me... put together that list ..... One of those issues was reserves ....
We will take the expenditure reduction guidelines that you gave us and we will
play out some scenarios .... You can't consider one independent of the other. I do
need some guidelines on expenditures and I do need some guidelines in revenue
increases. Then I can prepare options for you ....
Norton/As I look down the nine funds in which revenue comes .... I assume that we
should take a look at each of those categories and say what can we reasonably
expect to be done there...
Atkins/Fees... Building Division and Inspection Services pays for itself. That it generates
sufficient income to pay for itself. Housing... does not .... If you push up housing
inspection fees .... pass it along to renters... drives up the cost of the rent .... Then
you have to understand the public policy issues .... Housing codes generally give
you higher quality neighborhoods because folks are obligated to take care of their
properties... That is the tradeoffs you make.
Lehman/...My understanding .... I guess I would like to see us to be able to show that we
could do the sorts of things for the next 2-3 years... within the framework of our
present income. The new things I have no problem looking for sources for ....
status quo should be handled by the present sources of revenue ..... I think we can
get there ....
Kubby/
Lehman/
Baker/... I want to make it clear that no new sources of revenue to me do not rule out the
current fee structures that we have in place with some adjustment in those fees .....
Lelunan/... I still think we ought to fund the status quo with the status quo revenue ....
Let's get the status quo taken care of....
Nov/Are we talking about fee adjustments based on normal increased expenses? .....
Baker/ ....removing that obligation from the General Fund.
Nov/The fee adjustment is what I would like to define.
Norton/What did you use, Steve, in your projections?...
Atkins/Projection years were 4-5%
This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City council
meeting of June 18, 1997
WS061897
June 18, 1997 Council Work Session page 4
Norton/4.7 ....up 2.9 in '99 and down 2.33.
Atkins/That was the adopted budget... comparing those ....
Norton/Then you adopted a 4.7.
Atkins/Normal growth ....
Vanderhoef/Average for those three years was 3.8 though .... '98, '99, 2000.
Baker/So can we focus on that shortfall?
Nov/I would like to focus on the definition of fee adjustments.
Atkins/Fee adjustments to me... if you were to expand the fees beyond the normal rate of
growth ....Then you also have to add on other units come on, they generate
income ....variety of tradeoffs. I have tried to give you reasonable projections that
you can live with .... For example... concept of a business license .... very common
means of generating income .... getting information about businesses .... Gunnerz
would not have been a liquor license problem, it would have been a business
license problem.
Thomberry/You mean a business license that is paid every year?
Atkins/Yeah.
Thomberry/Talk about pro-business.
Atkins/You have to have the services... that we are charging back against it ....something
a little different.
Kubby/It allows you to do business within the city.
Atkins/Absolutely... that is a new ....
Lehman/We have an inspection fee for inspection of rental property. Why don't we have
inspection for fire inspection of commercial properties?
Atkins/I don't have an answer for that.
This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City council
meeting of June 18, 1997
WS061897
June 18, 1997 Council Work Session page 5
Lehman/ .... legitimate .... once a year. I think that is a legitimate place to have a fee .... We
are already giving the service.
Atkins/The adjustment is a reasonable projection ....new fees... is something you want to
debate separately.
Norton/Leave fee alone along for the moment.
Vanderhoef/One of the things that strikes me when we are talking about fee adjustment
is that we have done some adjustments in things like strip passes... for the bus...
$49,000 that we had budgeted for .... below what we had anticipated in revenue.
Atkins/There is a tradeoff when you do fees, particularly with respect to Transit. If we
are able to increase ridership, we get improved revenue from state or federal
government by way of a nose count ....
Vanderhoef/ ....Like to take a peek at to see if that tradeoff is working for us ....
Kubby/
Baker/A guidelines here for the whole budget discussion. In those programs where the
city benefits low income people, discounts for low income, that that is the last
thing we want to look at as far as adjusting.
Kubby/... strip tickets give you an incentive to buy more tickets.
Norton/That is suppose to pay off in terms ofridership in some sense.
Vanderhoef/At that time it wasn't ....
Kubby/I would agree that would be one of the last things I would want to change ....
Thomberry/What is one of the first things we would like to do? ....
Baker/My first priority would be capital transfer ....
Kubby/I thought we had already agreed on that...Steve is going to bring us specific
suggestions.
Baker/And then efficiencies(reductions).
Norton/But he has got that one in his hopper, too.
This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City council
meeting of June 18, 1997
WS061897
June 18, 1997 Council Work Session page 6
Kubby/The guideline is 1/2% per year.
Atkins/That is expenditures. I thought you had pretty well taken expenditures through.
Norton/I want to be sure that we have gone down all the expenditures. What would be
the best outline to make sure we have covered the various categories?
Atkins/You gave me general guidelines on expenditures ....
Lehman/...after you make proposals to us ....
Atkins/
Baker/... efficiencies and reductions without a rate increase... Fire inspection.. that
category of service that we provide now free .... The Recreation Department does a
lot of stuff that is free. Do we start charging for that or eliminate that? ....
Lehman/...The better the P/R do their job... the more they offer to the public... The more
we expand our services in the Senior Center, the more it costs us. I think we need
to determine what level of service we feel is desirable.. required .... minimum level
of services we are required to offer .... We have to think kind of hard about
expanded services that end up costing us more money that we are not able to
recover the cost of.... I have no problem.. if that expansion can pay for itself....
Kubby
One thing the County has done... they said bring us a budget that is 2% more than
last year... bring it back and give us a list of things just above 2% you want to
do ....
Norton/Why don't we go down the list?
Baker/We have always talked about not cutting personnel. But Steve, I would like to ask
you, as a city manager .... , can you foresee where staff can be arranged out of
necessity without cutting?
Atkins/Without severely affecting the service, it would be difficult.
Baker/
Kubby/An extra CSO.
This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City council
meeting of June 18, 1997
WS061897
June 18, 1997 Council Work Session page 7
Atkins/Would it be the General Fund?... I would like to be afforded the opportunity to
say let me provide the service in an alternate fashion.. private contracting because
they pay a lower wage rate.
Kubby/Then people need housing assistance ....
Thornberry/Private contracting you are providing employment to the private contractors
by giving them a contract ....
Baker/
Norton/People are getting a lower wage ....
Thomberry/I still don't understand why you have to go with the highest waged people ....
Norton/
Kubby/...There are three year contracts with everybody.
Thomberry/
Norton/
Thornberry/... minimum wage is higher than $4.50 .... One thing that ! am asking about.
Steve, on all of the departments within the city, they have a budget that they work.
I know I haven't been in the University setting .... they have to buy new desks ....
Do they continually get the same amount every year?
Atkins/No.
Thomberry/Or is it increased every year?
Atkins/No. When we approved capital outlay for our operating departments, we approve
a capital outlay list .... It is not each year .... You may come back to me .... We
approve a list of equipment... We do not approve just a dollar figure.
Yucuis/Capital outlay starts at zero and the-
Atkins/Yeah, every budget starts at zero.
Thomberry/
This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City council
meeting of June 18, 1997
WS061897
June 18, 1997 Council Work Session
Atkins/You must justify each of your capital outlay items.
Norton/
Thomberry/
Atkins/We have a central stores ....
Kubby/If you want a new ink thing for your printer, you got to sign it out.
Atkins/
Norton/We are not hung up with excessive inventory.
Kubby/I had asked about Engineering and Planning and doing a chargeback system .... if
keeping track is not worth the money or not.
Atkins/Reasonably successful with Legal.
Kubby/... Is there more of that that we should be doing?
Baker/
Norton/Way of transferring money cross pockets in a way.
Vanderhoef/
Atkins/When we give you a capital project, we try to put together in that capital
project .... we try to give you that number as best we can. So when Rick assign an
engineer to work on that particular project, that engineer charges his or her time
against that project.
Norton/What is going on with the Emergency Communication Center? ....
Atkins/The Emergency Communication Center is the Fire and Police Dispatch Center...
budget pretty straight forward with respect to the number of people who work
there.
Norton/
Thomberry/What was our projected budget for police accreditation process?
p~e8
This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City council
meeting of June 18, 1997
WS061897
June 18, 1997 Council Work Session page 9
Atkins/About $12,000 in fees and at least one full time officer.
Baker/ ....can that.
Thomberry/I agree with that now that we got the PCRB.
Atkins/We were intended to use the PCRB... general review of policies and procedures.
We are doing that and we are going to meet those standards. We were going to
run them through the PCRB as a training exercise... aware of internal decision that
go on .... we try to receive accreditation.
Kubby/We can get .... you can get the checkoff list for accreditation and do it yourself....
Norton/I agree that we are trying to get the PCRB establish... make sure the Police
Department is running the way the city would like to see it ....I would like to back
off and slow down any formal expenditures on accreditation.
Atkins/We can buy the documents .... We can implement the policy on our own. That
saves us on the fee, $12,000 fee. But you still devote time to having it done and an
individual needs to guide that process.
Kubby/Maybe you spread that out over time.
Atkins/If you wish to see it occur but are not in as big a hurry.
Kubby/
Norton/While we are trying to do the PCRB, let's minimize the accreditation.
Thornberry/You bet.
Norton/... accreditation is a mixed bag at best ....
Thornberry/Done deal unless you have already signed a contract.
Baker/What about FATS?
Norton/...That was a $67,000 item .... presumably one time .... It has some continuing
expenses to it .... I figured it is a thing that will kind of grow .... upgrade ....
Atkins/Kind of like the green machine ....
This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City council
meeting of June 18, 1997
WS061897
June 18, 1997 Council Work Session page 10
Norton/I would like to be very careful about the ... FATS training.
Atkins/There is training and there is equipment. Training I think we have an obligation.
Vanderhoef/And the equipment... budget time... you said the pay out on that would be
three years.
Atkins/Approximately... $67,000... to purchase the equipment .... other police
departments to use it .... Try to recover that within about three years.
Kubby/If we don't have the equipment ourselves, we have to buy time somewhere else ....
Vanderhoef/And we have to travel them ....
Yucuis/Karen was right. If we don't have that machine, we have to contract .....
Council/(All talking).
Norton/I understand that.
Vanderhoef/Travel time and expenses.
Norton/Is SWAT going to cost us more money? ....
Atkins/That is a one time expense. That is done.
Nov/Last time... told that we didn't even get that training once a year for our police
officers by sending them somewhere else.
Atkins/Once a year was about the best we could do.
Nov/... I think it pays to buy the equipment and to rent it out to someone else ....
Norton/
Kubby/Maybe that is what we need some information about like with the Transit thing of
how much does it cost per year to get all of our officers trained and what is the
pay out and how much do we expect to gain in revenues from contracting out our
machine to other jurisdictions...
Thornberry/ ....there is already a room there ....
This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City council
meeting of June 18, 1997
WS061897
June 18, 1997 Council Work Session page 11
Norton/
Kubby/Another place we could look is procurement... I inquired about paper .... $40,000
a year in office paper .... Are there other things that we are buying that we could
cut down a little on and it would add up to maybe $10,0007
Thomberry/
Kubby/
Yucuis/I think we informed you that through this last budget process, Cathy Eisenhofer...
going in with the University on joint purchasing .... able to save... almost in half....
Unfortunately, it gets us away from local buying but it is too much money not to
do it .... savings throughout the city budget on supplies.
Baker/Is this one of those categories where an arbitrary across the board cut is a
reasonable goal? Procurement, 10% reduction and then you have less of things.
Atkins/I think what you need to do is you need to have a goal... have your organization
buy into it .....
Council/
Nov/We had exactly the same things twice in this week's packet ....
Atkins/Your amount of paper is almost insignificant... procurement needs a goal. How
can we go after that reduction .... put that down.
Kubby/Total is $207-
A,tkins/ ....It is a thing where you discipline your organization and begin changing
habits ....
Kubby/Can we make more money on recycling paper?
Atkins/We are really pretty good about it.
Kubby/
Atkins/
This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City council
meeting of June 18, 1997
WS061897
June 18, 1997 Council Work Session page 12
Lehman/ .... certain amount of enthusiasm for being as efficient as we possibly can be. Is
there some way that we can transplant that enthusiasm to our own folks .... If we
can get a total team effort ....
Baker/
Kubby/Incentives... are some ways to provide some low cost incentives ....
Lehman/Keeping your job.
Atkins/Please keep in mind .... issue of efficiency. But you also reach a point where the
effectiveness of the organization can begin to diminish ....
Lehman This concept really starts from you ....
Norton/TEAM project.
Atkins/ ....city image ....
Vanderhoef/... city council ....2% is $1,900 off of $9,500.
Council/
Norton/Did you put down this matter of selling services? ....
Atkins/Misha...R.J. and I gave her some instructions on that .... we were taking animals
from all over the county .... She has really been pretty good about tracking them
down... Having trouble... University Heights.. transit bill... They won't raise taxes
to pay for it.
Norton/
Atkins/Don has been having-
Nov/Are they also negotiating their SEATS contract7
Atkins/I have no idea what they are doing on that. But I understand the issues of
efficiencies and effectiveness .... fine line...
Baker/A year ago.. article about city management... unspoken.. truths... city manager.
city council form of government... City managers... perceive efficiencies... don't
This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City council
meeting of June 18, 1997
WS061897
June 18, 1997 Council Work Session page 13
Nov/
Atkins/
articulate because they don't see the political will of the council to back them up.
So it never gets raised .... What is a better way to deliver same service? ....
Norton/Can I ask... any adjustments or savings in the enterprise area? ....convert that to
the General Funds?...
Atkins/You may take water revenue and transfer it directly to the General Fund.
Lehman/Don't talk about water or sewer.
Council/
Yucuis/Any fund within the city, if you wish, you could transfer .... if you so wish...
Atkins/Would you like to operate a for profit landfill? ....other jurisdictions... charge
people more ....
Norton/Aren't you charging a tipping fee? ....
Atkins/We assume the liability and we offer more service.
Council/
Atkins / Landfill policy... liability.
Council/(All talking).
Norton/People advocating for a commission.
Atkins/ ....There is a $5.00 difference is you are not a city resident ....you now walk away
and we assume the liability ....
Nov/But based on that premise, you can say we are going to charge an extra $10 ....
Norton/
Atkins/You can also say the landfill is a government service ....
This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City council
meeting of June 18, 1997
WS061897
June 18, 1997 Council Work Session page 14
Kubby/Distinguish certain things .... not interested in making a profit from public health
issues .... Parking is a whole different issue .... We need a list of all those things...
Maybe we need a number of how many tons per year from non-Iowa Citians ....
added $2.00 to that, how much would it bring in.
Nov/Think about fact that we do not have contracts with other entities ....
Atkins/ ....but when you leave, don't come back.
Kubby/Or here is a charge you have to pay to come back.
Nov/One more thing... If an increase in fees for landfill or anything else chases people
away, we are dealing with the same issue as rides in our Transit fares ....
Norton/ .... two aspects... fees...reserves... see what we might want to consider in terms of
the size of those reserves. Some of those are mandatory, I know .... Hazardous
waste facility... might have to defer ....
Lehman/Park and Shop/Bus and Shop .... has been a good deal for merchants .... gave
merchants same price for bus... It is a bargain ....nickel an hour more for the
merchants is going to generate some bucks ....
Atkins/It goes to the Parking Fund, remember.
Council/(All talking).
CHANGE TAPE TO REEL 97-100 SIDE 2
Baker/Somewhere in there about current services that we are not charging for that are a
bargain... airport in there.
Norton/And cemetery is a bargain there, too. One of the things we have said is there is
going to be no reduction in personnel.. always the biggest chunk of the action ....
Vanderhoef/I would encourage every department to look at when there is a retirement..
attrition, to take a good solid look before they rehire ....
Kubby/What are the examples you are thinking of?.
Vanderhoeff I was thinking of how they redid the Traffic Engineering.
This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City council
meeting of June 18, 1997
WS061897
June 18, 1997 Council Work Session page 15
Lehman/Other thing.. computers .... savings significant... paid for by less personnel ....
Look at all the money we are spending for computers at the city level .... more
efficient .... government tends to grow and grow and grow .... Seems to me that
with some of the new technology... ought to be a cost benefit relationship .... better
product ....I don't see the same thing in government that I see in private
industry ....
Kubby/Not a decrease but it is not an increase ....
Norton/ .... we had not increases per capita our city employment... to our number of
people. So there is some efficiency ....
Atkins/We run almost a flat line.
Norton/We have a Water Educational Specialist .... wondering ....absolutely essential? ....
Atkins/Doesn't save the General Fund... made a decision .... water project, we were going
to communicate as best as we can ....
Lehman/ ....policeman in the schools. You can't always measure the value.
Kubby/We are talking about switching those to doing more outside school stuff....
Norton/ .... every cop ought to be in a school every week... make some appearance ....
touching that base, absolutely ....I think we can do that within present
assignments.
Lehman/Afraid that there are some things that the values are very difficult to measure ....
Nov/Okay. Have we pretty much finished our session on services? Do we want to talk
about revenues?
Baker/Existing revenues.
Atkins/ ....first item... I need to understand M & E better ....take a break ....
CHART:
-No effects on low income programs
-Engr & PCD chargebacks
-Drop police accreditation ($12,000 fee)
This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City council
meeting of June 18, 1997
WS061897
June 18, 1997 Council Work Session page 16
-FATS training & equip., option
-Procurement reduction of 10%
-Charging for our fees
-CM/eouncil gov .... political will
-Landfill 1) Non city figure
2) $2 inc total
3) Opt to leave - charge to return
-Park & Shop/Ride and Shop
-Cemetery & Airport (Bargains)
[Council Break 2:50 PM - 3:00]
This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City council
meeting of June 18, 1997
WS061897
June 18, 1997 Council Work Session page 17
Machine and Equipment 97-100 S2
Yucuis/M & E... (Referred to handout: Machinery & Equipment Valuations Phase Out
Senate File 69, 1995 Legislative Session) ... two issues that are state law...
Column 2 is the value ofM & E... 30% of value. Starting in year 2001, value goes
down to 22%, 14%, 6%... goes down to 0 .... IfI have $100,000 worth ofM & E, it
is taxed at $30,000 ....In '95.. set abase ofM & E. We have $63,676,000 worth of
taxable value.
Nov/If someone buys new machinery after that, it is not taxable at all?
Yucuis/Correct.
Norton/What if they replace it?
Yucuis/Same thing .... We will get the value ofM & E times our current tax rate in either
property taxes or state reimbursement up to FY2001 .... FY2002... Column 3 .... If
value ofC & I increase by more than the value ofM & E loss, then the state
doesn't give you any more money in their reimbursement.
Kubby/So that growth in those sectors don't help ....
Yucuis/If the increase in C & I value is greater than the loss ofM & E, then the state will
not give you their portion .... If you look at '96 and '97, Column 4 ..... in year 2002
we will not get any state reimbursement. We will only get revenue based on the
value ofM & E at that time and we are projecting... $14 million in M & E value.
It is hard to figure out.
Norton/Jesus, this is the worst table I have ever seen ....
Yucuis/(Refers to handout) ....... because of our C & I value increasing more than the M
& E loss, the state says you are not going to get any more of their money. That is
why our revenue drops dramatic starting in 2002.
Norton/Seems like we have done what they wanted and get punished for it.
Nov/
Kubby/If it doing what it is suppose to do... business will expand and come here... get
punished for it.
Norton/ ....
This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City council
meeting of June 18, 1997
WS061897
June 18, 1997 Council Work Session page 18
Yucuis/Trying to get equal taxes on businesses.
Kubby/It is really hard... hard to say is the increase related to M & E ....
Yucuis/C & I value already increased .... almost 15% from '96 to '97.
Norton/
Yucuis/ ....in the budget... we had not done the complete analysis on this M & E chart .....
Norton/
Yucuis / .... value ofM & E right now... actual values for M & E. It is 30% of value/. we
have already lost over 10%... of value .... We have gone down now to 27% of our
base in two years .... So our vase is already lower than the 30% of the '96 value.
Norton/
Yucuis/We have dropped 10 1/2% of our value.
Nov/An example of this is expansion of Moore Business Forms .... add more equipment...
property tax values did not go up .... Okay ....
This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City council
meeting of June 18, 1997
WS061897
June 18, 1997 Council Work Session page 19
Revenues (new) 97-100 S2
Kubby/So we are onto new revenues.
Baker/
Nov/I am saying that new revenue is a discussion option ....
Baker/Until we get the budget shortfall question resolved, why are we talking about new
revenues for new services?
Kubby/Because we are confident our big cheese will give us a list and we will find-
Baker/Because of what we did last night with the ballot issue.. put back to no later than
November '98, I suggest that we resolve the shortfall question first in the next few
weeks.
Lehman/I think the public needs to know that we are trying to resolve the situation that
we are currently in... within the framework of the revenues that we currently we
have access to .... I think we are much better off at looking at how we are going to
address the current situation and after we have resolved that ....show the public
that we have put our house in order ....
Baker/And firmly have a position on the shortfall.
Norton/Go down each of the categories of revenue and see what can be done.
Vanderhoef/
Norton/In our three-year book we have a category that lists these nine categories of
receipts that contribute to the General Fund .... look at those and see what they do.
Kubby/Let's go down each one.
Norton/Page 27 of the book .... nine categories ....see which one of these can do
anything ....
Baker/Still talking about shortfall.
Norton/Still talking about shortfall. We are dealing with new issues. Hard to separate
those sometimes .... gives fair breakdown ....
Atkins/Don ....
This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City council
meeting of June 18, 1997
WS061897
June 18, 1997 Council Work Session page 20
Norton/
Atkins/I think this is fine...
Baker/There is not much control over state and federal funding.
Yucuis/Property taxes are at the maximums also .... $8.10, $.27, and $.95 ....
Atkins/Do you understand the transfer for employee benefits?
Norton/Yes.
Atkins/We book Road Use Tax in the General Fund. That is a per capita number.
Yucuis/It funds the actual cost of Traffic Engineering and Public Works/Streets... some
of forestry... JCCOG.
Kubby Employees Benefits Levy, we don't currently put all of our benefits in there.
Right?
Atkins/I thought we did.
Yucuis/We don't totally transfer all-
Atkins/At one time, putting some against the 8.10 ....
Yucuis/We have about $200,000 that we say the General Fund will pick up of employee
benefits.
Norton/
Yucuis/Page 22- Employee Benefits in FY- $2.966 million is the levy that we recently
requested. Go back to page 120._ receipt that property tax revenue into the
Employee Benefits Fund as a revenue .... Go down into expenditures...
$3,578,766... page 27, it is not all of it but it is most of it ....into the General Fund
as a revenue.
Kubby/ ....that would be another shifting place.
Atkins/We could do that.
This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City council
meeting of June 18, 1997
WS061897
June 18, 1997 Council Work Session page 21
Yucuis/We could tax a little more in the employee Benefits Levy and transfer a little
more into the General Fund which gives you more money ....
Kubby/ .... We could do some in debt and some somewhere else .... Seems like it would be
better to take it from the Employees than Debt Levy because then we wouldn't
have so much interest that we would be paying ....
Atkins/
Norton/ ....Anything you can do with Road Use Taxes?
Yucuis/If you take the $2,907,000 there. If we added up the Traffic Engineering and
Public Works budget, it will equal $2,907,000 .....
Kubby/Any planner time for projects that might go to Road Use Tax?
Norton/Precisely.
Yucuis/It is not unlike things we have done over the last 3-4 years ....takes expenses out
of the General Fund ....
Norton/
Yucuis/
Kubby/Liquor profit is population based, not consumption based?
Yucuis/You can see it is a flat fee ....State Aid ....
Kubby/I am doing 4. State Aid.
Norton/
Yucuis/ .... State Aid in FY92 .... $679,000. year after that was $636,000 .... appropriation
.... Bank Franchise Tax .... We as a city only get so much and the county gets so
much .... That is state appropriation, that is a max.
Kubby/Reimbursement... have to use $0% of it for property tax relief....
Norton/$106,000 is the amount that came back ....
Yucuis/We will have to fill out a soon to be prepared ....form from the state ....
This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City council
meeting of June 18, 1997
WS061897
June 18, 1997 Council Work Session page 22
Norton/Where is that shown?
Yucuis/We have to keep the $8.10 at the max to be able to levy an Employees Benefits
Levy .... most likely be in a Debt Service Levy or employee Benefits Levy ....
Kubby/ ....matching money for bridges...
Yucuis/We have some specific projects in the General Fund that we pay cash for...
bridge projects ....
Atkins/Same principle...
Yucuis/It is General Fund funded and it is an infrastructure expense and we can use it.
Norton/Where does that reimbursement show?
Yucuis/If you go down to other income ....
Norton/Library Open Access, is that a state thing?
Yucuis/State reimbursement .... accessible to other counties ....
Nov/M & E ....
Yucuis/We were just talking about before where the number that should have been in
there for '99 and 2000 which is included up in property tax revenue .... number in
'99 should have been $149,000 and year 2000 is estimated to be about $214,000.
You put those numbers in there and you decrease property tax revenue up above
by the same amount ....
Norton/So we are getting a reimbursement from their state of $86,149 and $214-.... okay.
Yucuis/
Norton/Other grants... they would be somewhere else? .... This is just the one for the six
additional officers, right?
Yucuis/We don't show those new grants in here yet ....
Norton/Tell us about chargebacks ....
This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City council
meeting of June 18, 1997
WS061897
June 18, 1997 Council Work Session page 23
Yucuis/Part of it is Public Works... Treasury Division .... charge back to Water, Sewer,
Refuse .... services we provide for billing and collecting .... administrative expense
chargebacks .....
Atkins/Can we expand it? The answer is yeah .....
Yucuis/ ....City Attorney ....
Atkins/Can we change and expand it? We will see.
Kubby/Under fines and permits .... parking fines it says $5.00 tickets. What happens to
the $3.00 tickets?
Yucuis/Look down in other income in section 9... parking fines transfer to the General
Fund .... policy... if bond covenants are covered... transfer all the fund to the
General Fund ..... parking .....
Kubby/Police service I understand ....
Yucuis/False alarm fees are in there... unlocks ....
Thomberry/
Council/(All talking).
Norton/If we started making any adjustments in these fines and permits and fees... the
number at the bottom could change .... Those are ones that we are going to have to
consider ....
Baker/
Norton/Category 6 would be the last thing you would look at ....
Vanderhoef/ ....Look at stretching out our capital projects.
Yucuis/One line item ... building permits and inspections... historically it has been kind
of up and down ....
Baker/ ....All Other Income.. jump between '97 and '98 in miscellaneous revenue ....
Where does that big jump come from?
This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City council
meeting of June 18, 1997
WS061897
June 18, 1997 Council Work Session page 24
Yucuis/We made a conscious decision in the budget process. Tow things. 1- We said we
were going to transfer money from the Health Insurance Reserve, $200,000. We
have traditionally- We seem to have revenues slightly higher than budgeted ....
equates to $400,000. So we said we are going to... just going to put in a number
for miscellaneous revenue that will occur .....
Norton/Category 7 Contractual services .... assume we are going to hold the fee... last
place we want to kind of figure, fight?... contractual services ....
Kubby/Certain formula...
Yucuis/
Baker/What is the Johnson County contractual-
Yucuis/Library and Senior Center ..... based on average ....
Norton/
Kubby/What about UHts fire contract? Who does- How does UHts pay for fire service?
Atkins/Coralville.
Atkins/... it is very informal... We have talked to them informally about certain things. It
is on the table.
Norton/
Atkins/
Norton/Maybe we can do something with Animal Control and Fire at the same time,
Police .....
Baker/Anybody want to talk about Hotel Motel Tax?
Kubby/Sure.
Norton/Yes.
Atkins/The breakdown is on page 26, fight?...#8?
Kubby/But anything we take out of there-
This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City council
meeting of June 18, 1997
WS061897
June 18, 1997 Council Work Session page 25
Norton/This is the total kitty isn't it?
Kubby/Unless we don't do it any more, it comes from the General Fund.
Norton/I understand, but in other words, to try and increase this particular number isn't...
Lehman/Doesn't do anything.
Atkins/$400,000 is not going to go up. It is how you allocate it.
Kubby/If we all start staying in hotels more frequently here in town.
Nov/Most of that money does go into the General Fund. I think there's a set aside for
parkland to take out and everything.
Yucuis/That's all Hotel/Motel Tax on that line item.
Arkins/So $110,000 to CVB and what was it, about $60,000 to Mercer and whatever that
other...
Yucuis/$220,000 to police.
Baker/Mercer can't raise their fees?
Atkins/Sure. They can raise their fees at Mercer.
Norton/Nothing we do is going to change this number here...
Atkins/ ....the gross number will not change.
Norton/As far as our modifying it-
Atkins/The distributions can change.
Kubby/One example might be that the Parkland Acquisition Fund and Development
Fund doesn't happen for, maybe not the whole four years, maybe two years it is
foregone and then ...it gets planned to start up again ....those kinds of things
would be things I'd be willing to think about.
Baker/ ....four year freeze but refresh my memory again. We've got a large...significant
amount of money in Parkland Acquisition which we don't spend.
This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City council
meeting of June 18, 1997
WS061897
June 18, 1997 Council Work Session page 26
Atkins/It totals over $400,000. The last major expense was Weatherby Park .....
Norton/Didn't we just expand it by 20 acres recently?
Yucuis/We just spent out $92,000 last year.
Atkins/Weatherby Park was the last major purchase we made from our own resources.
Vanderhoef/From the Acquisition...
Lehman/How would you categorize our trail system?
Baker/After so many years without spending money, I lost track...
Lehman/Our trail system is in what?
Atkins/The trail system is in our General Operations under Adaptive Programs, but we
don't have a special source of funding for it.
Vanderhoef/However the Developmental Funds out of Hotel/Motel tax can be used for
that.
Yucuis/We budget for using about $12,000 out of the Development which is the amount
of money that comes from Hotel Motel Tax and about $28,000 from the other
fund for park development. We are budgeting the use of those reserves.
Vanderhoef/
Lehman/I see a definite correlation between trails and parks.
Vanderhoef/
Norton/We will have to go separately and look at the reserve funds... review of all of
those wouldn't hurt.
Atkins/I have heard you say that a couple of times.
Vanderhoef/ .... I would look at switching a little bit more into development and a little
less into acquisition ....
This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City council
meeting of June 18, 1997
WS061897
June 18, 1997 Council Work Session page 27
Thomberry/7% acquisition and 3% development. So if we took the whole 10% and put it
in the General Fund.
Vanderhoef/History of that... acquisition was terribly important ....
Kubby/...problem with open space is in already developed areas ....
Vanderhoef/Place on west side... in-fill ....Longfellow piece... so prohibitive in price ....
Nov/We turned down this Nuezil area also.
Vanderhoef/
Norton/ ....Let's get onto that interest income... we ought to be making bundles, you guys.
Atkins/If you keep reducing the reserves ....
Norton/
Atkins/The Iowa Trust scandal basically hit us up side the head with a board.
Yucuis/We can invest certificates of deposits within our county or an adjacent county
within Iowa ..... It makes it easy to invest the money.
Nov/
Yucuis/On interest income, back in '92 out interest income in the General Fund was
$212,000; $218- in '93; $193,000 in '94; $392- in '95, $486- in '96 .... number has
changed since we did the budget process ....
Norton/You don't project a very fancy future .... conservative, I take it.
Yucuis/We were projecting our cash balances going down.
Council/(All talking).
Nov/Okay, are we ready to move into executive session? .....
Baker/What is our schedule for this issue.
Lehman/We hear back from Steve.
This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City council
meeting of June 18, 1997
WS061897
June 18, 1997 Council Work Session
Atkins/I would like about 30 days... on this.
Nov/Okay.
Atkins/
Council/
Nov/Sounds as if the work session is adjourned.
Adjourned: 3:40 p.m.
page 28
This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City council
meeting of June 18, 1997
WS061897