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PRESENT: |
Satish Hiremath, Mayor
Mary Snider, Vice Mayor
Barry Gillaspie, Councilmember
Joe Hornat, Councilmember
Steve Solomon, Councilmember
Lou Waters, Councilmember
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| ABSENT: |
Bill Garner, Councilmember
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Mayor Hiremath announced that speaker cards would be accepted for the Special Session.
Helen Dankwerth, Oro Valley resident, said that the Friends of the Library would be donating $15,000 to be used for the library’s collections budget. She also stated that the Friends were prepared to match the funding allocated by the Town for the library collections in the next fiscal year.
Councilmember Solomon, Council liaison for the Historic Preservation Commission (HPC), said he had been impressed with all of the applicants who were willing to donate their time to the HPC.
MOTION: A motion was made by Councilmember Solomon and seconded by Councilmember Waters to Appoint Barb R. Campbell to the Historic Preservation Commission for a term expiring December 31, 2013.
MOTION carried, 6-0.
Stacey Lemos, Finance Director, provided information on the revised state-shared revenue projections. She said the estimate was higher than anticipated. Although the HURF tax estimate was $85,000 higher than originally projected, it was still below the current year collections. The increases in the HURF fund and the state-shared sales taxes in the General Fund, as well as personnel cost adjustments, had resulted in a revised lowered deficit amount in the General Fund of approximately $2.6 million dollars, which was $500,000 lower than the original estimate of $3.1 million. The Highway Fund deficit had been reduced by approximately $87,000.
Ms. Lemos said staff had prepared an interactive spreadsheet to allow Council to plug in different deficit closing measures to see what the impacts would be on the General Fund. The measures included: utility tax increase; full cost recovery from enterprise funds; one-time use of Bed Tax cash reserves; elimination of Coyote Run; elimination of phone system replacement; deferment of additional CIP; elimination of library collections funding; and miscellaneous personnel salary savings.
Council reviewed how the following items would affect the budget: a 3% utility tax instead of 4%; .25% sales tax increase; lower health insurance bids; 2% bonus to employees with an annual salary of $60,000 or less; Police Department step increases; and liquor license fee increases.
Craig Civalier, Town Engineer, reviewed the Highway Fund budget and programs. He said pavement management and street maintenance were critical to maintaining quality roads in the Town. The annual cost to maintain the streets at their current level was $1.2 million. If the Town failed to maintain the streets and allowed them to deteriorate, after just 5 years, it would cost up to $64 million to return them to their current condition.
Mr. Civalier said staff had been exploring intergovernmental agreements with other jurisdictions in an effort to save costs. There had been discussions with Marana but Marana did not have the staff to cover anything other than routine preventative maintenance. He said $430,000 was budgeted for fleet maintenance and that amount did not include fuel costs.
Police Chief Danny Sharp provided information regarding the take-home vehicle program. The focus of the program was to sustain public safety. The life expectancy of a take-home vehicle was 7-8 years and the life-expectancy of a pool vehicle was 5 years. A take home vehicle was not a perk but helped provide better service to the community. There were many examples of how take-home vehicles saved time and money when providing service.
Mayor Hiremath said two speaker cards had been received.
Bill Adler, Oro Valley resident, said the Town needed to work toward financial stability instead of increasing risk which was not sustainable. The Town was overly dependent on state and local tax revenues. The Town should up-zone vacant land to higher densities to attract commercial and residential activity. He wanted to increase the quality of service, not the quantity.
John Musolf, Oro Valley resident, said there were structural problems with the budget and the Town needed to raise revenues and reduce expenditures.
Council asked follow-up questions of staff and discussed various budget items.
Mayor Hiremath said the budget was a step-by-step process and there had been a combination of expense cuts, responsible growth and revenue increases. Citizens did not mind paying for a superior quality of life. Town departments were efficient in cutting expenses but any additional cuts would result in a mediocre community and citizens should be made aware of that.
Ms. Lemos asked for clarification when staff brought forward the Town Manager’s recommended budget. Did Council want the budget to include the following options - increases to the utility sales tax and retail sales tax and raises for the employees?
Council was in favor of a one-time bonus for employees with an annual salary of $60,000 or less and reinstatement of step plan increases, as well as the sales tax increases.