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HomeMy WebLinkAboutBUDGET WORKSHOP AUUST 24, 2015COMMON COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF JEFFERSONVILLE, INDIANA AUGUST 24, 2015 The Common Council of the City of Jeffersonville, Indiana met for budget workshops in Room 101, 500 Quartermaster Court, Jeffersonville, Indiana at 5:00 pm, on Monday, August 24, 2015. Council President Gill, with Vicki Conlin, City Clerk, called the meeting to order at 5:55 pm. The roll call was conducted and those present were: Councilperson Smith, Councilperson Wadsworth, Councilperson Sellers, Councilperson Webb, Council President Gill, Councilperson Julius, Councilperson Owen, and Councilperson Samuel. Councilperson Zastawny was not present at the meeting. Assistant City Controller Heather Metcalf went over the materials she provided to the Council. There was a copy of salaries of City employees as requested by the Council, there was a copy of an up to date expenditure list from each department based off of the 2015 budget and there was a list of significant changes to the 2016 budget (significant defined as greater than $1000.00). The circuit breaker was estimated at $3,000,000. Council President Gill requested input from the Council members on how they would like to proceed. Council President Gill stated last year they pulled any new hires as well as all capitol over an initial $5000 and performance pools to the Council's budget until after the Circuit Breaker in March and then moving it back to the department's budgets after the Circuit Breaker. This required Department Heads to come before the Council to request these things if they were needed before the Circuit Breaker. Councilperson Webb asked Assistant Controller Metcalf if she had seen any health insurance premiums to compare what ours could go to because from what he has heard they are going up considerably. Assistant Controller Metcalf stated what is in the proposed budget allows for a 15% increase and they are planning on anywhere between a 12-15% increase in premiums. Councilperson Webb then asked about Liability Insurance and wanted to know if the City was going to increase that as well. Assistant Controller Metcalf initially stated that was all included in that and City Clerk Vicki Conlin corrected her stating they were separate matters completely. Property and Casualty Insurance will not be able to be determined until the 2015 claims are completed because there are quite a few still not submitted. City Clerk Conlin recommended that the next time the Safety Director and Human Resources Director sits down with the Agent from the Liability Insurance that a member of the Council be present. Based off of an email the agent stated he expected the premium to stay relatively the same with an increase only in the single digits. Clerk Conlin suspects it will be the higher end of the single digits. Assistant Controller Metcalf stated as far as the Health Insurances costs go, that money is set in a different account completely and they watch how it is spent. It was budgeted at $5,000,000 for this year and that the $5,000,000 will work out for next year as well. Councilperson Sellers pointed out that that is only the case if there are not a lot of claims since we are self-insured and if we have a few people get seriously ill next year than the $5,000,000 could dwindle very quickly and then we would only have $273,000 in the general fund and there would be no money to move and it has happened before that the Council has had to move a half of a million dollars into the health care account because of the amount of claims in a given year. City Clerk Conlin stated they Council had put in for $6,000,000 in the Council budget but it only reflects the $5,000,000. Assistant Controller Metcalf stated that was because of the amount that was in the bank account now. City Clerk Conlin requested clarification that when they submitted their budget at $6,000,000 should that not be the amount reflected in the new budget. Assistant Controller Metcalf stated that amount was changed. Council President Gill stated she had told them to move it back to what the Council had submitted. Metcalf stated they could change it back. Conlin again asked, "They (the Council) submitted the budget, should it not reflect what they submitted?" Metcalf again responded with it had been changed and that all of the department heads met with the Mayor and changed the amount from that meeting. Councilperson Smith advised that he would like to change it back to the $6,000,000 because of the rising cost of health care. Councilperson Samuel asked if Metcalf knew what all was changed because we want to make sure we know exactly what is changed. Council President Gill stated she had went up to the Finance department and requested that it go back to exactly what the Council submitted. Councilperson Owen asked who submitted the budget on behalf of the Council. Council President Gill stated City Clerk Conlin did after working on it with Council President Gill and Councilperson Sellers. Councilperson Owen stated even though it was the Council's budget he didn't remember having a meeting about the budget. Council President Gill stated it had to be submitted quickly and despite reaching out to set up a meeting nobody else responded. Councilperson Julius asked Metcalf if when the Council approved the 3% increase on salaries if that included the department heads as well or just their employees. Metcalf stated it did include department heads and that the Mayor did those reviews. City Engineer Budget: City Engineer Andy Crouch presented his budget with Administrative Assistant Becky Snelling Assisting. Mr. Crouch discussed plans to replaced old traffic signals and stated any time he ever has money left over in his budget they identify signals that need replacing. Councilperson Samuel proposed to move the performance pools and $30,000 of the Traffic Signals line to the Council's budget until after the Circuit Breaker and then it will be returned to the Engineer budget. Council President Gill commended Mr. Crouch on being so budget conscious and respecting the use of his City vehicle stating she is always seeing him drive his own personal vehicle to and from work and sometimes even throughout the business day. Vehicle Maintenance Budget: Vehicle Maintenance Director Bubby Vissing presented the Vehicle Maintenance Budget along with Administrative Assistant Beck Snelling. General laborer position will be for shop help, paperwork, and overall shop upkeep. Council moved this line to their budget to be returned after the Circuit Breaker as well as all except $20,000 for capitol under the Equipment line. Parks Department Budget: Parks Director Paul Northam presented the budget for the Parks Department. Council President Gill informed Mr. Northam of how they are reviewing the budget and that all new hires will be returned to the department budget after the 2016 Circuit Breaker. Councilperson Samuel informed Mr. Northam that because of when his busy season is, if there is a need to hire additional employees prior to the move then they will need to hear the case for it as soon as the need arises and not to get behind just because the Circuit Breaker has not passed. Council President Gill reminded Mr. Northam that in the Finance Committee meeting he stated he was not sure if he wanted to fund the "Smokin' on the River". Councilperson Owen inquired about the funding for the employees and Mr. Northam stated $60,000 is for two new employees for Greenspace. Councilperson Sellers asked if the Council wanted to discuss the future of the Green Team since it failed this past year and if they wanted to look at rewriting the job description or how to proceed with that funding. Councilperson Samuel stated it seems without questions we need to be on top of all landscaping and mowing. The Council discussed what the lead position should look like for the Green Team and if a professional should be brought in to help with overseeing the team. Councilperson Sellers also brought up that we need to look at the fact that the Big 4 is going to be handed over to the City to maintain and it will no longer be taken care of by Redevelopment along with the marina. Councilperson Sellers stated all of the programs that we offer for free we could charge for as opposed to taking hit out of the Parks Authority budget. Mr. Northam stated that he would still like to do the Green Team just not to the extent that they had originally planned. Mr. Northam stated he has some things that are not specifically outlined in his budget so he has to go from one line to the next to determine if he can take money from each line for the expense. Councilperson Sellers stated that is not sticking true to a budget and those expenses need to be outlined in detailed so the Council can see exactly where the money is going. Mr. Northam stated another item he has to find additional money for is holiday decorations and that the Christmas lights have to be replaced just about every year along with decorations for Easter and other various holidays. Councilperson Sellers suggested making a line for Holidays and dedicating a certain amount of funds annually for holiday decorations and if that was spent then the department would need to come before the Council to ask for additional funds. There was money outlined in the Parks Authority budget for Smokin' on the River. Mr. Northam stated if the Parks Authority decided not to fund that then they considered doing another National act for the Riverstage entertainment. Councilperson Webb stated some offset of the cost could come from Thunder over Louisville where people could bid out the docks. There was also discussion about the Summer Camp program. Councilperson Sellers asked what the charge was for the Holiday World Tickets. Mr. Northam stated it is covered in the cost of the program and he believes the program breaks even. Council Attorney cautioned that someone needed to check with our Insurance Company to see if our Liability Insurance covered outings off of City property. Mr. Northam stated he had never checked but he would. Mr. Lewis stated it could get very risky legally if we are taking children off of City property without the correct insurance. APPROVED BY: Lisa ill, President AVFESTED BY: Vicki Conlin, City Clerk