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HomeMy WebLinkAboutSeptember 11, 2024 Special Meeting (Budget) Council Minutes COMMON COUNCIL OF THE CITY JEFFERSONVILLE, INDIANA September 11, 2024 Special Meeting Minutes The Common Council of the City of Jeffersonville, Indiana met for a Special Meeting on September 11, 2024 in Council Chambers. Council President White along with City Clerk Gill called the meeting to order at 5:03 p.m.The meeting was open to the public in person. ROLL CALL: The roll call was conducted by City Clerk Lisa Gill and those present were Councilperson Burns, Councilperson Anderson, Councilperson Reed, Council President White, Councilperson Webb, Councilperson Hawkins, Councilperson Snelling and Councilperson Stoner. Councilperson Semones was absent. Heaven Williams,Council Youth Advisor was also present. 1. Heather Metcalf-Budget Workshop—Council President White said one concern of his with the current budget they have is it does not include the salaries of all of the City Employees. He asked Mrs. Metcalf to include the Police and Fire contracts in the budget and when that document was sent to Council it showed they were$3,816,695 over budget. His philosophy is at minimum everyone's salaries should be funded for next year. That is people's livelihoods and they shouldn't have to worry about whether or not certain things were going to happen in the future in order for them to get paid. He would like to include all of the salaries and then make the necessary cuts to have a revenue neutral budget and under the same philosophy that was presented with this budget at the first of the Council will make additional appropriations to fill the other line items that were cut. Councilperson Webb asked how much was not budgeted that was needed for the Police and Fire Salaries and if the $2 million that was discussed was included in that number. Council President White said the$2 million that was discussed would come from the levy appeal and that has not been decided at this time,they would not have an answer on that until November or December. Council Vice President Hawkins said his opinion is that even if those salaries are not entered in the budget they will have to be paid because they are contractual obligations. No matter what is reduced or not funded the Council will have to go back at the beginning of 2025 and do additional appropriations to meet department needs. He is not opposed to going through and finding$3.8 million to cut but he is also okay with doing the additional appropriation for Police and Fire Salaries at the beginning of next year. Councilperson Reed said she feels like it really just comes down to what is being appropriated next year because no matter what they choose to not fund with this budget they will appropriate it next year at the beginning of the year. With the levy appeal there's a good chance they will have the funds for everything they just need to decide which one they are going to appropriate later and which one to include in the budget now. Council President White agreed that there is a good chance with the levy appeal they will be able to fund everything but the word chance concerns him when they are discussing being able to fund the salaries. Councilperson Reed asked if something went wrong and they did not get the levy appeal if the Salaries would come out of the additionals and leave them at a 16%surplus, so there is no way that people won't get paid. Council President White said the 16%surplus was in regards to the additional appropriations that were being discussed during Monday's Council Meeting, not in regards to this budget. Councilperson Stoner asked Mrs. Metcalf if there was a precedent for passing a revenue neutral budget now and then including a similar appropriation at the beginning of the year, similar to what is being proposed now. Mrs. Metcalf advised not for the General Fund payroll lines. Councilperson Stoner asked what the Police Chief and Fire Chief though about the situation. JPD Chief Kavanaugh said this discussion is happening at a Council level. They (Police and Fire) are going to be present doing the job they have been doing but the decision needs to remain at a Council level. Chief Kavanaugh stated it was not appropriate for himself or JFD Chief Grant to be a part of the discussion taking place. Councilperson Stoner said he was not comfortable with putting the City at a disadvantage in the months leading up until the beginning of 2025 with significant cuts across the board to the Departments. He would like to move forward as presented and then make the corrections in 2025 without going through and having to find 3.8 million dollars worth of cuts. With the budget adoption being a couple of days away and not having the information about the cuts he does not feel they have time to do that. Council President White asked the Council if they would like for him to make suggested adjustments and contact Heather with them so they are available to look at on Monday. Mrs. Metcalf advised if at all possible she would like to have some direction prior to the meeting on Monday due to the amount of time it takes to generate the budget documents. Councilperson Burns said he agreed that they are contractually obligated to pay the contracts and he does not see any reason why they shouldn't proceed with the budget that they have already been presented. He's not opposed to making changes but the Departments have not had increases in their line items in the last four or five years and he feels if they take the money away it may be difficult to get the money back to them. Councilperson Reed asked for clarification on the discussions that were had about the two different options to proceed forward with the budget. Council President White said from his perspective while they were negotiating the modifications of the contract they knew they would need to expect an additional appropriation for overtime, which is coming to the Council. The discussions were that they would make significant cuts to the budget in 2025 and then people would come to the Council for additional appropriations when needed and that would be a way to determine what is needed and what isn't needed every year. When they negotiated they knew this would be a little over budget or all of them could be true budgets but that would be determined next year. This would also allow for the assessed value in the budget to increase and in 2026 they would not need to make cuts as the budget would catch up with itself so to speak. Councilperson Reed said in her day-to-day job the budget she manages is always slightly padded because they want to be good stewards and make sure if there are any last minute needs within the office they are able to have those addressed and she does not want to take that away from the Department Heads. Council President White said these are not being cut because of what was turned in, it is a necessity because of the increase in the Police and Fire contracts. Council Attorney Wilder reminded the Council the only way an additional appropriation is done is if the Executive says it is needed. Once they remove the money they cannot reappropriate it until the Executive requests that it is reappropriated. Council President White said his philosophy is he wants to make sure everybody's salary is in the budget and it is important to him to know all of the salaries are paid. Councilperson Stoner said he was in support of keeping the budget the way it was presented. Council President White said he was uncomfortable passing a budget that did not fully fund all the salaries. Council President White offered to identify possible cuts and send out recommendations to the Council to see if there was support to amend the budget before the next meeting. Councilperson Reed asked Council Attorney Larry Wilder for clarification regarding if the Council were to cut the budget by a certain amount if the Executive of the City would have to add the new amounts to current budget. Council Attorney Wilder confirmed the Council could only lower the budget, they could not raise it. After further discussion it was decided that Council President White would send out recommended cuts individually to each Council Member and if there was support he would send the information to Mrs. Metcalf for the next Council Meeting. Councilperson Burns made a motion to table the discussion until the next Council Meeting and Councilperson Hawkins seconded the motion. JPD Chief Kavanaugh discussed with the Council the current procedure for invoicing by the Vehicle Maintenance Department for repair work done on City Vehicles. With the current process historically their budget has been short to pay for the repairs and in the past it was not an issue however this year Assistant Chief McVoy advised him that they were looking at being approximately$75,000 short in that line. Chief Kavanaugh said his request was that after their line runs out those invoices would be shifted back to being covered under the Vehicle Maintenance Department. Controller Metcalf advised that the Vehicle Maintenance Department would not have the money in their budget to cover those invoices. Chief Kavanaugh said his department expects to be able to get through the next month with what is left in their budget but after that they would need funds to pay the invoices. Council President White asked Council Attorney Wilder what would need to be done in order to add a line for Professional Services under the Riverstage. Council Attorney Wilder advised the Council could decrease a line however they could not increase the amount in a line. Any line that was decreased, the amount would go back to the General Fund for the Executive to decide where the money would go to. ADJOURNMENT: Councilperson Reed invited everyone out to the Vintage Fire Museum for the 9/11 Ceremony at 7:00 pm. Councilperson Burns made the motion to ADJOURN the meeting at 6:14 p.m. and Councilperson Stoner seconded the motion. APRO D BY: 01/44- ---- kiALX\ Dustin White, President ATTEST: isa Gill, Clerk