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HomeMy WebLinkAboutBudget Workshop Sept. 25, 2014JEFFERSONVILLE CITY COUNCIL BUOGET WORKSHOP Tuesday, September 25, 2014- Council 014Council Chambers The Common Council of the City of Jeffersonville met in a budget workshop on Wednesday, September 25, 2014_ Council President Julius called the meeting to order at 6:00PM and members present were: Councilperson Samuel, Councilperson Sellers, Councilperson Payne, Council Vice President Gill, Councilperson Smith, Councilperson Glover, Councilperson Owen, and Councilperson Zastawny_ Also present were: Council Attorney Scott Lewis, Corporate Attorney Les Merkley, Controller Amy leering, Assistant Controller Heather Metcalf, Building Commissioner Larry Wallace, IT Director Matt Oyer, and City Court Judge Ken Pierce. Law Department Corporate Attorney Merkley stated that the only increase in the Law Department is $2,500 for Advertisement. Mr. Merkley explained that his department has to run advertisements in publications for hearings and public hearings. They currently have to track down the appropriate department to pay the bill for the advertising and it would be a lot easier to just have his office pay the bill when it comes in. Council members agreed with this increase. Board of Public Works Mr. Merkley stated that the only significant line item is the new City Share for $500,000 and this is the non-LOIT portion of the 911 payment_ Mr_ Merkley explained that this isn't an increase, they are just moving money over from the dispatchers and the police to help offset their payment for 911 making the overall net increase for 911 $300,000_ Council discussed taking the $500,000 out of the General Fund and placing it under LOIT and Council members agreed to make this change_ Councilperson Sellers made a motion to zero out the $500,000 from the BPW City Share line item and move the money to LOIT allowing the entire cost of 911 to come out of LOIT, with Councilperson Smith seconding, PASSING on a vote of 9-0. Vice President Gill stated that the Stenographer line item needs to be removed due to the State Statute stating payment cannot be made when minutes are taken during City time_ President Julius questioned the increase in the Postage line item and recommended lowering the budgeted amount from $40,000 to $30,000. Council questioned the Professional Services line item and Ms. Deering stated that it was for ProMedia and Vice President Gill stated that they weren't going to do that again, explaining that they had workshops where they discussed removing ProMedia only to have the BPW put it back in the budget. Mr_ Merkley stated that the contract between ProMedia and the BPW is for monthly Video and News Releases (VNR) only. Mr. Merkley stated that the BPW used the money that they already had in their budget for the VNR_ President Julius recommended moving Professional Services to the Parks Department for further review. Councilperson Smith made a motion to move Professional Services, $52,370, to the Park's Department, with Vice President Gill seconding_ Councilperson Smith Councilperson Zastawny Councilperson Payne Councilperson Sellers Vice President Gill President Julius Councilperson Glover Councilperson Owen Councilperson Samuel Aye Nay x x x x After the roll call votes, the motion to move the Professional Services line item, $52,370, from BPW to the Park's Department PASSED on a vote of 6-3. Council questioned Contractual Services line item for $30,000 with Ms. Deering explaining that it was for the Homeless Task Force Contract. This contract is a one-year contract with $15,000 from Council and $15,000 from Redevelopment. Councilperson Samuel made a motion to remove the Contractual Services for Homeless for 2015, with Councilperson Sellers seconding. Aye Nay Councilperson Smith x Councilperson Zastawny x Councilperson Payne x Councilperson Sellers x Vice President Gill x President Julius x Councilperson Glover x Councilperson Owen x Councilperson Samuel x After the roll call votes, the motion PASSED on a vote of 9-0. Mayor Mr. Merkley stated that there are no increases in the Mayor's budget. President Julius asked why there was $100 in Overtime and $87 in Professional Services and Mr. Merkley stated that he has no idea why they are in the budget and should both be taken out. Councilperson Zastawny made a motion to APPROVE the Mayor's budget with the deletions, with Councilperson Payne seconding, PASSING on a vote of 9-0. Building Commissioner Mr. Wallace stated that the title Secretary should not be listed on the Building Commissioner's budget. Councilperson Sellers stated that they will be pulling the $35,000 in his Vehicles line item for 2015 and place it into Capital Expenditures. Councilperson Sellers advised Mr. Wallace to follow the ordinance that's in place regarding the purchase of vehicles and also bring any purchase requests to the Finance meeting. Mr. Wallace indicated that he raised the Uniforms line item from $800 to $1,500 for 2015. Councilperson Samuel made a motion to APPROVE the budget with the changes, with Vice President Sellers seconding, PASSING on a vote of 9-0. Building Authority Mr. Wallace stated that there are no changes to the budget and hopes that they won't have the major expenses that they had last year on the (City Hall) building. Councilperson Payne made a motion to APPROVE the budget, with Councilperson Owen seconding. Councilperson Samuel asked Mr. Wallace if there will be additional expenses due to the Police Department moving to another building and asked if the Improvements line items would cover any of that type of expense for remodeling and Mr. Wallace stated that it could, but those expenses will probably be taken out of the Reserve Fund. President Julius explained that as the building (City Hall) ages, more money will be needed to keep up with its repairs, so money should be kept in a reserve fund and continue to build it up over the years. After discussion, the motion PASSED on a vote of 9-0. IT Department Mr. Dyer stated that his budget has increased $52,875 in the Software/Hardware line item for 2015, due to the fact that he is looking to go to virtualization of the servers. Mr. Dyer explained that once he gets more details on this new hardware, he will present it to the Council. Mr. Dyer stated that the Part Time line item is an error and should have been taken out a long time ago. Councilperson Samuel questioned the Contractual Services and Training line items noting that they haven't been used much in 2014. Mr. Dyer explained that the costs fluctuate on contractual services as does training for new software. Mr. Dyer stated that he likes to keep this money available, but if the money doesn't get used, the funds go back to Council. Councilperson Sellers made the motion to APPROVE the budget for 2015, with Councilperson Payne seconding, PASSING on a vote of 9-0. Finance Department Ms. Deering stated that the major change in the Finance budget is the reduction in the Equipment line item due to the payoff of the BSA and the timekeeping moving to Ms. Calabro in Human Resources. Councilperson Sellers suggested an increase of $1,500 in the Training line item raising it to $3,000. Ms. Metcalf stated that next year they will not have to advertise the full budget as they have in the past since it can be accessed on the DLGF Gateway website, which will be a huge savings in the advertising budget line item. Councilperson Owen made a motion to APPROVE the budget for 2015 as amended, with Councilperson Samuel seconding, PASSING on a vote of 9-0. City Council Councilperson Samuel suggested taking the Concerts in the Parks line item and raise it from $9,000 to $10,000, explaining that they have little budget to work with and they draw huge crowds. President Julius suggested also raising Jeff Main Street's line item from $29,000 to $35,000 explaining that they do a lot of good work for the City of Jeffersonville. Councilperson Samuel asked Ms. Deering to confirm that she will be adding a line item for all the things they're moving (Performance Pool and Capital) to the Council's budget and will total that amount for their review and Ms. Deering stated she would do so. Councilperson Samuel explained that it is his understanding that the Performance Increase Pool line item for each department is to be pulled out of each budget and placed under City Council to keep departments from distributing raises before they should. Councilperson Owen stated that he would rather wait for further information on the Council's budget before voting on it and the rest of the Council agreed. Cum Cap Councilperson Samuel requested the line item called Improvements -Beautification be renamed Public Arts. Councilperson Sellers asked Councilperson Samuel if Public Arts intends to have fundraisers like Beautification does in order to help support themselves. Councilperson Sellers explained that since Council asks the other groups to have fundraisers, it's only fair to ask the same of the Public Arts Committee. Councilperson Samuel stated that the Arts Administrator was supposed to be in charge of fundraising, but that hasn't happened. Councilperson Samuel explained that the four -member committee is unable to handle the fundraising so the future plan is to hire a City employee to be the Arts Administrator who would have the responsibility of fundraising. Councilperson Glover suggested the line item be renamed Improvements-Beautification/Public Arts rather than just Public Arts. Councilperson Sellers made a motion to APPROVE the line item name change from Improvements -Beautification to Improvements-Beautification/Public Arts, with Vice President Gill seconding, PASSING on a vote of 9-0. City Court President Julius asked Judge Pierce why he has taken his personal salary from $54,325.92 to $36,400 and Judge Pierce explained that he met with SBOA Charlie Pride and Mr. Robertson who confirmed that he could take some burden off of the General Fund by taking 2/3 of his salary from the General Fund and 1/3 from the Probation Department. Judge Pierce stated that he has done this previously and that they agreed this was more than okay to do. Judge Pierce explained that in mid -2012, he had a meeting with Mr. Pride, Mr. Robertson and (he believes) Ms. Conlin and they agreed that it was okay to do the 2/3 and 1/3 and it was okay to move some of his General Fund staff to the Probations User Fund staff. Judge Pierce stated that this is dollars saved that can be taken out of the General Fund and used to hire extra officers. Judge Pierce stated he received approval in the past and it's his position tonight to request the Council do the same for 2015. Councilperson Sellers stated that when she attended the exit interview with SBOA officials Chris, Mayme and Karen, they specifically stated that some of the PUF Funds had not been used correctly. Judge Pierce stated that he would be happy to sit down with Mr. Pride, Mr. Robertson and a member of the Council to discuss. Councilperson Sellers stated that she is going to defer to Council Attorney Scott Lewis. Attorney Lewis stated that the Indiana Supreme Court decision trumps anything else that the SBOA might say. Attorney Lewis read the following case to the City Council members that clearly states how the PUF Funds can be used: The statute affirmatively sets forth the purposes for which money in the fund is to be spent to "supplement adult probation services" and to "supplement the salaries of probation officers." And it prohibits spending on anything else, including an explicit prohibition on "replac(ing) other funding of probation services." The legislative intent here is unmistakable. The money in the fund may only be used to "supplement," i.e., to fund new, or increases in existing, probation services and to fund increases in the salaries of probation officers. It may not be used as the source of funding for probation services previously paid from other sources. Second, as described in footnote one, supra, the statute also authorizes a "local supplemental adult probation services fund" where city or town courts have adult probation services programs. I.C. § 35-38-2-1(g). This money is subject to exactly the same provisions as that in a county supplemental adult probation services fund, including the provision that money not revert at the end of the year — with one exception. Any money remaining in the local supplemental adult probation services fund at the end of the local fiscal year in a county with a population of more than 182,790, but less than 200,000, "may be appropriated by the city or town fiscal body to the city or town court for use by the court for purposes determined by the fiscal body." Id. § 1(j). Only where the local supplemental adult probation services fund of a city or town court in Elkhart County has an unexpended balance, and only at the end of the year, may the money be spent for purposes other than supplementing probation services or probation officer salaries. The limited nature of this exception again illustrates how narrowly the Legislature viewed the grant of spending authority. Attorney Lewis stated that if Council passes Judge Pierce's budget the way he is advocating, it will be in violation of the Indiana Supreme Court decision. Judge Pierce stated that he knows that his budget is going to be turned down by the Council, he just wants to make his position clear that he is trying to save money. President Julius stated that Council wants to save money as much as anyone, but Judge Pierce needs to appreciate the fact that if the Council's attorney is telling them they shouldn't do it, they aren't going to go against him. Judge Pierce stated that he feels like he is getting some "do as I say, not as I do" and apologized to the Council. • Councilperson Sellers asked if there was an error in the Travel and Mileage line item since it had increased from $1,000 to $54,000 for 2015. Judge Pierce stated that the money in that line item had previously been used for the "Lunch with Judge Pierce Program" where middle school children visit City Hall, ride in a Police Car, meet the Mayor and go to lunch with the Judge. Judge Pierce stated that this line item also pays for gas and mileage to bring prisoners over from the jail and then Anne Langley in the Police Department gives him a breakdown of all the costs and stated that this is "once again him trying to save the City money any way possible explaining that it's a way of getting $54,000 back into the General Fund". Councilperson Sellers stated that the money the Judge is referring to was brought before the Council by Anne Langley when she was Council President and it was $40,000 for the bailiff, the officer who transported prisoners and the officer who stayed in the court; however, Judge Pierce has changed his bailiff to Stacy Kelly. Judge Pierce explained that the officers transport the prisoners, Stacy Kelly is his bailiff. Councilperson Smith asked the Council if they should keep Judge Pierce's 2015 budget the same as the 2014 budget until all of these issues can be resolved. Councilperson Sellers stated that she recommends keeping the PUF Funds the same as they were last year and keep the Probation Officers increases as last year with the 51/49 split. Judge Pierce stated that Ms. Kelly's salary is statutory - the same as the Probation Officers. Judge Pierce suggested a non -reverting fund that could be used for Probation type purposes such as prevention and education. Judge Pierce stated that kids who attend his "Lunch with Judge Pierce Program" will hopefully not become criminals, and the student resources officer coming in to help also falls under prevention (law enforcement). Councilperson Samuel asked Judge Pierce if there were any other increases in his budget and he stated that per state statute, his bailiff is to be paid pursuant to the salary of a starting law enforcement officer. Councilperson Sellers stated that we need to get an opinion on this statute. Mr. Lewis disagreed with Judge Pierce's interpretation of the state statute for his bailiff's pay. Judge Pierce stated that he hasn't received proof or opinion explaining why it's not proper. Judge Pierce stated that he objects that Mr. Lewis is advising this Council on fiscal issues when he advises the County Council on fiscal issues as well stating that fiscal decisions in this building inextricably affects the County budget. Judge Pierce stated that as a tax payer, he felt that he had to voice his concern about the conflict. Councilperson Glover made a motion to revert the City Court's budget back to 2014, and whatever the state statute says is a requirement in raising salaries for the Probation Officers, we do so for 2015, and also appropriate this money in the future, with Councilperson Sellers seconding, PASSING on a vote of 9-0. Judge Pierce asked the Council if they would like for him to forward the bailiff's statute to them for their review and they stated yes, and asked him to be sure Attorney Lewis also gets a copy. Councilperson Smith asked to make a couple of comments relating to the previous budget workshop: Would like for Chief Eric Hedrick to get some additional quotes for the SCBA's stating that it is too much money to simply give to one company without first getting quotes. Also, would like for him to provide an itemized list of the improvements to Station #3. President Julius requested Councilperson Smith to relay these messages to Chief Hedrick. Councilperson Owen made a motion to ADJOURN at 7:50pm with Councilperson Glover seconding, PASSING on a vote of 9-0. Vicki Conlin, Clerk Dennis Julius resident