HomeMy WebLinkAboutCC AUGUST 29, 2018 BUDGET HEARINNG COMMON COUNCIL OF THE CITY
OF JEFFERSONVILLE, INDIANA
August 29, 2018
The Common Council of the City of Jeffersonville, Indiana met for a budget workshop in the Council
Conference Room, 500 Quartermaster Court,Jeffersonville, Indiana at 6:00 pm, on Wednesday,August
29, 2018.The roll call was conducted and those present were: Councilperson White, Councilperson
Zastawny, Councilperson Jahn, Councilperson Hawkins, Council President Gill, Councilperson Ellis and
Councilperson Samuel. Councilperson Maples was absent from the proceedings. Council President Gill,
with Vicki Conlin, City Clerk, called the Council Workshop to order at 6:06 pm.
1. BUDGET DISCUSSION:
Council President Gill asked that Clerk Conlin be able to present her budget first as she has a
meeting that she needs to leave for. For the Clerk's budget she has made some cuts totaling
over$13,000.
Additionally is page 11 is Police Merit they are requesting to raise the secretary to $2600.Their
overall increase to the budget is around 10,000.
Council President Gill asked if the Salary Ordinance set the pay for the stenographer, or is this
for something different? They are asking in case they have more than one meeting a month.
Councilperson Hawkins asked if they were expecting more activity. They will be hiring more and
the list has to be renewed.
Councilperson Samuel asked if the list is every year. No it's every two years.
Clerk Conlin said additionally some of the testing is due to changing rank.
Councilperson Hawkins asked if we just started that. In 2017 it's nowhere near that.
Clerk Conlin said in 2017 it was very close to what their budget was additionally Police Merit is
now doing medical billing.
Councilperson Jahn pointed out that Fire Merit has had the same jumps.
Clerk Conlin noted she hasn't received anything from Fire Merit so she left it as it was submitted
by the administration.
Council President Gill said in Fire Merit they are being paid if they attend or not, no other board
is like that. She doesn't agree with that and no other boards are like that. She would like for it
to be consistent.
Councilperson Owen said it's his opinion that if they aren't showing up their appointing officer
should be looking at that.
They used to be having 3-4 meetings a month and exceeding the budget amount,that's why
they changed it to the way it is now.
Council President Gill said it was her understanding that they are supposed to be signing a sheet
to get paid.
Councilperson Jahn said she would just like to see it consistent.
City Controller Heather Metcalf presented the 2019 Significant changes for the budget.
There is one small change,there was an error and the shift from General to EDIT should be shift
to LOIT fund number 430.
Council President Gill said she would like to just run down the list.
Performance increase pool—The Department heads only will be moved under the mayor and it
was figured at 3%. It does not include the ones moved up from the minimum. Councilperson
Hawkins confirmed that the people who are already getting a big bump are not getting an
additional increase? Correct. Councilperson Samuel asked how many department heads are
there? Because this seems like a lot? No that is the full amount, but only the amount for the
Department Heads will be moved under the Mayor's budget.
Planning and Zoning—outside of police and fire this is the only new employee. Planning and
Zoning Director Nathan Pruitt has expressed a need for an administrative assistant and this is
the only department without one.
Councilperson Samuel asked Controller Metcalf to explain the fuel-we are lowering-that fund
currently has over 1,000,000. This year it seems to be much higher. They are asking for the
additional from the surplus fund. Councilperson Hawkins confirmed that they budgeted
768,000 and are asking for an additional appropriation from their surplus. Controller Metcalf
said they are just asking to put less into the surplus. In the past they haven't been spending as
much.
Councilperson Samuel said it seems like they are looking to spend all of their budgeted plus an
additional 300,000.
Councilperson Jahn asked if anyone had any thoughts for the positions for Planning and Zoning—
Council President Gill met with Mr. Pruitt and he presented the caseload. Councilperson
Hawkins agreed that Mr. Pruitt gave a lot of numbers that were supportive of the need.
Controller Metcalf said that they have $875,000 for fuel. Since we are decreasing the amount of
fuel going in there we will decrease the amount we budget for.
Council President Gill said the the reason Mr. Caldwell gave is more gas guzzling vehicles, and
she doesn't see that going down in the future.
Councilperson Owen asked didn't the council pass an ordinance a number of years ago about
the types of vehicles that can be purchased? Is that not followed?
Councilperson Zastawny said that safety is exempt from that Ordinance.
Councilperson Samuel asked what we propose we are going to spend this year, it seems
reasonable to expect that we are going to spend next year. Fine with us utilizing some of what
we have built up. He just does not want to burn through their reserves.
Council President Gill said what we add somewhere we have to cut somewhere else.
Councilperson Samuel said he is in support of using some reserve, he's not against that just not
draining the whole amount.
Councilperson White asked if' there is a surplus in the fund? Yes a million dollars.
Councilperson Hawkins said the surplus fund almost would be depleted if we follow this trend.
What would we do the next year? Controller Metcalf said there could potentially be an extra
60-70,000 in revenue that you could use to accommodate for that.
Councilperson Ellis said when we look at the past it would be easier to approve the budget as
presented and prepare for the additional appropriations and to fund them. He doesn't see any
point in changing or cutting what the mayor submitted. Until we take a stand on what we will
approve additional appropriations on they will keep coming.
Councilperson Samuel said he feels very confident that they will not make it through the year on
that amount and he is not okay with under appropriating what they will need.
Councilperson Ellis said again he would like to see them transfer before any additional
appropriation is approved.
Councilperson Jahn said she would like to hear the justification for why this was proposed. It is
because they want a revenue neutral budget.
Council President Gill asked when do we normally get our certified AV? Controller Metcalf said
it should be now but they are still working on it.
Councilperson Samuel said we've had a couple of different ideas, at what point are we going to
make a decision on this.
Councilperson Jahn said they could cut the funding for the ice rink to make up for some of the
additional money needed.
Councilperson Hawkins said he is all for the revenue neutral budget but it needs to be realistic.
The Council began discussing the pay for board members again.
Councilperson Ellis said that nobody gets a stipend on the Parks Board.This is because it used to
be the Council.
Councilperson Samuel said that Public Arts doesn't have a stipend either.
Councilperson Zastawny said one way to fund the additional dollars needed is to not fund as
many firefighters.
Councilperson Jahn asked if the $400,000 is that for new vehicles for the Vehicle Maintenance.
It's for new chippers and replacing old vehicles that can no longer get parts for.
Councilperson Ellis said they used to buy their own vehicles, why is vehicle maintenance buying
them?
Councilperson Samuel asked if every department has a gas card to tie it back to how much it
spends. Can you split up based on current usage?
Controller Metcalf said she can get a report of whose vehicle used what, but she's not sure
that's going to find 300,000.
Councilperson Samuel said that Mr. Caldwell only has leverage over his people. So he can't
really control this budget since it is tied across departments. If nobody is accountable, by not
doing that you can't manage and see what is normal.
Controller Metcalf agreed it would bring to light how much is being used.
Councilperson Ellis said some people would use a lot of fuel so they would the fuel card from
others.
Councilperson Samuel said this is more for accountability.
Councilperson Owen said there is software that can track the fuel usage.
Councilperson Ellis recommended eliminating take home cars.
Councilperson Jahn said she is thinking about future Council.
Controller Metcalf said there is about$51,000 unappropriated revenues in conservatively
estimated revenues.
Council President Gill asked if the Council is going to decrease this even though we know we
need it because we want to fund 6 new firefighters, 3 new police officers, etc.
Councilperson Hawkins asked if we give add six new firefighters why do we need to increase
overtime for Fire. Make the fuel a million, don't increase the overtime and don't purchase one
of the vehicles.
Councilperson Zastawny said the issue is operational costs and capital costs aren't really
interchangeable. Capital tends to be a one-time expense.
Councilperson Hawkins said he does think they need more firefighters. He is not sure of the
Police situation. He's okay with increasing the fire.
Councilperson White asked if he was okay with increasing it to 12 and using the surplus to do so.
Councilperson Hawkins said no.
Council President Gill said the surplus took years to build.
Councilperson Hawkins recommended to increase the fuel to a million, reduce the fire, lose the
ice rink, talk to chief about the police, and don't buy one of the trucks.
Councilperson Ellis said at some point sanitation is going to have more employees,just barely
making it work with what they have.
Councilperson Jahn said she would like to find the $250,000. Fire overtime is one of the places
to look.
Councilperson Owen asked will those 6 new employees cover the overtime.
Councilperson Hawkins said that is a risk he's willing to take.
Councilperson Samuel said 3 firefighters, not 6 that's where he stands. Why other than we need
it. He is concerned that we are spending every penny of LOIT. LOIT and EDIT are traditionally
what we spend for capital stuff. If we spend every penny, we aren't growing the surplus.
Controller Metcalf said the revenue we are budgeting for 2019 is the exact as for 2018. There
will be an increase, but she's not sure what that is right now.
Council President Gill said that Councilperson Maples will have a meeting for the 911 increase.
Councilperson Ellis said we have committed the Spring Street Project, and we don't have any
additional dollars for that.
Councilperson Owen said that is why he was against funding it in phases.
Councilperson Zastawny said we need to determine what the philosophy is as a Council and stick
with it.
Councilperson Owen said he agrees with the administration needing the 6 firefighters.
Councilperson White said the Council has talked an hour and twenty one minutes, lets either
approve what the mayor put out there or make changes.
Councilperson Zastawny said they all note the street department needing people, Spring Street,
etc. If they were serious about those they would be making changes so they could be feasibly
possible.
Councilperson Hawkins recommended getting the fuel to a million, increasing the revenue by
60,000, and defunding a truck.
Council President Gill asked where did that million come from? $800,00 from Redevelopment
and $200,00 from donations. Are they in hand? Yes. Revenue is not going anywhere. All of the
donations we were going to get have been received. We can lower that amount to the cash.
Councilperson Jahn said it seems like bumping the fuel cost up to 1,000,000 would get us up to
likes Heather's proposal of Councilperson Hawkins' proposal.
Councilperson Jahn asked about the Ice Rink. Council President Gill said she does not support it.
Councilperson Samuel said he's for cutting things, but it seems like they are picking and
choosing where we see a number we like.
Councilperson Jahn said historically they have not been anywhere near the expenses in terms of
revenue for the Ice Rink.
Controller Metcalf said she would like to have the numbers finalized by the 12th in order to get
them to the Clerks office on time for the meeting. She will speak with Human Resources
Director Kim Calabro about the payment for the Boards, she will change the fuel fund and
increase the revenues and decrease the Fieldhouse to represent the accurate amount to date.
She will also insert the Clerk's budget and Police Merit.
Councilperson White said in the past when he has said that they will have more money than
they plan it is not just a statement, he has looked over historically and they do have more
money to budget then they plan on and he suspects that will be the case again this year.
MOTION to ADJOURN:
Councilperson Jahn made a motion to ADJOURN 7:39 PM.
APPS;VED BY: ,
Scott }-\-p,uAi rus c e R eS cue n c
ATTEST:
Vicki Conlin, City Clerk