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HomeMy WebLinkAboutTB Minutes 1996-08-14 TOWN OF 1THACA SPECIAL TOWN BOARD MEETING AUGUST 14 1996 5;00 P, M. At a Special Meeting of the Town Board of the Town of Ithaca , Tompkins County, New York held at the Town Hall , 126 East Seneca Street , Ithaca , New York there were present : PRESENT : Catherine Valentino , Town Supervisor, Carolyn Grigorov, Councilwoman ; David Klein , Councilman; Ellen Harrison , Councilwoman ; Mary Russell , Councilwoman ; John P . Wolff, Councilman . EXCUSED : Edward Conley, Councilman . ALSO PRESENT : Joan Lent Noteboom , Town Clerk/ Director of Administrative Services ; Daniel Walker, Director of Engineering ; Fred Noteboom , Highway Superintendent ; Jonathan Kanter, Director of Planning . EXCUSED : John Barney, Attorney for the Town ; Andrew Frost , Director of Building and Zoning . CALL TO ORDER : Supervisor Valentino called the meeting to order at 5 : 05 p . m . , and led the assemblage in the Pledge of Allegiance . Supervisor Valentino stated that the purpose of this meeting was for a budget workshop . Mrs. Noteboom no A packet was handed out to each Board Member, that contains requests from each Department Head on information about their 1997 budgets . Included are some additional notations from Mr. Frost of Building and Zoning . There is a spreadsheet which incorporates all the requests with different columns for each category. The first column is the description , the second column is the account number. The staff used the December 31 financial report which was used during the 1995 budget process . The numbers may not reflect the actuals that were reported on the 1994 Annual Report. This was the closest the staff could come to getting a document with the most correct numbers . Councilman Wolff - Are these numbers more reliable? Mrs. Noteboom - Yes. The actual for 1995 in the next column that was reported for those accounts to the State Comptroller's office. It was decided to start the basis of the budget on this year and use those numbers to correct or adjust the way they need to be . Those are what the staff will be using . The adopted 1996 column is what the Town Board adopted as the budget last year, with the exception any adjustments made due to errors that were corrected in January. This is the budget the Town staff has worked with since January 1996 . Supervisor Valentino - Do these have the corrections? TOWN BOARD MINUTES 2 AUGUST 14, 1996 Mrs. Noteboom - Yes . The 1996 year to date amounts shown are as either received or appropriat up to June 30, 1996. Some of the amounts may not be accurate , but it would take too much time to go back to check each voucher. Some of the accounts were not properly used in the beginning of the year. Staff felt these were the best numbers for Department Heads to use to budget . The next column is for the Department Heads recommendations based on the documents filled out for the Town Board at the last special meeting . The spreadsheet is set up so that after any additions or deletions tonight , the numbers can be changed . Eventually every line would be filled in , then Supervisor Valentino and the Town Board will determine the final numbers and those amounts will go under the "Supervisor Recommendation" column . Supervisor Valentino has to file the tentative budget with the Town Clerk by September 20. The Town Clerk must present the Tentative Budget to the Town Board no later than October 5 . At that meeting , the Board could make any changes or deletions again , and if the Board chooses, they will adopt that as a Preliminary Budget . Then it would be advertised to the public . Once the Town Board determines the salaries of the elected officials in the Preliminary Budget they cannot be changed, other than to be lowered. All elected officials salaries must be determined before the Town Board could enact the Tentative Budget as the Preliminary Budget . Councilwoman Harrison - This would be what the Town Board does on October 3? Mrs . Noteboom - Yes . Supervisor Valentino - Other things in the budget can be changed until the approval of the budget . Councilwoman Grigorov - Have we discussed the property taxes related to revenue? Mrs. Noteboom - The real property taxes have gone up . In lieu of taxes will go down because those are contractual agreements that the Tompkins County Industrial Development Agency has with certain entities such as Ellis Hollow. Councilwoman Grigorov - Does that include Cornell? Mrs . Noteboom - No . The Town only has two . Supervisor Valentino - The biggest change the Board will notice is the non property tax distribution by the County that is the sales tax money. This does not reflect how the Town has received the sales tax it just reflects how the Town has appropriated it in this budget . In the first year, the Town appropriated $352 , 000 . 00 , and the next two years the Town only appropriated $225 , 000 . 00 . This does not mean the Town got less money in sales tax, it just means that is the portion of the sales tax that was applied to the General Fund Budget . Mrs . Noteboom - The Town pays all the other funds with the sales tax money first and leaves the General Fund for last . The General Fund will not receive that revenue until October or November. Councilman Wolff - The first page just reflects the Town's General Fund Budget? TOWN BOARD MINUTES 3 AUGUST 14, 19% Mrs . Noteboom - Yes . Councilman Wolff - What percentage of the total budget? Mrs. Noteboom - There is the General Fund , Part Town Fund , HighwayFund , Water and Sewer Funds , Fire Protection District Fund, and the Special Lighting District Funds . Each one of them are set up with their own budgets . Councilman Wolff - Highway has their own set of revenues? Mrs . Noteboom - Yes , each fund has its own set of revenues and their own set of appropriations . Councilman Wolff - Which accounts does the sales tax generally go into? Mrs . Noteboom - The sales tax goes into the Part Town and the General Fund . S Valentino - The General Town Wide Budget is the only one that has a tax rate . The Town's Part Town Budget tax rate is zero . Coup oman Harrison - What is the rationale of the sales tax revenue being applied to the Part Town as opposed to the whole town? Supervisor Valentino - The legal requirements of where the Town could appropriate the money. Villages get their own share of sales tax, so if the Town appropriated sales tax to them they would be receiving double . The Villages and the Cities get their sales tax money directly. The Towns only get what is appropriated back from the County . Mr. Walker - The Higl`v ay Department does not serve the Village because they do not take care of the Village streets . Mrs . Noteboom - The General Fund benefits everyone including the Village . The Part Town includes all the portions of the Town except the Village . WORK SESSION : Mrs. Noteboom - In Lieu of Taxes on the last page is the amounts the Town will be receiving next year based on the contracts with IDA. Ellis Hollow Associations and Ithaca Elm Housing are the only ones the Town receives funds for. The interest and penalties item , A1090 for $ 13 ,425 . 00 is the money collected on the Merest and penalties on the tax bills . The Town collects 1 % each month after January 31 , 1 % in February, 2% in March , 3% in April , and so forth . The Town Cleric fees is lowered because the revenue has not been consistent with budget estimates . The dog enumeration fees revenue will be lower because we did not pick up the increased number of dogs we thought we would during the enumeration conducted by the SPCA last year. TOWN BOARD MINUTES 4 AUGUST 14, 19% Councilwoman Harrison - What are the Engineering review fees? Mrs. Noteboom - Engineering review fees are fees that are collected for the Town Engineer' services . Mr. Walker - The development review fees . Councilwoman Harrison - The estimate is well over what has been collected in the past . What is this based on? Mr . Walker - The Engineering Department based the $ 1 , 000 . 00 on the anticipated big projects to be coveted. We are now in the process of correlating those fees for the past six months . Revenues may have been placed in the Part Town Fund instead of the General Fund . Councilwoman Harrison - Services to other governments has gone way down . Mrs. Noteboom - That is the 190 of the sales tax the County pays us for our contracts with the Learning Web , Gadabout, etc . Councilman Klein - The 1270 , Shared Service Charge is for what? Mrs . Noteboom - That is the amount Bolton Point pays us for doing their payroll . i Councilwoman Harrison - Why has the total gone down? Mrs. Noteboom - The cost has gone down because we will be going to Data Rite , so it is not costing the Town as much , and the Town would not be charging them as much . Supervisor Valentino - It will be less in the revenues as well as other expenses . Mrs. Noteboom - The insurance recovery is the worker' s compensation reimbursement , the percentage that is sent to the Town based on our good rating for the year. This is divided according to the percentage of salaries in each fund as a revenue , so highway will have more revenue coming compared to general funds. Services under tax collection will be changed based on negotiations with Supervisor Valentino . The equipment 1330 . 2 has been raised $ 100 . 00 , for things such . as calculators and computer software and hardware . The contractual expenses is up because I am not sure how much the County is going to charge the Town for printing the tax bills . Budget Personnel Services are going to be changed based on the negotiations with Supervisor Valentino . Councilwi man Harrison - I am trying to understand changes from last year to this year. The adopted 1996 budget versus Department Head Estimate Budget of $ 181795 .00 to Department Head Estimate of $26 , 376 . 00 for the total tax collection . What is this about? Why is the Board looldng at such as significant increase? - �a TOWN BOARD MINUTES 5 AUGUST 14, 1996 Mrs. Noteboom - The reason personnel services have gone up is because in the past the Town has not budgeted for 20% of Deputy Town Clerk Mary Saxton's salary within tax collection . Ms . Saxton has the same job description as Deputy Town Clerk Betty Poole . She is also helping with the collection of taxes . Councilwoman Harrison - Then there would be a decrease in another category? Mrs . Noteboom - Yes . In the Town Clerk's personnel line item , there will be a decrease of 20% . Councilwoman Harrison - The Town Clerk total will be increased? Supervisor Valentino - Part of this increase is based on trying to put employees in the right category. Ms. Saxton is doing part of the tax collection now, and the other work has been reclassified to reflect all the extra duties . Mrs. Noteboom - The contractual is the anticipation of an increase in printing our tax bills . The County still has to decide whether to charge us 25 cents a tax bill instead of 8 cents per bill . Councilwoman Harrison - Why is the independent auditing and accounting showing a very large jump from last year? Mrs . Noteboom - Due to the problems that have been seen in accounting over the last year, and the projections of how much more the Town may need to spend to evaluate and prepare the annual report for next year. Councilwoman Harrison - Would this double the cost? Mrs . Noteboom - Yes . Supervisor Valentino - For one year, it may double the cost . It may not be that high , but we may hire a cart to help us make sure that the policy and procedures are correct . Also we need to figure out which accounting package would be the best to buy. Councilman Klein - Is $8 , 366 . 00 year to date what the Town pays to the Independent Auditors? Mrs. Noteboom - Yes, as of June. We will be approximately $8 , 000 . 00 short in that line by the year end . Coffin Klein - The Town budgeted $ 10 , 000 . 00 . It was mentioned before about getting some one from Sciarabba's office , but the Board set it aside for the time being . Supervisor Valentino - Right , and that will be reflected in next year' s budget . Councilman Klein - Would this be expended this year? TOWN BOARD MINUTES 6 AUGUST 14, 1998 Mrs . Noteboom - Probably not . Supervisor Valentino - There will be additional auditing this year because the staff has been thinking of haves the auditors come in December to help close the books and help with the final reports . There will be some increase this year and then some next year, and then after that it should decrease . There will be a big expense in auditing until things are squared away. It will be very annoying for all of us as the Board looks at last yew's totals , and what is anticipated for this year' s budget , because so many of the line items were not corrector they were moved into different categories . This year's budget is not going to be pretty because the numbers will not look good . Hopefully, they will look better next year. Councilwoman Harrison - The shifting of time of Ms . Saxton would be between the tax collection and the Town Clerk? Mrs . Noteboom - Yes . Councilwoman Harrison - As I look at these under personnel , they have gone up approximately $6 , 000 . 00 . Mrs . Noteboom - Yes , because 1 am asking for an increase in Ms . Saxton's salary. Councilwoman Harrison - Not $ 12 , 000 . 00? Mrs . Noteboom - No , but it is significant . Councilwoman Harrison - What is the increase for Ms . Saxton? Supervisor Valentino - Ms . Saxton's salary would be increased approximately $5 , 000 . 00 . Councilwoman Harrison - Where is the other $7 , 000 . 00 going? Mrs . Noteboom - For the Town Clerk's salary and the Deputy Town Clerk's salary. Councilwoman Harrison - This represents raises for people? Supervisor Valentino - This represents increases under the new wage and classification system . It would be more cost effective for Ms . Saxton to take on those responsibilities rather than hiring someone else . Mrs. Noteboom - A small portion of it is to hire part-time help during December and January to send and collect 4 , 500 bills . Personnel services for the budget is a portion of Supervisor Valentino's salary as Budget Officer, The Senior Account Clerk position , and the new accounting position needs to be filled . i Supervisor Valentino - This budget item will be lower this next year than what it has been . TOWN BOARD MINUTES 7 AUGUST 14, 1SSS Mrs. Noteboom - We put in approximately $20 , 000 . 00 for the new accounting person . We are not sure whether II wA be a higher position than the Senior Account Clerk or whether it is going to be lower. The final budget would show a definite amount . The equipment for $5 , 000 . 00 is for the new accounting package. Staff is riot sure whher or not the hardware we have needs to be updated , or what we might need for networking within the accounting office . Contractually, $30 , 000 . 00 is to cover the expense of new software , training , mileage , travel , etc . Councilwoman Harrison - Is this something the County is going to require the Town to do? Mrs . Noteboom - No , this is for our new software accounting package . . Councilman Klein - The hardware , too ? Mrs . Noteboom - We are not sure about that , so we are budgeting it just in case . There are three computers in accounting , hopefully they can be upgraded to work together but there might be other things involved . Councilman Klein - Does the Town have to pay per station? Mrs. Noteboom - The packages we have looked at , yes . The Town will build the accounting package we wart and then buy the modules . Staff will have firm figures by the time we get to the final budget. Councilman Wolff - How many employees are included in the 1410 . 1 line item? Mrs . Noteboom - Three employees . Councilwoman Harrison - Some of those salaries are in the tax collection fund . Mrs . Noteboom - Correct . Councilman Klein - Would that be 80967 Mrs. Noteboom - Yes , that would be 80% for the two Deputy Town Clerks and the Town Clerk. The equipment line item for the Town Clerk would be staying the same at $500 . 00 . Contractual was raised to $600.00 . Materials and supplies for $2 , 000 . 00 is for forms which are required for the Town to use from the State . The education and mileage is for attendance at different conferences and seminars during the year. Councilwoman Harrison - This is all under contractual? Mrs. Noteboom - Yes. I have put $600 . 00 in for the intemet connection because the State of New York has mentioned the Town would have to be on line to report New York State Environmental hunting and fishing licenses , marriage licenses , and dog licenses . The monthly reports will no longer be sent by TOWN BOARD MINUTES 8 AUGUST 14, 1996 mail. The Town needs to buy the equipment to be able to do that . The State has not passed the law yet, but they anticipate passing it late this year or some time next year, so I will be budgeting for it just in case it happens . Councilman Wolff - This would be an equipment cost as opposed to user fee cost? Mrs. Noteboom - I put the $600 . 00 in because it also takes care of the Internet connection , which the Town has a grant tbr urd July 1997 , Then I will have to pay for the telephone fees and connection fees for the last six months of 1997 . Councilman Wolff - Would the Town save money by using a different service? Mrs. Noteboom - I wry be looking into that before the charges start. Personnel services ( 1430 . 1 ) is for the Human Resource Specialist . I have asked for a large increase and an ungrade for him because of the sigrvficant amount of work he has accomplished this year. The Human Resources Secretary works 18 hours a week. Supervisor Valentino - The wage for the Human Resource Specialist is still well below what the Town was paying for a similar position before . This person was not hired at the level of the person that left . Councilwoman Harrison - We can assume we are making these kind of changes based on the context of all the work Supervisor Valentino did on the classifications ? Supervisor Valentino - Yes . We have reclassified the Human Resource Specialist , but he is still making under the job rate for that classification . All of the wages reflect that rationale . Mrs . Noteboom - The personnel equipment has gone down because we will not be needing the equipment to go on One with Data Rite . The contractual has also gone down because Data Rite will be the same price as last year. Since we have been able to stream line and organize many things within the office it has not been necessary for the Town to buy as many of the supplies as before . Councilwoman Harrison - Where does the Board see the reflection of the revenue for the Shared Service Charges , the amount Bolton Point pays us to do their payroll? Mrs . Noteboom - It is reflected partly in this contractual . CoLm*xman Harrison - That is approximately $ 1 , 300 . 00 different than what the Board is looking at? Mrs . Noteboom - It is not going to always balance itself out because other things may have gone up . Even if the Town could lower this , the revenue received is offsetting it . It will not offset the whole cost . The contractual has gone down to $ 13 , 085 . 00 . Under election , the equipment has gone down . We put in $1 ,500 . 00 this year to refurbish the machines . The equipment has not been cleaned or refurbished by the voting machine comparry for five years . Next year, I put in $300 . 00 just in case a machine needs TOWN BOARD MINUTES 9 AUGUST 14. 1996 to be repaired. The supplies ( 1450 .401 ) was for the special election . Election inspectors are being put under one line item . It will going from $9 , 500 . 00 to $ 10 , 900 . 00 because I am proposing an increase for them, as foIlows, training from $5 . 00 to $ 10 . 00 a person , registration day $55 . 00 to $65 . 00 , primary day from $55 . 00 to $65 . 00 , election day from $90 . 00 to $ 100 . 00 , and for the Chair $5 . 00 to $ 100000 The Town has to have four inspectors at each district , there are 11 districts . That would make 44 people , plus two machine custodians . We are not proposing an Increase for the machine custodians as they are averaging about $460 . 00 per day. SupenAsor Valentino - The Town felt they needed to increase the inspectors pay because we have had a hard time recruiting them to work. Councilwoman Harrison - Are these set salaries by the State ? Mrs . Noteboom - No , every Town determines what they pay their inspectors . Under records management , equipment is for things needed to do the indexing . The contractual expenses did rarease. The Town needs to continue with the indexing , but we will not be able to do so this year. We budgeted $5,350.00, it should only be about $450 . 00 . 1 will not be spending that because I do not have the time to work with the consultant this year. I am recommending that we cant' over the work we need to do until next year. Cou wUmman Harrison - Would this mean you have twice the amount of time that you hoped to be able to spend this year planned for next year? Mrs . Noteboom - Next year I hope will to be able to do some training with my Deputy before the consultant canes in. She would then be the one that would actually be sitting down and doing the data entry. This is why I have doubled it . I am going to find some way to hire the consultant . I budgeted for this before the ADP Committee started to talk about the possibility of applying for a special grant from SARA for $50,000 . 00 . If that comes , it will not be necessary to budget it within the line item , and we can share the cost . Councilman Wolff - Even if the Town does get the grant , the Town would need to budget for it first , and then reimburse the account . Mrs . Noteboom - Yes , but the line items used would change . The Town Hall building , ( 1620 .401 ) , personnel services is for the Town Hall Cleaner. Councilrnan Wolff - It was not made clear at the last ADP Committee meeting that some of the money is already being spent . Would this fall into that category? Mrs. Noteboom - I have found out many interesting things about the SARA grant the ADP Committee is thinking about. If the Committee hires consultants or if the Town Staff completes the grant work, we have to make sure that someone else is hired to do the staffs regular work. The Town has to make a commitment to pay those salaries . The Committee needs to discuss and look at the grant before the TOWN BOARD MINUTES 10 AUGUST 14, 1996 Town applies for it . The equipment for $ 1 , 500 . 00 , is for a new vacuum cleaner for the Town Hall , Councilman Klain - $ 1 , 500 . 00 is for a now Vacuum cicanor? Mrs. Noteboom - The Town also needs a floor polisher. I figured this would be items that would be used in the new Town Hall . Utilities is based on the average electric bill plus $500 . 00 , for this building . Supervisor Valentino - Is that for both gas and electric? Mrs . Noteboom - Yes , that is for this building . I did lower it because our bills have been averaging a Rtle less than we thought. The building and grounds maintenance was left at $4 , 000 . 00 , it is for repairs to this building . This Board has determined that they do not wish to make any significant changes in the building . We have just been keeping up with normal maintenance . I have connected as many of the shared services line items as possible . The Department Heads and I have all realized that we need to sit down together and go over these because there may be some things that they are budgeting for within their departments that are also being budgeted for in shared services . The office supplies is calculated in the average of the last 18 months times 12 months . Copying supplies are also the average of the last 18 months times 12 months . These might not be the figures the Board is seeing , because as I stated before , I have tried to use actual vouchers rather than the numbers that were reported. The postage, I am dropping $ 100 . 00 . I am trying to get the budget in line with what the Town really pays for things . The legal ads were raised because that is the average over the last 18 month times 12 months . The computer supplies have been raised because this is the average over the last 18 months times 12 months . Councilman Wolff - What are the computer supplies? Mrs . Noteboom - Toner, paper, ribbons for the printers , etc . These need to be compared with equipment and supplies of all the other departments . Supervisor Valentino - There are some things the Town might be able to coordinate so we could buy in bulk because it is used in several different departments . Mrs. Noteboom - The newsletter never had a separate line item , and was confusing to budget for. We decided to give it a separate line item . The price shown is what was spent on the newsletter for the special election . The Town will be sending out one more newsletter this year. Hopefully that will be done before the final budget . Councilman Wolff - Does this include postage? Mrs . Noteboom - Yes , it includes postage , printing , and everything . Councilwoman Harrison - Where would the numbers be for last year? TOWN BOARD MINUTES 11 AUGUST 14, 1996 Mrs . Noteboom - They were between postage , Town Clerk's , and a few other accounts . Councilwoman Harrison - The $6 , 000 . 00 is a new budget item? Mrs . Noteboom - No , the $6 , 000 . 00 was spent somewhere else within the budget, but it was not accounted for separately. Councilwoman Harrison - When you said the postage went down by $ 100 . 00 , but In fact the postage may have gone up by $700 . 00 or $2 , 000 . 00 , because the Board would be seeing another newsletter item? Mrs . Noteboom - Yes . Councilman Klein - Does the newsletter item include staff time ? Mrs . Noteboom - It includes all contractual expenses . Supervisor Valentino - Some of the new line Items have been put In based on questions from the Town Board in the past , such as the cost of the newsletter. Mr. Walker - The Town does not have a good personnel cost accounting system . Each system is set up based on all accounts . Mrs. Noteboom - The telephone is averaged for the last 18 months plus $50 . 00 per month for a buffer. The Supervisor has put in a telephone line that will ring after normal hours for her and I to be able to use. We are trying to track exactly how much it costs for everything to do with preparing the minutes . The tapes , paper, archival paper, the minute books , etc , all the things that are required to archive minutes. It would be a good idea to start tracking it for each fund . The education for $2 , 000 . 00 is there for educational programs , buying cassettes , tapes , and books for everyone's use . We hope to spend some of that money this year, and would like to keep that as an ongoing dedication for educational materials . The allocated insurance is going down to $20 , 000 . 00 . This has been researched with our ins mme agent. The Town 's rating has been so good this year that our premiums have dropped . The Town should anticipate that the insurance will only be $69 , 250 . 00 next year. Crossing guards , that is for three crossing guard positions . It is based on them working ten hours a week. Councilman Klein - Is there a new crossing guard on East Shore Drive? Mrs . Noteboom - No . Councilwoman Harrison - Have we budgeted for a new crossing guard? Mrs . Noteboom - That money was partially reflected here . TOWN BOARD MINUTES 12 AUGUST 14, 1996 Supervisor Valentino - I think the personnel service line is wrong for the crossing guards . Mrs . Noteboom - I will be checking into that . The $ 150 . 00 is for things such as flashlights and rain coats. The contractual is for anything that a school crossing guard might be required by the school to have . Dog control is for the contracts with the SPCA. Supervisor Valentino - What was the percentage increase last year? Mrs . Noteboom - It was 3% . Councilwoman Russell - What does the Town pay for with that? Mrs. Noteboom - The Town pays the SPCA for any dogs they pick up . The SPCA houses them for five days, feeds them, vaccinates them , finds home , writes tickets , enforces the dog ordinance , etc . Other animal control is the cat control contract that the Town has with the SPCA. Councilwoman Harrison - Is this projected to go up? Mrs. Notes - I think 2% or 3% for bath of them . Last year, we did not encumber the cost for the cat control. For some reason the bill was not paid in 1995 , it was paid in January 1996 . Therefore , it looks ice an increase , but actually it is two payments because the payment for 1995 was not paid on time . Page 8 , historian (7510 .4) , 1 would like to start budgeting $3 , 000 . 00 to restore the Town's historical i books. The Town has minute books dated back to 1821 . Restoration could cost approximately $500 . 00 to $1 ,000.00 each. I am proposing five . or s« books a year to be restored until we get the old documents preserved . Then I would hope that this Board might want to dedicate the originals to the Dewitt Historical Society to put on display . Councilman Klein - Then what would the books we have be , copies? Mrs. Noteboom - The books the Town would have would be bound copy of the original . It would be an exact duplicate of the minute book. They would be kept here for research purposes . The originals could be donated . Supervisor Valentino - At the next Town Board meeting , we will be hearing a presentation from the Dewitt Historical Society on some things they could contract with us to do regarding the historical work. Councilman Wolff - These activities are just preservation related? Mrs . Noteboom - This would be to preserve the books that are old . I have them stored away, but technically, if any resident wants to come in to see them , I have to show them . The Town needs to have a copy made in case someone wants to look through them without damaging the original books anymore . j TOWN BOARD MINUTES 13 AUGUST 14, 1996 Councilwoman Harrison - Have you has a lot of requests for them? Mrs. Noteboom - Yes, from students at Cornell University and Ithaca College who are doing their thesis on population patterns and agricultural patterns . They need to look at the old assessment books from the early 1800's to find out how many dog , cat , cow, etc , owners there were . Councilman Klein - The Town used to budget for a historian , was that under a different line item? Mrs. Noteboom - The Dewitt Historical Society has been kind enough to answer questions for the Town . I have been doing the research when someone has requested the information , which could be charged at $8 . 00/hour. Councilman Klein - The Town does not have a Town historian? Mrs. Noteboom - No. The celebration ( 7550 . 2) is the historical markers that the Town purchased . The 9010 . 8 for the State Retirement was budgeted for $ 19 , 740 . 00 . Unfortunately, the Town staff has received some bad news from the retirement system . The Town's total estimated retirement payment in December 1996 was approximately $64 , 500 . 00 for all the funds . They have told us they sent us the wrong form last year to calculate the Town' s amount of our contribution for 1996 . The Town's payment this year will be approxdnately $77,000 . 00 to $80 , 000 . 00 instead of the $64 , 500 . 00 , so the Town is now in a deficient position of approximately $28 , 000 . 00 to $30 , 000 . 00 for this year. Councilman Wolff - To pay for what? Mrs . Noteboom - It would pay for the Town' s contribution on behalf of our employees in the State Retirement System . Another item out of the $77 , 000 . 00 to $80 , 000 . 00 , is $ 11 , 000 . 00 for the early retirement incentive in 1995 . It cost the Town $ 11 , 000 . 00 just to offer it . Councilwoman Harrison - Is that to cover other people in the State? Mrs . Noteboom - The State does it by a percentage of how many people over the State tied into the early retirement system . They divide that into the salaries of the people that actually retired , and charged each of us an amoratized amount based on the percentage . The Town' s portion was $ 11 , 000 . 00 . If the Town did not after the incentive it would not have cost anything . Councilman Klein - This line item does not have an amount . Mrs. Noteboom - We do not know the number yet . Hopefully , they will send us the right form this year 1 and the Town can calculate the correct amount of our contribution for 1997 . Councilman Klein - The problem Mrs . Noteboom is talking about is something that would need to be taken out of the Town 's general fund? TOWN BOARD MINUTES 14 AUGUST 14, 1996 Mrs. Noteboom - Yes. The worker's compensation line has gone up a great deal because we now are calculating it more accurately within the correct funds . There was never any reason as to how these numbers were calculated , they were just a guess . I have determined the best way to so is to take a percentage of the salaries in each fund divided by the whole bill to determine what to charge each fund . Councilwoman Harrison - There would be a decrease in that number somewhere else? Mrs. Noteboom en Yes . With that theory, the worker's compensation , goes up in the General Fund , but it may go down in the other funds . The number the Board is looking at now, is a number that was put in for all the employees worker's compensation . We have asked the insurance company to give us a breakdown of the employees names and funds for each claim . They base the percentage of what they charge us on the claims, so we should use the proper percentage based on the number of claims within the actual department . Conran Klein - In the private sector every job category carries a different rate . Assume the highway workers have a significantly higher premium because they are at a higher risk than other departments . Mrs. Noteboom - We are asking for the percentage based on the job classification to see if it could be broken down more . Councilman Klein - Do they audit the payroll and adjust it? Mrs . Noteboom it They do not audit the payroll , they audit the claims and the workers compensation Poole Councilman Klein - It needs to be based on the payroll . Mrs . Noteboom - They audit the pool and our claims , and they use the formulas together. Supervisor Valentino - They only use payroll up to a certain maximum . Mrs. Noteboom - The disability is very easy to figure because it is based on each employee , male or female, at so much a month. The group health insurance is based on the people who are now presently enrolled in PHP or BC/ BS . The General Fund amount is going down to approximately $7 , 500 . 00 . There are many things we will not have as expenses next year, such as historical signs , employees benefits due to better formulas . Even though some other line items have gone up , 1 feel the expenses the Town \W rat have wA make up for them . This is the best budget to operate administrative services in a proper manner next year. Councilman Wolff - What is the percentage of the total budget? Mrs. Noteboom - I have not had a chance to calculate percentage increase . I do not think we could do one for the administrative department this year because there have been so many changes . TOWN BOARD MINUTES 1s AUGUST 14, 1996 Councilman Wolff - I am not so much interested in the changes between last year and this year, I am just interested in the percentage of the total budget that the Town staff is proposing here? Councilwoman Harrison - What Councilman Wolff is asking , how much money is the Town spending overall in all of these things , and what percentage of it is going to each piece? Mrs . Noteboom - Everything within administrative services comes out of the General Fund . Supervisor Valentino - The staff needs to figure out what percentage of what is in the General Fund , Part Town , etc . Mrs . Noteboom - The Town Clerk provides services to everyone in the Town . Mr. Noteboom - The employees benefits , I never worked with , are paid out of Part Town? Mrs. Noteboom - Employees benefits are charged within each fund for those employees paid within that fund . Mr. Noteboom - Do you budget for Part Town? Mrs . Noteboom - Do you mean the Personnel Department? Mr. Noteboom - The administrative area . Mrs. Noteboom - That is budgeted for anymore for in the General Fund . Town Law does not allow you to put your personnel services line item within the Part Town budget because those employees provide a service that is provided to every resident because they are managing the employees of the Town . Councilwoman Harrison - Even the personnel employees may be Part Town employees? Councilman Klein - The Highway Department is split between the General Fund and Part Town . The Town Engineer is town wide , but staff is not . Mr. Kanter - I will be looking closer at the miscellaneous account . Mr . Walker - The salary breakdown from the Engineering Department is based on negotiation with Supervisor Valentino . There are four people under the 1440 . 100 engineering services . On the personnel services sheet there is an explanation of the purpose and the functions . The other two people on the budget sheet are the Water and Sewer Supervisor and an Engineering Technician , who I supervise . They are paid out of the water and sewer funds . The F8310 and G8110 accounts are isadministration line items , and the 8340 and 8120 accounts are regular personnel charges , such as managing and working on the system . The engineering review fees in the 1996 budget was $ 1 , 000 . 00 , but the $2 , 250 . 00 figure is based on 50 hours of time at $45 . 00/hour. That is the Town Engineer's TOWN BOARD MINUTES 16 AUGUST 14, INS review rate used within the review fee schedule . I am anticipating that if the Town gets two or three big projects here , I would be spending 50 hours between my staff and myself to generate the $2 , 250 . 00 . In the past I am not sure if money was put into the General Fund revenue . The Planning Department processes all the review fees and applications , and those funds might have gone into the Part Town acct. I need to check in the services for other governments because I am a little confused about this account. I do provide some services to Bolton Point for design that the Town gets reimbursement for. I do provide services to the Village of Cayuga Heights , but it is actually a town wide function so if it is mapping or general engineering the Town does not charge them for it . Water and sewer services might be charged to the Village of Cayuga Heights , Supervisor Valentino - This is one of the accounts that we need to figure out what has happened . Councilman Klein - These come out of the town wide budget for any reimbursements the Town gets? Supervisor Valentino - Staff is putting a lot of emphasis on tracking these revenues . Mr . N oteboom - This year the Highway Department is going to make a special effort to track their revenues , because we have never been able to get a handle on it . Supervisor Valentino - I am more concerned about tracking the Town's revenues . Some of the expenditures become evident as we go through them . I have told the Department Heads that I really want to track these revenues . Mr. Walker - Last year and the year before , the Engineering Department had several projects , one with the City of Ithaca on a joint sewer replacement project . There were fees charged to the City because the Town did the engineering design , which was related to water and sewer work, but it came out of the Town Engineer's town wide service line item . Then the Town reimbursed the City for some of the construction cost , and I am not sure what happened to that money, but we need to track that money down. The sale of the equipment of $5 , 000 . 00 is for the trade-in value of the 1989 Jeep to be sold at the auction next year. That is what the book value price is . Equipment , the purpose of this line item is for durable equipment for items such as furniture , office equipment , and automobiles . Councilwoman Harrison - The figure of $2 , 250 . 00 would be the honest representation of the total amount of time the Engineering Department spends in reviewing things ? Mr. Walker - It is not much because the Planning Department has been doing 90% of the review. Councilwoman Harrison - The planning staff income is not in the General Fund , but in the Part Town Fund? Mr. Walker - Correct . On a normal subdivision , I may spend an hour reviewing subdivision plans . i Mr. Kanter - For a project like Ithacare they might spend some time for the inspections . TOWN BOARD MINUTES 17 AUGUST 14, 19% Mr. Walker - The inspections would be charged against it , but no one has been building anything . Mr. Kanter - Ithacare would probably be next year with hours billed for the inspections . Mr. Walker - Yes, but most of the inspections on Ithacare are probably going to be done by the Building Department. EcoVillage is the biggest project going on right now. We have required the developer to provide the engineering services for the day to day construction inspection of all of the improvements . The Town has been going out to spot check. I may have under charged for some of my field people without thinking about their time related to these projects . I should do a better job in tracking that . Mr. Kanter - After talking about review fees , I went back to look through the local law to see how they are supposed to be collected and how they compare to the actual amounts . I think the Town could do a better job collecting more from the developers for things that should be paid according to the local law. Mr. Walker - The Equipment line item is for equipment that is used in the engineering office . Councilwoman Harrison - This large amount represents what? Mr. Walker - The vehicle , which is an 1989 Jeep . Councilman Klein - Where does the income show for this? Mr. Walker - The revenue item is the trade off for the General Fund . There are two computer work stations to upgrade for mapping and the GIS system , and we need a portable PC lap top for taking maps in the field . Councilman Klein - Did the Town receive any GIS system software and hardware last year that is being shared? Mr. Walker - Yes , that was with Planning . Councilwoman Harrison - The numbers on the handout you gave the Board are not the numbers on the long form . Mr. Walker - The long form numbers were adjustments from today. Councilman Klein - Is the computer equipment replacable or additional? Mr. Walker - It is a replacement . I have two people in two locations right now. This computer will replace the one that is upstairs , it would be used in the trailer at the highway barns . That is why there is an increase in the computer equipment . I have two full-time people working out of the office plus one or two interns throughout the year doing mapping . TOWN BOARD MINUTES 18 AUGUST 14, 1996 Councilman Klein - Is this for the trailer at the highway garage? Mr. Walker = This is the water and sewer office . I budgeted the computer in this section because it would be used for design and construction . Councilwoman Harrison - This computer would be used for water and sewer? Mr. Walker - They would be getting the old one , and the new one would be In the office at Town Hall . The State Accounting System has got the three digit extensions available . Under the general contractural , I would need to talk to Supervisor Valentino and other Department Heads about how we should bring these down , especially under the shared services . The line item for plotting supplies is for the paper and pens . The paper that we use now is straight bond paper. The Department is also using this kind of paper for copying tax maps . Survey supplies is nails , stakes , flagging , etc . Engineering copier supplies is for the toner and paper for the large document copier. Mr. Kanter - The Department Heads need get together on the shared services to see how to break these down . Mr. Walker - There are two vehicles assigned to Engineering which need maintenance . The stude intems were being paid by the Town , but now the Town has a contract with Cornell to do so . Corn is their employer. These students are doing a terrific job with the mapping . I am trying to develo more formal training plan for each employee so we know what the needs are . The Town Board had a brief discussion on setting up another Special Town Board meeting . They set a meeting for Thursday, September 5 , 1996 , at 8 : 00 a . m . , to continue work on the 1997 budget . Mrs . Noteboom handed out a copy of the Recreation Partnership resolution from the Town Board meeting on Monday, August 12 , for the Board to review. ADJOURNMENT . As there was no further business to come before the Town Board a motion was made by Councilwoman Grigorov, seconded by Councilwoman Harrison to adjourn . Carried unanimously. Supervisor Valentino adjourned the meeting at 6 : 50 p . m . Respectfully submitted , ,- - Joan Lent Noteboom , Ja; I Town Clerk/ Director of Administrative Services . *"Special Town Board Meeting on Thursday, September 5 , 1996 @ 8 : 00 a . m . **"Next Town Board Meeting on Monday, September 9 , 1996 @ 5 : 30 p . m . i **** Minutes Transcribed by Deborah A. Kelley on August 20 , 1996 .