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HomeMy WebLinkAboutTB Minutes 2018-10-04 Meeting of the Ithaca Town Board Thursday, October 4, 2018 at 5:30 p.m. BUDGET MEETING AGENDA 1. Call to order and Pledge of Allegiance 2. Presentation of the Town Supervisor's Tentative Budget for 2019 a. Discussion and consider any amendments 3. Consider approval of 2019 Elected Officials' salaries 4. Discuss and consider setting a public hearing regarding Proposed Increase to the Town of Ithaca Sewer Rents Effective January 1, 2019 for October 15, 2018 at 5:30 p.m. 5. Consider setting a public hearing regarding the Town of Ithaca 2019 Preliminary Budget for October 15, 2018 at 5:30 p.m. 6. . 7. Adjournment Meeting of the Ithaca Town Board Thursday, October 4, 2018 at 5:30 p.m. BUDGET MEETING Minutes Board Members present: Bill Goodman, Supervisor; Pat Leary (via skype), Tee-Ann Hunter, and Rod Howe Absent: Pamela Bleiwas, Rich DePaolo and Eric Levine Staff Present: Susan Ritter, Director of Planning, Bruce Bates, Director of Code Enforcement; Mike Solvig, Director of Finance, Judy Drake, Director of Human Resources; Paulette Rosa, Town Clerk; and Dan Thaete, Town Engineer 1. Call to order —Mr. Goodman called the meeting to order at 5:38 p.m. 2. Presentation of the Town Supervisor's Tentative Budget for 2019 Mr. Goodman presented his tentative 2019 Town of Ithaca Budget to the Town Clerk and the Town Board. Mr. Goodman began the discussion by asking Mr. Solvig to give the highlights as written in the beginning followed by the questions submitted by Mr. DePaolo and any others. Mr. Solvig reviewed the budget highlights on pages 2 & 3 of the budget. (Attachment 1) Mr. Solvig noted that the increase would be $6.11 for the median house at $190,000. Mr. Goodman turned to the Community Organizations on page 15 and went through the requests for a 2%increases from four entities and the others were left the same. The City Park Rangers has been left in, but the status of that is not clear; the City may increase parking enforcement in the area instead. He said that item may change after the City discusses their budget. Mr. Goodman turned to the library line item and the Library's request for a $5K increase. Mr. Howe was in favor of a $2,500 increase. Ms. Hunter asked if the Town's contribution is still tied to the library being open on Sundays and Mr. Goodman thought the original request was not tied to anything but later was tied to being open on Sundays and thought that continued. Discussion followed on the premise of pulling back on contributions to services that fall under the County and Mr. Goodman added that TCAT has hinted they will be asking for an increase and the City always asks what the contribution plan is. Mr. Goodman said he would check on how much the City gives toward the Library's budget. Discussion followed and Mr. Goodman raised the question of giving every entity a 2%increase, regardless of whether they asked for one as a type of cost of living increase. TB Budget 2018-10-4 Pg. 1 Ms. Leary said she was inclined to hold the line on the Library but agreed with the 2% across the Board with a review this next budget cycle to review who gets contributions each year. Mr. Howe said he does not feel the need to give an across the board increase and Ms. Hunter agreed. Ms. Hunter said if the library got an increase, she would like to keep it the same as other entities' increases based on the fact that town residents also pay for the County's contribution so essentially twice. The Board turned to Mr. DePaolo's questions. 1. Our budgeted expenditures including capital projects have increased 37%in nine years (including 2019). That does not seem sustainable, given that our tax base has not expanded proportionally. Since we rely on increasing assessments to meet the bulk of our revenue needs, we are simply asking people to pay more to finance our spending, even though their ability to do so has not kept pace. It would be helpful to try to understand what our projected budget will be for the next several years in order to determine whether some of the staffing increases that are being requested going forward are feasible. Mr. Solvig said having got the questions this afternoon, he hasn't had time to really look at it but, 37% over 9 years comes out to about 4% a year and our actually increases to the tax levy comes out to about 2% . He said he would like to run some numbers and respond fully at the next meeting, but his question is what is meant by sustainable? He wasn't sure how that is defined. The Town does 5- year budget projections and the increases have not been that large. If you look at the increases in the assessed values, the typical increase is not much. Mr. Solvig said the water and sewer benefit fees have been increased to pay for the debt and improvements to the system, but that is a question the Board as a whole has to answer as to whether or not those improvements are wanted but if we do, they have to be paid for and yes we understand that is going to increase our debt and costs. He said he looks at the numbers differently because he would take out the bonded debt because that is already accounted for in the debt service. The increase in assessments was about 5% this year and the increase of$6.11 for the typical house is really in the water and sewer increases of $25 and $20 and without those the tax bill would have actually gone down. He added that we have been in a cycle in his time here replacing water tanks and water mains and it is a policy question of whether we need to make these improvements and how we are going to pay for them. Do you want to do it in a planned manner or wait until they collapse and have to react. TB Budget 2018-10-4 Pg. 2 Ms. Leary said she did not follow Mr. DePaolo's reasoning because he seems to object to the Public Works increasing their staff where others aren't but departments don't increase in a uniform way and you put more staff where they are needed. She said that to her Public Works is the least discretionary spending we do because we have to keep up with the infrastructure. Ms. Leary said it is not unsustainable, increasing $6 total on an average home is sustainable and the increases have been very modest. Mr. Howe said these are the types of discussions that happen at the Public Works Committee where we look at 5-year projections and capital projects and Mr. DePaolo is on that committee. We look at that picture and if we feel we should make a recommendation to the board in either direction we would. Mr. Goodman asked Mr. Solvig to put together some numbers because 39% seems like a large number but it may not be and we are lucky to have a place that people want to build and our assessments go up and as long as that happens we have the need to hire more people and if that changes that would have to be looked at. He added that we are trying to cut down on the costs for personnel services by looking at health insurance premium contribution and having new employees on the Platinum Plan instead of the PPO Plan which will decrease the rate of increases in the future as turnover happens. Ms. Drake said that a staffing plan is a staffing plan and we are dealing with this year which is only adding 10 hours to a PW admin position and next year we step back and look at how the recent additions are working as well as knowing we have some retirements coming up but they are still vague and could be over the next three years. That will be something we will look at when that happens and review the staffing plan. She said next year the focus is to replace the Senior Engineering Tech position to support the focus on water and sewer and we need the people with the knowledge and skills to move that focus along successfully. Ms. Drake said the staffing plan at Public Works is a trickle down from both Planning and Codes; those buildings come off the other two's plates but they land on Public Works plate and stay there. Those developments and sidewalks and parks and water and sewer infrastructure for residences doesn't go away, it is there forever once it is built. She said that maintenance takes man-hours to take care of and we haven't added staff in a long time and that has caught up with us and through the conversations with Public Works after the addition last year of the 5th crew, we now have a crew that is dedicated to water and sewer instead of the beg, borrow and steal scenario it has been which is why we are so far behind on the maintenance of our water and sewer. That is why we are spending so much time doing that catch up. Staffing may look drastic now but it was stagnant for a long time. Ms. Drake said as for Planning and Codes, we have up-staffed when have needed to and will downsize when the need isn't there. We are still in that phase with Codes but that will be TB Budget 2018-10-4 Pg. 3 evaluated next year and we will continue to look at it each and every year. We have gone to a 5- year plan but it is reevaluated each and every budget year. Mr. Solvig added that when Mr. DePaolo goes back 10 years, that is when we were in the depths of the depression and the Town had shaved staff and the budget was stagnant but we started hitting the capital projects because the rates were so low and we saved a ton of money doing them then rather than later, but part of the thing with staff is we have all seen the problems we have had from past projects that weren't done because we were understaffed and there were a lot of things that should have been done that weren't and right now Public Works staff is going back and fixing those issues and they have a lot on their plates with the Ellis Hollow Tank and the work for Cornell. Cornell totally screwed up our Capital Project Plan with Maplewood and now we have East Hill on the horizon but they have done a hell of a lot of work with just the staff they have. Ms. Hunter said at some point we should have a conversation about basing capital projects on the complete build out scenario and how are we going to move forward because that is many years in the future. Mr. Thaete said he has been here for 7 years and he has always told people that he appreciates the Boards understanding of the need for infrastructure and we have started to spend some really good money on modeling out systems which has shown where our deficiencies are to provide the level of service we want and it has become evident with these developments coming in where those are. Mr. Thaete said a lot of these systems are 50 —60 years old and past their expected life spans and when you really do an evaluation on what we should be doing, we aren't even there and we are spending a lot. He said we are aggressive when you look at other municipalities but we are doing the right thing. Ms. Hunter said we need to look at who pays for this and Mr. Thaete responded that developers complain about costs, and he got the question last night at the Planning Board meeting about who should be paying for these improvements; the town or the developer, that is a question for the Board. He said they are trying to look at the developments coming in as well as the Comprehensive Plan and our infrastructure that is aging out and being replaced and they are just trying to keep their heads above water while juggling those three things. Mr. Goodman added that the Sewer Study is happening now and when that is done it will be the time for a serious discussion on where we go with growth and current capacity. He thought it would be interesting to look at actual numbers once Maplewood comes fully online and the revenues compared to what we spent to make it happen. 2. Our entire projected hiring expansion for the next 5 years can be accounted for by the Public Works Department. I question the disproportionate increase there related to the rest of Town staff, which is projected to be flat due to attrition and back-filling. TB Budget 2018-10-4 Pg. 4 Will the Code Enforcement hires related to Maplewood(proposed to be maintained) continue to be funded by that project, or are we assuming all costs related to those positions? Mr. Goodman responded that we did get some extra money from the Maplewood project due to fees for building permit extensions and temporary certificates of occupancy but Maplewood will not be directly paying for staff next year although the plan had been to have those positions transfer into retired positions. 3. Is the $71K "telephone system" expense(page 11) a one-time or recurring expense? Are there recurring expenses related to the phone systems? Likewise, under IT (page 12), are "ESRI Support," "Microsoft Office Online Plan," and "Dark Fiber Optic" annual recurring expenses? Mr. Goodman responded that those are fixed yearly costs although the dark fiber one will be going down in five years as others utilize it. Ms. Hunter asked about the IT Intern and Mr. Goodman explained that Ms. Carrier-Titti had requested a part-time person but we found this intern program which has worked out well but we do need to think about that department with her anticipated retirement a few years out. 4. Regarding the $7.5K expense for the "Gorge Ranger"program, it was my understanding that the City has discontinued that program. Is that an incorrect assumption? Mr. Goodman thought this had been answered. 5. Is the 2019 "Planned Retirement of the First Deputy Town Clerk"happening in 2019 or 2020? Are we carrying an FTE for a records management program that is largely completed, at a time when the department would otherwise be adequately staffed by 2 clerks? Are we preparing for staff succession by retaining an "extra" employee for a full year? Ms. Drake responded that we have confirmation of the 2019 retirement of the First Deputy Town Clerk and that position will not be filled but is carried on the budget chart as an FTE because we don't break it down to months. This retirement was known and that is why the Deputy Town Clerk position was extended past the project time. The department will return to two FTEs in part of 2019 and on. Mr. Solvig added that we now have better numbers because we know what retirements are and are not going to happen, although of course that can change. Mr. Goodman noted that we will not have wage scales in October as usual because of union negotiations, but move them to November. Mr. Goodman asked if there were any other questions and Ms. Hunter asked Ms. Ritter about the zoning law progress and the line items associated with that. Ms. Ritter responded that the Planning Study line includes continuing with the Form Based coding and possible design TB Budget 2018-10-4 Pg. 5 charrettes for East and South Hill and other professional consultants. This is going to be a multi- year process still. 6. Consider approval of 2019 Elected Officials' salaries TB Resolution 2018 - 127: Approval of 2019 Proposed Elected Officials Salaries Be it Resolved, the governing Town Board of the Town of Ithaca does hereby approve the below proposed salaries for the elected officials for the year 2019; SUPERVISOR $ 57,396 (Paid Biweekly) (includes Supervisor's Administrative Function pay) DEPUTY TOWN SUPERVISOR $ 0.00 (Paid Biweekly) (includes Board Member pay) TOWN BOARD MEMBERS (5) $ 14,725 Each (Paid Biweekly) TOWN JUSTICES (2) $ 24,450 Each (Paid Biweekly) And, be it further Resolved, the Town Clerk is hereby authorized and directed to publish the said proposed salaries as required by Section 108 of the Town Law. Moved: Rod Howe Seconded: Tee-Ann Hunter Vote: Ayes —Howe, Hunter, Goodman and Leary 7. Discuss and consider setting a public hearing regarding Proposed Increase to the Town of Ithaca Sewer Rents Effective January 1, 2019 for October 15, 2018 at 5:30 p.m. TB Resolution 2018 - 128: Setting a public hearing re2ardin2 the proposed increase to the Town of Ithaca Sewer Rents effective January 1, 2019 Whereas, the Town Supervisor filed his 2019 Tentative Budget with the Town Clerk on September 7, 2018 and the Town Clerk presented it to the Town Board at its October 4, 2018 meeting, and Whereas, the Town Board discussed and considered the the proposed increase to the sewer rents; now, therefore, be it Resolved, that the Town Board will hold a public hearing at 215 North Tioga Street, Ithaca, NY on the 15th day of October 2018 at 5:30 pm, for the purpose of hearing public comments on the increases to the Town of Ithaca sewer rents from $4.81 per lk gallons to $4.91 per lk gallons. Moved: Tee-Ann Hunter Seconded: Rod Howe TB Budget 2018-10-4 Pg. 6 Vote: Ayes —Hunter, Howe, Leary and Goodman 8. Consider setting a public hearing regarding the Town of Ithaca 2019 Preliminary Budget for October 15, 2018 at 5:30 p.m. TB Resolution 2018 - 129: Setting a Public Hearing Re2ardin2 the Town of Ithaca 2019 Preliminary Budget Whereas, the Town Supervisor filed his 2019 Tentative Budget with the Town Clerk on September 7, 2018 and the Town Clerk presented it to the Town Board at its October 4, 2018 meeting, and Whereas, the Town Board discussed and considered the 2019 Tentative Budget; now, therefore, be it Resolved, that the Town Board accepts the 2019 Tentative Budget as the 2019 Preliminary Budget for the Town of Ithaca; and be it further Resolved, that the Town Board will hold a public hearing at 215 North Tioga Street, Ithaca, NY on the 15th day of October 2018 at 5:30 pm, for the purpose of hearing public comments on the Town of Ithaca 2019 Preliminary Budget. Moved: Rod Howe Seconded: Tee-Ann Hunter Vote: Ayes — Howe, Hunter, Leary and Goodman 9. Racker notice of proposed Adult Home on Trumansburg Rd—Mr. Goodman reported again about the adult home proposal and the State requirement that the Town Board discuss any opposition or concerns. The Board had no issues with the purchase. 10. Adjournment—Meeting was adjourned upon a motion and a second at 6:15 p.m. Submitted by Paulette Rosa Town Clerk TB Budget 2018-10-4 Pg. 7 -1-B ME,EAliir7g 018-10-04, TOWN OF ITHACA FISCAL YEAR 2019 BUDGET HIGHLIGHTS • The Ithaca Town Budget will increase from $26,235,011 in 2018 to $26,655,357 in 2019, an increase$420,346 or 1.60%. • The budgeted total for Personnel Costs decreases from $6,367,515 in 2018 to $6,358,550 in 2019, a decrease of $8,965 or 0.14%. Personnel costs represent 23.85% of the Town's total 2019 budget. The 2019 Ithaca Town Budget incorporates the following changes to personnel costs: - Administrative Assistant I (Information Aide) position at Public Works will move from part-time 30 hours per week to full-time 40 hours per week, an additional cost of$11,000, charged to the General Townwide Fund. - Full-time equivalent positions increase from 67.0 in 2018 to 67.25 for 2019.. • Total for Personal Services (employee salaries and wages) increases from$4,099,945 in 2018 from $4,155,125 in 2019, an increase of$55,180 or 1.35%. • The budgeted total for Employee Benefits decreases from $2,267,570 in 2018 to $2,203,425 in 2019, a decrease of $64,145 or 2.83%. Total employee benefits in 2019 are calculated at 53.03% of the total for employee salaries and wages. - Payments for employee retirement are budgeted for $551,000 in 2019, a decrease of $86,000 or 13.50%from the$637,000 total budgeted in 2018. - Payments for employee health insurance are budgeted for$1,132,000 in 2019, an increase of $3,600 from the$1,128,400 total budgeted in 2018. • Capital Projects budgeted in 2019 will total $4,140,000; a decrease of $360,000 or 8.00% from the $4,500,000 total budgeted in 2018. Capital projects represent 15.50%of the Town's total budget. • Contractual Services decrease from $11,277,008 in 2018 to $11,101,184 in 2019; a decrease of $175,824 or 1.56%. Contractual services represent 41.65%of the total budget for 2019. • Equipment/Capital Outlay increases from $839,000 in 2018 to $1,007,188 in 2019; an increase of $168,188 or 20.05%. Equipment/Capital Outlay represents 3.78%of the Town's total 2019 budget. • Funding for community organizations/programs will total $388,370 in 2019, an increase of $5,598 from the prior year total of $382,772. Of this total, $367,260 is budgeted in the General Townwide Fund, with the remaining$21,110 budgeted in the Water Fund. - The Town's contribution to City of Ithaca waterfront parks will remain at$55,000 for 2019. - The Town's contribution to the Recreation Partnership will increase from $70,505 in 2018 to an estimated$71,915 in 2019. This is a 2.0%increase from the prior year. - Total funding for Joint Youth Commission programs will increase from $193,071 in 2018 to an estimated $196,845 in 2019, an increase of 1.95% over 2018. The Town's contribution will increase from $93,440 in 2018 to an estimated$95,309 in 2019, which is a 2.0% increase from the prior year • The Town will transfer (re-designate) $100,000 from the unreserved fund balance in the General Townwide Fund to the Parks, Recreation and Open Space Plan Account. • The 2019 Property Tax Levy will total $8,401,650, an increase of $163,650 or 1.99% over the prior year. This increase does not comply with the property tax cap calculation for 2019. Property taxes are the Town's largest revenue source, representing 33.14%of total budgeted revenues. 2 • The property tax bill for a typical property in the Town of Ithaca will increase to $1,409.19 in 2019 from $1,403.08 in 2018, an increase of$6.11 or 0.44%. The typical property in the Town of Ithaca is a single family residence with an assessed value of $190,000. The estimated property tax bill total shown below includes water and sewer benefit assessment fees. PROPERTY TAX BILL FOR A TYPICAL PROPERTY 1.14 THE TOWN OF ITHACA Major Components to Property Tax Bill 2014 2015 2016 -2017 2018 2019 , GENERAL TOWNWIDE PROPERTY TAX RATE $ 1.946 $ 1.964 -$ 1.903 $ 2.165. $ 1.870 HIGHWAY TOWNWIDE PROPERTY TAX RATE - - 0.544 r HIGHWAY PART-TOWN PROPERTY TAX RATE 1.094 1,065 1.539 1.245 1.319 1.302 FIRE PROTECTION DIST.PROPERTY TAX RATE 3.536 3.525 3.397 3.249 2.862 2.653' WATER BENEFIT ASSESSMENT CHARGE/UNIT 95.00 95.00 100.00 110.00 125.00 150 00,;"; SEWER BENEFIT ASSESSMENT CHARGE UNIT 25.00 25.00 25.00 25.00 25.00 SON'" 1i •'�r�i � �;ate.-.�"4� 1+4�a �' TOWN TAX INCREASE FROM PRIORYEAR $ 15.39 $ (4.20) $ 59.24 $ (24.26) $ 288 .;$ 61,1 PERCENTAGE WCREASE FROM PRIOR YEAR 1.14% -0.31% 4.34% -1,70% 0.21% • Sales Tax collections are budgeted at $3,050,000, representing 12.03% of the Town's 2019 budgeted revenues. Sales tax collections for the Town were weak in 2015 and 2016, with collections falling short of both prior years. Sales tax collections for 2017 improved, with total collections of $3,184,969 at 6% over 2016 actual collections. Year-to-date projections show 2018 collections exceeding $3,250,000 are possible. • Water rates are estimated to increase from $7.31/1000 gallons of consumption in 2018 to $7.59/1000 gallons of consumption in 2019, an increase of 3.8%. Sewer rents, billed on water consumption, are estimated to increase from $4.81/1000 gallons in 2018 to $4.91/1000 gallons in 2019, an increase of 2.1%. Based on these estimated rates, the quarterly minimum charge would increase from$60.60 in 2018 to $62.50 in 2019, an increase of$1.90 or 3.1%. • The Water Benefit Assessment Fee will increase to$150.00/unit in 2019 from $125.00/unit in 2018, raising revenues of approx. $1,244,000 to be used to pay the annual debt service on the Town's outstanding long-term debt for water infrastructure improvements. The Sewer Benefit Assessment Fee will increase to $45.00/unit in 2019 from $25.00/unit in 2018, raising revenues of approx. $358,000 to be used to pay the annual debt service on the Town's share of outstanding long-term debt for improvements at the Ithaca Area Waste Water Treatment Facility. • The Town has applied for a$50,000 grant through NYSERDA's Clean Energy Communities (CEC) program. Projects designated for this grant include the following: - $5,000 reimbursement to install electric vehicle charging stations at Town Hall. - $15,000 reimbursement to purchase a plug-in hybrid vehicle for the Codes Department. - $30,000 reimbursement for energy-efficient upgrades to the PWF Admin.Office Addition. • The Town has applied for$274,500 in NYS grant funding for the following projects: - $51,000 for removal of woody invasives along 3.4 miles of the South Hill Recreation Way, and replanting affected areas with native species. The cost of this work will be 75% reimbursed through a NYS-DEC grant. The Town's share of this work would be$12,750. - $40,500 to hire a consultant to develop a Forest and Tree Management Plan using the information from the previous Tree Inventory and Forest Assessments. The cost to develop this plan will be 100%reimbursed through a NYS-DEC grant. - $183,000 through a NYS-DEC grant to purchase the 73.6 acre Babcock property on West Hill. This would include$96,312 for the 38 acres purchased in 2018, $93,688 for the 35.6 acres still owned by Finger Lakes Land Trust, and $3,000 for estimated legal costs. The Town would be reimbursed 75%, or$137,250, of the costs to purchase this property. The Town's share would be$45,750. 3