HomeMy WebLinkAboutMeeting Notes 9-05-18
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BUDGET COMMITTEE
Meeting Minutes - September 5, 2018
Committee present: Eric Levine - Chairman, Pam Bleiwas, Pat Leary (via Face-Time)
Staff present: Mike Solvig, Judy Drake, Jim Weber
Others present: Bill Goodman
Meeting was called to order at: 12:05 p.m.
AGENDA ITEMS:
• Review and approve meeting minutes from July 18, 2018.
Moved: Pam Bleiwas Second: Eric Levine Motion Passed
• Update Status of 2018 Sales Tax Collections.
For the first six months of 2018, collections are at 107.1% for the same period in 2017. Five out of
six months have seen collections increase over the same month of the prior year. Sales Tax
collections through June, 2018 total $1,623,676 against 2017 collections of $1,516,030.
For comparison, after the first six months of 2017, Sales Tax collections were at 107.2% for the
same period in 2016, also with five out of six months having seen collections increase over the
same month of the prior year. At year-end of 2017, total Sales Tax collections finished at 106% of
total collections for 2016. If this were to happen again this year, total collections for 2018 would
exceed $3,350,000.
• Review and Discuss Tentative 2019 Ithaca Town Budget.
The Committee reviewed and discussed the Tentative 2019 Ithaca Town Budget, including the
detailed budgets for the General Townwide Fund, General Townwide Fund, Highway Townwide
Fund, Highway Part-Town Fund, Water Fund, Sewer Fund and Fire Protection District, summaries
of revenues and expenditures for all funds, and the proposed 2019 property tax levy.
- Total expenditures will increase 1.60%, from $26,235,011 in 2018 to $26,655,357 in 2019.
Expenditures will increase in the General Townwide Fund by 19.25% and Fire Protection Fund
by 0.96%. Expenditures will decrease in the General Part-Town Fund by 1.93%; Highway
Townwide Fund by 7.55%; Highway Part-Town Fund by 1.44%; Water Fund by 4.91% and
Sewer Fund by 12.89%
- Total for Personal Services (employee salaries and wages) increases from $4,099,945 in 2018
to $4,155,125 in 2019, an increase of $55,180 or 1.35%.
The following personnel change is included:
o The part-time Administrative Assistant I position at Public Works will be made full-time
(40 hours per week) at a cost of $11,000, charged to the General Townwide Fund.
- 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.
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- Total revenues increase 4.12%, from $24,347,492 in 2018 to $25,350,745 in 2019. Revenues
will increase in the General Townwide Fund by 21.11%; General Part-Town Fund by 3.50% and
Sewer Fund by 6.38%. Revenues will decrease in the Highway Part-Town Fund by 1.73%;
Water Fund by 6.21% and Fire Protection Fund by 3.05%. Revenues in the Highway Townwide
Fund are budgeted to remain the same as in 2018.
- 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 $3,350,000 are possible.
- 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 for 2019. Property taxes
are the Town’s largest revenue source, representing 33.14% of total budgeted revenues.
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%. (This is a slight decrease from
the $1,414.31 tax bill for the typical property in 2019 discussed at the Budget Committee’s
July meeting) The typical property in the Town of Ithaca is a single family residence with an
assessed value of $190,000.
- 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 is proposed to 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 is proposed to 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:
o $5,000 reimbursement to install electric vehicle charging stations at Town Hall.
o $15,000 reimbursement to purchase a plug-in hybrid vehicle for Code Enforcement.
o $30,000 reimbursement for energy-efficient upgrades to the PWF Admin. Office Addition.
- The Town has also applied for $274,500 in NYS grant funding for the following projects:
o $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.
o $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.
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o $183,000 through a NYS-OPRHP 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.
Mr. Goodman announced that the City will continue to share the Sustainability Planner in 2019,
noting that the sustainability program is no longer partially grant funded. It is also his
understanding that the City will not be reinstating the Gorge Ranger program in 2019 for
patrolling the Six Mile Creek gorge area.
Mr. Solvig commented that the budget is in good shape. With the exceptions of the water rate
from Bolton Point and budget for the sewer plant, there are not too many unknowns remaining
for next year. Fund balances and reserve accounts remain in very good shape, and increases in
the property tax levies for the past several years have been more than off-set by healthy increases
in the Town’s taxable assessed valuation. The increases seen on property tax bills have been
largely due to the increases in the water and sewer benefit assessment fees, which have been
necessary to meet the long-term debt payments for infrastructure improvements. The property
tax bill for a typical property has increased from $1,369.44 in 2014 to an estimated $1,409.19 in
2019, an increase of $39.75 or 2.9% over this 5-year period.
• Continue discussion of proposed Water Rates and Sewer Rents for 2019.
Mr. Solvig reported that Bolton Point has not yet set their water rate for 2019. Bill Goodman
commented that the water rate will be discussed at the Bolton Point Commission meeting
tomorrow afternoon, and he hopes they will be able to set the 2019 water rate at the meeting.
Subsequent to this meeting, at the Bolton Point Commission meeting on September 6 the 2019
water rate was not discussed. At that time the analysis of year-to-date water consumption for
2018 had not yet been completed. 2018 is the first year under the new rate structure adopted by
the Bolton Point Commission late last year. The next meeting of the Bolton Point Commission will
be on October 11.
• Discuss Property Tax Cap for FY-2019.
Mr. Solvig reviewed the tax levy calculation based on the recently received 2019 Property Tax Levy
Growth Factor of 1.0200 and Property Tax Base Growth Factor 1.0161. To stay within the tax cap,
the Town could generate up to $266,000 in additional revenue over 2018. As discussed in the
review of the tentative budget, the property tax levy will increase from $8,237,651 in 2018 to
$8,401,650 in 2019, an increase of $163,999 or 1.99%. Water and sewer benefit assessment fees
will increase from $1,171,292 in 2018 to $1,602,116 in 2019, an increase of $430,825, which will
be used to pay for debt service payments on long-term debt. This will put the Town approx.
$252,191 over the allowable increase per the 2019 tax cap calculation. The tentative budget as
presented will not be compliant with the 2019 tax cap.
• Continue Discussion on Sidewalk Districts.
Mr. Goodman informed the Committee that the Ad Hoc Sidewalk Committee continues to explore
forming sidewalk districts to levy fees to fund future sidewalk construction. While addressing this
on a Town-wide basis is at least another year off, the ad hoc committee is focusing on a sidewalk
district for Forest Home to fund rebuilding the retaining wall and constructing a sidewalk around
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the Forest Home Drive curve between the upstream and downstream Fall Creek bridges. A
sidewalk district for Forest Home should be relatively easy to implement as it would largely
overlay our existing Forest Home Light District, but would also include Cornell tax-exempt
properties.
For the 2018 tax roll (2019 tax year), the existing Forest Home Light District includes 110 parcels
with an assessed valuation of $41,457,100. Assuming a cost of $100,000 for the wall & sidewalk
project, the tax rate would be $2.412/$1,000 of assessed valuation. Using an average assessed
valuation of $376,900, this would add an additional $909 to the average tax bill, or $180.80 per
year for a 5-year period.
• Review and Discuss 2019 Bolton Point Budget.
The Bolton Point budget will increase from $4,466,176 in 2018 to $4,622,161 in 2019. This is an
increase of $155,985 or 3.5% over the prior year. $111,762 of this increase was for personnel
services, increasing from $1,226,238 in 2018 to $1,338,000 in 2019. Bill Goodman pointed out the
increase is due largely to the budgeted addition of another water treatment plant operator in
2019.
• Review and Discuss 2019 Ithaca Area Waste Water Treatment Facility (IAWWTF) Budget.
At the time of the meeting, the Town had not yet received the Preliminary 2019 Budget for the
IAWWTF.
• Other Items.
No other items were discussed.
The meeting was adjourned at 1:32 p.m.
Next Meeting: Wednesday, January 16, 2019 at 12:00 pm, Town Hall - Aurora Room