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HomeMy WebLinkAbout100515 CC MinThe City of West University Place A Neighbot•hood City CITY COUNCIL Susan Sample, Mayor Bob Kelly, Mayor Pro Tent Burt Ballanfant, Councilmember Brennan Reilly, Councilmember Mardi Turner, Councilmember STAFF Michael Ross, City Manager Alan Petrov, City Attorney Thelma Lenz, City Secretary CITY COUNCIL SPECIAL MEETING MINUTES The City Council of the City of West University Place, Texas, met in Budget Workshop on Monday, October 5, 2015, in the Municipal Building, 3800 University, West University Place, Texas beginning at 6:30 p.m. Agenda Items were as follows: Call to Order. Mayor Sample called the meeting to order at 6:30 p.m. in the City Council Chambers. Council and Staff in attendance were: Councilmembers Ballanfant, Reilly and Turner, Interim City Manager Peifer, City Secretary Lenz, Finance Director Daugherty, City Attorney Petrov, and Public Works Director Dave Beach. Mayor Pro Tern Kelly was absent. Notice of the Budget Workshop was duly posted in accordance with the Texas Government Code, Chapter 551. First Public Hearing for Proposed Tax Rate Matters related to the first of two public hearings to hear comments on the proposed tax rate. Recommended Action: Hold first public hearing on the proposed tax rate. Mayor Sample opened the public hearing at 6:30 p.m. Finance Director Daugherty presented a slide presentation and, in summary, stated: • Even though the tax rate will be lowered, the current State Tax Code requires the City to hold two public hearings since the slight increase in the overall appraised values will cause more tax revenue to be generated that the previous year. • The estimated taxable assessed value for 2015 is $5,462,121,034. • Last year's assessed tax rate was $0.36179 and this year $.33179 is being proposed, which is a 3 cent reduction from last year's tax rate and slightly above the effective tax rate of $0.32388 and below the roll back tax rate of $0.33572 and is below the not to exceed tax rate of $.33571. • Tax rate of $0.331279 will have a tax increase of $80.61 on the average residential homestead, which is approximately $6.72 per month. Using the effective tax rate, it will be $1.22 a year or $.10 per month. • The 2015 tax rate for the 2016 budget year will be reduced $0.03 as compared to the 2014 tax rate. • The tax rate proposed to support the 2016 proposed budget is a 3.97% tax revenue increase over the prior year. • Final rate will be set by ordinance on Monday, October 19, 2015 at 6:30 p.m. City Council Special Meeting Minutes, October 5, 2015 After the presentation, public comments were taken Alida Drewes, 6112 Fordham Street, spoke to say that Council voted not to accept any suggestions from the public about the budget. She said every staff member gets an automatic 3 percent raise in January, which includes the new city manager who got a 15 percent raise for on- the-job training and said every worker can get up to a 15 percent raise even if refusing service to citizens. She said staff can get a new car every three years and police can manage their own raises. Ms. Drewes said personnel claims 66 percent of the budget. She said the library has cancer - causing asbestos, no fire alarm or sprinklers and ADA standards are not being met. She said there are plans to turn doors around in a band -aid fix and Council plans to address a flood issue with pipes to drain the water. She said this is substandard to other parts of the City and asked why Council wants substandard solutions for the City, but gold standards for the staff. Ms. Drewes said the Chronicle had very unflattering things about West U in the paper today, but that wasn't the half of it. She said they could report how the City refuses services to senior citizens and refuses entry to the library to non West University Place citizens and that the City doesn't support seniors as much as it should and safety standards are ignored constantly. She said stop discriminating against West U citizens and stop refusing to listen to surveys that clearly say what the City needs to do, and don't use subcommittees to hide details of what Council should disclose because citizens demand transparency. David Dutch, 3901 Rice Boulevard, spoke to ask if all the valuations went up 10 percent last year and confirmed that the City is lowering the mill rate and because things went up so much, the City will be receiving more revenue. Councilmember Reilly spoke to say he commends the staff for putting together a good comprehensive budget, but the one thing that wasn't done that he thinks the taxpayers deserve is an alternative budget proposal that shows Council what the budget would be if taxes were kept at the effective tax rate. He said if Council had an alternate budget, it would know the specific cuts that would need to be to the proposed budget and could decide whether or not they worth being cut. Councilmember Reilly said it is being proposed to increase the budget by roughly $400,000 and so if the City is going to raise taxes, the increases should be justified. He said he is not saying that the City should never raise taxes, but he doesn't know what the benefit would be in raising them this year because there is no alternate budget to discuss the options. As requested by Mayor Sample, Finance Director Daugherty discussed some of the primary categories that were increased in the budget which were personnel and benefits (increased healthcare costs and continuation of last year's implementation of the compensation plan) and expansion of the equipment replacement fund. In response to Councilmember Reilly's question as to what percent of the overall expenses is the equipment replacement fund in the budget, Ms. Daugherty responded that it is a very small piece of the overall budget. Councilmember Ballanfant said it would be hard to review all of the individual elements in this budget at this time, but maybe next year a councilmember or two can work with the Finance Director and at least discuss some things that can be evaluated on a line item basis. 2of3 City Council Special Meeting Minutes, October 5, 2015 With no further discussion, Councilmember Turner moved to adjourn the special meeting at 6:55 p.m. Councilmember Ballanfant seconded the motion. MOTION PASSED. Ayes: Sample, Ballanfant, Reilly, Noes: None Absent: Kelly Turner 3 of 3 lvl9--(, /ice Date pp oved