San Angelo City Council Budget Workshop 7-28-15

[0:00:00] is 8:35 and it is time to call this meeting to order uh we will stand for the prayer and the pledge I suppose I'll say the prayer since unless someone else wants it go ahead Mr Mayor stand for the prayer please Our deely Father we thank you for this day and we thank you for the opportunities of this day and we thank you for this wonderful community that you have allowed us to live to prosper and to raise our children in as we have gathered here for this Workshop today but ask that you be with us and give us and give us patience and give us strength and give us wisdom that we may do the things that are right for our community and for the citizens of St Angelo bless us and forgive us this is our prayer in the name of Jesus amen amen amen the American flag I pledge aliance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all and the Texas flag honor the Texas flag I pledge aliance to thee Texas one under God one and indivisible now we've got the work session agenda uh all matters that are listed under the work session agenda are presented for discussion and future planning purposes only no administrative or regulatory action will be taken by the council public comment will not be accepted during the work session agenda number a is discussion and consideration of matters regarding the fiscal year 201526 budget preparation including but not limit toe number one general fund Revenue estimates number two funding Council priorities and goal and number three other items needing Council Direction Miss Morgan are you ready ma'am good morning good

[0:02:05] morning I'm sorry I had thought I had a piece of paper right here I have the first item before you for certified values of the uh property tax we were working through those um this weekend the appraisal district was able to meet um our deadline of receiving them by the 25th and then they sent us the supplemental information on the 26th and so were able to work through yesterday receiving that information but just to give you a brief report of what's going on with our um tax valuations our property valuations in the city we are an increase from last year our certified valuations were $4.1 billion and this year we're looking at total certified valuations of $4.5 billion so that's about a 9.125% increase and we do expect today to receive the information regarding you know how much of that is due to new property added to the tax roll we do expect that a lot of that is as a result of um for example new hotels coming online last year we didn't have that volume on the property tax yet and so we will have more detail on that but we are able to move forward with general fund discussions of the um as it affects Revenue with these final figures I won't spend much time on the calendar you know ahead of our state deadlines and working to uh to meet those and with that I'll jump right into the council priorities and goals we've talked last meeting about the progress we've made on each of those uh what Still Remains to be tackled on each of those and so I I'll just hit them really quickly since we spent a lot of time on those last meeting uh related to water infrastructure that first Council priority goal of course uh we talked last meeting that a lot of this will be um vetted as we have continued discussion in the fall related to the water rate study and so uh although there has been substantial progress as discussed last meeting uh we would

[0:04:08] recommend that there's no requirements this operating budget cycle there would be no need to take action at this time simply because we're going to continue working on that priority and bring you something uh very quickly hopefully this fall uh with uh implementation of of of meeting this priority at a larger level the next item of course your second priority is related to to streets um the acent this budget cycle that we're recommending we'll get to the details on that in just a moment but there is a request um from the director uh related to increased funding for maintenance uh related to an inflationary um aspect and then of course the bigger part of it though that we have yet to address is related to reconstruction of failing and failed streets and so of course that will have a lot to do with the results of the street survey and we do expect that we will have results on those soon and we'll be able to report back back to you so um no required um requirements to meet this budget operating cycle but we will continue working on that and bring that to you Morgan excuse me what what is later at a council meeting soon or the street survey I I would have to defer to Shane Kelton on on the timeline of when that street survey will be available just real quick how soon at next council meeting two meetings when we're expecting the final deliverables u in mid to late August and then hopefully we'll have something to you September kind of is what time frame we're shooting for right now okay thanks the next Council priority your third item is related to salaries we do recommend action this budget cycle and we've talked um that there has been an addressment um of somewhat to the police meet and confer um for adjustment to Market we had that three-year plan to get to 95% uh we do have options available for raises for civilians and fire civil service and perhaps even some discussion of that police meet and confer uh but we wanted to uh we have an

[0:06:11] amount identified and we can work through what those details are of what parameters we're going to allocate um funding to but we we'll get to that in just a moment so we do recommend action on this item this budget cycle and we'll we Lisa Marley's on on Deck to be able to speak to specifics about that as well uh but moving on to your next Council priority your fourth item is related to the improved development process you'll recall last meeting that we talked at length about um the the substantial um uh investment in development services related to um Staffing and and and hardware and software and things of that nature uh we do recommend that there are some smaller items that should be considered uh related to training and uh professional development and boards and commissions and um items of that nature and so we do recommend action this budget cycle uh we will get to that in just a moment and the last item of that's of your priorities is related of course to the police station and we would recommend that there's really no requirements this operating budget cycle but we'll continue working on meeting this need you know outside of budget preparation we do identify that it'll be um something that takes some more time and some more resources on that one on that one Morgan um we we already had the funding to do what we're doing at this time that we've we've set this the funding aside for the purchase of the property okay and that was from last year's right that was we did it in this fiscal year but the funding source was fund balance okay so we that's taken care of what we're going to do at this point what we've decided to do is taking care exactly as we discuss the possibility of uh uh professional assistance determining the best use of the property um we'll need to consider how to pay for that but we'll work that okay when the time comes thank you and and with that that moves us into other items that um the city manager would recommend that we we consider the first item there of course is is

[0:08:12] something we've discussed in in past budget cycles and earlyer this budget cycle is related to health insurance that we do anticipate that there will be increased expenses to meet the regulatory requirements um due to Affordable Care Act in addition to that we do have an increased um claims experience and so we anticipate that there will be a recomend there is a recommendation to increase the employer contribution for health insurance and we have several options available that Lisa Marley has developed what we've plugged into the budget at this time is kind of the most conservative opportunity um and we wanted to um we'll work through those details as well Morgan that your slide says propose increasing employer contribution but the the the um alternative that we've plugged in and also includes an increase for employee contributions is that correct I believe all proposals U propose an increase to the employer and employee contribution thank you that there's no way to tackle it without both thank you is what we've we've developed the next item there is related to pay as you go Capital you'll recall that last year we reduced this item by $1.5 million to assist with funding the council priority related to streets and that helped us in large part reach the 8-year maintenance cycle that we're at now and so uh this was intended to be a short-term solution and this of course funds medium-sized Capital needs items related to that we wouldn't be able to absorb in the operating budget um but wouldn't necessarily issue debt for and so in the past this has proved u a terrific resource for things such as uh development services software and Hardware to meet the other Council priority we discussed earlier uh to fund 19 Street sidewalks uh to fund um Avenue P the largest part of Avenue P and the Fairmount Cemetery column barium now moving forward as we recommend replenishing this fund it would be able to to fund items such as Street reconstruction I mean it could be used for Debt Service for for streets and that could be a big part of it it also could be used for any City facilities uh Recreation Center air conditioning you

[0:10:13] know items that are in the CIP that we have not yet identified funding for even so far as improvements at the animal shelter um roofs and AC's across the board across all our our facilities uh need some need to be addressed and what we would propose is an opportunity to replenish this funding by $500,000 each year for the next 3 years to ultimately get to that $1.5 million back in capital and you'll recall that as we budget for this we don't necessar necessarily take action in the summer during budget discussion but early in the fiscal year October November we generally bring this to the council and with recommendations of here's what's in the CIP here's what's been ranked um in the past by the CIP group and by the citizens and that some opportunities for funding those items then the Council would take that action later in the year and so by replenishing that by $500,000 in fiscal year 16 would give that opportunity for addressing some pretty major um Capital items the next item there that's recommended by um city manager for consideration is related to vehicle maintenance that there's a need for improved management of the city's Fleet that would be at a cost of the general fund of just over $340,000 and we wanted to to be able to address that and talk about that this budget as well and staff is available of course with those details this last item here is related to uh Services lacking resources really at this point we've kind of addressed the major items earlier in this presentation and so I have no additional details to report at this time uh related to that but we because we think we're we're really hitting all those those major points with you in earlier presentations it's almost a placeholder until we knew we were going to be with uh with Sunday's figures so with that you'll we're able to to break into the um the opportunity to to try to balance the budget you'll recall that we started with uh last meeting we spoke to you and we had $481,000 Revenue over expenditures and that was related to um that sales tax to keep it flat to keep it with fiscal year 15 activity

[0:12:17] that we would be able to increase it by $1.2 million for the fiscal year 16 budget that that's we have a lot of uncertainty related to sales tax but we do think that we'll be able to achieve at least what we achieved this year in fiscal year 16 and so that was a $1.2 million marginal increase to the general fund uh that largely funded the police meet and confer raises at almost $700,000 so that $1.2 million minus the $700,000 got us to this you know $500,000 figure here in addition as I spoke earlier and touched on related to the uh property tax we were able to apply our our our current tax rate at the $4.5 billion property tax tax valuation which would yield marginal revenue to the general fund of $2,583 th000 so that does give us some capacity to address the items that we have um identified in the budget process so that $481,000 plus the $2.6 million does give us this $3 m6500 to address Council priorities and other items uh recommended by by city manager and so we took the opportunity to begin uh plugging figures in related to those and we what I would recommend is that we kind of go through these um quickly and then well in as much time as as you desire and then we can identify you know which items do we want to definitely plug in we have a an outside column here you know what we've proposed with city manager recommendation would leave us a little bit of room of $44,988 to continue addressing other items and we can see which items you know we really want to uh invest in which items we want to kind of back off from there's some opportunity with that so with that I'll begin working through each of these items so as we discussed we have the resource of $3 m6500 the first item there is related to um the council's um top priority in the general fund and it's related to streets and so there's a component here related

[0:14:20] to uh Street Maintenance you know we got to that 8-year maintenance cycle we do anticipate that there's um an inflationary impact on on that budget and so the operating budget for that is is just under $4 million and so we if we apply you know a cost index to to try to estimate inflation on that we would anticipate that there would be a need of $115,000 added in the fiscal year 16 budget simply to maintain the 8-year maintenance cycle that we're on right now so we do have of course Shane Kelton available to speak to more details on that but that is um one item that we could address uh with that with that capacity the next item there is related to council goal related to salaries adjustment to Market um our goal was to get to 95% I believe in about 3 years we're in year two of that and so um again we we got these figures Sunday afternoon yesterday we worked through some opportunities and so at this point what we've done is we've plugged in an amount for salaries we've not necessarily identified what parameters those those pay raises would be administered by but we have plugged in an amount of $1,561 th000 in change which we think would um largely address year two of that plan and um and as I mentioned we can as we as we get through this we can break into more conversation about what that means and and where that could get us what that buys us um the next item there is related to improvements to the development process another Council goal uh we would recommend that $46,988 worth of um funds be invested in development services this is not to expand and function necessarily this is to U meet the requirements that that this uh this group of folks have been tasked with uh meeting and so this is this would be an increase to their budget but this would help them maintain the level of service necessary that's already been assigned to them a large part of that I believe $21,000 of that is related to training for their boards and commissions their various boards and commissions that there uh was a a

[0:16:23] request to to consider that and to get your you know your volunteers educated and get them the tools they need so that they can uh do that that work and then a large part of the remainder is related to training training and continuing education for for staff um in addition to some smaller items related to um computer replacement and and different things like that the next item there is related to health insurance we do anticipate that there will be an increase to the employer contribution and we um this is again our most conservative estimate of what that would cost would be to the general fund so we do anticipate that that would cost about $457,000 to the general fund again we we're still working through the parameters the details of what those those premiums would look like for employees and um and and the employer uh Lisa marle does have several options developed and so as I as I stated this is um uh an option that would that would fund that uh from the general fund at the $457,000 this next item is pretty straightforward as we discussed uh related to the pay youo Capital that if we do implement the plan to replenish this fund over a three-year cycle we would recommend investing that $500,000 for council discretion to be used for Capital this next item here is related to the uh the vehicle maintenance as we've discussed improving management of the the city's Fleet that that expense would be $340,000 you know simply the general fund component of that and so with all of those things plugged in at those levels that would yield a revenue OV expenditure of $44,988 so a largely balanced budget and as I mentioned we still have to we don't have all of these items wrapped up in a bow ready to hand you today uh we we had each of the um we've had lots of discussion on each of these items and as we received those property tax values on Sunday we were able to kind of plug in numbers to be aware of really to what degree can we address these items and so

[0:18:25] we do think that we can make uh progress on each of these items at this level and then continue sharpening our pencil and bring you back you know on our calendar we have August 4th available for final budget discussion and record tax vote then that August 18th meeting will introduce the budget ordinance so we did just want to get um General consensus from the council have some discussion about you know what your what your appetite was for being able to address these items and to be able to um to really answer any questions and make sure that we're in line with with what your priorities and goals are for implementing this year and so as we work through these we can um we can plug and play and plug in different numbers and make sure that as we Implement items that it still um meets the budget so with that I'll just make sure that I've I've covered everything with the city manager's um uh Direction and made sure that we we have everything noted and we're able to uh really focus in on any of these items as the as the council requests what is the percent interest in the increase in the health Insurance again the increase for the employer contribution is I believe 12.6% D okay and everything that I read uh last night said employer increase did y'all consider a portion of that being an employee assumes some of that increase yes that is for an employee increase as well and with that I may let Lisa Marley speak with um the different options available for that good morning Council mayor city manager um we did create um three different scenarios that we came up with uh the one that is presented today and these numbers represents a 12.6% increase to the employer contribution and to the um single um single coverage employee only low plan would go from 13 to 20 to 1650

[0:20:30] per month um and then all other tiers would be at 4% a 4% increase uh the the other scenarios that we came 1300 a month I beg your pardon $13 $13 it goes from $13.20 per month to $650 a month okay what does how does that affect the retirees it's the same rates same across the board employees and retirees all handled at the same rates um the middle scenario that we came up with was a 10.6% increase to the city's contribution the low plan employee only would go from 1320 to $20 and then the all other plans would be a 10% increase uh and then the worst case would be 88.5% for the city worst case meaning for the employee um the low plan would go from 1320 to at $25 and then all other tiers would be at 15% so you know keep in mind that we have not raised our premiums for the employees in four years and so uh at this point we really believe the increase was going to be so significant that there has to be a component that's attached to the employees and the retirees um we felt like the 4% uh increase was uh the best for the employees obviously it's certainly the most for the city to take on um but we hope that uh you know we'll be able to work through those numbers with you Lisa are you talking about the employee only or employee plus family what do you what do you employee only is the one is the the 1320 to 1650 number all other tiers would go up 4% okay so if you if you look at that um someone who was in the very high plan you know the most expensive plan we had have with family coverage which is the largest component um it would go up 38 it would go up

[0:22:34] $383 per month we I think we have two people in the entire city between employees and retirees that are in that plan um for the most part um I mean that's the highest component that goes up thank you um and I just might say that um um this year we have seen quite an increase in our large claimants there's only been one claimant that's hit the stoploss but we have had 13 other large claimants that uh we haven't had that kind of an experience in years past recent years past um we uh seem to be running pretty high on prescriptions as well um there are you know each year the um I guess it's the part of the federal government that does this but they will Medicare they will take a look at all the prescription rates and what they are allowed to charge for those and um they will release new drugs to um oh what is the word uh generic and so um they did not release any to generic last year and we're seeing just a huge number of very high dollar prescriptions being taken advantage of and that's due in part to the all the advertisements that you see on TV for prescriptions they you know go to their doctor and say I Sol this commercial and I really want this and so those prices are adding up and we are paying the price for that in our plan so any other questions about the insurance thank you Lisa thank you we're going to talk about these as we go what like what we think that absolutely yeah the whole the way we have it set up is of course as borgan mentioned a while ago we want definitely to make sure we address the uh priorities city council has said before us but any one of these items that you have any questions about that you would like to go more into detail we're prepare to do that and we

[0:24:36] do have staff of course to address that as well well if we talk about each one I I am I'm in for favor of the plan that's been put forward on the health insurance U that would be my okay vote on that one and that that's also the kind of feedback we need you're in favor or not I'm in favor of that one the full amount okay I have a question Morgan I have a question on vehicle maintenance let's let's or shouldn't we all say whether we're in favor of it or not in favor of the one I'm sorry Johnny but see a consensus health insurance this Affordable Health Care is going to break every one of us but I don't see anything else we can do about this and for comparison I believe last year the general fund um employer contribution went up and it cost about 520 ,000 so this this is just I hate to say you know what we have to take but it's it's in line with what we've seen in the past with the experience we've had in the past the only the only thing I can say about this I like the 500,000 in the pay as you go I I accept the insurance I'd sure like with a $3 million overe expenditure I'd sure like to have I'd like to have a little of money put back in savings we don't know what sales tax going to do next year the the the oil Revenue is down I'd certainly like to have a half a million dollars set back in Saving somewhere instead of 44,000 but I've been looking I can't I don't see where you're going to find it well and I'm I'm sorry I don't have that before you today but we do have you know sales tax even though there have been some months where we're down a little bit it's down you know 1.1% 75% by and large we're over budget in sales tax because of our healthy experience early on and and management has been really terrific about holding the line on that and not capturing that for needs that we've been able to address needs in other way so we have we do have our fund balance in a in a healthy in a healthier place than we have been in some time and we can develop some information on that to kind of speak to that because I do think that

[0:26:38] that is an important component to consider um and and and we have made some progress on that I just don't think we've done a a we have some some room to communicate that to y'all so we built a rainy day fund last year and then Lisa it lasted a month didn't it Lisa look at may maybe lasted about a month we had a rainy day I really would like to see a rainy day fund in our city because we don't know what's going to happen next year and the indicators are that it I'd like to see I'd like to see a rainy day fund well technically it pay as you go Capital that is would be available for that and our fund balance is specific for the the rainy day fund and so we'll we'll get a better report to you on that sir everybody else happy with the insurance no okay I I really would like to see end off uh the plan that Lisa was talking about you know one two and three options I I am concerned that the employees if we get down to the U raises and there's not enough money left to compute that we're going to be costing the employees or just wiping out their raise and I I want to see those percentages if you're telling me this this this is the best option for the employees then I'll go along with that but I didn't hear that it is this budget would give the best option to employees it's the best case scenario for employees but it's not the best for the city I mean but it is right it has one way or the other um if it's the best option for the employees I'll have your word on it because I don't see any anything in writing there and I didn't have it on a breakdown then I'll go along with it and we did want to address it to make sure that we it was uh the least impact to the employees uh as we looked at this and we had a good meeting about that and we had a lot a big old discussion about it and we all agreed that uh we knew that there had to be a portion that contributed by employees but we also knew that in doing so they want to keep it to a minimum and this is what we're presenting at this point and

[0:28:40] I do believe the actual adoption of the premiums and all of that will be part of a bigger discussion and so for example if we have this would fund and give Council the opportunity to approve any of the plans but there will be greater discussion about uh that when the time comes actually these are estimates right leis ultimate adoption of the plan or are these firm these are firm okay Lucy do you have thoughts no sir I'm just listening to youall are you for it sure okay mayor I wanted to just add that I understand insurance and I know it creeps up on us every year so I'm okay with it Rody I'm fine with it the only question I had on on was on uh the page you go is is that every year for the next how many years we would increase it by $500,000 every year from for fiscal years 16 17 and 18 okay and then fiscal year 19 it would freeze at that one and a half there would no be be no increase at fiscal year 19 we're trying to get $1.5 million back in that fund yes Johnny the answer is 500,000 this year next year she she wants to propose a million dollars so that's $500 each year but she wants to grow it so it's back up to the level where it was at one .5 million each year so that we can address some of the capital issues I know you've brought up Capital issues in the past uh I know you've talked about the river in the past we get that annual funding source up to a level where we can do some of those projects uh then we'll we'll be able to tackle some of those needs so that's what she's trying to do is build that fund back up good the other question I had Morgan was on vehicle maintenance uh what does it mean when you say improve management of is that new a new Fleet new improved management of what I don't understand that it's a lot of things I'll defer to Shane to speak to that be brief please because I'm going to leave you're ready to go um we're

[0:30:45] looking for The Improv management we we've implemented some new software uh technologies that we're bringing in we also looking at bringing in some more rearranging how we actually look at our Fleet and our Fleet Management Systems um monitoring and tracking wise uh that way we can be more proactive uh we'll know when something goes down in the field we can bring it in get it scheduled those type of things are what we're looking at okay and also to better manage the uh the number on the fleet as far as certain redundancies that we have as far as certain equipment that way we know yeah if we if we if we have pieces of equipment that are not not being fully utilized to their potential we can rearrange them and how they're being utilized it's just a lot better way of tracking things and two it also allows Fleet Management a small increase in what they've been doing we haven't increased rates over in Fleet Management for 5 years um so they were actually this year they were dipping into the red into their uh into their internal service fund and we anticipate Savings in the future when we start talking about reducing those redundancies and making sure that the equipment that we have is being fully utilized before we come to the council requesting to purchase U additional equipment or more equipment that's correct and know I know along those lines and this may not be the right time to mention it but at a number of uh meetings ago I was very much interested when it was brought to my attention uh on an armored personnel carrier for PD I'm very much interested in that and and I was told to wait till these talks started coming around so just to put a bug in your ear I'm very much interested in looking into one of those for the safety over our officers and and also just real quick on I didn't understand where the 100 15,000 for streets came that's that's that sounds like just you know crumbs adding to the the big picture but I didn't understand where the 115,000 came from it basically looking at our budget the budget that we actually utilize for actually putting materials on the street which is uh thank thanks to the council uh it's up

[0:32:48] to you know uh just under 4 million and so what they did was they took a uh percentage based on um consumer index the municip yeah the municipal cost index it's just an inflationary amount so we keep we don't get in the same hole that we were in now that now that now that I'm funded and we can actually we have a cycle in place we keep matching inflation year after year and that way we can keep our cycle in place it's not 4 million it's 8 million 4 million per year isn't it it's four it's 4 million per year I mean what for the materials on the street it's it's roughly about 3.89 is is what we're using to spend to put materials on the street uh the um now there's other other components of that budget that U you know employees and things like that but the actual material is on the street Charlotte I'm don't go away Shane I'm kind of stuck on the vehicle maintenance number you want to add to your budget $340,500 want to add to increase your budget that amount yes ma'am I'm looking at the June report for the vehicle maintenance Fund in in in June at the end of June you had only spent 48% of your budget I'll have to get Ryan up here to explain I'm not sure what numbers you're looking at oh the Blue Book you want to can you take that yeah I believe so uh Miss farmer I believe the numbers that you're looking at reflect our fuel expense um that is that is a normal thing for us um we budget a considerable amount for fuel because we just unfortunately have no idea what it's going to do um so in a typical year we may budget um5 or $6 a gallon for

[0:34:53] fuel um with the anticipation that um we we may have have a crunch and we may need it and and it's a necessary component um we've been extremely lucky this year and we've had extremely low fuel costs compared to what we're budgeted and so I believe without knowing exactly what you're looking at I believe that's probably exactly where you're going I I'm looking at the overall fund 301 and that's a and that is in andout um we if we don't if we don't sell the fuel we don't make that money it it so it's not just because it's a there's a a large number there uh doesn't necessarily mean that we're going to make we're going to generate those revenues we actually have to sell the fuel at a certain cost to generate those revenues uh so we to make those expenditures so the fuel the fuel kind of throws you off of what the actual operating costs are uh for that department so the first six months of of of this budget that we're in you're saying it's low for what we've already spent because we got a break on fuel cost and you have Revenue you know remaining in your budget that you haven't spent but you anticipate spending it in July August and September that's all that's left we anti the yeah the money's really I'm going to say um I'm going to say I never say this but for the internal service funds such as vehicle maintenance we almost um don't look at the budget ignore the budget for tracking and projecting purposes because their revenues must equal expenditures so if their expenditures if their revenue is under budget their expense has to be under budget as well so we budget Revenue high and budget expense high in case of a catastrophic year with fuel prices but if that doesn't happen then it's up to Ryan and Shane to manage that and make sure that expenses do not exceed revenue so that when he says that he's in the red it's because revenues are only 3 million but expenses are

[0:36:56] almost 3.2 million that's in that third column from the right that's what he's referring to the fact that he's 48% through the budget that's just a result of that we haven't had a catastrophic year for fuel yet and hopefully not so we're nine months through the year and you're right Miss farmer that we're only 48% expended even though we're 75% through the year but revenues are less than expenditures and that's a concern for us we would want to be able to address that and make sure that expenditures and revenues are managed and at least balance if that adds to the conversation okay but we are talking about changes though Ryan you might want to address this as well we are talking about changes um I know that shade talked about software and what that software could do for us as well this is not a system that we've had in place this is something that we are proposing to put into place uh to make sure that we can experience someone's efficiencies and in the future of course reduce our expenditures or Capital cost as well so if you want to address that that'd be great yeah just just a tremendous um opportunity for us to add to uh this incredible asset we call our Fleet um with with any type of data monitoring vehicle equipment monitoring um that we can provide um not only a transparency and exactly what's happening with our Fleet uh but also the data to back up when when we discuss um ages or utilizations or or efficiencies of these pieces of equipment um that's the tremendous nature and and that spreads throughout every single Department that has either one or or 200 pieces of equipment in their department and it it really is a tremendous tool and and um is is very easily seen as it will pay us back in the near future as we've seen from other cities and other studies that have been done okay thank you sure I'm not really sold on $340,000 to for managing vehicle maintenance myself I I can't see the I can't see it but maybe the rest of you can I I can't if I had a breakdown maybe

[0:39:01] but at this moment I'm not comfortable with it going to have to save a whole lot of money to to justify $340,000 going in increase right and and if I may just add a little bit to this this this is not just um the one component uh that we've talk we're talking about now um there there are several components to this um our fleet has been um uh in the stone ages for for quite some time um we're we're looking and pushing at at improving our facilities improving our services to our customers which are our departments uh within the city um we're trying to get equipment back to them faster when it does break we're trying to prevent breakdowns which again is is some of these U management softwares that and and other tools that we have available to us but as you know um vehicle expenses are increasing um the repairs to those vehicles are increasing we can't just go out to our driveway and and work on these things anymore which means that that my department needs the tools and equipment to do it um for example uh a heavy duty scan tool just to to look at some of these machines um I'm looking at $122,000 uh to to Simply Be able to diagnose uh dump truck correctly um and those are those are the challenges that we have in place um we have not increased rates um to our departments in in years um but we've had salary increas and we've had other things that that impact our operating budget and so we're needing to catch up with that we're needing to add some services that will not only improve uh the the ability that we have to serve our customers um but we are uh we are looking to to really add to um what we have to offer as as a former Fleet Maintenance Department now known as Fleet Services um we really uh wish to serve those customers well and to get those vehicles in and out it cost cost us daily anytime a vehicle is broken sitting still and we want to eliminate that um anytime we can be predictive and and proactive instead of

[0:41:05] reactive when something fails we're going to be saving time and money that crew is not going to be sitting that vehicle is not going to be sitting and and we can get back to work so um it is a big number but there are multiple things in line here for us to gear up to to correctly Monitor and manage and we're presenting the number right now I know we have the next budget Workshop would be next Tuesday uh we wanted to present what to come forth as far as marginal revenues and some of the needs that we currently have and this can be broken down uh bring it back and make sure that we specifically address the points that you're talking about uh so that the council can um uh review hopefully maybe if they're comfortable to move forward with that number if not just ask more questions for clarification that's so absolutely thus far all all I've heard is software and management software and to see where I mean are you buying are you hiring men or to work are you are you buying equipment or you buying what are you spending the $340,000 so a big portion of this is on uh data equipment monitoring and those are actual devices to be placed on the vehicles that provide feedback um and instant feedback and that that does give um our Fleet Services Department data so that if uh for example a check engine light comes on we know it before the operator even tells us also the the department can't the operator tell you that though when he comes in that afternoon that the check engine good um but with the information we are able to get a jump on that we're able to uh to know exactly what's happening um when there's a fuel savings issue we're we're saving fuel by knowing it early um the there's multiple components to to knowing that information sooner so and this this is the future and I I agree with them on this but I also could see and I see Dwayne and Charlotte's points on this when we come back on this and talk about it next Tuesday Daniel said it appropriately break it down and maybe you know this is a budget and it's like all of us have a budget let's figure out what we can live with so when you come back next week I think you need to say well I can cut out this this and this

[0:43:07] this year you know maybe we don't get all the vehicles this year or we put these tags or these these information gatherers on the vehicles that we use the most but not on all vehicles you know maybe put it on half of our Fleet and save money I'm just trying to think of how I'm trying to help you but I'm also trying to help everybody that's in and the city also we don't want to overspend if we don't have to so it might be better if you you come back to us next week and say you know I'll take 340 down to 200 or whatever and this year and then next year we'll come back and try to hit the other half of the of the fleet these these things that we're putting on there the only thing that I'm nervous about because they are new is the how long will they last will they last as long as the vehicles and things like that I would like to know that next week if you could find out that for me because I'd hate to spend this much money on these things and they don't don't last as long as the vehicle actually lasts and then you know we and we're getting them again and again then we we're not saving money over the long run and like you said the guy can come in or the person can come in and say my check engine lights on they have radios and cell phones I mean they can call you when the engine light comes on and tell you just like your equipment can tell you so I'd like a break down on that's that's if they would mayor that's that's not that's not necessarily just because something comes on and happens out in the field they don't aut automatically come in and take it straight to vehicle maintenance and and uh fill out the paperwork and and it's not that efficient out in the field as $340,000 you could visit with them and have that part of their that's not all that's not all this is Mayor it's not it's not just software and it's not just that and but it is equipment it it does allow us the ability to to track these vehicles through GPS to increase efficiencies that way um also two again we're talking about is this labor yes this does as a component of Labor last year when we gave all the this is an internal service fund So when you say we're going to give all the employees 5% raise that we did last year well the internal service fund it had to eat $4,000 $40,000 for those raises um that

[0:45:11] money didn't come out of the general fund last year to go go to him he had to absorb that right well he didn't really have it to absorb last year CU he was running on such a thin margin last year um we're coming into this year and we're looking at okay we're looking at budgeting raises uh increased Insurance costs all those things coming into next year well his his Revenue margin because he hasn't gone up on his rates we're well we're already dipping into the red so we're just going to keep pushing him into the red even further so these costs are are to help that as well too so it's not just we're not just talking about tracking software and and management from out in the field and and getting our employees to behave differently it it's helping the entire service but Shane you need to make sure because they drive a vehicle that uh they don't have the attitudes well it's not mine I didn't pay for it I'm not going to worry about it because in a sense he did pay for it it comes out of you know taxes to Tre like they their own we work with our employees on a very regular basis and but um it's just one of those things that those guys get in a hurry you know we we get a water break or we get something that happens and we're out in the field and those guys are pushing and going and they working hard and just that little red light comes on the dash it may not get seen especially until the next day or two days later depending on what's going on and so but these are things that it just helps him manage the fleet better quicker faster and allows quicker turnaround times one of the thing that eats us up especially like this season right now when we had a lot of rain uh I have every mower every tractor every Shredder out right now Mowing and when when one of those goes down the faster he can get that turned around and get it back to me the faster I can go to work fewer complaints we receive there's no I mean even with everything going the way we were going this year we had we've had two or three shredders go down we've had a couple of tractors go down and that just puts us further and further behind and it kills

[0:47:13] us and so the faster he can diagnose and fix the better we are right bring us a breakdown I'd also like to know how many of our vehicles already have a maintenance agreement on them because I know we've been buying maintenance agreements with some of the vehicles we bought in the past and uh that's already covered under warranty or under manufactur yes sir like to know that as well mayor and I guess a keyword here if I'm not mistaken are these are all estimates anyway is that correct these are all estimates or are they said in stone or much of it is an estimate because um of how fluctuating the repairs and and things are in in our world but um um yes so hopefully uh insurance well Lisa said it's pretty firm so maybe we're there um depending on what raises uh council is willing to to propose thank you for that by the way for considering um but um that will affect that sum as well so sounds good is everybody happy with what we've looked at thus far any more comments from Council oh good mayor I would add that Charlotte had a good question and we'll we'll um I think break that monthly down in a little different way where we isolate fuel revenue and expense we can see how fuel contributes to the overall position position and then how operations contribute to the overall position and I you know we look at that overall but your question Miss farmer is a good one that that will lead to an answer which is partially what they're requesting a solution for and so we'll bring that back at the same time we can we can talk about the operational impact uh and um and the Step Up in service that they're proposing okay this what we're talking about is the general fund proposal items right yes but this is the impact to the general fund of a change in service levels and billing rates for the um uh vehicle for vehicle maintenance and uh because it's because the general fund has such a big piece of that

[0:49:16] business this is the general fund impact to that well I was just trying to clarify because I have another question on the general fund under storm water so I'll wait okay thank you motion to a journ yes second no no no been out in the sun too the at the very beginning when you were talking about the property tax numbers and the percentage that we got this weekend what was and it was $2 million something dollars is was that estimate a low estimate or was it right on certified valuations will yield $2,583 th000 in marginal revenue that's solid that's a that's a that's certified by the Appraisal District certified that is true okay I want to so I added that to the $481,000 that we were already Avail aware of um to to consider for today's discussion so when they certified value then when they certify values they go through you know they notify Property Owners okay okay no I got that yeah and so there are some items that have have been through appeal and have been settled some items that have not yet been through and so when they certify values um they're giving us um what we can Bank on right that's all I care about I wanted to make sure this this is a very solid number the the next thing that I wanted to ask about was the salaries it it that that is in line with the the meet and confer that we did with the police department and is that correct I might defer to Lisa to speak the percent the percentages are in line uh actually the uh the number on your screen represents um a 55% increase to the general population of employees okay yeah it's five and a half and yeah right um 5 and a half% for the general employees and um for the fire department

[0:51:21] the meet and confer came in at 6.26% the 6.26% increase through meet and confer takes their salary ranges to 90% of the survey cities this year this year coming up in October what does it do to our employees this year Well if if you go with the 5 a half% we we started off let me give you a little bit of History we started off uh September 30th of 14 at 87% um on 101 we did 5% raises and then uh the survey cities did a 3.3% increase on an average so we only made up about 1 a half% on everyone last year so that would put us anywhere from 88.5 to 89% um this would no what we did last year okay so depending on what all other cities will do this year it'll you know we won't know until that happens um but this this increase in the budget represents 5.5% increase I can't tell you how far that'll take us against the other cities till we know what they do as well um well I think this is probably as high as we're going to we're going to talk about at this time I don't think we can afford to do more I I am in favor of doing the increase on this so I just as we're going along trying to get this meeting moving along I'm in favor of doing that I'm also in favor of doing the streets one discussion on the salaries that we probably would need to have not necessarily at this meeting but to throw it out there for you all to be thinking about um you know the last 2 years we've done pay increases just across the board um you had to get a satisfactory evaluation to qualify for but there was no distinction between those employees who got exceeds and those employees who got meets we have broken it out in the years past so I guess at some point we'll need direction from you on how you want us to administer the raises this year and that was my next point I don't

[0:53:26] like these across the board 5% raises because the ones at the top get a huge raise and the ones at the bottom get nothing are very little I I don't like I don't like percentage raises I would like evaluation raises and I think we need to focus more in the middle on the bottom than we do on the top that's just my personal opinion so I'm I'm I don't have a problem with the figure but I would like those figures to be worked where they're needed the most and not spend all the money on the you know top 10% of our employees right and that's where most of it go well and I I'll tell you mayor when we start looking at our survey um it's our higher ranges now that aren't doing as well as the lower ranges we we have for you know the last three or four years we've really focused on the lower ranges and they've they've come out Fair very well in comparison to other cities but now we're finding it's our higher level ones that aren't because of that um but you know I I know it's demoralizing to employees that get exceeds on their evaluations and they get the same as somebody that just barely gets by we hear that every year when we don't you know separate them so we will need you know you all to give us your feelings on that and how you'd like for us to administer I'm definitely in favor of that that that's not fair in anyway and what what gives you the incentive to to do better absolutely you know you're going to get the same raise as the person that does the best in your department it's true and you know our ranges have just been in such a mess that we needed to do it across the board to fix everything um but but we are getting better with that and so um I think this would be the year to separate them based on your evaluation do you feel about Johnny and then we'll go to charl yeah I'm kind of in line with you but I do see that the the the moral Factor the the morale Factor does play a big part but leaving out the comparison of the other cities in your estimate I mean in your just guesstimate where where would we this would bring us up to what 89 90% where where if if the other cities in

[0:55:31] the survey give like what they did last year say 3.3% on an average this is going to put us very close to the 90% a if we if we go with a 5 and a half% uh to the ranges if um I mean I feel very comfortable that we would be somewhere very close to 90% that would that would have been my guess too so hey and on this I'm sorry let get let's get Charlotte then we'll work around I agree with the mayor evaluation raises are to me are the only way to go um if we could see the employee reviews the percentage of those that exceed those that just meet the percentage and those that are below uh I do have yes I want all employees you know our average to be 90% or better but I also need to know which employees out there the percentage who meet or exceed are right just barely getting by all right I do have that information um and and keep in mind too these were years that employees knew their performance didn't dictate a different pay raise okay so in the 2012 13 year so this would have been the evaluations done in September of 2013 uh 44% of our employees exceed Ed and 55% of our employees met we had one employee Citywide who got below expectations and that was with no money connected to it so I felt like those those numbers were very reflective of what the actual um then we looked at last September we had 31% exceed and 60 68% meets we had three employees who came in below expectations um two of those are no longer with us and one of them has improved their performance and wound up getting meets after the probationary period so we're sitting at the onethird

[0:57:35] of our employees exceed and 2/3 meets is where we're sitting right now that's what I needed to know okay thank youcome you comfortable with this yes Sir Rodney okay on when we talk about our employees how short staff are we right now Citywide how many positions are open um uh when I last looked we had um 20 something positions open which believe me is better than we've been in the last couple of years um we haven't seen the necessary shortage that we were you know crying about a year ago okay there's more and more applicants out there okay so so the pay and that's because the oil field stuff's gone down and all those employees are coming back to the city to work absolutely absolutely that's what I need to know thank you absolutely John no I just want to go back and I want to I want this to be Crystal Clear like on the other and my and it's a passion of mine that I'm going to push I know a number of years ago when Brian Dunn brought us the idea of this the latter one that truck it was 97,000 and I was so I mean I was all for it these guys need to have equipment such as that but I'm going to go back to PD and I'm going to really stress I am very adamant about looking into an armored personnel carrier for these guys I don't want that to go just okay he talked about it mentioned it that I am dead serious about this if somehow we can make it work squeeze it in if we can come up with $900,000 at the year end that one year that we got him his lot truck I think we can come up with some money to at least help out this this department that I see it in the news every every time something happens like something that just it's going I guess I hope it doesn't have to take something drastic to happen here in the city for us to even get serious about this idea so I want to push it Michael you know that's a that's a good point and that's one of the reasons that kind of thing is exactly why Morgan's trying to rebuild that Capital money so that would be a good example of something which could be funded by that other pay

[0:59:37] as you go Capital line yes I mean there's there are lots of things that are going to compete for those dollars but you bring up one item in particular that would compete I'm I'm serious I'm adate about it I'm going to keep on harping on it so think about me think about the the officers out there that could very well use something like that um one other thing I'd like to mention that we've talked about in years past and it didn't come up today was how many people are eligible to retire and you know a lot of times we talk about that and you were asking about vacancies um we do have 320 employees that are eligible to retire within 5 years wow yeah so it's it's a what was that number again cin 350 I'm sorry 320 is that a third of our mhm pretty CL yes the third of our employees can retire in five years within five years yes we have 172 that can retire today wow so just wanted to share that thank you Mr silvas to speak to the uh the ladder truck for example was funded through debt the armored personnel carrier I believe is in the CIP for $400,000 so as Mr danne SP stated could be uh identified through through the pay youo Capital process what's that number again about $400,000 I believe for the armored personel care to approve and I want 10% of our budget put to savings account and I want that before he gets his armored personnel where do we where do we need to go now Morgan and I'm sorry I I just made a couple notes while we were talking uh to to make to make sure and and clarify on the pay youo Capital as we mentioned that'll get us back up to that $1.5 million increase to the budget um but it it in no way funds everything and so you just said that this would get us back to no it doesn't get us it'll get us back to replenish what we funded in the past but it does not it does not identify and capture all of our Capital

[1:01:38] needs that we've identified in the city it will not answer all of our problems this 500,000 will bring that number up to what 500,000 700 50,000 okay but the other 250 is dedicated right right so I heard you say this will bring us back to 1.5 million no this action this approving this program but it's going to take three years of commitment to get us there that's the key this 500,000 gets us 500,000 yeah because 250 is already this program but next year we'll be voting on this again whether we want to do 500 next year or not or a million like you said you didn't you say earlier that maybe trying to shoot for a million next year to get it back quicker I thought I heard Morgan say that M Michael did say something about a million um next year another 500 would give us a total of a million that's what it was okay I thought you were say and Morgan's trying to build it over three years she's trying to take that incremental approach to build that back to where where it was so I think that I'm hearing that in in theory the salaries we do identify with funding this level of salaries and we we'll set the parameters of exactly how that'll be administered in future discussions but we are okay with plugging that in for consideration yes I'm happy with it is everybody sure and on the streets I'm not ready to vote with it till I see that breakdown we're not voting today we're just we're just consensus to give us direction to go back and work on it and bring you a proposal you going to bring this again next Tuesday is that what you said Tuesday will be our final discussion about the budget Mee and then for the streets as we mentioned that's a 3% increase on the 3 89 million for oper for for supplies I'm comfortable with that is it what's consensus I'm good I'm good and then for the development services is there any additional that we can provide or any discussion on that specifically to uh to consider this is this is what staff has identified as

[1:03:41] necessary to meet their their minimum requirements remind me again what that is about $21,000 of it is related to training for boards and commissions a large portion of the remainder is related to training and continuing education and certification for staff and then um supplies and operating dollars necessary I'm good they've been really lean for I don't have a problem with that what we need the education yes so that gets Us close that gives us some room to to continue consider these items and get them and we'll come back with a vehicle maintenance as far as a breakdown on that at the next city council meeting and as far as that pay to go you know that may be maybe we'd want to make a four-year plan out of a three-year plan and work on the savings account and also work on an armed Personnel if we could get something maybe in a thre I mean just an idea that's an excellent point mayor because it's easy to to plug that in to make that balance the budget and then we always know we have that need for for pay as you go that is an opportunity bring something back and I even think that on the on the armored personal carrier that 400,000 you mentioned if we went if we went 3 more it's more like 260 300 no it's not if we went 300,000 on pay is you go and put 100 in savings and put 100 toward the vehicle in four years we could have all of them where we wanted it so I don't know just just a I'm just throwing that out there I think they call that muddying the water yeah I think it is Muddy in the water because the pay as you go Capital really is a savings account for spe special projects that come up and you you create another savings account I mean what are you going to use the savings for we're not using it for retirement we need to use it to run the city um you're using it as a contingency that is a contingency pay as you go another contingency but okay a sub account contingency a sub contingency well you're I like your sub ones cuz they get used immediately and you don't have them at least they'll

[1:05:42] take care of them your subs last for about a week yeah vehicle maintenance I think you're bringing us something back so that we can see what that's all about so we can understand that so really I guess is everyone is a consensus that we're relatively happy with Mary you might want to ask Lucy what she think I asked Lucy hey everything I'm thinking y'all are saying so what's the sense saying she's thaty said she was happy she's that good she's that smart go ahead ma'am uh with that we'll we as as discussed we'll bring back next week uh related to continued budget discussion finalize these items and then we're getting into our state deadlines and I know I talk about them a lot but we just want to make sure and be really clear that we're being transparent and meeting these deadlines we'll have the record vote on the property tax rate and then on August 18th we're going to introduce the budget ordinance and have the first l hearing on the tax levy and so we're we're getting into the home stretch here what else we got boss that's it tell tell me right quick why we take money out of the general fund is that because we run short of what we budgeted in other funds so General funds got to make up the shortage you you'll have to give me an example specifically what you're talking about well I'm looking at uh the fund 203 and the general fund transfer we transferred into that fund out of General funds and and I'm trying to figure out why what page are you on I'm on page 34 for the Texas Bank Sports Complex there is a a tax I'm sorry no go ahead there is you know there is a um there is a tax component to support those operations they do not fund themselves through program income so it's largely supported by tax income and the tax income goes into the general fund correct and then we support Texas Bank sports complex and several other operations because I was getting a little upset if we were supplementing and we're not supplementing it's monies that go into

[1:07:44] the general fund first so they got to go to their designated places that's all I needed to know Brian technically we still do have a motion and a second on the floor to adjourn just yeah yeah I I remembered that there's a lot of discussion after that though huh and I think it's time all in favor of adjournment please say I I this is over thank you

Captured 2026-07-26 · source: youtube.com/watch?v=35vh5vegoBg