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Minutes - 2016 - City Council - 08/16/2016 - SpecialEAGLE CITY COUNCIL Special Meeting Minutes August 16, 2016 The attached verbatim transcription of the August 16, 2016 City Council Meeting (as transcribed by Dawn Smith who was hired by the City) are the Official Minutes of the August 16, 2016 City Council meeting; any previously adopted minutes for said meeting are hereby rescinded. Respectfully submitted: SHARON K. BERGMAN CITY CLERK/TREASURER APP)RP.VED: STAN RIDGEW Y MAYOR AN AUDIO RECORDING OF THIS MEETING IS AVAILABLE FOR DOWNLOAD AT WWW. CITYOFEAGLE.ORG. CERTIFICATE OF TRANSCRIPTION Eagle City Council Special Meeting Dated: August 16, 2016 The undersigned does hereby certify that she accurately transcribed the attached transcript to the best of her ability from the recording of the Eagle City Council Special Meeting that was recorded on August 16, 2016. and certified thiV26i' d gust 2016 I Smith (Documents by Dawn), Transcriber TRANSCRIPT, Eagle City Council Special Meeting Dated: August 16, 2016 Page 1 of 24 Eagle City Council Special Meeting Dated: August 16, 2016 Mayor: Stan Ridgeway JK: Jeff Kunz SB: Stan Bastian NP: Naomi Preston CS: Craig Soelberg C: Sharon Bergmann BV: Bob Van Arnem FR: Foad Rhogani NM: Nancy Merrill DG: Daniel Gold SG: Steve Guerber UnkF: Unknown Female UnkM: Unknown Male All: All Council Members Mayor: Ask the clerk to call the roll. C: Kunz? JK: Here. C: Bastian? SB: Here. C: Preston? NP: Here. C: Soelberg? CS: Here. C: All present. A quorum is present. Mayor: Would everyone join me in standing for the Pledge of Allegiance. [Pledge] Mayor: This is the time set aside for Public Comment on any Non -Agenda items. If there is any member of the public who would like to comment please come forward, state your name, and address and we'll give you at least three minutes. Seeing none, I would assume everyone is here for the budget tonight, so we'll move on to Additions, Deletions or Modifications to the Agenda. Are there any recommendations from staff? City Council Members? Then seeing none we will start our Public Hearing on the budget. It's Fiscal Year 2016/2017 Budget that's been presented to the Council over the past few weeks and has been published appropriately and if anyone would like to comment on the budget, please come forward. C: There's a sign in sheet (inaudible) -- TRANSCRIPT: Eagle City Council Special Meeting Dated: August 16, 2016 Page 2 of 24 Mayor: Oh, okay. UnkM: I got it. Mayor: I assume that everyone was going to comment, so. Bob Van Arnem? BV: Mr. Mayor, Members of the Council, I really had not intended to be the first person. I figured there'd be some sign-ups before me, so I'd be happy to hold off and let other's speak first. All right, okay. No takers? Mayor: No takers. BV: Okay. Before I have a couple areas of the budget to question or address, but I'd like to talk about some of the discussion I heard during the budget discussions if I may. Because that is what concerns me as much as the budget and for the budget it really doesn't concern me but it's -- well, it does concern me but let me just continue, okay. So, in the discussions I heard various comments made and I won't attribute them to any of you personally. If you made it you'll know the comment and if you didn't you may remember who did, it's not important, but here are the comments. And I listened to this again to make sure that I had the language right or relatively -- Mayor: Mr. Van Arnem? BV: Yes. Mayor: Could we ask you to hold up a second? BV: Yes. Mayor: We're having a problem with our -- BV: An IT issue. Mayor: Correct. BV Let's see there is an item in here about that. UnkF: There is. BV: Where is it? JK: It's called Emergency Reserve. BV: Okay, first of all, Bob Van Arnem, 3049 South Whitepost Way, Eagle. All right, so some of the comments that I heard during the budget discussions, paraphrasing or quoting, Other taxing districts will take the increase so why should the City be punished by not taking it. And that struck me, as going along with the crowd is the rationalization and the crowd standard. Everybody's doing it why shouldn't we. And what I would appreciate and respect is an attitude of hey, let's set ourselves apart, not just to do so, but not follow the crowd or do what everyone else is doing just because they're doing it. Another comment, we have a City to run and we should tax people appropriately. Well, higher valued properties pay more dollars into the City's coffers and in Eagle that's the case. But residents of higher value properties may actually use fewer services while TRANSCRIPT: Eagle City Council Special Meeting Dated: August 16, 2016 Page 3 of 24 contributing more to them then perhaps a lesser value property. And then how is appropriate determined, I mean who determines that? That to me seems to be a subjective value judgment rather than some objective criteria. Another comment, people who are fortunate enough to have more assets should pay an appropriate tax. Well, I feel they do and they pay it in cash. And again, define fortunate, you know, fortunate can be somebody who has a little more than you do. What criteria would be used to determine that? What this seems to reveal is the belief that fortunate should pay more tax dollars and write a bigger check, but they already do. Another comment, our City's Mill Levy is nearly the lowest in the State of Idaho. Well, with Eagle's higher value if I'm correct in my thinking it should be given the levy is set by the taxing districts budget divided by the revenue, which Eagle is fortunate enough to get quite a bit of. So, and a person who feels this way, believes this way I mean is it out of embarrassment or is it guilt, or I mean I don't understand. I don't feel badly because our levy rate is low because I know what we pay in taxes and like many folks I know how hard we work for what we have, so I don't feel guilty about that at all. And I consider it mark of achievement by past Councils that they were able to hold the budget down. Okay, the 3% plus is not going to be a terrible burden to residents. Well, it's the total taxes paid to all districts that can be burdensome, and who's to judge that. And the final comment was the City will lose a lot of money if it does not take the increase for three or four years. Well, the City restored its budget last year by taking all the foregone. And I believe an assertion like that should be challenged and an accounting provided of how much money the City would indeed lose if the City were to put some money into foregone balance and not take the full amount each time. I understand the need for taxes. I'm not anti -tax. If you try to put me in that box you'll be dead wrong. What I'm trying to do is express how I would like to see budgets and taxation approached, much as I think any frugal person would approach it. Not because you get this gift or you got an increase in your paycheck, or you got a bonus that you go and spend it, right, and that addresses the issue of reserves, which was mentioned which I appreciated Councilman Preston when she commented that she supports reserves, but let's -- I think her word was cut the budget or hold the budget where it is and put that reserve away rather than add to the budget to make the reserves, okay. There were also some other discussions about a needs -base versus wants -base budgeting. I appreciated those. And I would hope the Council would not go along to get along. I don't want to see a divisive Council like we had for several years I set in here, thought it was unproductive, but I would like to see some spirited discussion and pushback rather than just everybody kind of voting to increase the budget without that. Okay, now specifically on the budget, I just want to bring up something and I addressed this last year. And despite people don't show up and speak I don't think it should be construed they don't support or that they're in complete agreement with what is done, all right. But the Parks Budget for example, you know, I'm not criticizing the work that's done or whatever. I would like to see a discussion about the increase in the Parks Budget since 2015, if I did the numbers correctly, all right. There's a significant increase and also in the personnel costs since 2015. In 2010, there was a Parks Study that was done and without going through it just in general it seemed the people were pretty happy with the maintenance of the parks, and what they had, and so I think that's an area that could be looked at. And ITT [SIC] is a big number. It's a big number in every budget that's out there, so maybe that's nothing that can be trimmed, but for what it's worth. Thank you for your time. I appreciate it. Mayor: Thank you. Are there any questions? Thank you. Foad Rhoghani? FR: Good afternoon. Foad Rhoghani. My business address is 175 South Rosebud Lane. I have been coming to a few of the meetings, but not all of them unfortunately, because I've been so busy at my other job. I really want to say thank you to all of you for taking TRANSCRIPT: Eagle City Council Special Meeting Dated: August 16, 2016 Page 4 of 24 time and doing the job that you choose to do well. I guess that's really what the taxpayers want. Many of the points that I was going to discuss Bob actually covered them, and one of them in particular is regard to that 3% tax issue and the levy. I made the comment at the City Hall meeting a few months ago that the way I think you guys looking at the tax levy being low rather than the actual tax that's our way of looking at it. I've been hearing that for 22 years that I've been coming to this City and I disagree with it. I've talked to some of the people on the City Staff and they actually agree with how I look at them because if you look $100 versus $100 in Eagle you don't get the same value for the same $100. That's how you should look at it. The other thing that Bob mentioned and I heard in one of the meeting the 3% it doesn't put pressure or it's a burden on some people. Believe me this, I'm running multiple business in this City, the reason we are here is because we love this City and many times because of the taxes that went up in the City I had to cut from giving a raise to my staff, so it is a burden on us. We ran new businesses that right now we have to put more and more money into it, so it may not make any difference if somebody owned a house, but the people -- but also you have to think of the business side also, and lots of issues that come with it. The other thing is Bob mentioned also the people not showing up and the truth is lots of times the people don't show up because they think it doesn't make any difference, they're going to waste their time, why should they show up. Some of this stuff that I've written and I'm going to go through is really not only my opinion, but it's also a result of my conversations and discussions with some of the other residents and the business owners in this City. I also want to say thank you for taking time and voting against a couple of totally my view, unnecessarily projects. One of them was the Adventure Play Park and one was Dog Park. You mention lots of shortcoming or issues with those projects and there are things that if you remember in 2008 and 2009, and '10 Budget and the issues we had with the maintenance because it's not only the cost of that projects at the time being, but it's also the long-term maintenance and other issues that go with it, and the most importantly liabilities that go with issues like this, so I want to say thank you for voting against those. I love the Mayor's idea of building the Reserve Fund to 8 million dollars, but I really don't know why 8 million dollars. On the other hand, I want to say also that I disagree with your approach to increase taxes to put the money in the Reserve Fund. The principle of business and economics tell you that money to build the fund should come from cost cuttings and savings, and not from increasing taxes, so I think that's a wrong approach. I'm not against building the fund, but how you want to do it, get more money, put it in there, butjustbasically putting the burden on taxpayer that's the wrong approach. Please seriously consider lowering the Property Tax Levy to where it was prior to the increase and put the money in the hand of taxpayers because they know better how to spend that money. Many of us have problem with the fact that our elected official, and that's not only in City of Eagle, but other government entities they think taking that 3% is an entitlement. The only reason in my view that the law gave you that option is to basically use that as the last resort and do it only when absolutely there is no other way (inaudible) to increase fund or to have additional money. The truth is the best time to cut your expenses and increase the efficiency is during the good economic time and not during the tough economic time where you are under lots of pressure to come up with the fund and balance the budget. Many of us the citizen and taxpayer of this City believe you have many options to cut costs and control your expenses. In many of us opinion, and again, that's not only from me but from many other people that I talk to, this City has a large staff. When it comes to the tough economic times and that's only a matter of time you have to choose either to put more pressure on the taxpayer and increase the taxes or basically layoff the staff. Neither one of which is a pleasant option. Please remember you are the custodian of the taxpayer money please spend it wisely. Thank you. Mayor: Thank you. Any questions? TRANSCRIPT: Eagle City Council Special Meeting Dated: August 16, 2016 Page 5 of 24 JK: Mr. Mayor? Mayor: Yes? JK: Mr. Rhoghani, I'm trying to confirm this, but my understanding was my recollection was is that the Dog Park funds in the amount of $50,000 were still in the budget. Can someone confirm that please? Mayor: It is still in the budget, yes. It was not cut. JK: But the -- you're right the $247,500 for the Adventure Playground from the Capital Funds was moved -- was deallocated and moved to the General Reserve, but I believe the $50,000 for the Dog Park is still in the Capital Projects Fund. FR: Yeah, I was somehow was under impression that that was dropped. And really the main reason is again, you mention a lot of liabilities in particular. I guess Naomi actually brought a number of issues with that and it really is a matter of maintenance, liability, plus the way I see it and talking to people, projects like that is only for a small percentage of the citizen and taxpayer of the City. You've got better places to put that money and to spend that money. Mayor: Any other questions? Thank you. FR: Thank you. Mayor: Former Mayor, Nancy Merrill. NM: Mr. Mayor and Council, I'm Nancy Merrill. I reside till Monday, at 4252 West Saquaro Road in Eagle, Idaho, and then I'm headed out to Sydney, Australia for a year and a half, so. I did want to come and speak to the budget tonight as this is my hometown and a City that I dearly love, and I'm so proud of my Mayor and City Council, and the job that you've done since you've been elected, and I so appreciate all of the efforts that you've put in in your time regarding this. A couple of things that are near and dear to me and maybe in a little bit of opposition -of what you've previously heard and that is in serving in this position and through the years as we watch this 3% move up and down, up and down, there was a time when we had a lot of money and then there was a time when we had no money. And there was a time when we were trying to buy a City Hall and we put $250,000 a way a year in anticipation and preparation of buying a City Hall in five years and times got tough. And then we had to pull out of that reserve in order make ends meet like many, many families do. And one of the things that kept us going was that 3% increase that we had during those tough times. I hate to see that go away. It's not a lot of money. Mr. Rhoghani asked about the lowest and the third lowest in the State of Idaho. I can tell you that being as President of the Association of Idaho Cities and reviewing all of the cities in the State of Idaho and their tax bases, as well as the Highway Funds and the other funds that come into those cities, Eagle's tax base is one of the lowest in the State of Idaho and although, the property values are high as you did mention. A couple things that I would like you to consider tonight as you -- and it's more philosophical then it is for numbers, and that is, why do people move to Eagle? Why do people come here? Who has come here, and what do they expect? And I would say that many, many people that move here they come here because of the way it feels, the way it looks, the people that are here, the kind of people that are here, and the amenities that you've built -- we've all built through the years in order to have some of the things that TRANSCRIPT: Eagle City Council Special Meeting Dated: August 16, 2016 Page 6 of 24 other cities have that make it nice for a City. A tiny museum, I was at the park the other day, Eagle Island walking, and I ran into a gentleman from Texas who was investigating moving to Eagle and he said I love the old downtown. That little museum is the sweetest thing, he said and he went on to tell me all the things that he'd seen in that little museum and how quaint it was, and how special it was. And from my eyes it's always been there for many, many years and I've always thought it was awesome, but not through somebody new eyes. The same thing is with our Parks & Recreation. One of the most incredible things that this Council and the other Councils have done after me -- I have no credit -- is to put together a Parks & Recreation Department. We see the streets crowded with beautiful flowers, the gazebo is beautiful, it's the things that make people when they walk up and down the streets of Eagle, love it. The parks are good parks. They're well maintained. I did run into a little boy the other day and when he found out that my name was Merrill and associated with Merrill Park, he simply said to me you need to paint the dinosaur and paint some eyes. He noticed that the dinosaur was getting worn and it needed to be painted. He's eight years old. He's a citizen of the City of Eagle. He cares about those parks. It's not just adults that we take care of, it's many of our children and our teenagers that live in this City, and they need those parks and they need those trails. The increase in the trails, the pavement of the trails, and the maintenance of the trails has been amazing. We could not have done it without Mike and our Parks & Recreation Department. Thank you for allowing them to do that and for putting some emphases in that recreation that so many people care about; the bicyclists, the people that walk, the moms and pops, the children in our community. It's these types of things -- our library that's well run. These are the things that make Eagle special and I'm pleased with the budget this year. I think that you've got a good budget. I think that we're headed in the right direction. I don't want to see us pull down and eliminate things in our City. Now's the time to maintain and to put funds aside for building, we need a park on the other side -- all those developments, and parks, and apartments that have been approved are people and those people are going to be overcrowding the parks, and the trails, and the bike trails up there, they need that recreational opportunities. They've paid the impact fees to do so and those need to be thought about when we think about recreational opportunities in our community. I just want to thank you for what you're doing. I don't have any problems with the 3% increase. I think you've got a good budget and I would encourage you to accept it this year. Thank you. Mayor: Thank you. Are there any questions? Thank you for coming. Daniel Gold, would you like to testify? DG: Thank you so much for this opportunity. I'm Daniel Gold. I live at 609 West Bosanko Drive with my wife and our two sons. We moved to Eagle about three years ago coming back to Idaho from Austin, Texas. And when we moved we looked at a lot of places in the Treasure Valley. We wanted to live -- I work out at Boise State. This is not necessarily the easiest commute for me every day. I think there's a lot of people in Eagle who feel the same way. We live here because of the quality of life in Eagle and we live here because of the parks, echoing much of what we heard. It's very important that we continue to maintain those and maintain the level of service that has been established, that this Council has provided, and previous Councils have provided. I do not feel that 3% tax is burdensome to the point where I would be willing to look for ways to cut costs that may prevent or may eliminate some of these services that we've grown to love. My boys love the library. We love the parks. We spend a lot of time on the trails and I can't imagine not having that be part of our community. It's a big part of the identity here in Eagle. It's a giant reason that we moved back and fell in love with the City and this area, so thank you so much for the work that you do. TRANSCRIPT: Eagle City Council Special Meeting Dated: August 16, 2016 Page 7 of 24 Mayor: Thank you. Are there any questions? Is there anyone else who didn't sign up who would like to testify? We have another former Mayor, Steve Guerber. Please come forward. We're honored to have two former Mayors here. SG: Not necessarily, you haven't heard me yet. No. Thank you, Steven Guerber, 699 East Ranch Drive, Eagle, Idaho. 1 guess I could get up here and pretty much just say ditto to a lot of things that Nancy had to say, but I'm here to support the budget the way that it has been put together. There are always those things that you wish were happening that did or did not, but the discussion or the interest seems to be as much as anything on whether you take that additional 3% or not. And I guess I've gone through a period when it did or it did not happen and basically one of the reasons that Eagle is the city it is is because the city government has basically stepped up and done things that maybe a lot of other cities don't, and I think that's why Eagle has the appearance that it does. I mean even the signage is first class, and the flowers that are put out in the summertime, and I mean all those kinds of things add to what really appeals to the people who live here and the people who are passing through Eagle. A long time ago when I was mayor, I had a gentleman tell me that when he comes down Eagle Road as soon as he crosses Chinden it starts down he said I can feel the difference between the City of Eagle and other cities that I've been in just because of the way that the City of Eagle exists and all the kinds of things that have been done. I mean I have my own special interests, a former State Historical Society Director, obviously the Historical Museum is of interest to me, and I want to see adequate funding for that. I think as was mentioned by Nancy, I saw a tremendous number of local museums and I think Eagle's ranks right up there amongst the best for a city of its size, and even the smaller ones, and some bigger ones in the State of Idaho. I also was at Eagle Fun Days during the (Inaudible) Home activities and they had the map where they asked kids what's your favorite part of Eagle, and time after time it was the library. On Friday, the library had an event for the kids who had all read the number of books and they gave out their awards and things like that, 500 people were there, and it was an incredible event and it just shows the support that's there. Quite frankly, I've heard through the grapevine, which I admit is the fact my daughter that works there part-time is the grapevine, but I think the library really needs the support from the standpoint of adequate personnel to be able to handle what I think has been a real growth. And I don't know what Steve asked for or whatever, but I certainly hope if there were needs that he cited to you that maybe got cut back I hope you'll maybe take another look at that because that library 1 think is a real key to the satisfaction with the City of Eagle that many people have. Parks, gosh, I have a real interest in some of those too and I appreciate all the support that's gone there. You've gone through a real horrendous time as far as the dip that took place and things. Now, you're in a period where you have the opportunity to play catch-up I think, and I hope that you will look at doing those kinds of things that need to be caught up that maybe got curtailed. I've seen a lot of activity on playing that catch-up, but I think there's still a lot of things that people want. A swimming pool that was probably number two as far as what kids mentioned that they would like to have and I know that is an expensive proposition, things like that. And quite frankly, before we do a pool I'd rather see an expansion of the library or even a second branch, but I agree with Nancy about the fact that we should all be pleased with the attitude that has changed on the City Council and the Mayor position that's much more positive and I think along with that positive attitude should come some very thought positive activities as far as what city government is going to do to enhance Eagle and continue to make it one of if not one of the greatest places. We've always had that reputation. I've seen with the fire department -- I've seen things adapted by other fire departments that our fire department did. In fact, one of the truck manufactures had made a change because of some recommendations that our fire department did. Mike Williams was mentioning last night that when he went to his FEMA training the book TRANSCRIPT: Eagle City Council Special Meeting Dated: August 16, 2016 Page 8 of 24 includes information about how Eagle, Idaho handled flood control in the training for the National FEMA Program. I mean Eagle's always been out in front of those things and I hope that you'll keep that in mind and look for opportunities out of the box to be able to enhance the City as we have been doing for many, many years. Thank you for your service and thank you for putting together what I think is a reasonable budget to be able to move forward with that. Mayor: Thank you. Are there any questions? Thank you. Is there anyone else who would like to testify? Seeing none then we will close the public hearing on the budget and take a really short recess while I move down to the podium. [Recess] Mayor: Okay, I'd like to come out of the recess and ask Councilman Soelberg if he would go over the Executive Budget Summary that was his brainchild. He put it together and has done a couple revisions of it. And for new Council Members who are coming in trying to understand the way the State Budget requires us to present a budget with all of the carry forward, and those things on Councilman Soelberg put together this budget and I'll let me explain it to everyone, if he so wishes. CS: I'd be happy to. Put it on me, I see how you are. All right, so the reason that I came up with an Executive Budget Summary that you see up on the screen is that the way that the budget is presented for the City is the way that the auditors require the City to do a budget and it's not extremely understandable if you're a lay person that's just coming into the budget process. So, when we originally presented the budget it was very different to see we had all these categories where it seemed like we were increasing a huge budget amount and it wasn't necessarily true, so what we have here is basically a breakdown of what our revenues are coming in yearly and what our expenditures are going out yearly. So, the revenues that we have are on the left-hand column you can see there and I'm not going to go through each of them. You'll see the property tax, and when we're talking about the 3% increase we're only talking about the Property Tax and Assessments that's the first line item on that, and you can see that that's a very small portion of what the City actually takes in. So, Revenue projected for'16-'17 is 6.871 million dollars and then what we have in -- not really Reserve, but in Unspent Money from the prior fiscal year so from '15 to '16 we did not spend 1.65 million dollars of the budget. And part of that 1.65 million dollars is obviously, there was a higher projected revenue flow from increased construction and those type of things, but the actual money coming into the City that is consistent on a yearly basis is what you see in the Revenue Chart. Now, the second column here where we see Expenditures that's actually the City Budget and what the City is actually going to spend for the coming fiscal year or projected in the budget where all the hundreds of sheets that you have there, but I kind of broke this out into really what we're spending the money on. So, you can see that our income is 6.87 and our outgo is 7.2 million dollars. So, if you scroll down just a little bit -- Mr. Mayor -- the one-time expenditures on this chart is what we have in Capital Projects, so we have all of our yearly ongoing costs, which is the Expenditures and then we also have in this budget what we're terming Capital Projects, which are one-time expenditures. So, the 6.871 plus the unspent funds from last year equals the money we're spending next year on a yearly basis and then the Capital Projects. Now, the Capital Projects we may or may not spend all of that money. It's just set aside for specific projects that you can see in the Capital Projects breakout that you have in front of you. So, if you go just to the third column there we have some funds that are truly standalone funds that the City doesn't really necessarily determine what those spending levels are. So, the Library Fund has its own line item within the Levy Code. So, the library's money basically administratively, has its TRANSCRIPT: Eagle City Council Special Meeting Dated: August 16, 2016 Page 9 of 24 own amount that comes into the City and then the amount that goes out. This year we're projecting that that money is exactly the same so we're not spending any money out of the General Fund to add to the Library Fund. This is the budget that they asked for. So, their total revenues equal their total expenses with $10,000 that they're -- they also have their own little tiny Reserve Fund of $300,000 and they're going to increase that by $10,000 this year. The Park Fund is money we get from impact fees and you can see that right now we have 2.9 million dollars in the Park Fund projected through the end of next year. So, those are monies we haven't necessarily spent yet. They're just sitting there waiting for new parks to be built, that kind of thing, and it's money that doesn't come in from the citizens, it comes in from developers and the impact fees that they pay to come into the City. The Library Bond Fund is a separate line item in your taxes and it comes in and goes out, so we bonded the library and that money comes in and goes out so it's not really part of our yearly ongoing budget because it comes in as a separate line item. We also have a couple other things. The Tree Fund, which is a carryover of money that was set aside years ago to replace trees in the City and we don't project any more money going into that fund. And then the Water Enterprise Fund is basically -- maybe they can explain this better this one is always a little fuzzy to me. It's basically how we manage our water and sewer systems, is that right? Somebody can correct me -- SB: Water -- just the water. CS: Just water. And that money comes in from fees from developers and fees that come in through the Water Company itself, so that's not money that the City has the ability to change the amounts going in or going out. So, those I kind of broke out so you can kind of see what our real budget is. Our real budget is that 6.87 million dollars plus the money we didn't spend from the prior year. So, when you see all the big budget numbers it's a little different. The City's currently carrying a Reserve of 3.17 million in the prior fiscal year, and we're projecting to bump up that Reserve to 3.58 million. And you can see that that's basically six months of running cost for the City if you project out our actual expenses to be 7.2 million. So, right now we have about a six-month reserve if you would truly call it a reserve. And then in this Executive Summary I also didn't include -- there's a bunch of stuff in the budget numbers that you'll see that are truly just pass- through funds. So, the City holds cash sureties for developers as they're coming in so they'll hold that money, once the development is done we'll pay it out, so there's about $506 -- $507,000 that just goes into the City and comes out of the City, but we don't have any ability to budget that. So, I really want to get us down to the actual numbers of what we have coming in versus what we have going out, so that's what I did, so thank you. SB: Mr. Mayor? Mayor: Yes. SB: If I may point out the Unspent Funds from '15-16 of a $1,650,000 basically, those are committed funds and they are carried over to finish projects that have not been completed. Mayor: Correct. SB: Okay. Mayor: And just a couple of clarifications, actually, we could change the Water Fund by raising the rates, but it's a balanced budget there. And then some of the Reserve Accounts -- current Reserve Accounts some of those could be used for operations in tough times, but TRANSCRIPT: Eagle City Council Special Meeting Dated: August 16, 2016 Page 10 of 24 some of those are dedicated funds like land purchases and operating accounts for other budgets so it's not all there just to be used as a reserve, so our Reserve Accounts are about half of that 6.6 million that we use for operations. And I really appreciate you putting that together and explaining it to everyone, and I would open the discussion up or comments, or questions from any of the Council Members. JK: Mr. Mayor, can you scroll up on the Revenues please? Or up please towards the top. You're showing Property Taxes and Assessments on Line 4 of 1.703 million dollars. When I look at the most recent information that we were provided I'm showing a value of Property Tax Revenue of 1.688 million versus 1.703, has there been a recent change in the estimated property taxes from the Ada County Assessor? Mayor: Where did you get your information? JK: I printed this off Dropbox first thing before this meeting. Mayor: Okay and does it have a date? JK: 8/15/16. Mayor: Okay. If you look under City of Eagle Revenue that total is -- Property Tax Revenue of 1.688 plus $7,000 on penalty and interest and $8,463 on personal property tax reimbursement so that's (inaudible) -- JK: (Inaudible) under total Revenue in addition to the property taxes then? Mayor: I'm sorry I can't hear you. JK: So you're adding in the other property -- other tax revenues, specifically from penalties and interest on property taxes and personal property tax reimbursement to arrive at 1.703 million, is that correct? Mayor: I think what we have to keep in mind is that this a Budget Summary put together -- JK: Right Mayor: By a Council Member. It's not the official budget. This is the budget that's put together for better understanding. It is all tax revenue. JK: Okay. And then you can maybe Councilman Soelberg can identify but on Line 13 Miscellaneous Other Revenue it shows roughly $135,000 can you just briefly highlight which Revenue items comprise the $135,000? CS: I can. It was a couple weeks ago that I put this together so you're going to have to forgive me for a minute. It was basically all the fees that weren't included in all the above categories from the Revenue sheet on the Budget '16-17. It was all the other revenues that weren't included in the above categories. JK: So, did it include bank investments and room reservations, and other miscellaneous reimbursables then? CS: I believe it did. It was just all the small ones that didn't fit into the major categories. apologize I don't have it right in front of me. TRANSCRIPT: Eagle City Council Special Meeting Dated: August 16, 2016 Page 11 of 24 Mayor: It could also be part of the registration fees for Parks & Recs programs. CS: Yeah. Mayor: And some of those fees are paid out under Revenue for people who teach the classes. CS: Yeah. Mayor: Any other questions? JK: One last question with respect to the comment about the Unspent Funds from Fiscal Year'15-'16 of 1.65 million, Councilman Bastian's comment was those are committed funds from the prior fiscal year and I just want to confirm is that indeed the case or of any of those funds not been spent and returned to the General Reserve because the project will not occur? Mayor: I am not aware of any projects that we are not going to follow through on. JK: All right. Thank you. Mayor: Any other specific questions on any of these items? I did a couple of pages of talking points and I could hand these out to you guys if you'd like, but I actually compared the levy rates to our neighboring cities in Ada County and also included the Eagle Fire Department. And then I tried to explain some of the reasons for changes in the budget and what we're trying to accomplish. If you guys would like these and I have a few extras for the audience, so I know there was some discussion earlier about where we stand as far as our levy rate goes and we do have a very low levy rate and I think everyone that lives in Eagle is proud of that. We also have a very high property tax value that everyone's proud of for living here, but I think we have to really look at this budget that we put together this year with the staff, really trying to break the budget out so we can understand it. Trying to provide the services that the Park Studies and that our citizens come in and ask for. This year alone our Council has funded $95,000 worth of expenses above and beyond what was budgeted from our Reserve Accounts and they range from homecoming from the high school to Eagle Fun Day supports, a lot of services, replacing the heating and air-condition at the library, so there are a lot of things that come up. But if you look at our budget and look at these examples the way the Mill Levy works the average home value in Eagle is $350,000. SB: Mr, Mayor? Mayor: Yes. SB: Could you put this so it can be projected for the audience? Mayor: Actually, I gave them copies. SB: Oh, okay. Okay. All right. Mayor: We didn't have enough so give us a second and we'll get this up. SB: I'd just like to have everyone who is in attendance here to be able to see this. TRANSCRIPT: Eagle City Council Special Meeting Dated: August 16, 2016 Page 12 of 24 Mayor: Okay. SB: Thank you. Mayor: So, I know the levy rate has been an item of discussion so to explain the levy rate for every $100,000 of home value your Eagle City taxes are $89.83 in this proposed budget with a 3% increase. If you take the average home value in Eagle, Idaho is $350,000, subtract the property tax exemption of $95,000, the taxable value is $255, and the Eagle City taxes for the entire year is $229.07. And actually, our levy rate is lower than last year's levy rate and our individual tax based on that is lower. Although, we're fortunate enough that we're in up economy and most of our property values have gone up, and people will be paying a higher property value based on their property values, but it's not because of the tax increase that the City of Eagle is doing. Those next two paragraphs there are pretty self-explanatory Mr. Soelberg's done his thing. So, and then another example of what Mr. Soelberg showed us is the Summary Budget that we have to advertise for the State would give one the impression that our total -- SB: And could you move that paper down a little bit so that we can see the top. Thank you. Mayor: If you look at the posted Budget'14-'15, '15-16, and '16-17, from Fiscal Year'14-'15 to this'16-'17 projected Budget goes from 8.8 million to 12.6 million, but if you take a good look at those figures as reflected in Mr. Soelberg's analysis that's a 6.8 million dollar Revenue Budget. With all of the carry forward and other funds that we show in the budget it shows that our budget is 12.6 million. There's a difference of 5.7 million, which actually gives you almost a false impression of what the budget is because these are carry forward funds that are already in the budget that we're waiting to spend because contracts, building bathrooms, working on parks and doing those kind of things plus our Reserve Funds. So, some of the changes that we've done in the budget this year so that the budget would be more transparent for the community is we've opened the budget by creating line items for programs that were bundled together and combined Departmental Budgets before. Functions are broken out individually. As an example Parks and Grounds has been separated from Facilities. Now they're in their own departments and the maintenance crew is split between the departments. Previously, the maintenance crew that spent 75% of their time in the parks was charged fully to the Facilities Budget rather than it be divided out. They actually did all of the work that needed to be done but we're trying to have true budgets and show where the costs are. We created the City Vehicle Replacement Fund in private business you'd call it an Appreciation Schedule, but rather than coming back to the City Council every two or three years and asking for new cars -- funding for those, each department that has a vehicle funded to it now has for lack of a better term, a Depreciation Schedule and over the life cycle of the vehicle money will go into that account so when the vehicle needs to be replaced the money will be in the Reserve Account to replace that vehicle. All City supplies and services will be purchased from now on some kind of quotation or bid process. Our state laws in Idaho are very vague, but being a good steward of our citizens' money we are going to institute at least once a year on our major supplies a bid sheet. We will send that out to several vendors and they will bid for the yearly services and see if we can't save some money in that realm. Employee pay needs to be adjusted to follow the Mercer Study that was commissioned a few years ago. Unfortunately, some people who had been board for a long time got caught up in the downturn and didn't get raises, and some people who came in after the fact started higher on the schedule so in this budget we would adjust it as much as possible these salaries and we intend to follow the Mercer Study from here out. That's what it was designed for and it treats people individually. And that assumption is that people are doing their job to fall in that Mercer Study, and do their job, TRANSCRIPT: Eagle City Council Special Meeting Dated: August 16, 2016 Page 13 of 24 and get the correct pay for the amount of work they put in. We are going to work on a salary scale for our seasonal employees. We hire a lot of seasonal employees for the parks and watering the plants downtown, there's just so many things going on with the Saturday Market and the Thursday Night Markets, and we would like to keep our part- time employees from year to year. Many of them are college students, but our pay scales are just kind of all over the board so we're creating a new pay scale for those part- time employees and keeping them at one salary throughout the summer. If they come back the next year then we anticipate that they'd get a bump to come back and we wouldn't have to do retraining. And then one of the other major changes that Ken, our Water Department Superintendent, gives me a hard time about is that we have started charging the Water Department, which is an Enterprise Fund, rent and their portion of services in City Hall. Before it was just all bundled under Facilities, and IT, and some other issues, so we will be charging them for those services, which can be passed onto the rate users that use that service instead of all taxpayers in the City of Eagle supplementing that and just to get one up on us Ken is now charging the City for the water that we use from Eagle City Water, so I think we're still a little ahead, but those are just some of the issues in the budget that we want to get out there. And there's probably some more tweaks next year after we get through this process just so it will be more transparent and people will understand better what we're paying for or what they're paying for. So, with that I'd stand for a motion on the ordinance. SB: Mr. Mayor, I move that we approve Ordinance #755 Appropriation Ordinance, an ordinance entitled, The Annual Appropriation Ordinance for the City of Eagle, Idaho for the Fiscal Year 2017, commencing October 1, 2016, and ending September 30, 2017. Appropriating sums of money in the aggregate amount of $20,608,443 to defray all the necessary expenses and liabilities of the City of Eagle for said fiscal year. Specifying the object and purposes for which such appropriations are made and the amount appropriated for each object and purpose; authorizing the certification to the County Commissioners of the Ada County, Idaho to levy and assess a sufficient tax upon the taxable property in the City; providing for the filing of a copy of this ordinance with the Office of the Idaho Secretary of State as provided by law; providing for publication and providing an effective date. Mayor: Thank you. Is there a second? CS: Are we going to have discussion prior to the motion, Mr. Mayor? Mayor: Yes, there's always discussion. CS: Prior to the motion. SB: We (inaudible) discussion after the motion. Mayor: We need a second to discuss this. And there are a couple of issues that we need to address that aren't included in this motion. SB: Does it mean the motion needs to be changed -- not the motion? Mayor: Yes, these items here are changes that we would recommend to the Appropriation Ordinance, is that correct? So, these are issues that we would recommend some changes on, but Mr. Bastian, I'd ask that you withdraw your motion. SB: Yeah, I withdraw my motion. TRANSCRIPT: Eagle City Council Special Meeting Dated: August 16, 2016 Page 14 of 24 Mayor: And we need to waive the three readings to do an ordinance in one hearing. But if you'd like to discuss these issues that are on the board we can ask Sharon to weigh in on those for us. CS: I would like to hear just a couple little things on the Tree Fund and then the other ones seem fairly explanatory, but. C: Okay, on the Tree Fund this fiscal year they transferred $17,839 to the Money Market Account, so those funds rest in the Money Market Account. So, either way that you want to leave it -- if you want to leave it at the $26,214 that's fine too. CS: Do you mean we spent 17,8 -- (inaudible) -- C: No. It's just in the Reserve Account. CS: Okay. C: It's earning interest instead of just sitting there. CS: Okay. I was just -- C: But it's fine if you want to leave the Tree Fund Budget the $26,214. CS: Okay. I understand. C: Okay. CS: And then the Park Fund, the $40,000 Sports Complex Development that's a change and can you explain that real quick? C: Yes. Do you want to? Okay. Mayor: I can do that. We had a placeholder in the Park Fund for $40,000 for a storage facility at the Ada/Eagle Sports Complex and I think at our last meeting Director Aho mentioned that we received a grant from the State Division of Parks. The grant is I think $19,000 so, we have moved that $40,000 from the Park Fund, and in the Capital Projects Fund we've shown Revenue of $19,022, and added an expenditure category for $40,000 in those funds. CS: Okay. That makes sense. Mayor: I did meet with Ada County today and we want to place that building on the north part of Ada/Eagle Sports Complex and the access would be on a County Landfill road there so they didn't give us the final green light, but they had indicated that that should work fine cause they have access off of one of our roads to one of their facilities so we're kind of working with them on that. CS: So, sorry, just a quick question. Sharon, so are we able to access on Dropbox the fully updated Budget template? C: You know, I dropped everything in before I made these last minute changes before I came In, so -- TRANSCRIPT: Eagle City Council Special Meeting Dated: August 16, 2016 Page 15 of 24 CS: Okay. C: I can drop it in there tomorrow -- CS: I understand. C: With the changes that we've just discussed. CS: Okay. Mayor: Do you need a copy of the motion to waive the readings? SB: Yes, in order to go ahead and approve this without going into a second and third reading I need that. CS: Mr. Mayor, I have it. Mr. Mayor, I move pursuant to Code 50-902 that the rule requiring ordinances to be read on three different days with one reading to be in full be dispensed with and that Ordinance #755 be considered after being read by title only. And the title of that is Ordinance #755 Appropriation Ordinance. Does that cover it? Mayor: That covers it and then we would need the motion. SB: Second. Mayor: We have a motion and second those in favor -- do we need a roll call? C: No, (inaudible). Mayor: Please signify by saying aye. All: Aye. Mayor: Those opposed. Seeing none we're ready for the motion. SB: Mr. Mayor, I move that we approve Ordinance #755 Appropriation Ordinance, an ordinance entitled, The Annual Appropriation Ordinance for the City of Eagle. It's for the City of Eagle, Idaho for the Fiscal Year 2017, commencing October 1, 2016 and ending September 30, 2017. Appropriating sums of money in the aggregate amount of $20,608,443 -- C: You're reading off (inaudible). SB: Pardon? C: You're reading off (inaudible). Here's a copy with (inaudible) changes that were discussed (inaudible). SB: Ah. Mayor: We'll eventually get it right I think. SB: So, there's a -- with the changes tonight... the amount of $20,570,941 to defray all TRANSCRIPT: Eagle City Council Special Meeting Dated: August 16, 2016 Page 16 of 24 necessary expenses and liabilities of the City of Eagle for said fiscal year. Specifying the object and purposes for which such appropriations are made and the amount appropriated for each object and purpose; authorizing the certification to the County Commissioners of Ada County, Idaho to levy and assess a sufficient tax upon the taxable property in the City; providing for the filing of a copy of this ordinance with the Office of the Idaho Secretary of State as approved by law; and providing for a publication and providing an effective date. Mayor: We have a motion is there a second? CS: I'll second the motion for the purposes of discussion. Mayor: Okay, we have a motion and a second, is there discussion? SB: The discussion I would like to make is we heard from several of our citizens tonight. Some are concerned with the budget as presented with the idea that maybe there's some way that we could save some money and not take the additional 3%. Others opinion that the budget was sufficient to take care of the needs of the City and in fact was necessary for those purposes. So, I think it's a judgment call on the part of this Council to determine what steps we should take. From my point of view the City of Eagle is a very special City. It is the gem of the Gem State -- a jewel maybe of the Gem State. We have housing that is very appropriate for this area with setbacks from sidewalks and side-to- side, and backyards, and pathways, and we have parks, and recreational areas, recreational plans and facilities. We have the opportunity in the future to add additional parkland, but in order to do that we need additional money that we need to put in a savings accounts or a Reserve Fund. Currently we have taxpayers who are buying homes and when they buy that home they pay an impact fee and with that impact fee they are expected to have additional parkland or services. And so, with this budget we can provide those additional lands and services. We have a very effective police force with a contract with Ada County and we have our Police Chief, Mr. Calley, and his deputies do a great job and provide a very great service for the City of Eagle. We have a library that provides excellent services. In fact, we had a report just recently of some record-breaking activity by citizens in the community and also a very strong Children's Library Program. We have the kinds of things that attract people to our community that they love to be here. They want the City of Eagle to continue to grow the way it has in the past, and I think with this budget we can make sure that happens. There are probably other things I need to discuss, but that's it for now. Mayor: Thank you. CS: Me next? I'm a little bit torn in terms of the budget and the way we've kind of gone through the budget process. I am sensitive to what Mr. Foad said and Bob said in terms of, why are we making the justification for increasing taxes. To me it's not about the fact that it's low -- the levy rates that are low, or anything along those lines. To me it's more of we have to look at what is needs -based. So, do we have the money to cover what the citizens are expecting and wanting in Eagle. And part of that is a judgment call because many of the reasons we have high values in this town are because we provide these amenities and these amenities are part of the budget. And the reason that we're able to bring people into this City in additional not just residents but commercial properties -- I mean if we look at the T Sheets property the reason they decided not to move out of town, it didn't have anything to do a lot with the infrastructure it had to do with the town itself, and the parks, and the trails, and the library, and all of those kind of things that we're funding. So to me, I look at the budget in a little bit different way. I'm looking at are TRANSCRIPT: Eagle City Council Special Meeting Dated: August 16, 2016 Page 17 of 24 we providing the services to the level that are necessary, and what citizens want. And when I look at the budget and kind of the way that I broke it down in my mind and really this Executive Budget that I put together was just really for me to get my mind and wrap my mind around what we're actually spending. And I don't know the way we're spending and the way that the budget's been presented is in anyway inappropriate. I really think that the City has grown by leaps and bounds over the last three to five years and to say we need to hold ourselves to the standard of 2010 Budgets is a little bit of a misnomer because if we look at the 2010 usage of the libraries, the parks, and all those types of things the usage has gone up dramatically because of the fact that we've had all these folks move into town. So, I am not as much swayed by the fact that hey, we have low taxes, so, you know, we should raise the taxes. That's not really my thing, but my thing is I'm more leaning toward it's the budget that we have is appropriate. The 3% increase amounts to $77,000 onto the Property Tax and Assessment line, which really doesn't have a huge impact on our overall budget. The things that I'm more concerned about for the future is when I look at it just from new building starts, franchise fees, and building department fees that's 30% of our income. And we really haven't done anything in the City to start diversifying our tax base. In this budget that we've presented and what we've looked at we set aside $100,000 to start doing some economic development activities, hiring some professionals that can help move the City forward with economic development and start to diversify some of that tax base, so I'm happy to see some of those things. And like I said I'm a little bit torn but I don't see any of the areas of the budget that I think are bloated or out of line in terms of City spending and what the City does on a general basis. And when I look at the total levels of spending versus what we spent in the past I think we're finally getting up to levels of spending that are appropriate based on what kind of cutbacks we did during the downturn. So for me it's more of what is the need and what is the City spending, and to me when I look at that it's pretty close. It's fairly balanced in the way that I'm looking at it. I'm not a huge in favor in taking tax increases because that's our right. I don't think that's right. I think we have to look at it as do we need this money, and what are we spending on it, and what are we spending that's appropriate. And I don't see any areas of the budget that has been presented to us where I can say that's inappropriate spending and we should cut back. So, I'm leaning more towards approving the budget at this point. But I can be swayed Mayor: Any other discussion? CS: I'd like to hear the rest of the Council's views about in general what we think we could -- if we weren't gonna take that 3% what we would like to cut in order to make that happen. Because I mean I've gone through the budget and I don't really see any areas where I say this is really inappropriate, like we did see an area that wasn't appropriate the quarter of a million dollars for playgrounds and this and that. And I think we've tried to identify some of those things as we've gone through the budget to say this is not appropriate or this is excessive spending, but I don't know I don't see much more where I would say we're taking on money just in order to spend it. SB: Mr. Mayor? Mayor: Yes, sir. SB: I agree with Councilman Soelberg and specifically, I think that as each of the budgets were presented to us line by line we had an opportunity to say well, think that's not appropriate, we ought to strike that, we ought include something else or we ought to reduce it. And as we went through all of these items we did look at each line item and I feel that the line items were necessary for an appropriate budget to provide the services TRANSCRIPT: Eagle City Council Special Meeting Dated: August 16, 2016 Page 18 of 24 that the citizens need and want, and to basically, create the kind of city services that the citizens have come to expect. So, I'm in favor of the budget as presented. Mayor: Thank you. Anyone else? JK: Yeah, I guess I'm going to weigh in here in the minority then, but I don't agree. I do agree with Councilman Soelberg in the sense that I believe our budgeting process and the amount of money that we take should be needs -based. In my humble opinion going through the budget line by line as we did we didn't cut a lot of things because we were trying to produce a budget for publication purposes, which in this case means that we were trying to arrive at a worst-case budget for publication because once we publish it we cannot increase it, we can only decrease it. With respect to the level of services and the 3%, the Library Budget for this next fiscal year is pretty much held constant from where it was last year. This year they're in the process of buying a $65,000 piece of sorting equipment I believe, even after that they were able to backfill and they increased their Operations and Maintenance Budget, and their budget is actually roughly $13,000 more than it was last year even after that. Now granted I realize that they are now paying -- well, the expenses that were previously within their Facilities Budget are now being assessed directly to their budget, but that notwithstanding the Library Budget is not only being held constant it's up by $13,000 year over year. With respect to the quality of services argument, the library is one example of many departments where we are seeing a level of increase in services even though the Library Budget has been pretty much held constant. They have three new databases that they will be offering. And you go through the budget and there are a number of examples where the level of services is increasing significantly. We are also proposing hiring several new people. And I have some real concerns about some of the people that are being proposed for hire. Mayor: Do you mean the people or the positions? JK: The positions. Mayor: Okay, thank you. JK: All right. And with respect to the positions that are being proposed for hiring I feel very strongly that in one particular case I was hoping that we would see more hard data and analysis. I was also hoping that we might be able to explore different alternatives for some of the potential hires. But I do not believe that this budget suffers from lack of increase level of services quote unquote as expected by our citizenry. I think there are examples throughout this budget of how our level of services is increasing and I don't think we need to take the 3%. We have provided a number of Reserves in the budget this year that are new. And I have always believed and I was elected on a campaign platform of trying to strike a balance of providing some property tax relief and making sure that our budgets were based on need, and this budget in my opinion has a significant number of nice to haves not need to haves. And so on that basis the 3% tax increase is amounting to about $77,000 and I would argue that that is, as other people up here have said in prior meetings, doesn't go very far. And I think we could easily not take the 3% this year and take that $77,000 out of the Reserves that we have created -- one of the Reserve Accounts that we have done this year, and be just fine. But again, what's happened is we are maxing out our budget, taking the 3%, and we are increasing the level of services. So, I do not believe in any way that this budget is suffering from a lack of increase in services. In fact, I think we could cut some things and still demonstrate a significant improvement in level of services, so I do not agree with this argument that we need to take the $77,000 and I would be more inclined to want to support a motion that at TRANSCRIPT: Eagle City Council Special Meeting Dated: August 16, 2016 Page 19 of 24 a minimum is not have us taking the 3% and reallocate or take that $77,000 and deallocate it from one of the other areas in the budget. Mayor: Further discussion? NP: Mr. Mayor? Mayor: Yes. NP: I'll weigh in here. I'm torn as Councilman Soelberg says he's torn. I'm a little bit torn too, but I agree with some things that Councilman Bastian has said, and some things Councilman Soelberg has said, and also Councilman Kunz and I'll give you some specifics. In terms of new hires -- my background is in business management and personally, I would like to see more justification for new personnel being hired in the City. Not just well, we really need this, but let's talk about the number of hours and a little bit more specific. Hiring a new person full-time with benefits is a big deal and it's an ongoing expense. Not just this next fiscal year, but many fiscal years and I think it's something we need to take very seriously. I agree with Councilman Kunz, I think without the 3% we're still increasing our level of service. $77,000 is not that much money and I think it would be fairly easy to trim our budget down that amount. I guess that's pretty much where I weigh in. I'd like us not to take the 3%. CS: Mr. Mayor? Mayor: Yes. CS: I'm actually swayed a lot by the arguments that have been presented, but I guess my question and what I'm kind of looking at is in terms of long-term planning for the City's use. So, again, I mention that 2 million dollars of our budget this year is new housing starts. So, basically comes from building construction and those type of things. That's almost 30% of the budget that goes away if housing stops booming, so taking that 3% increase doesn't offset 2 million dollars obviously, but it will potentially keep the City solvent if all that money goes away. So, that's kind of where I'm thinking in terms of -- and I don't disagree that the $77,000 can probably be cutout pretty easily and I'm sure that I would like to know where you've identified new Reserve Accounts that you're talking about, Mr. Kunz? Which specifically? JK: We have a $247,500 Reserve Account for Future Land Acquisition, do we not -- CS: Okay, so that's one. JK: Because we deallocated the sports playground equipment, correct? CS: Right. Yeah. Any others that were new in the budget? SB: Mr. Mayor? Mayor: Yes, sir. SB: The question about personnel and new personnel being hired as far as I'm concerned I don't know of any new personnel being hired except for the person who is doing the -- what's it called microfiche? TRANSCRIPT: Eagle City Council Special Meeting Dated: August 16, 2016 Page 20 of 24 JK: Records retention. SB: Laserfiche. Mayor: Laserfiche. SB: And our City Clerk informed us that that's a necessary job that needs to be done and that we need to clean up our records and have someone on staff who can do that, and she's very talented and capable of doing that. I don't see that as an unnecessary job. I think it's a very key element of our record keeping. As far as taking the money from the Reserve , $547,000 sounds like a lot of money, and it is, but if you go out and buy 10 acres of land I'm not sure $547,000 is gonna buy much land for a new park or if you take that money and have an agreement with the Idaho State Parks Division their department and develop parkland in conjunction with Eagle Island Park I don't think $547,000 is going to come close to developing land within that park even if we were to get an agreement with the State Parks Department. So, I just that think that we need to have Reserve Funds and those Reserve Funds need to be earmarked for acquisition of property. And we need to move forward with that and if we don't do it this year what year do we do it? And we just don't have enough money in reserve to take care of that sort of purchase. I recall Tammy de Weerd of Meridian saying that their City had put in enough reserve money to eventually build their City Hall. Now, we never were able to do that. But we did finally get the voter approval to pass a bond measure, and which we are not collecting money on that bond, but using revenue each year to pay off this City Hall. We have been very careful in the past in terms of the kinds of things we're funding, what we purchase, plans for the future, and I think that as we go forward we're going to need some Reserve Funds to take care of two things. One, we could have a possible downturn and when that occurs we'll need a considerable amount of money in the bank to take care of the rainy day situation. In the State of Idaho they call that the Rainy Day Fund and Governor Otter is very careful to impress upon the legislature that we do need a Rainy Day Fund. And I think the same thing is true here in the City of Eagle that we need a Rainy Day Fund in case things turn south on us in terms of the building activity. And we also need additional money in reserve to take care of the problem we have of not being able to provide the land we need for additional parkland and development. If not just not the land, but possibility just the development of the land if we have an agreement with the State of Idaho, so I think the proposed budget is right on line. We've carefully looked at it and that's my position. JK: Mr. Mayor? Mayor: Yes. JK: I would like to point out for the public record that the Records Retention Specialist is not the only person proposed or position is not the only position being proposed for hire in the next fiscal year's budget. We also have a part-time person for the museum that is a part of this budget and a couple other additions I believe. The other thing I would like to note is that we also had a $150,000 that was earmarked for a specific project that was relabeled Future Transportation Projects Reserve and was moved from the Capital Projects Account to the General Reserves so there is another example of a Reserve Fund that is now in this budget. When I go through the budget there is $200,000 for an Operational Reserve, in the IT Department there is an Emergency Reserve Fund so there are several examples going through this budget where we have either existing or new Reserve Accounts in several cases. TRANSCRIPT: Eagle City Council Special Meeting Dated: August 16, 2016 Page 21 of 24 SG: Mr. Mayor? Mayor: Yes. SG: On the issue of the Museum Director's Assistant, she is unable to basically, take a break, she's unable to have someone cover for her when she's not there. She needs assistance to make that more effective as classes of students come to the museum, and that's why that's being requested. Mayor: Along that issue I'd like to point out that that's not a new hire, she's already hired. She was hired in this year's budget. It's reflected in next year's budget also. I'd also like to point out that when we're talking about hiring new people we forget to talk about people that we're not going to hire. And our Building Department has contracted out the majority of their work and this year we will lose another position in that department which will be contracted, which the City basically comes out about 50% ahead by contracting it out. Those are some of the requests that some of our community members asked us to look at. But when you start trying to fill constant positions with part-time people coming in it becomes a disaster. And I would hope that you guys would respect the effort that this staff has put together to try to come up with an honest budget and what they need and during our budget discussions I said this is what we think we need and these are our needs, and if it's too much I will tell you that next year, but you need to give us a chance. There are so many -- look at our Carry Forward Budget. Look at what we have not done because we haven't had staff. We have not have had the ability to get everything done. All of our vendors -- our police department contract is going up 4%, not 3%, all of our contractors are raising their rates by at least 3%. Now, we are going to bid those out, but that doesn't mean that they're not going to be 3% higher. So, if we don't take this 3% then we're actually going to be losing money and the same thing will happen that happened last year when all the forgone was taken and the only thing that happened instead of taking it over the years to keep up -- our inflation rate right now today is 1.5% so if we don't take it this year and we don't take it next year when the building slows down and things happen we'll take it all at one time and you'll be hitting taxpayers again with a 20% tax increase at one time rather than a 3% tax increase now. We did not just sit down and throw these figures together and say boy, wouldn't this be nice. You come through City Hall we have people who are working here getting their job done, taking flex- time because we can't ay them the overtime their due, and if they weren't taking the flex -time they'd be putting in hours and hours over, and we need the staff to get the work done, so I would beg you to fund these positions and I would beg you to leave the 3% in the budget because it's not a frill, it's a need. And these Reserve Funds, yeah, we might have some new names, but like I said earlier when I talked about the budget is, we're trying to be transparent, we're trying to open it up so you can see where every penny is. And some people just do a budget that's the general numbers and we're really trying to open it up so that you can see and so the taxpayers of Eagle can see what they're paying for. If you look at the increase of activities in our Parks & Rec Department, it's only three years old and it was funded in one big group including Facilities because we started this department -- now it's all broken out. You will know that our Parks & Rec activities -- you will know their revenue and their expenses -- all of their expenses including advertising. You will know what Community Enhancement does. You will know how much it cost you -- how much it costs us to do the Eagle Fun Days. And I would remind you that there was a vote taken in January to wind the Eagle Fun Days down and do away with the parade, and we agreed to fund it to make it work and we keep hearing how great that was for our community, and it cost us about $50,000 and that comes out of Reserve Funds. So, it's not like it's just play money, and it's not like we're just giving it away. We need this increase and we need your support to make this work. And at any time you TRANSCRIPT: Eagle City Council Special Meeting Dated: August 16, 2016 Page 22 of 24 have questions we'll be glad to talk to you about it. And I sat in my office all day today and I haven't had a single person come to me and ask me any questions or any specifics on budgets and I'm here. My door is open. I spend eight hours a day here to talk to people and I'd love to talk to you if you if you have an issue. I talk to our citizens. I had people walk in today and I quit working on the budget to talk to them, but I'm here and I will explain everything that we're doing to you and it will be open. So, I would encourage you to support the motion and approve this budget as presented. SB: I call for the question. CS: Can I just make one more comment before you do (inaudible) — SB: Yes, I'll withdraw that. CS: I guess, I see the value of both arguments and I do think when the City is hiring new people I think there is an issue there that we have not been presented and I do share the concerns of both Council Members here that it hasn't been presented in a way that was necessarily -- the justification wasn't given before it was done, and I think that's maybe a little bit of the heartache. But what I am seeing and what I do agree with Mr. Bastian's point is that we are increasing our Fund Reserves. We're not just taking this money and spending it. We are really increasing our Reserve balance for the future, so we're going from a Reserve of 3.1 million up to 3.5 -- 3.58 million dollars, and to me that's not a bad thing. I'm okay with that because I do believe and I do have the concern that too much of our budget is based on housing. And housing is going to down at some point in the future and we do need to have Reserve Accounts in order for us to have those rainy days. So, I've been to the point where I'm going to support the motion because I believe that I'm gonna go ahead and put my trust in the Mayor and the idea that the budget that they're presenting is needs -based and it's not wants -based, and I'm gonna go ahead and support that part of it. And I do believe taking the 3% in order to put it into a Reserve Fund for the future of the City so that we don't have this type of crisis we had when the housing starts went to nothing I think is a good thing. I think it's an appropriate thing for the City to do at this time. Mayor: Any other discussion? SB: I call for the question. Mayor: The questions been called. Madam Clerk, would you call the roll? C: Bastian? SB: Aye. C: Preston? NP: Nay. C: Kunz? JK: Nay. C: Soelberg? TRANSCRIPT: Eagle City Council Special Meeting Dated: August 16, 2016 Page 23 of 23 CS: Aye. C: (Inaudible)? Mayor: Aye. So, the motion passes. Thank you for the discussion and thank all of you for coming in. And we do have a time set aside for public comment if anyone would like to comment on any issue. Please go to the podium and state your name for the record. Seeing none, then I would entertain a motion to adjourn. SB: I so move. NP: Second. Mayor: Any opposition to the motion to adjourn? And seeing none we adjourned. Eagle City Council Special Meeting dated August 16, 2016, ends. TRANSCRIPT: Eagle City Council Special Meeting Dated: August 16, 2016 Page 24 of 24 Executive Budget Summary FY 16/17 Revenue -Yearly Property Tax and Assessments State Sales Tax State Revenue Sharing Liquor Tax Franchise Fees Building Dept Fees Building Dept Inspections Planning and Zoning Fees Misc Permits and Fees Misc Other Revenue Total Revenue [See revenue sheet for numbers listed above] FY 16/17 $ 1,703,794 Contracts (police, legal, etc) $ 296,634 Personnel $ 1,419,221 Administration $ 321,816 Executive $ 644,000 Clerks Dept $ 1,429,675 Building Dept $ 605,000 Planning and Zoning Dept $ 152,675 Parks and Rec Administration $ 163,603 Park and Grounds $ 135,420 Trails and Pathways $ 6,871,838 Recreation Program Community Enhancement Facilities Dept IT Dept $ 1,650,711 Museum Historic Commission Arts Commission City Hall Bond Fleet management Total Gen Fund Expenses Expenditures -Yearly and Ongoing [1A] [1B] [1 all excluding A&B above] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] [10] [11] [12] [13] [ 14] [15] [16] [1C] Budget Dated 7/26/16 UNSPENT FUNDS FROM FY15/16 Current Reserve Accounts Three month reserve for quarterly expenses Operating Account Total Reserves $1,842,186 $1,330,805 $3,172,991 One Time Expenditures Capital Projects [17] Proposed Reserve Accounts Three month reserve for quarterly expenses Operating Account Future Purchase of Land Reserve Total Reserves This summary does not include "pass through" which the city has no control over. These are city restricted funds of $507,886 in FY 15/16 and $658,208 in FY 16/17. These are cash surities on land use applications, etc. TRUE Stand Alone Funds $ 2,822,812 Library Fund [A] $ 45,982 Revenue $ 158,218 $ 73,382 $ 450,528 $ 728,606 $ 686,102 $ 389,060 $ 698,390 $ 140,876 $ 185,466 $ 137,235 $ 136,861 $ 268,279 $ 76,581 $ 1,988 $ 47,210 $ 103,550 $ 56,000 $ 7,207,126 $ 1,016,949 $2,002,439 $1,330,805 $247,500 $3,580,744 Expenses Park Fund [B] Revenue cc -P-i6-/P (Money that does not go through general fund allocation) Property Taxes Other Revenues Total Revenue Personnel Operations & Maint Capital outlay Add to Reserve Misc Total Expense Real Carryover New impact fees Bank Interest Total Balance Total Expenses (no actual expenses proposed from Library Bond Fund [C] Tree Fund [D] Carryover (No actual expenses pro Water Enterprise Fund [E] Revenue from operations Expense from operations $1,171,843 $25,430 $1,197,273 $711,378 $441,240 $30,225 $10,000 $4,430 $1,197,273 $ 2,361,710 $ 560,985 $ 5,000 $ 2,927,695 $ 2,927,695 this fund) $ 231,000 $ 26,214 posed from this fund) $1,563,289 $1,563,289 NAME PLEASE PRINT EAGLE CITY COUNCIL MEETING PUBLIC HEARING SIGN-UP Fiscal Year 2016/2017 Budget August 16, 2016 ADDRESS 141)l/T5, eSr W4/ I75S.Pnid,tArt4- / .s__Sicectit/v p jOq . ifbocakz_ L TESTIFY PRO/ CON YES/NO NEUTRAL y r--- Budget Talking Points Levy Rates of our Neighboring Cities 2015 Last Year — high to low. Nampa .008620233 = 008/1000 Boise .007349430 = 007/1000 Star .004384860 = 004/1000 Meridian .003944925 = 004/1000 Eagle .000932847 = <001/1000 Eagle Fire .001963409 = 002/1000 Eagle's Proposed Budget including a 3% tax increase: .000898338 is a lower mill rate than last fiscal year. Examples-- 1,000 = .89 cents 10,000 = 8.93 100,000 = 89.83 Average home value in Eagle 350,000 Less Property exemption (-) 95,000 Taxable Value 255,000 Eagle Taxes $229.07 With a 3% increase in taxes the levy rate is actually lower than last fiscal year. This is because the total assessed value (increase in the number of homes and an increase in assessed value) spreads the cost of government services over a larger number of property owners therefore lowering the formula based levy rate. Councilman Soelberg, introduced an executive summary which makes our budget more understandable. State budgeting guidelines require cities to show carry- forward and reserve funds as revenue. If you compare the past two year's budget it appears that the city budget has increased by 4 million dollars. The executive summary shows the projected revenue from all sources for the current budget year without adding in the carry -forward, funds that are committed but not spent and funds that are in reserve accounts established by the council and state law. The summary shows the revenue, less the above mentioned items is 6.8 million and not 12.6 as required by state reporting requirements. A difference of 5.7 million. In the executive summary expenses are larger than income only because some of the expenses are covered in projects authorized last fiscal year but not yet completed and projects that have not been started. Those expenses over income are contained in the carry -forward and in reserve accounts. Which actually balances income and expenses for a balanced budget. Here are some of the changes that demonstrates our commitment to Transparency: Opened the budget by creating line items for programs rather than bundled together in a combined departmental budget. Functions are broken out individually, as an example Parks and Grounds has been separated from Facilities. These are now are in their own department and the maintenance crew is split between the departments on a percentage basis. The city's vehicles are now included in departmental budgets and a deprecation schedule has been added to fund future replacements based on the life cycle of a vehicles. A standard will be established for service and quotations/bids will be used on a fiscal year basis for maintenance and purchases. All City supplies and services will be purchased and delivered on a quotation/bid process for the fiscal year. I anticipate all professional contracted services will be re -bid over the next two years. Employee pay will be adjusted to follow the Mercer study which was commissioned by the city a few years ago. The study bases pay on job function/responsibilities and years of service. A salary scale for Part-time and Seasonal employees will be adopted and followed. Enterprise fund departments (water) will be charged for their portion of city expenses rent, utilities etc. Currently these expenses are paid by all tax payers and not limited to customers who use City of Eagle water. On the flip side the water department is now charging the City of Eagle for it water usage.