Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAboutMinutes - Finance and Bond Committee - 4/16/2007MINUTES TOWN OF ORO VALLEY FINANCE AND BOND COMMITTEE SPECIAL MEETING HOPI CONFERENCE ROOM 11,000 N. LA CARADA DRIVE ORO VALLEY, ARIZONA MONDAY, APRIL 16,2007 AT OR AFTER 600 P.M. PRESENT: Tony Eichorn, Chair Chuck Kill, Vice -Chair Peter Lamm, Member Bob Harris, Member EXCUSED: Aaron Fisher, Member STAFF PRESENT: Stacey Lemos, Finance Director Danielle Tanner, Senior Office Specialist ALSO PRESENT: Helen Dankwerth, Vice -Mayor Lyra Done, Parks and Recreation Advisory Board Liaison CALL TO AUDIENCE Mr. John Musolf, 13716 N. Carlynn Cliff Drive, reviewed prioritization of budgetary items. Mr. Musolf ranked the following items as the lowest priority: 1) The Naranja Town Site ranked lowest. priority. 2) The Municipal Operations Center ranked lowest priority. 3) Oro Valley Library should be transferred to Pima County. 4) Eliminate or outsource the Transit department. 5) Electrical undergrounding should be based on home cost recoveries. He ranked the following items as middle priority to be reviewed: 1) Public Safety — An in-house fleet maintenance division should be outsourced. Compare administrative support staff workload, personnel and hours and justify to ratio of officers. 2) Parks and Recreation — Breakdown the total budget figure into Parks, Trails, Administration, Recreation and Aquatics. Volunteer groups may run some programs. Outsource items such as the recreation program. 3) Public Works — In-house vehicle maintenance division should be outsourced. 4) Planning & Zoning — Look at workload, personnel and hours spent in comparison to number of plan reviews performed last year. 5) Building Safety — Review total requirements of workload, personnel and hours spent correlated to number of site reviews and inspections done last year. Mr. Musolf ranked pavement management and stormwater management as the highest priorities. He stated that the Financial Sustainability Plan focuses on a large new revenue source to cover increased expenditures. He suggested reducing spending prior to seeking a new revenue source. �Jg I M W1330 1 .111 WIN-" y (01125 .14 Drey.11 .14 1119 [is 2 ow 1104 10 1010 11 A IV I anso MILIKOL91 I] mcm Ms. Lemos reviewed the updated General Fund and Highway Fund projection spreadsheets: • Included projected population to give a total picture of the population estimates. • Real revenue sources were totaled before factoring in inflation. • Totaled departmental expenditures before factoring in rise in staffing costs and inflation. • Factored in a revenues per capita figure and an expenditures per capita figure. • Modified the numbers by including additional potential revenue sources. • Factored in the cost of reducing, the departmental programs. • Added in continuing the Utility Sales Tax after fiscal year 2010 and beyond. • Included annexation of existing developed areas. • Ran information from the Southwest Annexation Area: Longer term option is to annex to the north and for undeveloped areas. Ms. Lemos discussed full cost recovery in the Parks and Recreation programs: • Subtracted program revenues from Parks and Recreation budget to get operating costs. • The goal is more cost recovery than operating costs. • New program based budgeting breaks down departmental budgets for specific costs. Ms. Lemos explained the revenue source increases from the last couple of years: • Bed Tax allocation went from 3% to 6% in 2006. Recommendation that 2.5% of the 6% be allocated to the General Fund. Council is working on a resolution for allocations. • Utility Sales Tax was raised from 0% to 2% effective April 1, 2007. • Retail Sales Tax has been 2% since the Tax Code was adopted in 1988. • The Town does not currently have a Lease Tax. Ms, Lemos reviewed the City/Town Tax Rates Comparison study on surrounding comparable jurisdictions and discussed the various taxes. Primary property taxes are to pay for the general operation of the municipality. Secondary property taxes are only assessed to pay off debt. Ms. Lemos discussed changes in the General Fund and Highway Fund projection spreadsheets: • Cannibalization of existing sales taxes from new businesses. Percentage growth in current sales taxes kept at (1%) for the first 3 years and changed to 0% after year 2012. • No figure for Pinal County population growth incorporating sales tax projections. • Net cost to the Town for operating the Library is about $700K-$800K per year. • Included a possible proposal to reduce the Police standard ratio to 2 officers per 1,000 thus reducing departmental expenditures by about $13M to $1.8M in a year. • Town Engineer recommended funds given at $4M-$5M to get lower grade streets up to an OCI of 70. He also suggested a $4M-$5M bond issue to catch up the streets. Debt service on that pavement preservation backlog would be reduced to $175K per year. Ms. Lemos reviewed the draft estimated monthly impacts of proposed and existing taxes/fees to Oro Valley homeowners with a $350,000 market value home: I FAMINUTESTNANCE AND BOND\2007\04 16 07,doc 2 • The estimated monthly impact of a 2% Utility Sales Tax would be $3.80. • Water Utility proposed a rate increase resulting in an average monthly increase of $2.19. • Groundwater Preservation Fee for renewable water sources would be $1.50 per month. • Stormwater Fees for FY 07/08 would result in an estimated monthly cost of $1.90. • 5% Utility Franchise Fee on gas and electric services would be $7.50 per month. • Secondary Property Tax would be approximately $12.39 per month. It is tax deductible, limited, and tied to the repayment of bonds. • A Primary Property Tax assumption of $1.00 per $100 AV would be $23.00 per month. • The grand total of all taxes/fees would be $52.28. A Joint Study Session with Council is scheduled for April 251h to review the Committee's recommendations for service level and/or expenditure reductions and additional revenue sources. The Committee discussed the following points about the Municipal Operations Center: • Modular units are only allowed on the land for a set period of time due to regulations. • Modular units may be used while building size need is being determined. • 30,000 square -feet of permanent office space could be built now for the current need. - The remaining 20,000 feet could be reserved until an annexation occurs. • The cost of materials may increase. • The 51,000 square feet facility includes room for growth. • Building facilities on the Naranja Town Site land is an option. Ms. Lernos discussed dedicating fees and additional revenue sources for specific purposes: • Stormwater Utility Fee would be dedicated to stormwater utility projects. • There are several fees which can be approved by the Council to fund needs. • Long term strategies deal with voter approved revenues dedicated to specific options: o 5%u Franchise Tax for electrical undergounding. o Secondary Property Tax and Pima County Bond Funds for Naranja Town Site construction, Steam Pump Ranch development and Kelly Ranch acquisition and development. o Primary Property Tax to fund Naranja Town Site O&M and other O&M needs. o Road maintenance and pavement preservation needs could be funded by gas tax increases initiated by legislature. Primary property and secondary property taxes are tax deductible. The Committee discussed the following: • Reviewing the expenditures in detail prior to recommending further funding sources. • Keeping the revenue sources independent of the spending proposals. • Imposing a series of smaller taxes now to be replaced in the future by a property tax. • The Town pledged sales tax revenues on all existing outstanding debt and needs to ensure those remain stable and incoming because there are no debt obligations and bond ratings tied to the coverage limits. • Periodic reviews of governmental services. • Detailed reviews of possible cost efficiency in every department. The Committee members ranked the priority level of each item: • Transferring the Library to Pima County ranked as a high priority unanimously. FAWNUTES\FINANCE AND BOND\2007\04 16 07.doc 3 • The Naranja Town Site ranked as follows: o Three Members ranked this item as a low priority. o Member Harris ranked it as medium priority as a scaled back version. 0 Consensus was for complete construction to be deferred until private revenue I sources are available for funding. • Municipal Operation Center ranked as follows: o Chair Eichorn ranked this item as medium priority. o Vice -Chair Kill ranked this item low unless there is annexation. o Member Lamm ranked it as medium for a partial center and low for the full center unless there is annexation. o Member Harris voted high for obtaining additional space which may be a temporary structure and voted medium for a permanent structure. o Consensus was that more space is needed regardless of if it is temporary or permanent structure. • The OCI to be maintained at a level of 70 or better ranked as a high priority unanimously. • Undergrounding utilities ranked as follows: o Vice -Chair Kill ranked low priority for existing roads and high priority for new roads because - it will cost - more i- -n- -the future.-- o Member Lamm ranked low priority for the existing roads. o Member Harris recommended looking at the homeowners who benefit bearing a proportionate share of the cost regarding to the value of the property, • The Police Officer ratio increase to 2.5 officers per 1,000 ranked as follows: o Chair Eichorn and Member Lamm voted high priority for increasing it over time. o Member Harris ranked it as high priority for increasing it over time contingent upon the completion of a needs study. o Vice -Chair Kill voted medium priority contingent upon a needs study. • Stormwater Operations ranked unanimously high on Phases 1 and 2 and low on Phase 3. Ms. Lemos explained the following: o Level I gives water quality permit compliance. o Level 2 gives water quality permit compliance and quantity technical and regulatory needs in major drainage projects. o It would allow the Town to allocate funding toward design of stormwater improvement projects to be ready for construction in order to get Pima County Flood Control District funding. The Committee members ranked the priority level of each revenue item: • Utility Sales Tax scheduled to sunset in 2009: o Chair Eichorn voted in favor of continuation of the Utility Tax. o Vice -Chair Kill voted to first conduct a departmental study. He stated that it is not a priority issue at this time. o Member Harris stated that it is covered through 2008 and by then there should be enough feedback of expenditures that the Town could address the tax structure. • Secondary Property Tax: o Member Lamm voted low priority. o Vice -Chair Kill voted low priority until savings are incurred by departments. • Primary Property Tax was ranked by the Committee as a high priority conditional upon reducing existing or proposed taxes and/or fees. • Capital Asset Replacement Fund ranked high priority unanimously. FAMINUTESTINANCE AND BOND\2007\04 16 07.doc 4 MINUTES, FINANCE AND BOND REGULAR MEETING E The Committee addressed funding for the high priority ranked items: 9 Transfer the Library to Pima County ranked high priority as a cost savings. 0 OCI of 70 or better ranked high priority and costs about $2M per year, # Police Officer ratios ranked high priority to gradually increase officers and would cost about $150K per year per officer. 9 Stormwater Utility ranked high priority for level I and level 2. Discussion followed regarding: o The Town is currently below Federal mandated standards. o Design plans need to be done in advance to receive Pima County funding. Ms. Lemos summarized funding options recommended by the Committee for high priority items: 1) Reduce spending first, 2) Conduct management studies for efficiency, 3) Raise cost recovery. Ms. • stated that she will include these recommendations in the communication to the Town Council for the upcoming Study Session. A copy will be distributed to the Committee. She volunteered to revise the spreadsheet including the cash shortfall after addressing those items and email it to all of the Committee Members, MOTION: Member Harris MOVED to ADJOURN the meeting. Being that there were no *bjections, the meeting adjourned at 9:14 p.m. Danielle Tanner Senior Office Specialist