The URL can be used to link to this page

Home My Public Portal About2020.05.22 Speical Council Minutes MINUTES McCall City Council Special Meeting McCall City Hall--VIA Teleconference May 22,2020 Call to Order and Roll Call Work Session Adjournment CALL TO ORDER AND ROLL CALL Mayor Giles called the special meeting of the McCall City Council to order at 9:04 a.m. Mayor Giles, Council Member Holmes, Council Member Maciaszek, Council Member Nielsen, and Council Member Sowers all answered roll call. City staff members present were Anette Spickard, City Manager; BessieJo Wagner, City Clerk; Shay Tyler, Deputy City Clerk; Amanda Payne, Local Option Tax Administrator; Linda Stokes, City Treasurer; Michelle Groenevelt, Community Development Director; Rick Stein, Airport Manager; Meg Lojek, Library Director; Chris Curtin, Information Systems Manager; Traci Malvich, Human Resources Manager; Justin Williams, Police Chief; Nathan Stewart, Public Works Director; Also, in attendance was Cami Hedges, Chair, Local Option Tax Commission WORK SESSION City Treasurer Linda Stokes presented the FY21 Budget work session and gave a brief overview of what will be discussed in this work session. Public Comment At 9:05 a.m., City Clerk BessieJo Wagner opened the floor for public comment. No public written comment had been received and no comments given. Local Option Tax Commission Cami Hedges, Local Option Tax (LOT) Commission Chair, presented the FY21 LOT Funding recommendations to Council. She shared which projects were denied or partially funded, the reasons behind the decisions, and went over the priority list. Council Member Holmes felt conflicted about the Treasure Valley Transit (TVT) request being partially funded since the City had asked them to add services. Ms. Hedges explained the reason behind the reduction. Council Member Holmes felt TVT should receive more funds since the City had requested additional services. City Clerk Wagner gave a brief overview of the allowable Public purpose uses for LOT dollars and the process the LOT Commission uses to make their decisions. The purpose of this presentation is to get the information before the Council to allow for deliberation and discussion. Ms. Hedges clarified information about the McCall Fire Protection District application 21-23 for Council Member Sowers. MCCALL CITY COUNCIL Page I of 3 May 22, 2020 Special Meeting City Council Budget Priority Discussion City Treasurer Linda Stokes began the discussion by giving a brief explanation of how the COVID- 19 pandemic may affect the City budget. Human Resources Manager Traci Malvich presented the Personnel salary and insurance portion of the budget. She explained Market/Merit increases, the annual Salary Market survey, and compensation chart. Currently, the City is lagging the market by 7%which means the salary chart needs to be updated. She talked about how this will help the City be competitive. HR Manager Malvich also introduced the idea of possibly creating a separate Police Department salary chart to help with recruitment and retention. HR Manager Malvich explained that the City of McCall's Health insurance provider III-A recommends budgeting for trend. Trend is currently at 6.8% but staff does not believe a benefit increase will be that high. The budget includes a 6% increase for health insurance, and if the increase is less, those dollars could potentially be used for salary modifications, market increase, etc. Dental insurance increases typically do not come in higher than 3%. Council Member Nielsen expressed interest in splitting the Police Department from the general salary chart. City Treasurer Linda Stokes presented the Property Tax information. She explained the County Assessor is responsible for property assessment which is due June 1. The total amount of property tax dollars will be available after that date. She discussed the levy rate compared to taxable market valuations and staff answered questions regarding how these numbers will be affected by the Pandemic economic shutdown. She clarified she has not adjusted the budget yet regarding the shutdown because typically property taxes are not overly affected by downturns in the economy. Sales and income taxes are more volatile. Building related fees are driven by the economy; however,the State is seeing a stable market at this time. Treasurer Stokes reported she has not seen any decline for building related revenue even in the months of the shutdown. So far for FY20, the City has added 63 new utility accounts which increases the City taxable market value and is 45 more than FYI 9. This means the housing industry is strong here in the City. The City can take a 3% Maximum Allowable Increase of $189,631. This is calculated on the highest levy of the last three years. It is at the Council's discretion to take any percentage amount up to the maximum 3% allowed. A foregone amount of$401,433 is also available if needed. She discussed the changes at the State level regarding foregone. In prior years, if no increases were taken,those monies were automatically rolled into the foregone. However,the State has enacted a change effective July 2020 that if a city chooses to not take any increases, a public hearing and the adoption of a resolution to accrue foregone is required. If the Council chooses to not take the $189,631 increase and does not adopt a resolution, those monies are permanently forfeited and there is no recourse to go back for those foregone dollars. Mayor Giles suggested creating budgets showing the options of with and without the 3% increase and salary/benefit increases. The Council agreed. City Treasurer Stokes continued by explaining the new changes regarding Homeowner's Exemption. Currently 50%of valuation or maximum of $100,000 which did not change; however, the State took away the deadline for applying for the exemption. The impact of this change is unknown currently. Council Member Sowers would like to know the last time there was a change to the homeowner's exemption. Staff will bring the answer back to the next work session. City Treasurer Stokes went over the Shared Revenues which are a group of revenues received from the State and have complicated formulas. The Association of Idaho Cities (AIC) has a MCCALL CITY COUNCIL Page 2 of 3 May 22, 2020 Special Meeting comprehensive report that explains these revenues if anyone would like more information. Staff relies on the AIC estimations for budgeting shared revenues. The Highway User revenues (a per gallon tax) is estimated to have a 15%decline due to the Pandemic shut down so the impact to the City will be approximately a $23,000 decrease. For Sales Tax Base & Excess, she reported the State is trying to get calculations moved to a per capita evaluation of sales. AIC estimates a 3% decline to cities which equates to an$18,000 decrease to the City. The revenue from Liquor sales has had a steady increase over the last few years, however, the State has diverted 2% of the revenues to the court system. She suggested a conservative approach would be to base the budget on last year's numbers. Overall, the decreases in Shared Revenues could have an impact to the City budget so staff is closely monitoring these revenues. City Treasurer Stokes explained that after the audit, staff looks at the fund balance reserves. There are 5 classifications of fund balances: Non Spendable (prepaids, inventory, long-term note receivables), Restricted Funds (LOT, library donations, franchise fees, highway user fee), Assigned (restricted tax levies), Committed (LGIP investments, FSA/HRA health savings, reserved, carry forwards, Tobias bequest), and Unassigned (debt service, general fund). City Treasurer Stokes went over the fund balance calculations and appropriated uses and reported 5% of the excess/available cash goes to the housing fund balance. The Council instructed staff to bring back budget scenarios showing the options of with and without the tax increase so they can see the comparison. Council Member Nielsen expressed the importance of the continuance of increasing the housing fund. City Treasurer Stokes talked about how the fund reserves has been a good financial tool which has protected the City from economic dips. City Manager Anette Spickard shared that staff is still working on the Capital Improvement Projects which will affect the general fund and that piece will be presented at a future budget work session. FY21 Budget Development Next Stens Council Work Session on June 19, 9:OOAM to 11:OOAM: draft budget to include TVT and McPAWS presentations. Council Work Session on July 24 9:OOAM to 4:OOPM: Council preference is to tackle everything all in one day with Community & Economic Development in the morning and budget deliberation in afternoon. Monday, July 27, to be set as tentative if the meeting Friday carries over. FY21 Budget Public Hearing on August 13, 05:3OPM FY21 Foregone Public Hearing on August 13, 05:30PM if needed FY21 Budget Adoption on August 13 or August 27 ADJOURNMENT Without further business,Mayor�Giles�adjourned the meeting at 10:55 a.m. ATTEST: * SEAL = Cobert S. es, Mayor w i,ft O .^' * : essi4WWQi1er_, Ci erk'',,"Q_t+��ID MCCALL CITY COUNCIL Page 3 of 3 May 22, 2020 Special Meeting