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HomeMy Public PortalAbout09 12 14 Budget HearingMINUTES OF THE PUBLIC HEARING HELD BY THE TOWN COMMISSION OF THE TOWN OF GULF STREAM ON FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 12, 2014 AT 5:01 P.M. IN THE COMMISSION CHAMBERS OF THE TOWN HALL, 100 SEA ROAD, GULF STREAM, FLORIDA. I. Call to Order. Mayor Morgan called the meeting to order at 5:01 P.M. II. Roll Call. Present and Participating Also Present and Participating Scott W. Morgan Robert W. Ganger Joan K. Orthwein Thomas M. Stanley Donna S. White William H. Thrasher John Randolph Rita Taylor Garrett Ward Barbara Sloan Mayor Vice Mayor Commissioner Commissioner Commissioner Town Manager Town Attorney Town Clerk Police Chief Town Resident III. Presentation of the Proposed Budget and Proposed Millage Rate for Fiscal Year 2014 -2015. A. Explanation and discussion of Proposed Millage Rate as compared to the rolled back rate. Town Manager Thrasher called attention to the document under consideration pointing out this is a balanced budget in the amount of $4,129,691. Included in the expenditures is a line item for contingency or reserves in the amount of $169,550. He reported the proposed millage rate for 2014 -2015 fiscal year is 3.90 mills and last years millage rate is 3.70 mills. The operating taxable value for fiscal year 2014 -2015 is a little over 878 million dollars. The calculated rolled -back rate for the tentative budget for the fiscal year 2014 -2015 is 3.4969 and the proposed millage rate is 11.53% higher than the calculated rolled back rate, he said. Mr. Thrasher reported that some of the highlights of the budget include capital expenditures of $662,000, which primarily includes installation of street lights and illumination of the street signs, a little over $421,000, and some paving and drainage. He further reported that a 3% increase in wages is provided for the employees in accordance with the CPI for 2014. He advised that in April 2014 the CPI was reported to be 2.3 and historically that has been used to calculate any possible increases in wages for public employees. B. Comment from the Commission and the public. Vice Mayor Ganger questioned if the $40,000 that is budgeted for street paving would be enough and Mr. Thrasher stated that this is not an ideal capital budget he would hope for, but at this time he did not see a major failure looming with regard to the streets and that the $40,000 would deal with normal issues with road repairs. Commissioner Stanley noted that in past years, there has been fends added to the contingency but this year shows no such increase. Mr. Thrasher stated that is correct, this is an assumption as it is Town Commission Tentative Budget Hearing September 12, 2014 @ 5:01 P.M. difficult to forecast just exactly what may be happening with some of the challenges the Town is facing. Vice Mayor Ganger commented that in the future it will be difficult to drop below 3.9 mills as the Town does need to build the reserve to provide for emergencies. Commissioner White called attention to a clerical error in the dates at the top of the first column on page 7. The Town Manager agreed that this is an error and will be corrected to read 2013 -2014. Barbara Sloan, 3660 Bermuda Lane, was recognized and asked what percentage of the budget is related to legal fees and the percentage of the budget related to records requests. She questioned if there could be A rough estimate as to how much this nuisance is costing the Town? Mr. Thrasher stated he estimates approximately 20% of the budget is being utilized for this. Ms. Sloan it is unfortunate this meeting is happening at this time of year even though she realizes we have no choice in this matter. In view of this she said she would like to see a letter from the Mayor giving information to the residents to make everyone aware of what is going on. She didn't speculate on what could be done but suggested there might even be a Town revolt. Patsy Randolph asked if this expense could have its own line in the budget. Mr. Thrasher said that he wished that could happen but it is a little more complicated. He pointed that in the past each employee was assigned certain duties and responsibilities associated with operating a town. Now, with this public record responsibility it has become necessary to shift and divide responsibilities, adding overtime etc., all of which needs to be figured into this extra cost. He further advised that the State of Florida mandates that we use certain headings for revenues and expenditures which includes account numbers and name of the accounts and there is no such line item for public records, and he could not create an account that is not on the State's chart of accounts. Chris O'Hare stated that the information Ms. Randolph wants can be obtained by making a public records request for copies of Jones Foster invoices and all of the employee's time spent on these matters. Martin O'Boyle was next recognized and stated it is clear to him that he is the whipping boy and that the audience has not a clue as to what is going on. He stated that the Mayor may want to share that the town has 2 Town Commission Tentative Budget Hearing September 12, 2014 @ 5:01 P.M. hired an investigator to investigate his family at the expense of the town. He stated he has 9 or 12 records request this year that have not yet been adjudicated. He believed in comparing his cost to the towns cost it would show the towns cost to be 3 times higher. He believed the reason is because the town is not defending but is pursuing. He went on to advise there is a rumbling on the street that there is a big charge coming against him and his family. He said, "I don't know if it is true or not but I think it is. And if it is, I can assure everyone in this room that it will cost you one million dollars more, not a hundred thousand, not two hundred thousand, one million dollars. I'm not going to be messed around with by you guys. Let's make that straight and I will spend the money, I have the money, and if you want to fight you are going to get a fight. I told you last time I thought the best thing is for everyone to sit down and see if there's a way to resolve things. You rejected that, you have every right to reject it, I understand that, and so we're moving on. If you pursue something like I think you are going to pursue, you'll be ready for me, or maybe you won't be ready for me, but you will after a while. I've been down this road before and I spent over a million dollars on similar situations. So, I don't really want to spend that money, on the other hand I will. Nobody is going to mess with my family. Nobody. That includes you Mr. Morgan. So the legal cost, the legal costs are absolutely out of control. But one has to ask, why are they out of control? They won't answer questions. We go across the hall, we get stonewalled, they play hide the ball, whatever the case is, we file a law suite and they file motions to dismiss, depositions, production, motions to disqualify, motions for sanctions, motions, motions, motions and I'll bet they're probably in the 20 to 30 thousand dollar range for 3 cents worth of paper. In any event, I think its foolishness, I think the people ought to get together, not to say they are going to settle the differences but you never, never will settle them until you start talking. Thank you." Mr. O'Hare came forward and explained he was not addressing the budget before. He stated he is grateful for living in a country where he can criticize the government and question authority without being arrested. He called attention to the $2,000 budgeted for the library and asked if the library would be moved outside the security zone so anybody can go to the library, or can anybody go the library now. Mayor Morgan answered that the library is open to the public. Mr. O'Hare noted there is a 4.2% increase shown for police, 7.4 increase in benefits. He believed this to be a good thing. He then stated the Town Manager is getting 8.1% increase and an 8.2% benefits increase. He further noted there is $440,000 budgeted for legal for 2015, but it's not enough. He stated the tax collector stated the tax revenue will not be available until March 2015, 6 months from now. Noting the current pace of legal expenditures each month, and because of pending litigation, he believed the towns reserves will be depleted by Christmas. He stated town leaders have blamed the money troubles on him 3 Town Commission Tentative Budget Hearing September 12, 2014 @ 5:01 P.M. and Mr. O'Boyle. He believed the shortfall is because the leaders would rather spend town money than admit the town made a mistake. He stated he recently made an offer to settle for filing fees and the Town did not respond in time. The money the town will spend on the attorney responding is less than the money he asked for and an admission that the record existed and please give it to him. Mayor Morgan asked if that is the offer that was withdrawn yesterday even though you knew today was the Commission meeting at which it would have been presented for consideration. Mr. O'Hare stated an emergency meeting had been called in the past for consideration of the handicapped ordinance. Mayor Morgan asked if Mr. O'Hare felt an emergency meeting should have been called for his settlement case and stated that he just wanted to clarify this for the record. Mr. O'Hare stated the Town has done plumbing repairs and installed the intercom system, all in the town hall. He further stated that the town did not get a permit from Delray for this work and now will have to pay a triple charge. He believed that if a Delray inspector had been involved the intercom bell would have been installed lower to meet the handicapped requirements. With regard to the restricted parking in front of town hall, Mr. O'Hare believed the town violated their Comprehensive Plan by reducing the parking available to those using the beach in order to prevent anyone from parking a message in that area, adding that a hedge was then planted in the back so no one could see a message if it was parked in that area. He stated that the town has 178 acres of recreation and open space but that is only for those belonging to a private club. He thought there should be a mini -park or such pointing out the children can't go to the school because that's private. He believed it to be a misappropriation of public money. Mr. O'Hare believed the regulations set out in the Town Code are vague. He felt this should be taken to court He stated there will be other litigation, mentioning trespassing on Polo Cove that he believes violates all maritime law, constitutional law, right to navigational waters. He believed the town would lose that along with his roof, his solar power and some other big cases that he could not remember at the moment. He suggested it would be better to get this all settled instead of spending more money each time the lawyers write a letter. IV. Adoption of the General Fund Tentative Millage Rate for Fiscal Year 2014 -2015. El Town Commission Tentative Budget Hearing September 12, 2014 0 5:01 P.M. Vice Mayor Ganger moved to adopt a General Fund Tentative Millage Rate of 3.9 mills for fiscal year 2014 -2015 and Commissioner Orthwein seconded the motion. All voted AYE at roll call. V. Adoption of the Tentative Budget for Fiscal Year 2014 -2015. A. General Fund Vice Mayor Ganger moved to adopt the General Fund Tentative Budget in the amount of $4,129,691 for Fiscal Year 2014 -2015: Commissioner Orthwein seconded the motion and all voted AYE at roll call. C. Enterprise Fund (Water) The motion to adopt the Enterprise Fund Tentative Budget in the amount of $1,011,000 for Fiscal Year 2014 -2015 was made by Vice Mayor Ganger and seconded by Commissioner Orthwein with all voting AYE at roll call. VI. Public Hearing Date for Final Adoption of Millage Rate & Budget. Mayor Morgan announced that the Public Hearing for adoption of the Final Budgets for 2014 -2015 would be held on Tuesday, September 23, 2014 at 5:01 P.M. in the Town Hall, 100 Sea Road, Gulf Stream, Florida. VII. Resolutions. A. No. 014 -07; A RESOLUTION OF THE TOWN COMMISSION OF THE TOWN OF GULF STREAM, PALM BEACH COUNTY, FLORIDA, ADOPTING THE TENTATIVE LEVYING OF AD VALOREM TAXES FOR THE TOWN OF GULF STREAM GENERAL FUND FOR FISCAL YEAR COMMENCING ON OCTOBER 1, 2014 AND ENDING ON SEPTEMBER 30, 2015; PROVIDING FOR AN EFFECTIVE DATE. The Town Clerk read Resolution No. 014 -07 in its entirety. Commissioner Orthwein moved for adoption of same and Vice Mayor Ganger second the motion with all voting AYE at roll call. B. No. 014 -08; A RESOLUTION OF THE TOWN COMMISSION OF THE TOWN OF GULF STREAM, PALM BEACH COUNTY, FLORIDA, ADOPTING THE GENERAL FUND TENTATIVE BUDGET FOR THE TOWN OF GULF STREAM FOR THE FISCAL YEAR COMMENCING ON OCTOBER 1, 2014 AND ENDING ON SEPTEMBER 30, 2015; PROVIDING FOR AN EFFECTIVE DATE. Town Clerk Taylor read Resolution No. 014 -08 in its entirety and Commissioner Orthwein moved that it be adopted as presented. Vice Mayor Ganger seconded the motion and all voted AYE at the roll call. C. No. 014 -09; A RESOLUTION OF THE TOWN COMMISSION OF THE TOWN OF GULF STREAM, PALM BEACH COUNTY, FLORIDA, ADOPTING THE WATER FUND TENTATIVE BUDGET FOR THE TOWN OF GULF STREAM FOR THE FISCAL YEAR COMMENCING ON OCTOBER 1, 2014 AND ENDING ON SEPTEMBER 30, 2015; PROVIDING FOR AN EFFECTIVE DATE. Following the reading of the entire Resolution No. 014 -09 by the Town Clerk, Commissioner Orthwein moved for its adoption. Her motion was seconded by Vice Mayor Ganger and all voted AYE at roll call. VIII. Adjournment. Mayor Morgan adjourned the meeting at 5:40 P.M. 5 Town Commission Tentative Budget Hearing September 12, 2014 @ 5:01 P.M. /?x A�i Z, rj, - - �- - Rita L. Taylor Town Clerk