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07-15-1997 (City Council) Agenda Packet AGENDA WYLIE CITY COUNCIL Budget Worksession Wylie Municipal Complex July 15, 1997 7:00 p.m. CALL TO ORDER WORKSESSION 1. Discuss and Review Budget FY 1997-1998 STAFF REPORTS CITIZEN PARTICIPATION EXECUTIVE SESSION Hold Executive Session Under Sections 551.071 Consultation with Attorney; 551.072 Deliberations about Real Property; and 551.075 Conference With Employees To Receive Information and Question Employees Regarding Pending Litigation, City of Parker v. City of Wylie, Cause No. 219.458.96, District Court of Collin County, Texas 219 Judicial District RECONVENE INTO OPEN MEETING Take Any Necessary Action as a Result of the Executive Session ADJOURNMENT 'osted on this the 11th day of July, 1997 at 5:00 p.m. MEMORANDUM TO: Mayor & City Council FROM: Mike Collins, City Manager DATE: July 11, 1997 RE: Budget Workshop - July 15 The City Council's top priority going into this budget process was for staff to propose a balanced budget requiring no tax increase. A top priority of your staff is to maintain the integrity of the FY 97 Three-Year Staffing Program adopted by the City Council. The FY 98 Budget is presented at a time in this city's development cycle when the necessary property and sales tax revenues that are being generated by an increase in single family home construction lag behind the city's ability to finance rising service demands for library, parks and recreation, public safety and other basic services. This service demand increase exceeds what was originally projected in FY 97 for year two of the Multi-Year Staffing Program. A balanced budget requiring no tax increase is proposed that meets some-of the increased service demands. The FY 98 Budget proposal required that specific expenditure costs be reduced in operating expenses, travel and training and that new capital items be totally eliminated. The consequence of not purchasing new capital items is that the useful life of the equipment, machines, tools and supplies staff uses to complete its work must be extended another year. Our objective will be to minimize repair expenses. The budget includes a recommendation to fund additional personnel positions not included in the FY97 Multi-Year Staffing Program. A full-time parks laborer is proposed in anticipation of the new athletic field complex coming on line and because at the same time the total acreage of parkland maintained has doubled since 1990, there has been no increase in full-time staff. An additional full-time librarian position is also proposed. Since the completion of the facility renovation, there have been consecutive double digit percentage increases in monthly circulations processed by the library staff. The hiring of additional part-time firefighters is also proposed that will enable the fire department to provide twenty four hour - seven day a week coverage. This proposal is different than the Multi-Year Staff Program that provided for three additional cadet fire fighters in FY99. The part-time proposal is presented as an option for the City Council to consider in response to discussions that have taken place during the KCS Railroad Town Hall Meetings. Many citizens have expressed concern that the city currently lacks a full-time fire department. Because we are reliant on volunteers in the evening, one of our most vulnerable times is between 6:00 p.m. and 7:00 p.m. during the weekdays. The net cost to finance personnel increases not included in the Multi-Year Staffing Program is approximately $100,000. Our proposal calls for the additional staff to be brought in at mid- year at a cost of approximately $50,000. In order to demonstrate how strongly the.staff believes in the importance of maintaining the integrity of the Multi-Year Staffing Program, the increased funding for the new positions would be financed by eliminating merit increases for exempt personnel. The budget proposal also includes a provision to draw down on reserve fund balances by $400,000. This would enable the city to maintain fund balance totals at levels that exceed what our financial analysts recommend. These funds would be used to fund $300,000 for drainage improvements, $50,000 in computer and telecommunications technology upgrades, and $50,000 in miscellaneous capital improvement projects. The FY98 Budget process has been the most challenging of the five budgets I have worked with since coming to Wylie. Your staff recognizes the revenue lag and will work with the resources made available to meet as many of the service demands as possible. As we are asked to do more with less, we will be enthusiastic and word hard. Your staff also appreciates the fact that this city has made significant investments since 1992 in capital equipment and personnel in almost every department. As the saying goes, "We've come along way". A great deal of emphasis has been given to the Multi-Year Staffing Program. We must have effective planning tools to deal with the growth of that City will experience. The annual budgets are a very important component of effective planning. We look forward to a productive Budget worksession on Tuesday,July 15th. Please call if you have any questions. Have a nice weekend.