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05/18/1995 - Minutes 1V City of Tigard, Oregon Budget Committee Minutes of May 18, 1995 Members present : Bob Rohlf, Suzanne Beardsley, Craig Dirksen, Deb Hinton, George Burgess, Jim Nicoli, Ken Scheckla, Joyce Patton, Wendy Hawley . Staff Present : Bill Monahan, City Administrator, Wayne Lowry, Finance Director, Ed Wegner, Maintenance Services Director, Kathy Davis, Library Director The minutes from the May 11 1996 meeting were approved. In response to questions from Jim, Wayne explained the charges to the water fund and how they compared to the operation under the old water district . Wayne also explained that all social services and arts/events funding is budgeted in the general fund. Ed explained the City' s situation on emergency preparedness and the inclusion in the water budget of funds to have a seismic test done on tanks and reservoirs . Jim suggested that the City begin looking at water rates now in anticipation of a large capital expenditure in the near future to secure a long term water source . Ed explained how the water rate study would address some of these issues . Ed explained that the asphalt patching truck would reduce the patching program from 4 people and two vehicles to 3 people and one vehicle . Bob asked about equipment sharing and Ed explained how sharing works in Washington County. Kathy Davis was available to answer Library questions . Ken asked about lighting in the Library. Kathy explained substandard lighting in many areas and the need to lower lights . This also includes new ballast installation. Bob asked about the additional two hours for the reference position in the Library . Kathy said that it was to make a long time employee eligible for benefits . Bob asked about computers and support related to .5 fte in the library. Kathy explained that the Library is on the City network but is also linked with the County wide system which requires support outside the City central support structure. Discussion of CD drives and the desire to check them out . Jim brought up the fact that current planning fees do not cover the costs of planning activities and the fee structure should be reviewed. Bill responded that these fees have been looked at and have been reviewed recently and are being looked at again. Jim mentioned that Tigard seems to be on the low end for such fees . He mentioned that Sherwood and Washington County are much higher. Wayne went over some information related to employees per capita. The quick analysis of surrounding City' s showed that Tigard has less employees per capita that most at 5 . 8 employees per thousand citizens . Beaverton was 5 . 5, Hillsboro 6 . 6, Lake Oswego 7 . 3, Sherwood 6 . 3 and Tualatin 6 . 2 . Jim raised a question on behalf of Paul Hunt who could not attend the meeting. He asked that the committee consider increasing the compensation paid to City Councilors . Bill responded that the last time it was looked at was by the budget committee in 1987 . At that time Tigard was low. An adjustment was made to make it the same as Lake Oswego at the time . The committee discussed the issue at length. Ken felt the amount was ok, would vote no on any increase. Suzanne felt it should be reviewed. Deb thought there was a bigger issue about volunteerism but thought it should be reviewed regularly. Joyce was appalled by the time spent by the council and the low compensation. Jim did not want to hold up the process with this issue but wanted it looked at prior to the council hearing. Ken suggested that if a survey is done of other City' s, Forest grove should be included. The committee reached a consensus that the citizen members of the committee would form a task force to look at council compensation and report back to the council with a recommendation . There was therefore no change in the budget . Bob brought up the issue of speed bumps and the discussion that the west CIT had on the issue . He wanted to make sure that the budget included some funds for speed bumps . Wayne explained that the CIP process would be the place to deal with the allocation of such funds among projects . No budget change was made . Deb made motion #1 to approve the property tax levy for 1995/96 in the total amount of $6, 074, 433 . Joyce seconded the motion . The vote was 9 yes 0 no . Joyce made motion #2 to approve the budget as amended in the amount of $37, 383, 816 . Deb seconded the motion. The vote was 9 yes, 0 no . The meeting adjourned at 9 : OOpm.