03/07/1984 - Minutes CITY OF TIGARD
BUDGET COMMITTEE MINUTES
MARCH 7, 1984
Fowler Junior High School
The meeting was called to order by Chairman Wally Hoffman at 7:40 p.m. Roll
Call: W. Hoffman, D. Evans, J. Smith, G. Edwards, H. Duffy (7:45) , T. Brian,
W. Bishop (7:50)
Staff: R. Jean, J. Widner, R. Adams, F. Currie, I. Ertell, B. Monahan, J.
Martin, J. McNurlin, R. Wheeler, A. Carrick, K. Jennings, S. Rivett, G. Eddy,
W. Avery, L. Branstetter, R. Clarno.
Press: C. Westlund, Tigard Times
Guests: J. Blaurock, M. Padgett, W. Munhall, P. Edin, L. Allen, B. Knutson,
F. Tepedino and others.
Item 3. G. Edwards moved to approve the minutes of February 29, 1984 with
amendments on page two--$24,500 per month to per year and $42,000 per month to
per year. J. Smith seconded. Vote 6/0 passed.
Item 4. R. Jean stated that there had been some confusion regarding the
difference between obligated and non-obligated time for the police officers,
the Chief would be speaking to this. Frank Currie would be addressing the
sewer cleaner.
The committee asked if the police were down to so few hours of non-obligated
time why were the officers concentrating on traffic? R. Wheeler explained
that in 1982 there were 365 accidents in Tigard and in 1983 there were 415.
The last year in which no fatalies occurred in these accidents was 1975 and
also 1983. Traffic enforcement is necessary to decrease accidents. R. Adams
went on to say that according to published records there were 111 injury
accidents in Tigard last year with a total economic loss to the community of
$1,117,378. H. Duffy wanted to know how our service levels compared to other
communities. The data the City provides is in greater detail than most cities
in Oregon, however BPST does keep some records and Tigard is comparable.
F. Currie showed a video of the sewer line from Elmer's restaurant after it
had already been cleaned three times with the sewer cleaner the City presently
owns. It was apparent that the sewer cleaner the City owns is unable to
properly clean the sewer lines--the grease build-up was picturesque. G.
Edwards asked about the downtime the City was experiencing with the present
sewer cleaner, how much loss in labor dollars? F. Currie stated that the
employees were moved to other work sites when the equipment broke down. D.
Evans wanted to know if the codes required grease traps for restaurants, F.
Currie stated that currently there is no requirement.
R. Jean reviewed the budget packet documents with the committee. A budget
summary including Budget Committee changes was presented. R. Jean explained
that the shelter house (WACCAO) was not included in the budget. The summary
indicated the requested budget, the revised proposed as directed by Budget
Committee, and the recommended budget.
Item 5. Public comments : B. Knutson of TCYS stated his appreciation to the
Budget Committee for including in the recommended budget funding for TCYS. He
further stated that TCYS will help in the support of the Tax Base election.
If the agency is successful in obtaining a grant they have applied for, they
will be able to assist the City with parks projects i.e. , Fanno Creek.
M. Padgett requested that before the budget process was completed that a
discussion of double taxation should take place. He suggested that this
discussion consider eliminating all City services that are already provided by
the County and demand these services from the County.
W. Munhall appreciated what the Budget Committee process has been and what
they have been going through regarding the tax base. He reminded the
committee that the library funding is 55% of all other libraries in the
County. He urged the committee to go for the entire tax base and stated that
the Library Board will assist in getting the measure passed.
G. Edwards asked M. Padgett what services we could cut that the County could
take over? Response was police, although he is not advocating eliminating the
police department, it is one service the County is providing. G. Edwards
stated that the City of Tualatin does not have a police department, but does
contract for a fee with the County for coverage. "If the City of Tigard were
to eliminate its police department by state law we also could not demand
police service from the sheriff. We would have to pay in a fee or contract
because by state law the sheriff's department, any sheriff's department in the
State of Oregon, is obligated to: 1. collect taxes, 2. serve civil process,
3. man the jail. They really by state statute have no mandate to be a police
department whatsoever. But cities that are incorporated do." M. Padgett
responded that he was not debating whether it was an issue of statute, but the
principle of the issue. Number two the Washington County sheriff's department
does provide these types of services to unincorporated areas in Washington
County. These are policing services and we are subsidizing in effect those
policing services to areas of Washington County by the City of Tigard
taxpayers.
T. Brian said that he thinks the Budget Committee should be briefed on the
double taxation issue. It would helpful if the committee would recommend this
to the City Council.
R. Jean said that the League of Oregon Cities is currently looking into this
issue. Perhaps we could ask the LOC to have a budget/council workshop on this
issue. Discussion followed with the consensus that after the second phase of
the Urban Services study is published the Budget Committee would like a
workshop on the double taxation issue.
Item 6. J. Smith moved to add $2500 for WACCAO shelter house to the
recommended budget for fy84-85. G. Edwards seconded. Vote: 7/0 passed.
W. Hoffman stated that the committee would go with the recommended column of
the Budget Summary handout, discuss the differences and add/drop from this
amount.
T. Brian kept a comments list during each of the previous meetings. He stated
the list was in the order of presentation. The library notes were the revenue
assumption of services to outside City subscribers. This estimate has been
reduced from $40,000 to $20,000. The recommended budget is in balance. There
was a follow-up on the medical/dental benefits.
G. Edwards said he had none on the library. H. Duffy stated he wanted to make
sure the library budget for expenditures would be increased to reflect the
Tigard WCCLS share previously received. Discussion followed.
There were no changes in Finance.
There were no changes in Police after discussion about the communications
equipment. The retro fit costs will be moved from Materials & Services to
Capital Outlay when the budget is reprinted.
The next notation T. Brian had was the City Attorney. The recommended changes
have been made.
G. Edwards said his question regarding the sewer cleaner had been answered.
D. Evans asked if the sewage fees could be more for restaurants, etc. on a
cost of service. R. Jean said that the cities in Washington County are
looking into the rate structures imposed by USA and one of his recommendations
is the concept of wholesale/retail pricing.
The committee recessed from 9:10 - 9:40 p.m.
T. Brian continued with his list. Nothing in Public Works, other than the EIT
position was eliminated. Only other comment was the addition of the WACCAO
funding.
H. Duffy made general comment re: the WCCLS money to library.
W. Hoffman asked the members to make comments :
H. Duffy. I have two major concerns. First of all, in my estimation, the
City Council should have provided this committee with the list of their
priorities and we should have had it up front to know where we should and
should not be placing our emphasis and as you said the workshop tried to
address some of those. The other issue has to do with the fact that yes we
are proposing to put level III services in place, but the only problem is we
really don't have any solid measurement tools to determine that these are
level III services by comparison the cost of these level III services are
comparable to other communities and those are the two areas I would like to
see improved upon. Once again, I would like to compliment all of the parties
that have put this budget together again in a very professional manner,
relatively easy to go through and certainly the data was there as we needed
it. Whenever we have asked for more information its been forthcoming and
everyone who has testified on these issues has been very knowledgeable and
compliment staff and Bob for putting this program together.
T. Brian. A lot of us have served on this budget committee for 4 or 5 years
and I think that one constant thing has been done and that is that each year
we have converted capital to operations, we've done internal shift from
capital to operations, personnel costs continually try to maximize
productivity. I don't think people realize how close we are to very serious
cuts. I wish the community would attend these sessions more and I think the
great majority of people would arrive at these same conclusions. I don' t
personally feel there's any reason or any need that Tigard should be seriously
446W, below any other community in this state in terms of standard levels of
services and taxes that we have. There is absolutely nothing extravagant
about we do whatsoever, even if after this tax base passes there is still
rebuilding of police cars in this tax base and that kind of thing. The amount
proposed of $1.3 is about $1.55 per thousand which puts us as one of the
lowest in the state and I hope people look at that.
W. Bishop. I've been relatively quiet this time, one of the reasons is that I
have seen an increase in the experience and the polish of the budget committee
members, which has been reassuring after these years. I think that all of the
years you have been on it, have really come forward now. And as you recall,
last year one of the things, and it relates to the $1.55 figure that T. Brian
mentioned, I brought up when I was arguing for an even stronger budget be
proposed to the people and even a second go round on it that the City had to
realize we have done it in Tigard from the tax rate basis probably too well in
over the last 10 years. The $1.55 is about $1.00 less than when I came into
office 10 years ago. That is not true in other jurisdictions. Other cities
have doubled their tax rate. Tigard has gone down to less than half of what
it was. I'm hoping this message gets across to the people of Tigard what a
lucky situation they've been in living in Tigard and with the low tax rate
from the City and if the 1 1/2% is voted in, Tigard will have a tougher time
because of its success in lowering taxes in the past. The progress of this
budget committee has been outstanding, I hope this message gets across and
that the tax base will be good for at least two years and is certainly a
positive thing to get across. I would like to compliment the committee
members for their efforts that have made it so effective.
G. Edwards said he goes along with what's already been said, and in lieu of
the professionalism that we've been able to deal with regards to City staff in
putting these budgets together. This is my sixth and final year on this
committee and the people on this committee are people who have taken great
pride and done a lot of detail work in making this budget one that is
realistic in a time of economic problems all over the state I think the
members of Bob Jean's city staff and all the people who work for him have done
an outstanding job in providing us with, in some cases too much data, but its
really not I say that now with all of the paper work in front of me. The
people in the City of Tigard really do not realize the process that is gone
through to develop a realistic picture of a realistic amount of dollars spent
on their behalf and for their benefit. And I don't think we've given anybody
in all the years that I've been on this Budget Committee any free ride in any
department. We have always ended up with a budget that is what we feel
workable and yet is able to provide the level of service that this community
deserves. I feel very comfortable about the budget we have ended up with
today. I feel very comfortable about the process that we used to arrive at
the figures that we ended with. I would also like to thank all of the members
that I've worked with on this Budget Committee and the City Council members
that have attended for the cooperation and professional attitudes and extend
the thanks to Bob Jean and the employees of the City of Tigard.
J. Smith. I feel very comfortable with this budget and proposed new tax base
I do think we ought to bear in mind that they we can get level III services
partly due to the improvement in the productivity of our staff and in the more
efficient operation of our City. The staff is to be commended for developing
systems that do produce better productivity. I don't want to repeat what's
already been said, I share the view of those already spoken and I am very
comfortable with it.
D. Evans. Thank Bob Jean for his leadership. The budgets are a lot easier to
go through. One of the problems, I'm not saying this is a problem here; but
J • .
one of the problems in the future is the declining area of which to generate
revenue is going to create more need for cost saving measures and more
productivity all in all its a budget we can live with.
W. Hoffman. I don't believe there's any more I can add to what the budget
committee members have said. He then discussed what affect the $1.3 million
tax base would have on an individual. The rate is estimated to be
$1.55/$1,000. The Civic Center bond would add the first year approximately
$.13 to this rate for $1.68. With an assessed value of $70-74,000 the
taxpayer would pay $123.20 per year. Comes to about $3.40 more per month than
this 1983-84. For my $123.00, I know what I'm getting, but with the thousands
that some pay into federal and state, its hard to relate to the value of
service for the dollar paid. Even though no one wants more taxes, the need is
here.
G. Edwards moved to recommend to the City Council a budget of $5,164,298,
which includes the addition of WACCAO and with a $1.3 million tax base.
J. Smith seconded. Vote 6/1 (Duffy). T. Brian said before we take this vote,
he wanted to clarify H. Duffy's concerns. It was explained that the library
budget had been revised to reflect the loss of WCCLS and the addition of
previous dollars collected by WCCLS.
H. Duffy said in that case he would withdraw his no. The motion passed
unanimously. 7/0.
Item 7. The general consensus was that if the tax base failed, the committee
would meet in May.
J. Smith moved to recommend the proposed TURA fy84-85 budget to the City
Council. G. Edwards/W. Bishop seconded. Vote 7/0 passed.
W. Hoffman thanked the members for their efforts.
The meeting adjourned at 10:12 p.m.
Wally Ho n, ha a
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