Minutes: Budget Meeting, April 28, 2009 City Hall, Dunes City , Oregon Present: Mayor Eric Hauptman , Councilor Jamie Mills, Councilor Susie Navetta , Councilor Robert Quandt ,       Councilor Rebecca Ruede, Budget Officer Amy Graham,       Citizen Members Janet Carroll, Dick Kibitt, Judy Martin,       Karen Peck and Robert Read   Excused: Councilor Peter Howison, Citizen Member Linda Lauck   Absent: Councilor Richard Koehler   Also Present: Tracy Quandt   The Budget Message ~ Fiscal Year 2009-10, the Budget Proposed by the Budget Officer,the Revenue & Expense Report for July 1, 2008 through April 28, 2009 and the Fiscal Year 2008-09 Audit were distributed to all Committee members.   The Budget Officer, Amy Graham, opened the Fiscal Year 2009-10 Budget Meeting on April 28, 2009 at 7:08pm .   The first order of business is to elect a Budget Committee Chairman. Councilor Quandt made a motion to nominate Mayor Hauptman and Councilor Navetta seconded the motion. There were no additional nominees. The motion carried unanimously.   Amy Graham turned the meeting over to the Budget Committee Chairman, Mayor Hauptman.   Mayor Hauptman pointed out that the objective of tonight’s meeting is to distribute the budget forms, respond to any questions about the line items in the various funds and give everyone an opportunity to take the budget home for a more thorough review. He stated that the City faces some serious budget issues with the Revenue cuts we have experienced, particularly the timber money. He then opened the meeting to questions, beginning with the General Fund Resources.   Councilor Mills asked about the $46k deficit showing in Revenue & Expenses and where it will come from the beginning balance of the General Fund? Mayor Hauptman explained that a good part of it might, depending on where we’re at relative to our current projections.   Judy Martin expressed concern about the deficit in the Building Code Fund. Robert Read expressed concern about the negative balance in the Building Code Fund after the audit and how that would be brought into balance. Amy Graham replied that was something that the City Council would have to address. Mayor Hauptman suggested we stay focused on the General Fund and address Building Code Fund issues when we get to that fund.   General Fund ~ Judy Martin asked if the proposed revenue from the cigarette tax was realistic, considering the tax increases that have recently gone into effect. Amy Graham commented that the proposed budget had taken as many of those factors into account as possible. Mayor Hauptman stated that he and Amy Graham had looked at this very closely.   Amy Graham commented that the Septic License Fees revenue (line19) is $0 because, while an ordinance had been passed, no one has ever developed a fee schedule. This would be a fee paid by those approved to inspect septic systems in Dunes City .   Councilor Ruede asked about the $50 septic fee and Amy Graham pointed stated that is line 18, Septic Fees (paid by the property owners).   Karen Peck asked about the Fines revenue (line 16) and Amy Graham commented that the City will be retaining a collection agency to assist with collecting past due fines. (Discussion about a property on Hilltop and whether that fine was included.)   Councilor Mills asked if Revenue Committee members were still coming in to City Hall and going through the files. Amy Graham said they had been in once. Mayor Hauptman responded to a question about why Miscellaneous (line 12) was so low compared to historical numbers by pointing out that he likes to limit the transactions going to Miscellaneous as it doesn’t provide a clear record of transactions.   Mayor Hauptman moved on to the General Fund Requirements and asked for questions.   Judy Martin asked for a breakdown of employee salaries, etc. Amy Graham said she would provide it.   A question was asked about Office Equip Lease – Copier (line 15) and Mayor Hauptman explained that a new lease had been negotiated for a color copier that would be less expensive than the old machine.   Councilor Mills asked for clarification on Equipment Maintenance & Repairs (line 10) and Amy Graham explained some of the items that typically fall into that category.   Robert Read commented that Consulting (line 30) seemed high. Mayor Hauptman explained that it has been demonstrated that the services of people like Larry Lewis have proven to be invaluable to the City and that is why some extra money was budgeted for that purpose. He also commented that the Building Fund has traditionally been a “dumping ground” for these expenses and creating this budget requirement would remedy that. Funding for “ordinance” consulting will come from the General Fund; funding for “land use” consulting will come from the Building Code Fund.   Judy Martin expressed concern about overusing the City attorney and eliminating as much of these expenses as possible. Mayor Hauptman agreed and pointed out that all contact with the City attorney has to be cleared with Amy Graham.   Dick Kibitt stated that at our current rate of progress, we will be here for four hours. Mayor Hauptman acknowledged his concern and said we need to move ahead and try to keep questions to an explanation of any of the line items not understood.   County / City Road Partnership Fund ~ Judy Martin stated a concern about the City transferring funds to the State Street Fund. Mayor Hauptman responded that the City has contacted both Lane County and the State and no one expressed any issue with co-mingling these funds. Mayor Hauptman stated that he still expects legal expenses for Greengate Rd. and Ocean Blvd. into FY 2009-10. Mayor Hauptman also commented that Amy Graham had done a great job of getting our insurance to cover the Ocean Blvd. homeowners’ expense.   State Street Fund ~ Mayor Hauptman explained that Councilor Quandt has done an excellent job with the State Street Fund budget and asked him to explain it. Councilor Quandt summarized the recent Pavement Management System that has been implemented and how it will assist the City in assigning maintenance priorities to all of the City’s streets. He went on to explain the concept that repairing streets before they become problems will actually save the City money as it is substantially less expensive at that stage of repair (29 cents for sealing vs. $6 per square foot for reconstruct). This is why the Road Commission wants to spend a large portion of our surplus in 2009-10. He went on to provide several examples of how this works.   Councilor Quandt then started through the Resources in the State Street Fund. Grants (line 8) was discussed and Judy Martin pointed out that we should budget something, because if we don’t have anything budgeted, we can’t spend money if it is received in 2009/10. Robert Read cautioned about overstating the Grants budget resource.   Councilor Mills asked whether the problem on Lake Blvd , just past the bridge is included in this budget and it was pointed out that portion of Lake Blvd is Lane County ’s responsibility and it is expected that Lane County plans to repair / repave Pacific, Lake and Laurel this summer.   Judy Martin asked if the $50k for Engineering would be required every year and Councilor Quandt replied that 20% of the $250k for maintenance is a good guideline for budgeting, but that realistically, this year should be the biggest hit for engineering expense and it should go down each year.   Karen Peck had the same question and also wanted to know about the importance of our relationship with the engineer that will be used. Councilor Quandt pointed out that the engineering function is more one of preparing the specifications for the job.   Judy Martin expressed concern about the small amount of the State Street Fund’s unappropriated ending fund balance ($149k). Mayor Hauptman acknowledged that it was a legitimate concern but pointed out that we are playing catch up. Councilor Quandt pointed out that this is all the more reason to spend the money now.   Councilor Ruede asked if the ODOT State Highway Apportionment was received monthly and if we were tracking to budget this year. Amy Graham responded that it is received monthly and that so far this year is has totaled $40k and we will end up short of our $70k budgeted revenue for this year.   Water Right Compliance Fund ~ Councilor Mills asked whether we should include any budget for Grants that she feels fairly good about getting in the Water Right Compliance Fund or if it would be taken care of in the General Fund.   Discussion followed about why the Water Right Compliance Fund was established (to deal with the City’s Woahink Lake water rights and use by residents drawing water from Woahink Lake.) Robert Read expressed concern that it’s easy for this fund to appear to build an excess, only to be surprised when water meters need to be replaced. We need to be careful not to think we have an excess. Judy Martin suggested creating a reserve in this fund to address this concern. Judy Martin also suggested that the City consider raising the Water Right Application Fee.   Amy Graham provided clarification of the difference between the Application Fees (line 6) and the Administration Fees (line 7).   Councilor Mills commented that grant money may be available for weir maintenance. Discussion followed about ownership of the weir and access to the weir for maintenance. Dick Kibitt asked about Testing Equipment (line 21) and asked if that was for water testing. Mayor Hauptman and Amy Graham responded that yes it was.   Emergency Communications (911) Fund ~ Amy Graham explained that this fund is essentially a funnel for the excise tax that is paid to Dunes City and passed on to Florence to handle our 911 needs.   Building Codes Fund ~ Judy Martin asked about the $27k in Fines (line 16). Mayor Hauptman explained that it is largely accounts receivable. Amy Graham provided more detail. Judy Martin asked if the Building Surcharge Fees (line 20) was the School District surcharge. Amy Graham responded that it is.   Grants Fund ~ Amy Graham explained that the City has decided to stop using the Grants Fund, but it must remain in the budget package until historical data falls off.   Motel Tax / Tourism Fund ~ Robert Read pointed out that these funds are intended for the use to promote tourism and so on. Mayor Hauptman explained that there is some leniency in how this money is spent. One option that might be considered is putting in a boat wash at the Westlake boat ramp. Councilor Navetta pointed out that someone had suggested we be more concerned about the motorhomes being washed in the Woahink Lake parking lot than the boats that are washed in the lake.   Dick Kibitt asked why we have website requirements in two separate funds. Mayor Hauptman explained that it was like all other expenses that are allocated to more than one fund.   Councilor Navetta asked if we have ever gained ownership of the dunescity.com domain name. Amy Graham replied that she wasn’t sure but didn’t think so. Fred agreed to follow-up on this. Robert Read asked about total line item totals across all funds and wanted to know the total that has been budgeted for legal expenses and what the City planned to do about the $50k deficit that existed in the Building Code Fund. Robert Read also explained a process he uses to determine ending fund balances and identify issues. Amy Graham commented that the City has issues with the 2007/09 audit and doesn’t agree with many of the points in the audit.   Robert Read asked to have a meeting with Mayor Hauptman, Amy Graham, Fred Hilden and anyone else that wanted to participate. Amy Graham agreed to schedule the meeting and contact everyone.   Judy Martin asked if the City had ever paid the LGOG debt. Mayor Hauptman responded that he had met with George Kloeppel of LCOG last year and explained that the City’s position was that we had already overpaid them for work they had done for the City and unless they demonstrated why they should be paid additional sums, the City didn’t intend to pay any additional sum. The City has paid all invoices through January 2008. Councilor Navetta asked when LCOG last contacted us about the bill. Mayor Hauptman responded that they never have.   Judy Martin asked if we could still use RLID since we are no longer members of LCOG. Mayor Hauptman and Amy Graham responded that we can. Judy wanted to know who we contact to change our password. Amy Graham said we need to look into that.   There was some additional discussion about a new auditor.   Mayor Hauptman asked if there were any additional questions about the proposed budget and there was no response. He asked if there was a motion to adjourn.   Dick Kibitt made a motion to adjourn. Councilor Navetta seconded the motion. Amy Graham announced that the next budget meeting is scheduled for Tuesday, May 19th, 2009 at 2:30pm . Councilor Mills commented that she won’t be available. The motion to adjourn was unanimously approved. Mayor Hauptman adjourned the meeting at 8:39pm . Amy Graham announced that there is an opening on the Budget Committee.   Respectfully submitted,  Fred Hilden  Administrative Assistant