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Regular City Council Meeting Monday, August 24, 2009 Page 18 Further discussion in the Fire Relief Fund included incremental increases over that budgeted for 2009, due to poor investment returns in the pension fund due to market conditions; alternatives for the City Council to levy to meet the need or make appropriate cuts elsewhere to meet the obligation. Discussion related to janitorial, legal and audit contracts confirmed that inflation- ary components were already built into those contracts; ongoing software applica- tion maintenance agreement support for the Police, Fire and Finance proprietary software; employee health care or increased staff costs not included in the $300,000 inflationary impacts figure as health care costs are still pending, and an- ticipating that employees may have to take a larger share of health care costs unless claims use improves from current trends; and state legislative uncertainties for 2010 allotments to local governments. Additional discussion included clarification on debt service for the Arena and an- nual paybacks with $100,000 remaining in the construction budget that was ap- plied to this year's debt service payment, but unavailable in future years; previous year's set-aside for vehicle purchases and the annual amount needed to maintain and keep the existing fleet and achieve sustainability; and funding eliminated and all vehicle purchases suspended as acost-saving measure for 2009, even though previously funded. Further discussion included how to identify and quantify any increased mainte- nance costs for not replacing fleet vehicles; elimination of the budgeted fire vehi- cle based on other considerations for need and fire station location; anticipated and historical annual maintenance data for review and comparison; insufficiency of current set-aside amount to sustain vehicle replacement; safety concerns in ex- tending use of public safety vehicles due to their above-average wear and tear; maintenance of assets, including supplies, materials and vehicle repairs; parts and supplies frozen at this point; and recognition that patrol vehicles cannot be com- pared to personal use vehicles and replacement timeframes based on safety issues. Discussion ensued regarding using money identified for vehicle replacement in- stead for infrastructure improvements (i.e., establishing asidewalk/pathway fund) based on public request for that infrastructure; options for reducing the City's fleet, or replacing vehicles with hybrid or more efficient models, while purchasing under State contract and ongoing improvements to those vehicles available on such a contract, and still allowing the City to save on overall fleet costs by buying under a cooperative contract. Mr. Miller expressed the urgency highlighted by staff in replacing patrol vehicles to consider the safety of officers; with historical evidence on optimal time for pa- trol vehicles to remain in operation versus personal vehicles, due their need to perform at a higher level than a normal consumer vehicles; and the caution needed in not taking chances with certain fleet vehicles.