2011-04-13 WS CC Minutes - Approved

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City Council 2011-04-13 7:40 p.m. Minutes of Work Session Present were Mayor Tom Wilharber, Council members Jeff Paar, Steve King, D Love, and Ben Fehrenbacher. Also present were Mark Statz of Bonestroo & Assoc., City Attorney Kurt Glaser, Finance Director Mike Jeziorski and Public Works Director Paul Palzer. Budget Update . Finance Director Mike Jeziorski presented a draft budget for 2012 and reviewed the assumptions that were used. No COLA for employees(for the third year), no insurance increase for staff(for the third year), inflation adjustments are included in supplies and utility costs, estimates of permit fees were further reduced to reflect current conditions, and Market Value Homestead Credit is expected to continue at a severely reduced level. Capital expenses included $10,000 for election equipment, $30,000 for replacement of two trucks and $75,000 for crack sealing and seal coating. Bond levies are slightly reduced due to the recent debt refinancing. The resulting combined tax levy is up about 3.6% over the current year. Public Works Director Paul Palzer reviewed his estimates to maintain city streets. He expressed concern that the stability of city streets is not uniform, even where specifications were the same and a high level of soil correction was done. He suggested that cost of maintenance using current standards of construction the city would need to spend about $1.7 million annually. He suggested an alternate plan that would require an annual budget of about $260,000. Seal coating would be curtailed and instead an overlay would be installed about every fifteen years. The council seemed interested in allocating more funds toward street maintenance, but wished to have more time to review the suggestions. Council discussed the issue of laptop computers and whether the city should reduce council pay and use some of the savings to purchase computers for council. The savings for printing and distributing council packets would be about $800 per year. It was noted that two members had their own computers that were being used for the purpose. City Attorney Glaser indicated that there is a possibility the computers could be subject to discovery in the case of a lawsuit against the city. The reason that city emails were issued to council members to try avoid this. Consensus was that Council members should decline having their agendas printed, if they are using a portable computer for this purpose, but that the city would not provide computers at this time. The council discussed the insurance benefit provided to city employees. Consensus was that new hires should not be allowed to take any unused insurance benefit if they did not need family coverage, as deferred compensation or taxable wages. Future labor agreements will take this guidance into consideration.