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Citizens Budget Committee 04-21-93CITIZENS' BUDGET COMMITTEE APRIL 21~, 1993 3:30 P.M. CONFERENCE ROOM A 10300 TORR>E; AVENUE CUPERTDVO, CA MINUTES Committee members present: Allan Bidwell Robert Hendrickson Roberta Hollimon Bazbaza Jones Stephanie Russell Dazwin Throne David Wheeler Staff present: City Manager Brown City Clerk Cornelius Director of Finance Snyder Assistant to the City Manager Brown Director of Pazks and Recreation Dowling Director of Public Works Viskovich Public Information Officer Krey City Planner Wordell City Accountant Jackson Also present: Captain Bob Wilson, Santa Clara County Sheriffs Department Sam MacNeal 1. Approval the minutes of the April 14, 1993 meeting. Consideration was continued to the meeting of April 28. 2. Presentation of Department Budgets Bob Cowan, Director of Community Development, explained that the department is divided into two divisions, Building, whicl- issues permits and reviews plans for compliance with codes, and Planning, which deals with the physical environment, including the General Plan and its implementation and code enforcement. Vazious issues such as air pollution and transportation are moving control and authority over the environment from local to regional concerns. ,A trend in the profession is fast tracking of applications. Also, cultural diversity is changing the way cities are doing business. More MINUTES OF THE CITIZENS' BUDGET COMMITTEE HELD ON APRIL 21, 1993 people are involved who are not as informed ~~bout the governmental process, which also makes change in the way city staff members d.o things. The technical explosion also has an effect. In the future, staff would like to move towazd more effective General Plan monitoring and spend more time on the long range planning process which would mean it would be less time needed on current applications. Captain Wilson, Santa Claza County Sheriffs Department, (Mr. Bidwell arrives) pointed out that the Sheriffs Department is under contract with the City of Cupertino to provide service. They provide the best possible service at the best possible price. He is capable of getting additional officers when needed and the City only pays for that particular time. This is called resource sharing. Police officers are an expensive situation. When determining the cost to the City of Cupertino, the Sheriffs Department asks, "What do you want us to do?" The major area of use of the Sheriffs Department time in Cupertino is traffic. Also, the department reviews proposed plans for development because it does have an impact on the Sheriffs service. Curre~rtly, the department is weighing the impact of Highway 85 on city streets. Its completion may lessen the load for traffic officers. The activity level in Cupertino is increasing. The question is how does the City want to spend its money. Could Code Enforcement take over some of the duties? Cupertino, including Vallco Fashion Park, has a low crime rate, particulazly in compazison to surrounding areas. The Sheriffs Department provides a competitive service at a competitive price. The service level and cost is reviewed every yeaz. Upon being questioned by a committee member regarding crime rate, Captain Wilson responded that the crime rate refers to incidents severe enough to report to the state o:r the federal government. Assistant to the City Manager Brown passed out a list showing general responsibilities of her department. The department provides administrative support for Code Enforcement, emergency preparedness, insurance, the Public Safety Commission, and Cupertino's volunteer program. She also monitors emplo~~ee training, the contract with the Sheriffs Department, the rental mediation program, and the safety program. Ms. Brown also serves as personnel officer for Cupertino. Concerns and trends include state and federal mandates, greater use of Code Enforcement off cers rather than sheriffs deputies, services the City may have to implement that governmental agencies are discontinuing. Changes she sees occurring in her area include the ability to pay adequate salaries and provide adequate benefits to remain competitive in order to maintain high level of quality employees, greater use of volunteers, reductio~i in resources for emergency prepazedness, and the possibility of employees having to cover some of the costs of their benefit program. She answered committee questions regarding use of volunteers, the rental mediation program, and the labor negotiation process in Cupertino. Steve Dowling, Director of Parks and Recreation, clarified that this department does not handle the park construction and maintenance. This is done by the Public Works Department. The foci of Pazks and Recrea~:ion Department are recreation programs, facility management, and park planning. The department organization is structured around the recreation facilities and, therefore, is brokc;n down into six divisions. He reviewed a visual showing the department's money come; from three sources: General Fund, user and program fees, and Blackberry Farms, which is set up as a separate enterprise. Some 2 MINUTES OF THE CITIZENS' BUDGET COMMITTEE HELD ON APRIL 21, 1993 programs generate more revenue than they actually cost. Therefore, they are bringing money into the city. Mr. Dowling believes that the city will continue to operate the facilities it presently owns and as long as they can generate revenues, the doors will be kept open. In the recreation program area, it appears more expenditures have to be moved to the revenue side. The challenge is t~~ find new sources of revenue, still provide the service, and to stay competitive. Donna Krey, Community Relations, serves as Public Information Officer. This category includes media relations, outreach program:;, the Wish Book, volunteer recognition (CREST), ceremonial matters, and funding of nonprofit agencies providing human services. The Chamber of Commerce request for funds is also included in this budget, as are the Sister City program and cable televisio~i. There is a trend to consolidate events as a means of saving money. In answering a committee member's question, Ms. Krey estimated that $10,000 was spent on ceremonial matters last yeaz. The cable television franchise is undergoing review for possible renewal. The city will probably try to continue the 6% franchise fee; however, legally, only 5% is required. The annual budget for the Cupertino Scene is approximately $58,000. The Government Channel is seeking a stable source of funding through the franchising process with TCI. The Government Channel does have a reduced budget which results iii fewer special programs. Approximately, $20,000 comes from franchise fees. The two cable companies available in Cupertino have a combined penetration rate of about 62%. City Clerk Cornelius reviewed primary responsibilities asadministration of the local elections, records management, agenda and minutes of Council meetings, posting agendas for all meetings, recordations, legal publications and notices and Fair Political Practices Commission documents and filings. This department also staffs the Fine Arts Commission. Trends and changes coming in the azea are the possibility all mail elections and electronic voting. In addition, means of registration are changing which is expected to result in higher registration. Future trends, should the budget allow it, would be automation of a records management systenn. In answer to a committee member's question, Ms. Cornelius clarified that the incre;~se proposed under professional services in next yew's budget is the cost of the election scr~eduled for November. Director of Public Works Viskovich reviewed the two major azeas of this department, engineering and field. The budget presented fc,r next fiscal year is pretty much status quo regazding level of service. Youth sports field .maintenance will show an increase as there will be more acreage to maintain. The city is trying to get the sports organizations to help with some of the maintenance. Trends are towazds more recycling, enforcement of non- point source laws, and decrease in single occupancy vehicles to and from work. In the future, the depaztment will monitor the level of service and continue to evaluate projects to determine if it is more cost effective to -use a consultant or hire a staff member. Another azea to be evaluated in the future will lie computerizing the city's data base. City Manager Brown reviewed the proposed budgets for Council, City Manager, contingencies, and the City Attorney. He stated these are non-revenue producing activities. A lazge portion of the Council's budget is used for membership in regional or 3 MINUTES OF THE CITIZENS' BUDGET COMMITTEE HELD ON APRIL 21, 1993 state associations. In the City Manager's budget, the employee recognition program honors years of service. An example of the use of the contingency budget was the Sedway report on economic development. In regard to a question regarding Council benefits, it was stated that Council is eligible fc,r the same benefits as employees; however, they do not have to choose to receive them. Also, if they do not select the same programs as the employees, they have the option of getting their own, such as health insurance, and the City paying the same dollar amount as it would for an employee. City Manager Brown pointed out that Cupertino does not have a fire department, but is a member of the Central Fire Protection District We have no authorit~~ over them, but work well with them. The library is a County library and the City also works well with them. Cupertino funds Sunday service at the library. They also financed the building expansion at the library. The County pays the City for debt service. Finance Directory Snyder reviewed the duties of his department which include maintaining the financial records, preparing the budget, payroll, state and federal reports, investments of City funds, maintaining the general ledger, and fiscal planning. He reviewed the financing of debt service for the committee and the revision of the business license ordinance. He stated that the City of Cupertino is rated high in the financial community. In the future, it will be necessary to evaluate computrr and software upgrades. City Manager Brown reviewed the time schedule of the budget committee. There will be two more meetings. Staff is at the committee's disposal at either or both of those meetings. A handout responsive the committee's request from last week has been prepared. 3. Questions and Answers In response to a committee member's question, Captain Wilson stated that there are gangs in Cupertino, but not in the historical style. These are formed for power or money rather than by area or ethnic group. Monta Vista High School, Cupertino High School, and Homestead High School have had some gang ~~roblems, but not at the level seen in central and south part of the county. The Yout}i Diversion Program in which Cupertino participates, has been very successful. In regard to patrol operation, the West Valley substation has 80 officers, 45% of which cover Cupertino and the unincorporated areas immediately adjacent to the city; that percen~;age is stable. The Sheriffs Department is trying to balance need with costa Drunk drivers involved in accidents involving a police response are billed up to $1,000 in use of sheriffs time. In response to a question regarding the use of computers in City Hall for such things as information and referral, it was clarified that this was a budget item, but staff time rather than the equipment involved is the major issue. The committee was informed in response to another question, that cost differential between a deputy sheriff and a code enforcement officer is 50%. Finance Director Snyder distributed a budget report prepared by Comm. Throne, a letter submitted by Sam MacNeal, and the information the committee had requested previously. 4 MINUTES OF THE CITIZENS' BUDGET COMMITTEE HELD ON APRIL 21, 1993 These include a breakdown of facility improvements in the budget, the cost of businesses opening their doors in Cupertino, user fees, and the must/should/like to do and cost from the General Fund list. Mr. Throne pointed out that his report does not include law enforcement The committee was informed that the City of Cupertino has a g~4.5 billion assessed valuation. Mr. Hendrickson asked if the committee could come up with a list of suggestions regarding cuts should cuts be necessary. Is that what the City Council wants? The committee does not have time to go through the budget item by item. What is the committee's process? Mr. Throne suggested that first committee members decide on a goal. He feels having a citizens' budget committee will be an ongoing process and that this committee could set the tone for the future. Ms. Hollimon agreed that the best this committee could do probably is to look ahead and set up for the future. Mr. Wheeler expressed the desire to re-digesit information received and come back and have a closed meeting. City Manager Brown pointed out that the meetings of this committee are public meetings and people may attend. It was decided that ;staff need not be present, however, if the meeting is recorded, any minutes could be taken from that recording. As well as minutes, there must be an agenda. The agenda needs to be posted at least 72 hours prior to the muting. By consensus, the committee stated that the next muting will be held at 3:30 p.m., Conference Room A, Apri128 with no staff present. The tape recorder will be set up for their use. The agenda will consist of approval of the April 14 minutes and committee review of material presented by staff, discussion of future goals of the City, and questions and answers. The last muting will be held Tuesday, May 4, at which time staff will be present. If the committee has any questions, they should be directed to Mr. Snyder. Following discussion, the committee member:; decided that all of them will look at the whole picture. 4. The meeting adjourned at 5:25 p.m. r City Clerk 5