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HomeMy WebLinkAbout3/31/2015 - RegularMINUTES OF A SPECIAL MEETING OF VINTON TOWN COUNCIL HELD AT 7:00 P,M. ON TUESDAY, MARCH 31, 2015, IN THE COUNCIL CHAMBERS OF THE VINTON MUNICIPAL BUILDING LOCATED AT 311 SOUTH POLLARD STREET, VINTON, VIRGINIA. MEMBERS PRESENT: Bradley E. Grose, Mayor Matthew S. Hare, Vice Mayor 1. Douglas Adams, Jr. William W. Nance Sabrina M. Weeks STAFF PRESENT: Christopher S. Lawrence, Town Manager Theresa Fontana, Town Attorney Susan N. Johnson, Town Clerk Ryan Spitzer, Assistant Town Manager Barry Thompson, Finance Director/Treasurer Ben Cook, Police Chief Gary Woodson, Public Works Director Donna Collins, Human Resources Specialist Joey Hiner, Public Works Assistant Director Anita McMillan, Planning & Zoning Director The Mayor called the regular meeting to order at 7:00 Roll call p.m. The Town Clerk called the roll with Council Member Adams, Council Member Nance, Council Member Weeks, Vice Mayor Hare and Mayor Grose present. After a Moment of Silence, Council Member Weeks led the Pledge of Allegiance to theFlag. Under upcoming community events/announcements, Council Member Weeks announced the Vinton Relay for Life on May I't at William Byrd High School, Vinton Wine and Food Festival will be May 16 th and the Dogwood Id Festival beginning April 22 Council Member Adams made a motion to approve the Consent Agenda as presented; the motion was seconded by Vice Mayor Hare and carried by the following vote, with all members voting: Vote 5-0; Yeas (5) — Adams, Nance, Weeks, Hare, Grose; None. The next item for consideration was further briefing on the proposed FY2015-2016 budget. The Town Manager began by commenting that the Budget Team has been focusing on certain items to help balance the budget along with reviewing the services that are provided by the town. He then mentioned that Council had been furnished with a print-out of a Program Listing of 326 services, both internal and external. In order to rank these services, the Council's strategic goals, the Approved minutes of regular Council meeting of March 17, 2015 results of the citizen survey in 2011 and other factors such as cost recovery and if the service is mandated were used. Through this score, the list was broken into four quartiles. The total budget to be proposed is $12,403,284. The revenues are constantly being monitored, but remain fairly unchanged. If the real estate tax rate is left at the current rate of $.03, there will be an increase of $1,112 through the assessment. Tice Mayor Hare commented on the slide that showed the tax rate comparison and stated that some of the localities listed also have other services they charge for such as public utilities. The Town Manager responded that was correct. 9 making some recommendations on some small one-time capital items through our new policy on our capital reserve fund. The Utility Fund is in much better shape based on the increases that were approved for last year and this fiscal year, The cost allocations were reviewed to help balance the budget in relation to what we can charge to this fund. Based on the projected revenue and expenditures, the Utility Fund will have a positive balance of $379,015, The Town Manager next commented on areas for consideration in service changes. First, there will be savings in our contribution to RCACP due to a lower use percentage, so the contribution amount has been reduced by $10,000. Also, the amount requested for paving was reduced. Council Member Nance asked how much the budget has been adjusted and the Town Manager commented $160,000. Other considerations will be a review of efficiencies in the bulk/brush and recycling program. Another recommendation is to close the pool after the summer 2015 season, The retirement prefunded payout initially included in the budget has been removed and will be covered from any savings during the transition of filling the vacant position. Vice Mayor Hare commented that possibly this money could be set aside and when someone retires, that pay -out amount could be transferred out to the affected department. Further items for consideration is the elimination of the part-time position in the Finance Department, the elimination or restricting of the K-9 Police services, efficiency/restructuring technology in the Police Department, reduction in spending at the War Memorial and general cuts based on historic trends that will not impact direct offering of services. We have tried to protect the funds to maintain our facilities and equipment and training for our employees. Janet Scheid was present at the meeting and the Mayor offered her a time to make comments and she declined. The next item on the agenda was to consider adoption of an Ordinance setting the real estate tax rate for calendar year 2015. The Mayor commented that the rate was advertised at $.07 and then he asked for comments from Council 9 Vice Mayor Hare first commented about the minutes from a meeting in 2003 where Council lowered the tax rate from $.05 to $.03 and comments made that it might take the town in the wrong direction. The next year following that meeting, the town took on some significant debt and since then we have almost doubled the area pound, have seen tremendous increases in public transportation, 4recreased funding from the state and everything seems to be getting more expensive. We have done a very good job as the present and past Council and staff of managing through these past years and Mr. Thompson has provided information on what the various increases of the tax rate will look like in dollars. Increasing taxes is not something he considers lightly. If we are going to increase a service level such as the 24- hour fire protection, the citizens should pay for it. This increased service has required us to take money from the fund balance this fiscal year and we cannot do that forever. The $.03 increase will cover this increased service. Vice Mayor Hare continued by commenting that his real issue is the difference between a $.03 increase and a $.04 increase. However, he does not want to have to do another increase again and it has been over 10 years since the tax rate was considered. There are items on the horizon that will get more expensive such as making significant investments in our retirement plan. Council Member Adams next commented that he agreed with the comments of Vice Mayor Hare. We have been able to accomplish some good things over the years, but if we do not continue to improve the infrastructure we begin to lose and it is very hard to catch up. AVON* IN IR f let Ite"'t MUL'Ill le has saved the town money because they have been able to get more volunteers which has created the strongest EMS in the Valley today. This directly correlates to the equipment, the facility and the training provided to the members. He further commented that he does not want to see a tax increase, but feels that we have an obligation to make sure the town is safe and we provide the necessary capital improvements to maintain our town. Council Member Weeks commented that this increase is a hard decision. She feels that we are going to have to continue to convince people that Vinton is the place to be to help bring in more revenue and we need to continue to 12 The Mayor commented that this Council and staff have done a wonderful job over the years with the taxpayers' money, particularly during the recent recession. He feels that the employees need a raise, The other area that has suffered is investment in the town primarily infrastructure and we cannot allow that to go too much further. His motto of growing out of this rather than saving out of this does not mean necessarily growing the tax rate, but growing the tax base by attracting more businesses in town that will generate tax revenue. For that reason, continued investment in this town is so very important. Over the years, this Council has made public safety a hallmark and that should continue. The addition of two full-time firefighters which will bring us to 24-hour fire 0 0 we are not pricing ourselves out of the market. Council Member Nance commented that he believes businesses that are considering becoming a part of a community are looking at the infrastructure, the services that are provided to their employees, public safety and recreational opportunities. They are not looking just for low taxes. Mr. Nance next commented that his initial thought about a meals tax is that when we increased the cigarette tax which affected a particular vocation, we saw how it worked against some of our merchants and how we saw merchants open businesses at the periphery of our town to avoid that tax. Something similar to that could happen with an increase in the meals tax to any potential businesses. He does not want the government to take a bigger piece of the pie, but to encourage the pie to grow. Regarding the meals tax rates, the Town Manager commented that Roanoke City has a proposed increase in their meals tax, real estate tax and a host of other items. All counties are held to a 4% meals tax by state legislation. The City of Roanoke and City of Salem are at 5%. I raTUIVI I ri I Lb rcfre� a motion to adopt the Ordinance as presented; the motion was seconded by Vice Mayor Hare and carried by the followinq roll call vote, with all members voting: Vote 3-2; Adams, Hare, Grose; Nays (2) — Nance, Weeks, The next item on the agenda was to consider adoption of an Ordinance setting the personal property tax rate for calendar 2015, The Mayor commented that there is no change from our current rate for this tax. Council Member Nance made a motion to adopt the Ordinance as presented; the motion was seconded by Council Member Weeks and carried by the following roll call vote, with all members voting: Vote 5-0; Yeas (5) — Adams, Nance, Weeks, Hare, Grose; Nays (0) - None. The next item on the agenda was to consider adoption of a Resolution setting the allocation percentage for Personal Property Tax Relief in the Town of Vinton for the 2015 tax year, Mr. Thompson commented that the rate for this year is 60.86%. Vice Mayor Hare made a motion to adopt the Resolution as presented; the motion was seconded by Council Member Nance and carried by the following roll call vote, with all members voting: Vote 5-0;Adams, Nance, Weeks, Hare, Grose; Nays (0) Adopted Ordinance No. 958 setting the real estate tax rate for calendar year 2015 Adopted Ordinance No, 9ES setting the personal property A, rate for calendar 2015 1 Adopted Resolution No. 21 setting the allocation percentaI for Personal Property Tax Relief the Town of Vinton for the 201 tax year 0 The Mayor expressed thanks to staff for hard work on budget and for all they do all year long. He also expressed thanks to Council for a respectful conversation and discussion tonight and the courage to do what is needed for the good of this community. Comments from Council: Council Member Nance commented that his vote of "no" on the tax increase was not necessarily against the idea of raising revenue and he 2ppreciated the strong stance courage of those who voted Vice Mayor Hare commented that this will be an interesting budget process and he looks forward to sitting 4#tr &* i-IrAA_Ith more depth, Council will need to remember with regard to the pool budget that it has a full-time salary in it which will need to be considered. He next commented on the lack of citizen involvement in the budget process up to this point. As we continue to go through the budget process and look at other cuts in services, he would like to see more involvement. The Mayor commented that he q,greed that citizen involvement is essential in this budget — process. Vice Mayor Hare made a motion to adjourn the meeting; the motion was seconded by Council Member Adams and carried by the following vote, with all members voting: Vote 5-0; Yeas (5) — Adams, Nance, Weeks, Hare, Grose; Nays (0) — None, The meeting was Meeting adjourned adjourned at 8:25 p.m. I UNSIOW-71"D xie* oc� Bradley E. Grose, Mayor = JA\I r,4t 1 Susan N. Johnsoown Clerk KI