05-Council Minutes from the meetings of August 16, 17, and 23, 2010

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55,083 gallons of diesel. Fuel expenditures were based on department trends and a per gallon rate about four percent higher than current prices. 3. Electrical. Retail electric prices in Texas are benchmarked to the price of natural gas, regardless of the actual fuel source used for generation (most electricity in Texas is generated by coal-fired plants). The City of Paris participates with approximately 120 other municipalities in the Cities Aggregation Power Project (CAPP). CAPP aggregates the anticipated annual demand of its membership to leverage volume pricing for electrical service. Since joining CAPP in 2002, Paris has benefitted from lower electrical prices that it could otherwise contract for. In January 2009 the City entered into a five-year agreement with CAPP that will have an average price over the term of the agreement of $0.07664 per kWh, compared to the $0.1105 cents per kWh the City paid in 2008. The rate for FY 2010-2011 is $0.07705. 4. Personnel. The City has a very lean operation for a service organization, where 70-75 percent of expenses would not be unusual for personnel. In the General Fund personnel costs account for just 66.4 percent of expenditures and 24.3 percent in the water and sewer fund (these percentages do not factor in most of the capital requests, which would drive the percentages even lower). The proposed budget does not include elimination of any of the existing 248 full-time positions. 5. Diversity. The proposed budget includes another $11,500, in addition to several thousand dollars worth of in-kind support (mainly labor), for the City to participate in community-wide diversity efforts by the Racial Diversity Task Force. A Communications and Diversity Manager position has also been added in the City Manager's office and is proposed as a partnership with the Paris Economic Development Corporation (PEDC). The position would be hired in the second quarter and the salary and benefits split between the City and PEDC. The position would be responsible for communicating City and PEDC activities with the media and public, keeping content current on City and PEDC websites, as well as serve as the lead on diversity issues, internally and with the community. Water and Sewer Fund Revenues 1. Water and Sewer Charges - The annual water and wastewater cost of service study recommended making no changes to water and sewer rates; however, revenue from both are expected to be different from FY 2009-2010. Specifically, sewer fees have been decreased by 3.7 percent ($193,240) due to the loss of production lines at Sara Lee and the closure of Sesame Solutions. Water sales were raised 1.8 percent ($141,706) based on trending. Industrial sewer revenue (surcharges for exceeding certain environmental parameters that are more expensive to treat) has been reduced 97 percent ($155,000) because of the loss of production lines at Sara Lee that are responsible for over 40 percent of the biochemical oxygen demand (even though it is only three percent of the volume of the wastewater flow). 7