02 Council Minutes (08/20/01)MINUTES OF THE SPECIAL MEETING OF THE CITY COUNCIL
August 20, 2001
The City Council of the City of Paris met in special session Monday, August
20, 2001, 6:00 P. M., Paris Junior College, Applied Technology Building,
Room 1016, 2400 Clarksville Street, Paris, Texas. Mayor Michael J. Pfiester
called the meeting to order with the following Council Members present: John
F. Bell, Joe E. McCarthy, Richard Manning, Kevin Gray, John A. Carter, Jr.
and Benny Plata. Also present were City Manager Michael E. Malone, City
Attorney Larry W. Schenk, and City Clerk Mattie Cunningham.
Invocation was given by Gene Anderson, Director of Finance for the City of
Paris.
Mayor Pfiester announced that the first item on the agenda was the
presentation by the City Manager of the proposed budget for fiscal year 2001-
2002 for the City of Paris.
City Manager Malone said he had prepared for the City Council's perusal and
consideration a budget program of services for the 2001-2002 fiscal year. City
Manager Malone said the most salient feature of the budget that is being
presented tonight is that it requires no tax increase and no utility rate increase.
He said there are many requests that department heads have made, and he was
sure there were requests that citizens have made for inclusion in the budget of
items that we have not been able to place in the budget. City Manager Malone
stated that needed investment in the city's infrastructure and in the human
resources would be limited because revenues were not being increased to the
extent required in order to have a lean budget and no revenue increases due to
taxes or utility rates.
City Manager Malone pointed out in his draft letter that the city has a twenty
million dollar budget in the General Fund with a contingency of only
$150,000.00 budgeted. He said there has been a growth in taxable value of
new property of $25,678,740.00 for a yield of an additional $156,640.00 in
income at one hundred percent collection, at a tax rate of $0.61, which is the
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August 20, 2001
Page 2
current tax rate.
City Manager Malone advised that the budget was prepared with most of the
requests, but not all of the requests that the department heads made, other than
the human resource requests. The budget was almost two million dollars in the
red as compared to the revenue. He said he sent the requests back to the
department heads asking them to make additional cuts and resubmit their
budgets. Many of the items that our personnel think are necessary and
desirable to have excellent service for the citizens have been left out of this
document. He said that took place before he had any resources dedicated to
any cost of living increase for the employees. The City Manager advised that
having made those cuts and prepared a budget, he placed in the budget a 2.7%
cost of living increase based on the last twelve month's CPL City Manager
Malone said there were many capital items deleted, particularly from the larger
departments that had proposed capital expenditures that were significant. He
stated that in many of the smaller departments, it would be difficult to make
cuts, but each department yielded up some of their requests to prepare the
document presented.
City Manager Malone told the Council that, going into the workshop, this is a
proposed budget. It is proposed on the basis of no tax increase and no utility
rate increase. The Finance Director has informed him that the Water and
Sewer Fund is not generating the revenues that were projected in the last rate
study, so there is a need for a water and sewer rate increase, in order to operate
the system in the manner in which they would want to operate.
City Manager Malone said it is hoped that each department head will have the
opportunity to speak regarding the items that were removed from their
proposed budget. He felt that they will be able to prioritize those items that
they find most desirable. There were some positions eliminated through
attrition, particularly in the Police Department where there are four positions
that are currently vacant. There were a number of positions that were added in
the Police budget over the past years that were funded through grants. He said
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August 20, 2001
Page 3
those grants had run out and those positions should be eliminated in order to
conform to the revenues available.
City Manager Malone said he feels that as we continue to examine the budget
and revenues, alternatives, or other expenditure categories , that there may be
some improvements made through the workshop process. He said they may
find that there are some items that could be reduced allowing funds to be
placed over in another category. City Manager Malone said that if we want to
have a budget with no tax increase, it is certainly possible, but not necessarily
desirable. And with that, he presented his budget to the City Council with the
anticipation that it can be built upon and some improvements can be made.
City Manager Malone advised that there is an item on the agenda for the City
Council to receive input from interested citizens of Paris proposing services or
proj ects to be included in the 2001-2002 City of Paris Budget. He also advised
that there will be a formal opportunity for public input after advertisement of
a public hearing. City Manager Malone said there will be a formal public
hearing on the proposed budget, and should there be any increases or changes
in the budget, there will be public hearings required on those.
City Manager Malone informed the City Council that last year the City received
revenue of $10,000.00 from the Visitor and Convention Council to fund the
Municipal Band, which it actually funds from the Hotel-Motel Tax that the city
provides to them through a contract. City Attorney Schenk advised that the
contract with the V&CC had been revised so that there will be $10,670.00
made available for the purposes of support for the Municipal Band to come out
of the Visitor and Convention Council funds on the basis that those funds can
be utilized for artistic endeavors, which would include music and musical
presentations.
Dr. Carter wanted to know what the additional revenue would be if taxes were
raised to the rollback rate. Gene Anderson, Director of Finance, advised it
would be approximately $450,000.00, which would be an 8% increase over last
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August 20, 2001
Page 4
year's revenues. He advised that any amount over 3% of last year's revenues
would require the city to have additional public hearings.
City Manager Malone advised that it would be best to hear from all of the
department heads. The City Council can make decisions of what to cut and
what might be needed to be added back into the budget as a lot of things have
been left out.
After discussion, it was the request of the City Council that a list be prepared
of the items that had been cut out of the budget by the department heads for the
City Council to review.
Mr. Anderson came forward telling the Council that the water and sewer
contractual rates are under-performing. He cited as an example the revenue
from Campbell Soup because their water consumption is down. Mr.
Anderson pointed out that when Councilmen exam the budget they will notice
that the city does not have a carry forward balance in the Water and Sewer
Fund. He said that the city should at any given time have roughly 1 million to
1.2 million dollars of carry forward balance, given the contractual obligations
that the city has under the bond covenant. Mr. Anderson advised that this did
not happen overnight, and stated that the city has not had a rate increase in one
and one-half years. The last rate increase should have fixed the problem, but
the rate has just under-performed for various reasons. Mr. Anderson felt that
a rate study was needed
After discussion, the Council asked Mr. Anderson to get the figures together
to show what it would take to bring the Water and Sewer Fund back into
compliance.
Dr James Brunette, representing the Paris Band Commission, came forward
giving a brief history of the Paris Band. He stressed the need for this unique
band for the enj oyment of the citizens of Paris. Dr. Brunette explained that the
Paris Band uses the facilities of Paris High School and borrows their music and
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August 20, 2001
Page 5
their instruments from Paris High School. This is why they have not come to
the City Council requesting a great expenditure of money. They felt that it
would be impossible for the City to provide instruments and all the things they
would need if they did not have the aid of band directors in the area. Dr.
Brunette said it was his understanding that there is $10,670.00 budgeted in the
Current Fund for the municipal band and that he understood that there could
be a$10,000.00 allocation from the Visitor's and Convention Council. Dr.
Brunette said that the municipal band expenditures for this year were
$19,240.00. This figure is high because they could not ask the long-time band
director to resign after working with the band for fifty years. Dr. Brunette said
that the Band Commission had hired an Assistant Director to help because the
Director was not available as much as needed, but next year they will only have
one Director. He presented the City Council with an estimated budget of
$19,952.00 . He pointed out that there are two items in the budget that could
be considered a contingency fund. One item is for instrument repair and the
other is for promotions. Dr. Brunette advised the City Council that if the
band had to cut those items in their budget, there would still be $16,452.00 in
expenditures. Dr. Brunette asked that the City Council consider what they have
proposed.
City Manager Malone advised the City Council that there is only $10,670.00
in the budget for the Paris Band, which is funded through the Visitor and
Convention Council. He clarified for those present that the proposed budget
for the band was based only on the contribution from the Paris Visitor's and
Convention Council.
No action was taken on Agenda Item No. 4, consider and discuss proposed
2001-2002 Budget and accompanying tax rate for the City of Paris; Agenda
Item No. 5, consider, discuss, and take possible action on amendments to the
2001-2002 Budget; Agenda Item No. 6, consider and action deleting or adding
additional City Council Work Sessions regarding the Budget and Tax Rate; or
on Agenda Item No. 7, consider a record vote on proposal to consider tax
increase for calendar year 2001 for the City of Paris.
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Page 6
Resolution No. 2001-131, resolving that a public hearing be, and the same is
hereby, called for the 6th day of September, 2001, at 6:00 p.m. in the Paris
Junior College Applied Technology Building, Room 1016, 2400 Clarksville
Street, Paris, Texas, for the purpose of hearing written and oral comments from
the citizens ofParis concerning the City Manager's proposed annual budget for
fiscal year 2001-2002, was presented. A motion was made by Mayor Pro Tem
Manning, seconded by Councilman McCarthy, for approval of the resolution.
The motion carried 7 ayes, 0 nays.
No action was required on a resolution setting the time and date for a public
hearing on the proposed amendments to the City of Paris proposed budget for
fiscal year 2001-2002.
No action was required on a resolution setting a public hearing on the proposed
tax increase required to fund and balance the proposed budget for fiscal year
2001-2002.
Resolution No. 2001-132, approving and authorizing the execution of an
Advance Funding Agreement for Standard Transportation Improvement
Projects (On-System) with TxDOT, CSJ#0045-09-079, ProjectNumber MC45-
9-79, for black powder coating of signal poles and luminaries and supplying
black signal heads at the four intersections of BU 82 H and BU 271 B on the
Paris square as part of the Downtown StreetScape Project, "Statewide
Transportation Enhancement Program" Grant No. CSJ-0901-29-017, was
presented. A motion was made by Councilman McCarthy, seconded by
Councilman Carter, for approval of the resolution. The motion carried 7 ayes,
0 nays.
Resolution No. 2001-133, accepting the Regional Controlled Substance
Apprehension Program Grant No. DB-01-A-10-13854-03, for the period
beginning June 1, 2001, and ending May 31, 2002, in the total amount of
$388,471.00, requiring a matching contribution of $129,490.00 in the form of
cash, was presented. The motion carried 7 ayes, 0 nays.
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August 20, 2001
Page 7
City Manager Malone submitted, for City Council approval, his appointment
of Shawn Napier as City Engineer for the City of Paris. He stated that Mr.
Napier is a registered professional engineer in Texas and has been working in
the local district office of the Texas Department of Transportation. Mr. Malone
stated that Mr. Napier's education, background, and experience qualified him
for the position and that Mr. Napier is a Paris resident.
Mr. Napier came forward expressing his appreciation for the opportunity to
serve the City of Paris.
A motion was made by Councilman Bell, seconded by Mayor Pro Tem
Manning, approving the appointment of Shawn Napier as City Engineer. The
motion carried 7 ayes, 0 nays.
There being no further business, a motion was made by Councilman McCarthy,
seconded by Mayor Pro Tem Manning, to adjourn the meeting. The motion
carried 7 ayes, 0 nays.
MICHAEL J. PFIESTER, MAYOR
ATTEST:
MATTIE CUNNINGHAM, CITY CLERK