CC06-20-2019Min_WSLONGWOOD CITY COMMISSION
Longwood City Commission Chambers
175 West Warren Avenue
Longwood, Florida
WORK SESSION
MINUTES
June 20, 2019
3:00 P.M.
Present: Mayor Matt Morgan
Deputy Mayor Brian D. Sackett
Commissioner Abby Shoemaker
Commissioner Richard Drummond
Commissioner Ben Paris
J. D. Cox, City Manager
Michelle Longo, City Clerk
David P. Dowda, Police Chief
Mike Peters, Fire Chief
Chris Kintner, Community Development Director
Chris Capizzi, Leisure Services Director
Lisa Snead, Financial Services Director
Craig Dunn, Information Technology Director
Shad Smith, Public Works Director
Magdala Ridore, Human Resources Generalist
Trisha Fuston, Payroll/HR Coordinator
Judith Rosado, Accounting Manager
1. CALL TO ORDER. Mayor Morgan called the meeting to order at 3:08 p.m.
2. REVIEW AND DISCUSS PROPOSED BUDGET FOR FISCAL YEAR 2019-2020.
Deputy Mayor Sackett moved to suspend the rules and carried by
a unanimous voice vote.
Mr. Cox started the meeting by acknowledging all the hard work staff has
put into this first draft of the budget. He said our objective is to submit a
balanced budget with no ad valorem or millage increase, to fund a pay
plan for a second year, and to achieve a 17% reserve level for this
upcoming year. In the General Fund, we typically budget conservatively
and estimate costs a little on the high side, but we typically come in
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better than projected. This was true in fiscal year 2017/2018 where the
budget for reserves was set at 16% and we came in at 18%. In 2018/2019
the budget reserves were set at 16% and we are projecting they might
come in at around 21%. Our long-term goal is to sustain a 20% reserve
level. We have spent a lot of time working on the other funds and will
continue doing further analysis in the upcoming weeks as we head
toward the submittal of the final budget. This is also a full tax year that
our budget will be impacted by the Senior Homestead Exemption Tax.
Also, there remain long-term concerns with the Utilities Operation Fund.
The continued septic system infrastructure projects, as well as the water
plant replacement, need to remain in place. This year we have a budget
of $39 million dollars, and 39% of that budget is seven digits and above.
He said 86% are six digits and 99% of the budget comes from five digits
and above. A few factors that have affected our budget for this year
include health insurance. He said tomorrow we will be receiving the
actual health insurance rates for the upcoming year. We have budgeted
16% for now. He said the timing of developments when they come
online and hit our books, tend to be of impact since we typically do not
have control over these things. It may not be a full year, but a partial
year. We have no control over the timing of grants, loans, and FEMA
reimbursements, but it does impact our budget. The budget for Debt
Service for Capital Equipment and the distributions to the various funds
are not currently included directly, but remains under review.
Mr. Cox said Tab 1 represents the Budget Message. This will be added
later as we come out with the final document.
Mr. Cox said Tab 2 represents our Budget Calendar. Today is our first
Work Shop. During the July 15th meeting, we will be setting the tentative
millage, which we are recommending to remain at 5.5%, so there are no
new taxes in the General Fund for property taxes. On July 22nd would be
the second, optional Work Shop. The first reading and public hearing
would be September 4th and second reading and public hearing/adoption
would be September 16th
Deputy Mayor Sackett requested for an earlier budget Work Shop in
order to have time to review the contents. He stated he received the
information Monday and does not want to approve a budget that they
have only looked at one time. He suggested holding a Work Shop earlier.
Mr. Cox skipped Tab 3 and moved to Tab 4 which represents the truth in
millage summary report. This is the chart we are required by Florida
Statutes to submit annually and is published in the newspaper between
the first and second public hearings for the budget. It is a high-level
summary of the types of revenues and expenditures spread over the
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various fund types. One millage equals approximately $1.1 million, so
our 5.5 millage translates into $6.2 million.
Mr. Cox skipped to Tab 10 that represents our Organizational Chart.
Mr. Cox said Tab 11 on the first page shows the requests this year to add
a total of five employees. He moved to page 60 which shows the Utility
Department adding a part-time field services technician to assist with the
increasing volume of customers. He described what this position was
going to entail.
Commissioner Paris asked questions about this department and the
staffing levels. He mentioned the various changes with meter reading
being outsourced, the addition of new staff, and it being a growing
department.
Discussion ensued and Ms. Snead noted it is not the fastest -growing
department and she could provide a historical perspective of position
growth and it would show this is not true.
Mr. Cox moved on to Law Enforcement on page 61 showing a request for
a new School Resource Officer (SRO) position that will provide the Police
Department with additional flexibility to be able to move an SRO from
one school to another. The position is going to be fully funded by
Seminole Public Schools. He stated Chief Dowda plans to hire from the
outside and have a starting salary that will be lower. Seminole Public
Schools will be compensating $85,023 for the position and we will be able
to promote from within and this creates an additional Sergeant position
needed in the Police Department.
Mr. Cox said on the same page, you will see the City Engineer which was
moved from Community Development to Public Works. He said page 62
shows the addition of staff at the Splash Pad. It is recommended a part-
time attendant help cover the staffing of the Splash Pad because the
hours are 10:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. daily and requires an employee to be
present at all times. The Leisure Services Director will be able to focus
more on his duties. The total cost of that position is $21,449.
Mr. Cox said we are recommending the Utility Project Manager position
be created. This manager will assist the Public Works Director with
engineering related projects, management of contracts,
preparation/procurement of reimbursement packages, compliance,
grants, and State Revolving Fund (SRF) loan funding programs. Another
important component in this position will be to provide the knowledge
and training of historical and current data related to City infrastructure,
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utility, and procedures. The total cost for this is approximately $50,000
plus benefits. The Maintenance Specialist II position will be funded 50%
by the General Fund and 50% by the 406 Fund. The City's increasing
developments have resulted in increased maintenance throughout the
City. There is a great need for an additional skilled Public Works
Maintenance Specialist with an emphasis on Stormwater knowledge. This
growing workload increases demands on both streets and stormwater so
the position will provide necessary activities related to compliance with
the City's National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES)
permit in order to avoid possible penalties from the state. This allows the
City to shift the staff for a dedicated stormwater team and a dedicated
streets team. The total cost of this is projected to be approximately
$30,000 with benefits. That completes our five positions.
Commissioner Paris asked if the five positions are going to get filled this
year.
Mr. Cox said in the upcoming year.
Commissioner Paris then asked if all the positions we budgeted for last
year were filled.
Mr. Cox replied they did.
Mr. Cox said the next Tab represents the Classification and Pay Plan. It
was approved last year, and we are continuing to fund this.
Mr. Cox said Tab 13 is for a convenient look at all our City transfers.
These are also shown in other tabs for Revenues and Expenditures. This
year is down slightly from last year. Part of that is due to the relocation
of Utility Billing from the General Fund to the 401 Fund, so the Inter -fund
transfer was no longer needed for that operation.
Mr. Cox said Tab 14 represented the Contingency Reserves. These are
also included in the Expenditure line items. You will notice we have an
increase that is in the City Manager line item. This is for us to provide
some flexibility this year for unplanned expenditures that do come up
every year. We are trying to minimize the number of budget
amendments that we have as well.
Commissioner Drummond asked what the $27,000 would be used for.
Mr. Cox gave an example.
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Commissioner Drummond asked if this money is to be used at Mr. Cox's
discretion or if someone gets to the end of their budget and the money is
not there.
Mr. Cox said both. It would be used if there was something unexpected
to happen. The General Fund is the "Catch-all" fund for everything else
that might occur, and we felt that having a little extra in contingencies
would be good for us. Having it in the City Manager line item would
allow the City Manager the flexibility to be able to indicate which
department it would go to rather than having to specify contingencies for
an individual department.
Discussion ensued about the money in City Manager line item and
allocation of funds. Ms. Snead explained how they came up with $27,000.
She stated earlier this year we did a budget amendment and funds were
allocated to the City Manager and this amount is currently in his budget
and we carried over the same amount.
Mr. Cox said Tab 15 represents our Taxable Value History showing a
positive trend. We have almost recovered now to the previous heights
set in 2007.
Mr. Cox showed charts on Tab 16. The first chart is from the Property
Appraiser and shows the taxable value and percent change over the past
18 years through 2018. It shows healthy growth. The following page is
the preliminary, estimated taxable value, and it is at 8% over the current
year. Last year we grew and this year we are growing on top of that.
Mr. Cox said Tab 17 represents our Sales Tax history. We have one and
one-half cents of sales coming from two sources. The half -penny sales
tax brings about $1.2 million to our General Fund, and the one percent
sales tax, which sunsets in 2025, brings approximately $1 million to our
infrastructure projects. The schools receive about 25%, the county
receives 24%, and the cities divide up the rest in Seminole County.
Mr. Cox said Tab 18 represents a summary of our Economic Development
Projects and what is anticipated in the taxes that would be derived from
those developments.
Mr. Cox said Tab 19 shows our Business Tax Receipt chart showing a
downward trend that is inconsistent with all the developing and business
activities going on. We moved that resource to Community Development
to focus on Business Tax Receipts and are working on revising them.
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Mr. Cox said Tab 21 represents the budgets for Special Assessments. This
year we are going to recommend we split apart and create new funds for
the Certified Emergency Response Team (CERT), Parks & Recreation and
the Citizens on Patrol (COPS) organization. Often there is frustration that
they cannot carry cash over from year to year because it goes into the
General Fund and projects come out of fundraising. However, if they are
split out into their own funds, we can carry cash over, and they can
submit budgets. They are currently working on this process.
Commissioner Paris asked if there was going to be some sort of staff
oversight on the money and cash coming in. There have been situations
where cash boxes were left out and he did not want to see cash
disappearing or just being spent on whatever. He would like to ensure
we are being responsible like the taxpayers expect.
Mr. Cox said they intend to make sure all the accounting is in place. He
said the CERT group will be under Chief Peters, Parks & Recreation will be
under Chris Capizzi, and COPS will be under Chief Dowda. They will be
budgeted like anything else, except the volunteers will submit the
recommended budget to their Director and wait for them to review it. It
will then make its way into our budgetary process for next year.
Commissioner Shoemaker mentioned making check donations directly
out to CERT, COPs, or Parks & Recreation Advisory Board, rather than to
the City of Longwood, would benefit the programs.
Discussion ensued about this topic and it was noted banks may not
accept checks made out to the group unless they were set up as a 501C.
Further discussion took place regarding working under the name "City of
Longwood" and/or becoming a separate entity.
Ms. Snead took over the discussion. She said Tab 6 represents the
detailed revenue prediction. This gives you a year over year comparison
of the revenues. We do expect further in the process that they come in
higher. Timing of grant money, loans, and FEMA reimbursements can
fluctuate, so we always try to err on the side of conservative. The good
news is our ad valorem tax revenues are up 8%, our building tax revenues
are up 9%, and Chris Kintner shared new information yesterday that we
will be bringing back to the Commission. We also note that our transfer
revenues are shown in Tab 13. General Fund revenue increases in every
single category. The School Resource Officer has a specific line, and that
number is going to go up a little bit from what we have projected at this
point. On page 33 the Public Utilities Fund has numerous sources of
revenue that are coming in from SRF loans and grants.
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Commissioner Drummond asked about Cash Carried Forward in Public
Utilities, which shows a negative $22,500,000.
Ms. Snead said Fund Accounting for the Enterprise Fund is different than
the other funds. It deals with all these loans we are getting for the SRF,
but you do not get your money until after you build your project for
reimbursement, so it is almost like a grant.
Commissioner Drummond asked about the Sewage Impact Fees going
from $335,000 to $1,335,000.
Mr. Shad Smith said part of that is the anticipated development that is
coming in. We have been charging impact fees, and we still charge
impact fees. We have some ability to leverage some new developments
with some extra credits we are going to get, but that is not totally in place
until our new transmission main is in place. We have been charging the
sewer and water impact fees. A lot of that gets passed on because we
have to pay Seminole County before they are on. He said we get charged
and pass it along to them.
Discussion ensued on sewer and water impact fees and how Richard
Kornbluh is still working on a contractual basis.
Ms. Snead moved on to Tab 7 which represents the Capital Loan
Improvement. The 320 Fund is our Capital Projects Fund, and the way we
normally fund is to issue fund proceeds and then spread the debt services
to different departments. At this point, we do not have that funded. We
do not have the loan proceeds spread. That is something we are going to
be working on in the next month or so to come up with a means to fund
that and keep our reserve levels. If you look at Item 13 you can see we
do not have Fire Station #15, which was plugged into last year's budget.
That is not showing up on this year's budget because it just rolled off. We
did not have a funding source for it. We will be funding the City
Commission Chambers upgrades for sound and projection equipment.
There are other capital needs the Directors have identified that we are
also going to be working through.
Deputy Mayor Sackett asked about the City Hall relocation number at $16
million and if this is something that will happen down the road.
Ms. Snead said that is far down the road.
Deputy Mayor Sackett said he would rather see Fire Station #15 taken
care of.
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Commissioner Paris said it flooded inside the Bay. That has been an issue
for a long time, and he would like to see that rectified.
Ms. Snead said she would make a note of that.
Mr. Cox said there is a Department Director meeting scheduled for next
week to review what we have received and what perhaps could be the
best next steps, which could be a drainage study to ensure it is working
correctly.
Commissioner Paris asked if the staff had gone around to identify
locations for the fire station.
Mr. Shad Smith said we have identified a site location for Fire Station #15
on Powell Street and a site plan has been put together.
Ms. Snead said Tab 3 shows a chart representing the General Fund and
the Utility Fund. She stated the Government Finance Officers Association
recommends that we maintain reserve levels at a minimum of 15%. The
reason you want to maintain reserve is that ad -valorem tax proceeds will
not start flowing in until the end of November. This gives you a couple of
months in your fiscal year that you do not have your tax revenues flowing
in, so you need a cushion for cash flow purposes. In addition, in Florida,
because of hurricanes you want to have money set aside so you can
weather those types of storms. That is why 15% is the minimum they
recommend and it generally funds two months of your operating budget.
For us, 15% could not fund two months of our operating budget. Our
figure is a little bit higher than that and that is where we come to the 17%
reserve recommendation in the General Fund.
Commissioner Paris asked how much money FEMA owes us.
Ms. Snead said we received $15,000 from FEMA today and are waiting for
a few more reimbursements from Hurricane Irma.
Mr. Cox said he will come back to Tab 9 which mentions the amount for
FEMA.
Ms. Snead said our Cash Reserves are exceeding 15% above our
recommended level. Special Assessments Fund is where the City takes on
capital items for the neighborhoods and development type things, and
that draws on the available cash we have for the General Fund. That
difference is getting narrower as special assessments fund are paid off.
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Ms. Snead moved to the next chart that represents the Utility Fund Chart.
We worked with the auditors on clarifying how we should do the
calculations for this chart. The negative of this fund is essentially due to a
large balance in the capital net of the related debt. The Utility Fund has
relatively low debt. Most of the prior asset additions were funded by
grants and a large portion of the net position is the capital asset amount.
Over time, these assets are depreciated, and this would decrease our
unrestricted reserve. The restricted part is what we cannot spend, as we
depreciate our assets more of that money becomes available. Major
factors that are influencing the Enterprise Fund in terms of cash balance
are accounting -type things we have to do. Each year you take a portion
of your assets and depreciate them. This becomes a negative
expenditure, which is a good thing. Unfortunately, we cannot do
negative expenditures when we are doing budget productions. This way
you have a good readout of what the true cash position is separate from
all of these assets. It is underscoring the sufficiency of the revenues long-
term for this fund. The whole of the system is supporting the conversion
projects which is a good thing for the City and the environment because
we are shifting away from septic tanks.
Ms. Snead said Tab 8 represents the Expenditure Detail Listing. She
mentioned something not in the book but as an additional note when
you look at the top expenditures for the City from highest to low, the top
expenditure the City spent money on was Police salaries and wages at
$2.9 million a year; Fire & Rescue Salary Wages at $2.5 million a year; The
Altamonte Force Main Project at $2.1 million; The East Longwood Septic
Tank Abatement Project at $2 million; The Bike/Pedestrian Project is $1.7
million; The Longdale Septic Tank Abatement is $1.5 million; The Solid
Waste Billing at $1.1 million. She said this covered $13.8 million of our
$38 million budget, which is 36% of our budget. Ninety-nine percent of
our budget is in the ten thousand range, and 86% are in the hundred
thousand range.
Ms. Snead moved to Tab 5 which gives a broader view and the health of
each fund. She showed the Fund Balance Ending chart that is projecting
what each fund will have remaining at the end of this fiscal year. The first
number is approximately $3.2 million from the 17% reserve we
mentioned earlier. In the building fund, we are anticipating a $709,000
ending fund balance. In the Police Education Fund, we estimate to have a
zero fund balance. She said the Police Confiscation Fund, would have an
ending balance of $58,000. The Special Assessment Fund will, for the first
time, have an ending fund balance in the positive of $9,668. The Public
Facility Improvement Fund is estimated to have a little more than half a
million dollars. The Capital Projects Fund will have $40,000. The Public
Utility Improvement Fund is at a negative $2.5 million balance. The
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important thing to know is that this is composed of three funds, 401, 402,
and 403. The bottom line is not negative. Stormwater Fund is projecting
zero dollars. If the budget were to be adopted as presented today we
would have a total of $6.7 million left.
Ms. Snead moved to page 9 which shows we are slowly increasing our
Reserve to our goal level of 20%. We were at 16% last year, and this year
we are moving up to 17%.
Ms. Snead moved to page 7 which lists our total revenues for the General
Fund represent $22 million. If you take out Fund Balance Beginning that
means our total revenues are $18.4 million, so that is the new revenues
we project will bring in monies we already anticipate to have in the bank.
The sources of those revenues by broad category are Taxes, License &
Permits, Grants, and Charges for Service, Fines, Miscellaneous, and Other
Major Sources. One of the other major sources is Inter -Fund Transfer
Revenues, which is transferring money from one fund to another fund,
and it is generally done to cover the cost of Administrative Overhead.
Deputy Mayor Sackett asked about the number of the FEMA
reimbursement.
Ms. Snead said the FEMA reimbursement number of $945,215 is for Irma
reimbursements and we will be receiving them next year.
Discussion ensued about FEMA.
Ms. Snead said pages 8 and 9 give a list of expenditures with the total on
page 9 showing $18.8 million. This comes from the Police Department
being the top expenditure at $5.2 million; Fire at $5 million; and Leisure
Services at $2.1 million. On page 8, the expenditures for Leisure Services
have gone up quite significantly since 2018 they had a $1.1 million
budget and now have a $2.1 million budget. There are several reasons
for that. One is we are funding $327,000 of debt service for Reiter Park
out of that budget now. We also have $100,000 slotted in this budget for
the Florida Department of Environmental Protection (FRDAP) Grants for
Candyland. Even though that is an increased expenditure, there will be an
increased offsetting revenue so it is kind of a wash, but it drives up your
expenditures. Also, these two have landscape maintenance costs that
Leisure Services did. We used to have it all budgeted under Public Works
and those departments got together this past year and divided it out.
Money that used to be budgeted in Public Works moved to Leisure and
increased its budget. The Public Works budget is $1.2 million. That
number is significantly decreased from 2018 which is from reallocation of
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expenditures, but also back in 2018 Hurricane Irma and debris removal
drove up expenditures.
Ms. Snead moved to page 10 which is the Building Fund balance of
$709,000. This fund is also modeled conservatively. The position remains
strong in this fund which is indicative of the booming construction that
Longwood is currently experiencing.
Deputy Mayor Sackett asked about the increase from 2018 to 2019 in the
line labeled deducted expenditures.
Ms. Snead said that is the Inter -Fund Transfer Allocation to the General
Fund for Overhead Costs. We used to only transfer 5% of Overhead
Costs, and we raised that up to 18% because with development comes a
lot more administrative work.
Ms. Snead said page 19 shows the 310 Fund, the Public Facility
Improvement Fund that is supported by the local option penny sales tax
and also gas taxes. This is the true infrastructure fund for building
various projects in the City. This has a $3.6 million expenditure of which
$795,000 is Debt Service for a $5.9 million loan we took for roadway
improvements a few years ago. The $2.8 million is the remaining capital.
We are projecting the ending fund balance at $595,000. We will be
working with the project managers and staff over the summer to really
look at these projects and to make sure that we have our projections as
accurate as possible.
Ms. Snead said page 21 represents the Capital Projects Fund we talked
about when we mentioned the Fire Station. This is where we fund capital
equipment purchases and capital buildings that are not funded through
the penny sales tax. The way we normally fund this fund is we issue debt
and spread the cost of the loans across the departments. At this point,
we are just showing you what the requests are, but we have not spread
the cost of those loans to the other departments. We will be working on
that this summer.
Deputy Mayor Sackett went back to page 20 and said he did not see any
funding for Capital Improvement Projects (CIP) resurfacing of local
streets. We have 34 Home Owners Association (HOA)
groups/neighborhoods and the roads are 30 to 40 years old.
Mr. Shad Smith said a lot of the funding is all grants and paying that debt.
There is not any extra money in the budget to pave any streets. The only
thing I have in the budget is money to pave Warren Avenue right now
which is in really bad shape from Milwee Street to St. Laurent Street.
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Mr. Cox said we could talk about the funding for that part of the
infrastructure and funding of streets. It goes back to the point of sales
tax that we currently get and how important that is.
Discussion ensued on a lack of funding and infrastructure.
Ms. Snead said page 23 represents the Utility Fund the 401 Fund having a
negative projected ending fund balance. We are thankful we did plan
ahead and set up Fund 402 and 403 to set some money aside from last
year. Part of the negative is due to the large balance in the capital net of
the related debt. Most of the asset additions were funded by grants, and
over time these were depreciated and will decrease the unrestricted
funds. In 2017, since the City set up the Renewal and Replacement Fund,
an additional $800,000 was restricted. This was recorded as unrestricted
the previous year. Overall, the Fund 401 does need attention and long-
range planning because it has large infrastructure needs. The focus has
gone from operating the utility now to planning and investing in the
infrastructure future. We have to think about how we are going to
maintain a healthy infrastructure. Thankfully, this Commission and your
predecessors have committed to making investments in our
infrastructure. Utility revenues previously went to operations in the 401,
and now, there are going to be expenses taken care of in the 402 Renew
Replacement Fund. One of the biggest items on the long-range horizon is
our Water Plants needing to be replaced. We have plugged a very rough
preliminary estimate of $11.9 million. We will not be doing that in this
budget but in the very near future. That was also modeled into the rate
structure recommendations the other night. We have tried to leverage
the market as much as we can. We do have incredibly low -interest rates
right now through the SRF loans. So this is a great time to be building and
fixing infrastructure in terms of leveraging our capital dollars. Staff
strongly recommends that we implement the recommendations of the
Revenue Sufficiency Study as soon as possible. This will give us
confidence in our ability to fund additional projects, such as the Water
Plants, and septic tank conversions and the needed infrastructure. We
will bring this matter back to you for consideration. The proposed five-
year utility rate plan has an adopted price index rate. It continues to
utilize SRF loan funding for Longdale and East Longwood Septic Tank
Projects. All this is financial modeling which can always be perfected. We
will continue to look at it, monitor it, and plan accordingly.
Ms. Snead said page 26 represents the Renewal and Replacement Fund.
This fund has an ending fund balance of $2 million. This was established
to accumulate funds for future capital needs of the Utility Department.
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Commissioner Drummond asked about the 2020 proposed expenses on
page 26 being moved now and not being included in prior years.
Ms. Snead said they had set up this fund a couple of years ago and this is
the first time they were tapping into that fund.
Ms. Snead said page 27 represents the Utility Impact Fee Fund. We are
projecting a $2.6 million ending balance for this fund. We have not
identified projects yet that we would fund with that.
Ms. Snead wanted to point out funds that begin with 320 have not yet
been funded but will be.
Deputy Mayor Sackett asked about the Stormwater Service Fee on page
28. This was supposed to last for a few years and then sunset. Then it
was renewed at double the rate.
Discussion ensued on the Stormwater Service fee, whether it was
supposed to sunset, and what the residents and businesses pay.
Mr. Cox said the last section is 9, which is showing all of our debt. The
first page shows our debt listing. Last year's outstanding debt was $15.7
million. The current 2018/2019, we have added $4.7 million for the Phase
II South Longwood, Lake Ruth and Springfield projects, and County Road
427. We also added $3.5 million for the Altamonte Springs Force Main
Project. Under consideration at present is the $2.3 million East
Longwood Phase I and East Longdale. The new projected debt proposed
is $27.9 million, and our payments at this point have remained at $2.1
million. He said we continue to watch that.
Mr. Cox moved to the next page representing the Waste Water Program.
This spreadsheet shows all the septic tank projects, where they stand
currently, funding sources, grants, and loans associated with each of
those projects. This is a great reference tool and their projected
completion dates are on there.
Mr. Cox moved to page 48 representing the FEMA Reimbursement
Schedule. This identifies our FEMA filings we have done and it also shows
the amounts sent. We are currently projecting almost $1 million in total
reimbursements to be received. We have worked closely with FEMA who
have approved this. It has now gone to the State who is making a final
determination.
Commissioner Paris asked if identifying numbers are tracked by the State.
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3.
Ms. Snead said we can get that information for you.
Mr. Cox said we will bring back the 401 Fund for further review at an
upcoming meeting. The one percent sales tax is critical for our funding
sources for infrastructure projects. The good news is we have had very
positive economic growth over the last three years. It has shown in
valuation increases. We have also seen sales tax growth which is good
and helps that much more. We have all sorts of developments that are
announced and have quite a few others that are still working with our
economic development folks and appear to be moving along. We are
excited about prospects and opportunities in the near future. Our
Insurance Services Ofice (ISO) rating, which is the Insurance Rating
System for property value, remains at 2 which is very good. Moving the
Fire Station will result in response times to change, so that will be part of
your consideration in the future. We have estimated very conservatively
on our revenues. The final thing is as we look back on 2018/2019, we
concentrated on the foundation of our organization, our team, staff, and
family atmosphere. We implemented a Step Plan, contracts are in place,
the Performance Review Program is in place, and right around the corner
is the Employee Handbook. As we move forward into 2019/2020,
physical infrastructure is our concern. Your points about the streets are
duly noted and we will identify potential revenue sources to go into that
infrastructure as well.
Commissioner Paris excused himself at 4:55 p.m. and left the meeting.
Commissioner Drummond asked Mr. Cox what is the percentage of
employee raises for 2019/2020 and how we got that number. He also
asked if the Performance Evaluations are incorporated into the raises.
Mr. Cox responded with the employee raises being 4% coming from the
Step Plan and incorporated into the raises. If any of those evaluations
are below acceptable, then they will not qualify for the raise that year.
An employee would have to get satisfactory or above to qualify.
Discussion ensued about employee salary raises and the way the Step
Plan operates.
The meeting concluded with Mayor Morgan thanking the staff for their
hard work.
ADJOURN. Mayor Morgan adjourned the meeting at 5:00 p.m.
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