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HomeMy WebLinkAbout09-23-19 Personnel and Finance oS0UTH B�1 w a �', PEACE x x 1865 OFFICE OF THE CITY CLERK KAREEMAH FOWLER, CITY CLERK PERSONNEL & FINANCE SEPTEMBER 23, 2019 4:06 P.M. Committee Members Present: Karen White, John Voorde, Jo M. Broden Committee Members Absent: Regina Williams-Preston Other Council Present: Tim Scott, Sharon McBride Other Council Absent: Jake Teshka, Dr. Oliver Davis, Gavin Ferlic Others Present: Lisa Horton, Dawn Jones, Bob Palmer Presenters: Dan Parker, City Controller Agenda: Bill No. 31-19- September 2019 Transfer Ordinance Bill No. 32-19- September 2019 Appropriation Ordinance- Enterprise Funds Bill No. 33-19- September 2019 Appropriation Ordinance- Civil City Funds Bill No. 34-19- Ordinance Levying Taxes and Fixing the Rate of Property Taxation to Meet City's Expenses for the Fiscal Year end December 31, 2020 Bill No. 35-19- Ordinance Appropriating Monies for the Purpose of Defraying the Expenses of Departments and Funds of the Civil City of South Bend for the Fiscal Year Ending December 31, 2020 Bill No. 36-19- Ordinance Appropriating Monies for the Purpose of Defraying the Expenses of Designated Enterprise Funds of the City of South Bend for the Fiscal Year Ending December 31, 2020 Bill No. 37-19- Appropriating, Adopting, and Approving Monies for the South Bend Public Transportation Corporation(Transpo) for the Fiscal Year Ending December 31, 2020 INTEGRITY' SERVICE'ACCESSIBILITY JENNIFER M.COFFMAN BIANCA L.TIRADO JOSEPH R MOLNAR CHIEF DEPUTY/DIRECTOR OF OPERATIONS DEPUTY/DIRECTOR OF POLICY ORDINANCE VIOLATION CLERK EXCELLENCE I ACCOUNTABILITY I INNOVATION I INCLUSION I EMPOWERMENT 455 County-City Building 1227 W.Jefferson Blvd.I South Bend,Indiana 46601 I p 574.235.9221 I f 574.235.9173 I www.southbendin.gov CITY OF SOUTH BEND OFFICE OF THE CLERK Dan Parker,City Controller for the City of South Bend,with offices on the 12th floor of the County- City building stated, So, we're actually going to do this in groups, blocks of bills. The first (1st) block is for 2019, and then the second(211d)block is for 2020. So, before we get to 2020, focusing on 2019, this is our normal quarterly budget transfers and additional appropriation requests. So, Bill No. 31-19 is budget transfers. So, everything in this bill does not raise or lower the amount of the appropriation. It just transfers it from one cost category to another. Committee Chair Karen White made a motion to hear Bill No. 31-19, Bill No. 32-19 and Bill No. 33-19 together. The motion was seconded by Committeemember John Voorde and was carried with a voice vote of three(3) ayes. Bill No. 31-19- September 2019 Transfer Ordinance Bill No. 32-19- September 2019 Appropriation Ordinance- Enterprise Funds Bill No. 33-19- September 2019 Appropriation Ordinance- Civil City Funds Mr. Parker stated, So,Bill No. 31-19 is our transfer ordinance. It doesn't raise or lower the amount of appropriation overall. Bill No. 32-19 is an additional appropriation ordinance for our Enterprise Funds, and this is probably the easiest bill that I've ever presented to you because there's only one (1) additional appropriation request, and it's because we've had more interest earnings than we expected. So, we want to transfer that out into a different fund. Bill No. 33-19 is our additional appropriation and Trust for Civil City Funds. So, this is the same as we just talked about except on the Civil City side. That is separated out into our normal categories of supported by New Revenue, Capital Projects and Administrative Items. So, everything under the Supported by New Revenue category has revenue that was not contemplated in the budget to back it up. The Capital Projects, there's two (2) capital project requests on there and those are related to Howard Park. Those were in the original budget plan for Howard Park. They were just never formally appropriated. So, this is not an over run on the Howard Park plan. It is just formally appropriating the final amount of money for Howard Park. Then under the Administrative Items, the largest set of appropriations requests on there relate to Central Services.That is entirely due to an accounting change and the way that we are accounting for the expenses that Central Services has. It used to be that as Central Services was reimbursed from the departments,that they worked on vehicles for their expenses were reduced. Per some instruction from GASB, we are changing that. GASB (Government Accounting Standards Board) being the entity that oversees governmental accounting policies so that it will be recognized now as revenue in the Central Services Fund. So, we'll maintain the expenses in there as well. So, again, this is not an increase in overall expense, it's just a change in the way that we're accounting for it. I'm happy to answer any questions on any of those three(3)bills. Committee Chair Karen White opened the floor to any Committee or Councilmembers wishing to ask questions or to make comments. Seeing none, Committee Chair Karen White turned to the public for anyone wishing to speak either in favor of or in opposition of Bill No. 31-19. Seeing none, Committeemember Jo M. Broden made a motion to send Bill No. 31-19 to the full Council with a favorable recommendation. The motion was seconded by Committee Vice Chair, John Voorde, and carried with a voice vote of three (3) ayes. EXCELLENCE ACCOUNTABILITY INNOVATION INCLUSION EMPOWERMENT 455 County-City Building 227 W.Jefferson Bvld!South Bend,Indiana 46601 p 574.235.9221 f 574.235.9173 TTD574.235.5567 www.southbendin.gov 2 •CITY OF SOUTH BEND OFFICE OF THE CLERK Committee Chair Karen White turned to the public for anyone wishing to speak either in favor of or in opposition to Bill No. 32-19. Seeing none, Committee Vice Chair, John Voorde made a motion to send Bill No. 32-19 to the full Council with a favorable recommendation. The motion was seconded by Committeemember Jo M. Broden and carried with a voice vote of three(3) ayes. Committee Chair Karen White turned to the public for anyone wishing to speak either in favor of or in opposition to Bill No. 33-19. Seeing none, Committeemember Jo M. Broden made a motion to send Bill No. 33-19 to the full Council with a favorable recommendation. The motion was seconded by Committee Chair, John Voorde and carried with a voice vote of three(3) ayes. Bill No. 34-19- Ordinance Levying Taxes and Fixing the Rate of Property Taxation to Meet City's Expenses for the Fiscal Year end December 31, 2020 Dan Parker,City Controller for the City of South Bend,with offices on the 12`h floor of the County- City building stated, So, Bill No. 34-19 is our annual bill to levy property taxes for the 2020 year. The rates in that bill are based on estimates that we have from the DLGF. The final rates will be given to us in a December time frame. Which will be from the State. The DLGF will send us the final rates, so this is just an estimate at this point. This is consistent with the way we've passed it in the past years. Committee Vice Chair John Voorde stated, And these are high estimates. Mr. Parker replied, They are. So, very conservative estimates. So, the way that we calculate these estimates is we actually take eighty percent (80%) of last year's net accessed value as the denominator to calculate our tax rate with the anticipation being that there would never be a twenty percent (20%) decrease in accessed value in a single year. So, these estimates are extremely high compared to what will be the ultimate rates that we'll get from the DLGF. Committee Chair Karen White opened the floor to any Committee or Councilmembers wishing to ask questions or to make comments on Bill No. 34-19. Seeing none,Committee Chair Karen White turned to the public and asked if there was anyone wishing to speak either in favor of or in opposition to Bill No. 34-19. Seeing none, Committee Vice Chair John Voorde made a motion to send Bill No. 34-19 to the full Common Council with a favorable recommendation. The motion was seconded by Committeemember Jo M. Broden and was carried with a voice vote of three (3) ayes. Bill No. 35-19- Ordinance Appropriating Monies for the Purpose of Defraying the Expenses of Departments and Funds of the Civil City of South Bend for the Fiscal Year Ending December 31, 2020 Dan Parker,City Controller for the City of South Bend,with offices on the 12th floor of the County- City building stated, So, this is the first of two (2) budget bills that we will bring for the City appropriations for 2020. Bill No. 35-19 is the Civil City Funds, and then Bill No. 36-19 is the Enterprise Funds. I don't have handouts for you for the Committee meeting. What I propose that we do is wait. I have a presentation that I'll go through at the Council meeting this evening so that the public can hear that as well, but I'm happy to answer any questions that you may have in the meantime before we get to Council this evening. EXCELLENCE I ACCOUNTABILITY I INNOVATION I INCLUSION EMPOWERMENT 455 County-City Building 227 W.Jefferson Bvld',South Bend,Indiana 46601 p 574.235.9221 f 574.235.9173 TTD574.235.5567 www.southbendin.gov 3 CITY OF SOUTH BEND I OFFICE OF THE CLERK Committee Chair Karen White stated, I'm going to go to the Committeemembers to see if we have any questions as we prepare to receive the full report during the 7:00 p.m. meeting. If I'm not mistaken, I want to make sure I have full understanding, that these two (2) bills will be discussed in the Council portion, and the public will have opportunity to ask questions, and then it will continue to the next meeting only in the Council portion? So, today is the public hearing portion? Councilmember Tim Scott replied, Correct. Mr. Parker stated, These two (2) bills are the culmination of the budget hearings. So, these are basically bringing all of the information that has been presented over last eight(8)budget hearings that we've had and the two (2) that are upcoming, are all brought together in these two (2) bills. Committee Chair Karen White stated, I guess for me, I would like to make sure as we prepare to move forward,those areas in which we've had a number of discussions, and especially those areas that we would like to see more investment into the neighborhoods, that this budget will reflect some of that. Also, I know a number of Councilmembers have asked that as we look at the appropriations, and as we're looking at the information that we'll have tonight,that we would like to see when we look at the 2019 budget, what was the approved amount? What is being proposed for 2020? Where are those dollars going to be spent by district? So, I don't know if that's going to be a part of the presentation. Mr. Parker replied, I hope answers to all three (3) of those questions will be in the presentation tonight. I'm glad you said that because those were the three (3) goals of the presentation this evening. To wrap up the budget hearings and really show the investment in a way that hopefully everyone can see exactly what's being invested in the neighborhoods. Where their going from a City-wide perspective in different areas of the City, and then how it compares to our investment in 2019. Committee Chair Karen White stated, I do remember when we had our neighborhood meeting on September 16th,2019,one slide was a slide that was previously part of the initial presentation when we started the budget kick off. So, you clarified that this percentage is not correct, but also, as we begin to look at the overall budget presentations, and where the dollars will be allocated,what that total percentage will look like for Central Services compared to 2019. Committee Vice Chair, John Voorde stated, So, what we will ultimately be voting on will likely be an amended version of these, and not uncommon for that to be so. We still have budget presentations, and even second (2nd) looks at some other budgets that have been presented. So, likely, whatever's in there will change. Mr. Parker stated, Yes, that's correct. So, the final budget hearing right now is scheduled for October 2, 2019, which is where we will present the original proposed budget that we brought before Council, and then any changes that we've made during the budget hearing process based on feedback from residents or from Councilmembers. Committeemember Jo M.Broden stated, I just wanted to make sure that I was clear on the calendar in terms of the balance of the meetings. Some of the actual departments coming back for return visits,and then the deadlines. So,I'm actually looking more for a revised calendar of who's coming when so I can be up to date on that. EXCELLENCE ACCOUNTABILITY INNOVATION INCLUSION EMPOWERMENT 455 County-City Building 227W.Jefferson Bvld South Bend,Indiana 46601 p 574.235.9221 f 574.235.9173 TTD574.235.5567 vvww.southbendin.gov 4 CITY OF SOUTH BEND OFFICE OF THE CLERK Mr. Parker replied, Yes. We can get this to you in writing, but just quickly, this Wednesday September 25th, will be the Mayor's Office budget as well as the Common Council budget and the Clerk's Office budget, as well as bring back Public Works for the finalization of that presentation, and Diversity and Inclusion for the finalization of that presentation. October 2, 2019 will be the finalization of the Department of Community Investment budget, as well as a discussion of the salary ordinance and a wrap up or summary of the budget process. Committeemember Jo M. Broden asked, In terms of the 911 PSAP decision are we going to actually have that lined out to us? I'm assuming we will, but we need to. Mr. Parker replied, So, right now that budget is reflective of a maintenance of the current funding mechanism. Committeemember Jo M. Broden asked, Have there been any additional conversations across the three different entities? Mr. Parker replied, No. Committee Vice Chair,John Voorde opened the floor to anyone from the public wishing to speak either in favor of or in opposition of Bill No. 35-19. Seeing none,Committeemember Jo M.Broden made a motion to send Bill No. 35-19 to the full Common Council with a favorable recommendation. The motion was seconded by Committee Vice Chair John Voorde and was carried with a voice vote of three(3) ayes. Bill No. 36-19- Ordinance Appropriating Monies for the Purpose of Defraying the Expenses of Designated Enterprise Funds of the City of South Bend for the Fiscal Year Ending December 31, 2020 Dan Parker,City Controller for the City of South Bend,with offices on the 12th floor of the County- City building stated, So, I don't have any handouts for this as well. We generally, as we present the budget, present both Civil City Funds and the Enterprise Funds together. So, we will be covering both of those in the presentation this evening. Committee Vice Chair, John Voorde opened the floor to both the Committee as well as anyone from the public wishing to speak either in favor of or in opposition of Bill No. 36-19. Committeemember Jo M. Broden stated, I do have a comment on both of these bills. So, Wednesday we'll have information. October 2, 2019 we'll have information. I just want to make sure, there's basically a little more than a week for the public to catch up on these amendments and changes. I want to make sure that we fulfill our responsibility on Council side and Clerk side, and actually get information out in a timely way so that folks can come back. Having said that, we don't actually incorporate, going forward, the public input into this process after that October 2nd date. Mr. Parker replied, October 2nd, we will have a public comment portion. EXCELLENCE I ACCOUNTABILITY I INNOVATION I INCLUSION EMPOWERMENT 455 County-City Building 1 227 W.Jefferson Bvld South Bend,Indiana 46601 p 574.235.9221 f574.235.9173 TTD 574.235.5567 www.southbendin.gov 5 CITY OF SOUTH BEND OFFICE OF THE CLERK Committee Chair Karen White stated, Yes, we will. I think that has been what we did last year. We allowed the public input, and then after that we took the time to go back and look at the calendar, and that need was only at the Council level. Committee Vice Chair John Voorde stated, Then we always encourage the public to contact us, come through us. So, they can do this up until the last minute. Committeemember Jo M. Broden replied, Well, of course. I'm just saying in terms of having the whole look of everything together, including the amendments, I think we could change our schedule to include public input as part of that October 14th meeting, and I don't think there would be any harm or fault in doing that. It would just give people an opportunity once everything is in, and the changes that we'll see on October 2nd. It could be time restricted, but that's more of a scheduling suggestion. Committeemember Jo M. Broden made a motion to send Bill No. 36-19 to the full Common Council with a favorable recommendation. The motion was seconded by Committee Chair Karen White and was carried with a voice vote of three(3) ayes. Committee Chair Karen White stated, I emailed you a list of the priorities that you had submitted to me. I'm going to ask that you prioritize those because I think that it's going to be important that we're fully aware that we do not have an endless pot of funds. So, I'm going to make sure that you have an opportunity to look at that list. If you need to look at it once again, I can resend that, but it would help not only the Committee, but also the Administration as well. There are a number of commonalities throughout the priorities, but I think that it will be very helpful if we would think about prioritizing those as well. Bill No. 37-19- Appropriating, Adopting, and Approving Monies for the South Bend Public Transportation Corporation (Transpo) for the Fiscal Year Ending December 31, 2020 Committee Chair Karen White stated, I would also like to add that I do know that during our presentation there were some questions, and I don't know if we have received those responses,but it would be very helpful to have those, and also, as we begin to look at all the questions that Councilmembers and the public have asked, we want to make sure that those responses are all on our website. Mr. Parker replied, With the exception of the questions that were asked last week for both TRANSPO and the Department of Community Investment, all the answers and responses to the questions are on our website already. Amy has sent me the responses to the questions that were asked specifically pertaining to TRANSPO. So,we will get those posted as well. Bill No. 37-19 is the appropriations bill for TRANSPO for 2020. The budget for TRANSPO was presented last week on September 18,2019. I see that Amy and Chris are here if there are any additional questions about that budget. Committee Chair Karen White stated, Are there any additional questions for TRANSPO? Seeing none,thank you for your presentation. It was very informative. I know that you had made mention that it's been a number of years since you've done a study, looking at the various routes and other things that you will need. So, we look forward to receiving that information. Also, I do know that we'll probably need to make some new appointments the first of the year. Thank you. EXCELLENCE I ACCOUNTABILITY I INNOVATION I INCLUSION I EMPOWERMENT 455 County-City Building 227W.Jefferson Bvld South Bend,Indiana 46601 p 574.235.9221 f574.235.9173 TTD574.235.5567 www.southbendin.gov 6 CITY OF SOUTH BEND OFFICE O F T H E CLERK Committeemember Jo M. Broden asked, Is TRANSPO, the Administration and the County in conversations regarding the library closure and the temporary relocation? I think that was a question at the meeting with your presentation. I think that would be important if we could address that. If there's no motion or any action. Amy Hill, General Manager and CEO for TRANSPO, 1401 S. Lafayette Blvd., South Bend, IN stated, We have been in conversation with the library. It is our understanding that they're pushing most of their services that normally occur at their main branch to other branch locations, located on current TRANSPO routes. The temporary location at Brown Intermediate is not on a TRANSPO route. We don't have the capacity or funding resources to add additional routes or to change it,but again,making sure that we communicate that message in accordance with the library that they are trying to move as many services to the locations that are on TRANSPO routes. Committeemember Jo M. Broden asked, In terms of helping fund or assist with vouchers or anything, is anyone considering that in any of these conversations? Ms. Hill replied, Sure. We do work with a lot of the community organizations. For example, the Center for the Homeless purchases bus passes on a regular basis. We do have a bulk sales discount program available. So, again, we're always happy to have those collaboration conversations as well. Jitin Kain, Interim Director, Community Investment Department for the City of South Bend with offices on the 14th floor of the County-City building stated, I sit on the Board of Directors for TRANSPO, so I am aware of some of the conversations. I've also had some conversations with the library. It is my understanding that the library does not see the Brown school move as a move of the downtown. They see it as a branch,just like any other branch of the library. So,they see that as a smaller library. So,in their mind, all the smaller branches of the library are available to anyone who wants to use them. Then in regard to providing access, we'd be happy to keep working with TRANSPO about any subsidized or discounted programs. Committee Chair Karen White opened the floor to anyone from the public wishing to speak either in favor of or in opposition to Bill No. 36-19. Seeing none,Committeemember Jo M. Broden made a motion to send Bill No. 36-19 to the full Common Council with a favorable recommendation. The motion was seconded by Committee Vice Chair John Voorde and was carried with a voice vote of three (3) ayes. With no further business, the Personnel and Finance Committee meeting was adjourned. Respec ful Submitted, Kare White, Committee Chair EXCELLENCE I ACCOUNTABILITY INNOVATION I INCLUSION EMPOWERMENT 455 County-City Building 227W Jefferson Bvld.South Bend,Indiana 46601 p 574.235.9221 f 574.235.9173 TTD 574.235.5567 www.southbendin.gov 7