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(:I'IY OF SOUTH BEND I OFFICE OF THE CLERK <br /> Committeemember Broden followed up, If I am understanding this correctly, we are moving from <br /> a proactive 2020 to more reactive? Correct? <br /> Mr. Parker answered, Yes you are correct. If this is the final budget, then we would not be able to <br /> make these kinds of large scale capital investments that we've made in the past. I hope that during <br /> the rest of the presentation I'll convince you that we won't have to sacrifice. <br /> Councilmember Teshka asked, All of your projections are based on the fact that these capital <br /> projects are going down and from a Utilities perspective, if we have to make a big spend on CSO <br /> Projects, correct? <br /> Mr. Parker answered, Correct, and that's the goal for the rest of the presentation. How can we <br /> enhance revenue, reduce operating expenditures, and optimize which capital projects we are <br /> choosing to invest in so that we don't have to give up on those large-scale investments which do <br /> have a return in our community?Not just a return as though it is important for our residents,which <br /> it is, but a financial return to the City in terms of property values. <br /> Councilmember Davis stated, With the CSO issues, we had a certain percentage of how we <br /> increased those monies. How do those monies reflect the projection? There was a percentage of <br /> money to look at that. I think the baseline for that is a little too low, given the fact there are already <br /> some established CSO issues. That needs to be addressed. I know that for the last four(4) or five <br /> (5) years, we haven't really done anything with the CSO issues. I know we have raised rates for <br /> that, and how do those rates and the monies that we have go into those issues that we have talked <br /> about? <br /> Mr. Parker answered, I don't know enough about the specific projection in Public Works to know <br /> what CSO Project costs are reflected in there,but I can find out and give an update. <br /> Mr. Parker continued, I want to move to what we are doing to address this issue. How are we <br /> changing our projection to make sure we can get people to invest in these large-scale projects, <br /> whether it's CSO, Economic Development, and additional parks? From a revenue perspective, I <br /> want to look at those same three (3) buckets of revenue, operating expenditures, and capital <br /> expenditures. From a revenue perspective, there's a lot of things that we can do to try to enhance <br /> the revenue that we are expected to get. For example, we want to refine our revenue projection. <br /> We continuously work to better understand the formulas and calculations that go into the taxes <br /> that we receive and get better projections on how we are expected to do going forward. This is <br /> helpful because if we are better able to estimate the money we'll have going forward, then we are <br /> better able to decide how much money we have to spend from a capital expenditure perspective, <br /> and we won't have to make difficult decisions if we can better refine the projections that we have. <br /> The second (2nd) one (1) which we circled around for some time is working with the County to <br /> make sure the assessments truly reflect the value. The net assessed value is really the key to our <br /> property tax revenue. Without real control over the rate in most cases, the assessment is really <br /> what drives increase and decrease within property tax revenue. So, we need to make sure to work <br /> with the County Assessor. <br /> Councilmember Davis asked, When you say work with the County, do you mean meetings or <br /> provide office staff to help out with their situation? <br /> EXCELLENCE ACCOUNTABILITY j INNOVATION INCLUSION I EMPOWERMENT <br /> 455 County-City Building 1227 W.Jefferson Bvld South Bend,Indiana 46601 p 574.235.9221 f 574.235.9173 TTD 574.235.5567 www.southbendin.gov <br /> 11 <br />