07/18/2017 MinutesCITY OF GRAND ISLAND, NEBRASKA
MINUTES OF CITY COUNCIL BUDGET WORK SESSION
July 18, 2017
Pursuant to due call and notice thereof, a Budget Work Session of the City Council of the City of
Grand Island, Nebraska was conducted in the Council Chambers of City Hall, 100 East First
Street, on July 18, 2017. Notice of the meeting was given in the Grand Island Independent on
July 12, 2017.
Mayor Jeremy L. Jensen called the meeting to order at 6:00 p.m. The following Councilmembers
were present: Mitch Nickerson, Jeremy Jones, Chuck Haase, Julie Hehnke, Linna Dee
Donaldson, Michelle Fitzke, Vaughn Minton, Roger Steele, and Mike Paulick. Councilmember
Mark Stelk was absent. The following City Officials were present: City Administrator Marlan
Ferguson, City Clerk RaNae Edwards, Finance Director Renae Griffiths, Assistant Finance
Director William Clingman, City Attorney Jerry Janulewicz and Public Works Director John
Collins.
SPECIAL ITEMS:
Opening Remarks. Mayor Jensen commented on problem solving and change. He stated if we
waited until 2021 to make changes to the budget we would be 8 million dollars in debt.
Personnel costs were the main driver in the budget. Steps had been taken by not replacing
vacancies and changes to employee health insurance. The 70/30 policy was presented with no
more than 70% of the budget going towards personnel costs and 30% to capital. Mentioned were
comments made on social media.
Budget Process. City Administrator Marlan Ferguson stated we had been working on a balanced
budget back in November 2016. Two committees had been formed with the City Council, one
for revenues and one for expenditures. Sales tax was flat and property tax had stayed the same
over the past five years.
Discussion on Designated Revenue. Finance Director Renae Jimenez explained the following
designated revenue funds: General Fund; Special Revenue Funds; Enterprise Funds; and Internal
Service Funds. She focused on the Special Revenue Funds which were used to track legally
restricted revenue sources. She stated there was some restrictions put into place on those
revenues, whether it was State law or City Code, of what the revenue may be spent on. One
example was State Highway Allocation (gas tax) money which was approximately $5 million for
FY 18 that could only be used on streets and 50% of that must be used on street projects.
Other examples of City restricted revenue included the following:
• 2% hotel occupation t� (§23-55) - sent on to Fonner Park
• 1'/2% food and beverage tax (§23-66) - used for required payment to the State for the
State Fair, promote events that would attract visitors, enhancement and development of
recreation and athletic facilities, and invest in community development that stimulated
growth for Grand Island.
Page 2, City Council Study Session, July 18, 2017
• 2% phone occupation tax (§23-21(B)) - appropriated solely for payment of bonds for
construction of a new primary 911 facility and other public safety purposes.
Comments were made concerning the 2% phone occupation tax which would go to the bond
payment and any excess could be used for public safety purposes.
Estimated Fund Balance at Year End. Ms. Jimenez stated total revenue expected for 2017 was
$36,596.475; total appropriations were $39,688,118; with an ending cash balance of
$10,001,611. By 2021 we would be in the red by $7,906,701.
5 Year Projections. No changes recommended.
The 2018 budget revenue worksheet was presented with the 70/30 policy. For 2018 there needed
to be a reduction in personnel services of $1,685,417.70 and a reduction in operating expenses of
$1,305,722.84 for a total General Fund and Streets reduction of $2,919,365.95.
Comments were made concerning comparability in salaries and having a sustainable budget.
Recommendation for Staffin� to Meet 70/30 Polic� The following recommendations were
presented for the General Fund personnel for the 2018 Budget:
• Fire Department
Eliminate 2 additional positions
PLUS
2 Firefighter positions, currently vacant
2 future retirements
• Police Department
Eliminate 2 CSO FTE positions
PLUS
2 Police Officers, currently vacant
3 future retirements
2 PT CSO positions, currently vacant
• Library Department
1 Library Assistant II, currently vacant
1 PT Library Page, currently vacant
• Parks Department
Eliminate 1 Horticulturist FTE position
Eliminate all seasonal workers at Greenhouse
PLUS
1 Maintenance Worker, currently vacant
1 future retirement, leave vacant
Total dollar impact would be $1,415,289.
Recommendation for Operational and Capital. Other changes to the General Fund were:
• Reduce total operating/capital equipment/transfers out budget $1,233,968
• Increase to Gas Franchise Fee $ 300,000
• Add Stormwater surcharge
$ 330,000
�II
Page 3, City Council Study Session, July 18, 2017
Total — other changes
$1,833,968
Recommendation for Increasin� Revenues to Balance the Budget. Other changes recommended
to increase revenues were:
• Increase in Property Tax, dedicated to capital proj ects
• Car Rental Occupation Tax, dedicated to Streets Dept.
• Switch to Therms
• Stormwater Surcharge
$1,000,000
$ 150,000
$ 300,000
$ 300,000
Police Chief Robert Falldorf answered questions concerning the cuts to the Police Department. A
total of 5 positions were recommended to be cut. Since last year they were covering airport
duties with no increase in personnel. He stated cutting personnel would impact the crime rate
here in Grand Island; the crime rate would go up. Also response times were effected. Chief
Falldorf explained what the Community Service officers did. They helped the Police Officers
along with dealing with complaints; this would then fall back on the Police Officers. Their
budget was currently 90% personnel and 10% operating expenses.
Fire Chief Cory Schmidt answered questions concerning the cuts in the Fire Department. A total
of 6 positions were to be cut. Chief Schmidt said they were currently short personnel to begin
with. In order to meet the recommendations he stated they may have to close a station or have
two people on calls instead of the three they have now. By making the recommended cuts this
would put them back to the 1996 staffing leveL If they were to close a station he said they looked
at the station with the least amount of calls which would be Station 3 on Webb Road.
Parks & Recreation Director Todd McCoy answered questions concerning closing the
greenhouse. He commented on closing two wading pools, having the ball teams stripe the ball
fields and outsourcing some services. He stated there were a lot of volunteers that helped with
the greenhouse and planting flowers in the parks. They were looking at having the cemetery staff
help with the parks and possibly cutting services. Raising fees were mentioned.
Deputy Finance Director William Clingman showed graphs of the trends in the Fire, Police, and
Parks departments. Mr. Ferguson commented on other departments in the General Fund and
what changes could be made. Comments were made by Council that the increase in property tax
should be used for personnel costs.
Mayor Jensen commented on salaries and encouraged the employees to think about a pay freeze
which would save the personnel cuts recommended.
Councilmember Haase handed out a budget amendment to the Council with the following
suggestions for several departments:
• Heartland Shooting Park — move operating and capital tax subsidy from General Fund
Tax to the Economic Development
• City Administration — Assistant to the City Administrator — remove position
• Human Resource — HR Benefits & Risk Mgt. Coordinator — remove position
• Public Information — PIO — remove position
• Information Technology — Computer Technician — remove position
Page 4, City Council Study Session, July 18, 2017
• Library — Custodian, Maintenance Worker 1— consolidate these 2 positions
• Cemetery — Maintenance Worker — remove position
• Parks — Horticulturist — add back 1 position
• Police Officer — add back 3 of the 5 positions, leave CSO cuts as proposed
• Fire — Life Safety inspector — remove 2 positions
• Fire — Firefighter EMT — add back 4 of the 6 positions
Council took a break at 8:00 p.m. and reconvened at 8:10 p.m.
Public Comment. The following people spoke concerning the 2018 Budget:
• Robert Meyer, 624 East Memorial Drive
• Phillip Thomas, IAFF President
• Bryan Stutzman, 4220 Vermont Avenue
• Gene Dominic, 824 So. Cherry
• Susan Smith, 1004 West 7�' Street
• Jarret Daugherty, FOP President
• Angie Lyon, 910 Sun Valley Place
• Randy Iverson, 4246 Shannon Street
• Zachary Carstens, 1109 Hall Court
• Yolanda Chavez-Nuncio, 4362 Manchester Road
• Esdras Castaneda, 1733 South Blaine Street
• Brent Lucke, 3360 Buffalo Court
• Vikki Duel, 2531 Jan Street
• Steve Miles, 820 Ridgeway Avenue
• Jay Vavricek, 2729 Brentwood Blvd.
• Brian Whitecalf, 116 East 8�' Street
• Jim Eriksen, 4233 Nordic Road
• John Mayer, 4059 Horseshoe Place
The majority of the comments were centered on the importance of Public Safety and not cutting
personnel in those departments.
Mr. Ferguson stated staff would go back to work on the budget with the suggestions from
tonight's meeting and bring back to Council a balanced budget.
ADJOURNMENT: The meeting was adjourned at 10:18 p.m.
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RaNae Edwards
City Clerk