June 10th Public Hearing Question & Answers
Monday, June 16, 2008
The following questions were raised on June 10, 2008 at the City Council public hearing on the Tentative Budget for 2008-2009.
1) Question about a $600 chair in the police department. Please explain.
a. In the original budget document, the department requested 3 chairs. The soft upholstered arms on 3 of the chairs, (they are used 24/7 not just during the day), are completely thrashed by the officer’s gun belts and attached duty equipment. Those chairs were proposed for replacement with wooden arm office chairs which are listed at Home Depot as approximately $200 each. After the first budget work meeting, the request was dropped to just one chair for the Sergeants desk since it is the worst chair. The actual budget line item should have been changed to $200. Even that amount could be eliminated if the PD could take one of the chairs from City Hall.
2) Can funds programmed for parks ($2 million) be used to balance the budget?
a. The City funds that are programmed for the construction of parks in the parks capital project fund represent impact fees that the city has collected when it issued residential building permits. Utah State Code does not allow the city to use those funds for any other purpose except for building permanent parks and associated recreation facilities. In fact, the city is not able to borrow those funds, but must maintain a separate accounting of those dollars and use them only for the specific purposes allowed under Utah law.
3) Can police personnel be used as part of the fire department’s requirement of having 4 persons respond to fire calls?
a. The requirement is for the Fire Department to have 4 personnel on scene prior to entering a building that is the subject of a fire emergency. This required staffing level is not used for vehicle fires, grass fires, or to respond to emergency medical calls. However, the City always tries to have 4 people respond to all calls as it increases the safety for the firefighters and effectiveness and responsiveness to the City’s residents. A staffing level of 4 also allows 2 firefighters to remain in the City if 2 others are transporting a patient to the hospital.
Police officers are not trained nor are they certified as firefighters and, therefore, would not be able to enter a burning home to assist the firefighters. In addition, during large fire or ambulance calls, the police are also dispatched to the scene and help to control crowds and traffic. This allows the firefighters to do their job in a safe environment and protects residents from entering areas that are unsafe.
4) Can public works personnel be used to respond to fire calls?
a. Public works employees could be trained and certified to respond to fire and medical calls. With the number of calls for service that the City experiences, this would not replace the need for professional firefighters. Currently, the City has chosen a more traditional approach to fire and emergency medical response of not combining public works and fire department personnel.
5) Why is the next programmed fire station in the middle of the city and not on the south end of the city?
a. As part of the budget process, the Fire Chief presented his 12 year plan for the department. In that plan, the central (middle) fire station is proposed as the next station to be built. That recommendation was formulated by looking at the population centers and the most likely locations where improved response times are needed and serve the greatest number of residents.
This long-range plan is in a draft or concept form only. The City needs to adopt this plan, or some portion of it, as a part of its capital facilities plan for public safety. This would be a plan that anticipates the need for future police and fire facilities. When that plan is presented to the City Council in the future, the City will discuss the type of facilities, the cost of the facilities, and the location of the facilities in public meetings. At that time justification will be presented for any recommendations and a public hearing must be held prior to adoption of the plan. Until that time, there is no approved location for the next fire station.
6) Can the city use a tax anticipation note to borrow funds to balance the budget (in anticipation of increasing sales tax)?
a. A tax anticipation note is usually used for municipalities where a large portion of their operating revenue comes from property taxes and/or receives the property tax revenue late in their fiscal year. Basically, anticipation notes are used mainly to manage cash flow for these types of municipalities. Saratoga Springs’ property tax revenue is received 5 to 6 months into the year and last year property taxes only constituted a little over 8% of total revenues. A tax anticipation note would not benefit or help our city or the current budget deficit situation. Further, a tax anticipation note must be retired in the same fiscal year in which it is issued and so it would not reduce the budget deficit.
7) Why does the police department budget show an increase in spending and other departments show a decrease over last year?
a. The current police budget shows an increase of 16% from the previous year. However, this increase is the difference between the proposed budget and the police budget that was amended in February, 2008. The police department has been good at staying on budget or staying under budget. In January, 2008 the City asked the police department to reduce their budget mid-year. Since the police department had managed their budget well, they were able to cut $132,500 from their budget. They also anticipate coming in $80,000 under the amended budget. It would be irresponsible to reduce some of their budget items as they are budgeted in case they are needed. For example, the department needs to budget responsibly for overtime, but then strives to use as little as possible.
The police department’s proposed budget is 8.6% higher than the budget adopted in June 2007. The major reasons for this increase are as follows:
· The addition of a commercial truck enforcement officer. This is a major area of concern for our residents and it is believed that this position could pay for itself through citations to commercial trucks that are out of compliance or otherwise operating in unsafe conditions.
· Half way through the last budget year the police department had to add an additional part-time records clerk to keep up with the volume of work. This part-time position is reflected in the proposed budget but not in the 2007-2008 budget.
· When the first police officers were recruited to the city, they were promised a 5% merit increase in pay after the completion of their probation period (1 year). The proposed budget includes this merit increase for those employees who have already completed their probationary period. These increases have occurred in the 2007-2008 budget and no increases for any city personnel are included in the 2008-2009 proposed budget.
8) Can we approach Eagle Mt. on sharing police services?
The city has not approached Eagle Mt. about sharing services and we have not performed any analysis to determine if there is a cost savings to the city. The City Council discussed this possibility in a recent budget work meeting and intends to study it further and determine what course of action to take.
9) What options for borrowing have been looked at?
a. There are no debt financing vehicles available that cover operational expenditures for a municipality. Most debt financing options would potentially cover the costs of projects of which most have been cut from the budget or are covered by other revenue sources other than the General fund.
10) Can there be a “sunset clause” on property tax and utility increases?
a. The City Council can choose to change utility rates at any time of the year. If actual revenues collected are higher than forecasted in the budget, the City Council could lower the rates mid year. The Council also has the option of passing any kind of ordinance or resolution that would dictate when or how that might happen.
Property taxes can only be adjusted one time per year. This takes place during the budget process between June and August of each year. Each year the Council can choose between three options. They can increase, reduce, or make no changes to property taxes. If sales tax revenues or other revenues increase dramatically during the year, the City Council could choose to reduce property taxes next year.
11) What is code enforcement doing about city property in Jacob’s Ranch power line corridor?
a. The city has cleaned up debris in this corridor and will increase its efforts to keep this area clean. There is still a need for the city to meet with the residents that reside along the corridor to discuss plans for improvements to this property. The city will finalize its plans as quickly as possible and meet with these residents.
12) What was the $3.5 million spent on?
a. The city has not spent the $3.5 million that has been discussed. That number represents the amount of deficit that was first identified after reviewing all departments’ proposed expenditures and the city’s proposed revenues for the upcoming fiscal year. The city’s fiscal year begins July 1 and ends on June 30. Since the identification of the $3.5 million deficit, the city has reduced proposed expenditures, reduced staff (layoffs) and identified new revenues. The proposed deficit is now approximately $1.46 million, but is a projected deficit and not an actual deficit; that is, it is projected that if revenues and expenditures in the proposed budget for 2008-2009 are compared, then there is a deficit of $1.46 million.
13) Why do vehicles sit at the police and fire stations?
a. In all other Utah cities, police officers take their cars home as they are each individually assigned a vehicle. The City of Saratoga Springs has the fewest number of cars per officer of any city in the State. However, since these cars are pool cars, they regularly sit until needed. The PD’s minimum staffing level for each shift is 2 officers. During the overlap, (from 8:30PM to 1:30AM), there are 4 officers on duty and 2 more cars are used. During the weekend shift, there is an overlap of up to 6 and all the marked vehicles are needed. There are a total of 6 marked patrol cars and when they out for service, during overlaps and for many other reasons all 6 cars are used. If the PD assigned each officer a car, as all other Utah cities do, the City would need to purchase 7 additional marked vehicles. There would be fewer cars visible and parked at the PD since they would be at officers’ homes.
There was also a comment made in the public hearing about cars costing $50,000 each. The actual state contract price for each vehicle is approximately $22,000 and when fully marked and equipped they cost approximately an additional $8,000. The total cost per vehicle is closer to $30,000 not $50,000.
To demonstrate how much these cars are used, the following mileages are current for each marked unit. These vehicles have been driven for just under one year:
Veh. #1 – 29,130 miles
Veh. #2 – 21,680
Veh. #3 – 25,010
Veh. #4 – 23,860
Veh. #5 – 22,940
Veh.# 6 – 29,140
At the current rate, these vehicles will have over 125,000 miles on them at the end of the 5 year lease. These cars do not sit all the time. They are being driven hard and will be worn out far sooner than if we had 1 car assigned to each officer.
The PD also has 2 unmarked vehicles for the 2 Detectives and they are needed as each has to go to different places all the time. During the school year, 1 Detective is at the schools regularly giving the NOVA instruction and the other Detective has to have an unmarked vehicle to do his work.
There are also 2 Animal Control/Code Enforcement trucks. The PD has 2 civilian officers who are assigned each truck as there are times they work during the same shift and need to have 2 different trucks to get their jobs done. The PD has a total of 10 leased vehicles. The department also has 1 Citizen Assisting Police volunteer car which was purchased outright from the State surplus yard for $5,000. This car also sits until used by the volunteers. It has over 100,000 miles on the odometer.
14) What are the top 5 crimes to which the police in Saratoga Springs respond?
a. The information provided by the Chief of Police to the City Council on a monthly basis gives the full details of calls for service and which calls are the most frequent. For the latest report, please
click here.
Per the most recent report, the top 5 criminal events since our start date of July 1, 2007 are as follows:
1. Thefts – 158 cases
2. Domestic violence – 155 cases
3. Juvenile crimes- 128 cases
4. Assaults – 60 cases
5. Narcotics – 48 cases
There are many higher calls for service that are not considered criminal in nature i.e., Animal calls – 810; suspicious circumstances – 465; traffic accidents – 416; Alarm calls – 415, etc,.
15) The City uses Nextel phones and they have a $99 unlimited plan. Could the City save money by switching to that plan?
a. The City staff will look into this suggestion and see if there are savings that can be realized through a change in the cell phone plan for all departments.
16) Will commercial development in the city cover the deficit?
a. No. The City will receive an increase in sales and property tax revenue from new commercial development, but not enough to cover the deficit. The most conservative estimate to date of new revenue in the next twelve months is $125,000.
17) Where was reserve planning in the case of a slowdown in development?
a. The city engages in revenue projections annually as a part of the budget preparation process, but the city does not have a long-range or multi-year financial plan in place. The scenario that we’re currently facing of such a dramatic change in revenue was never anticipated or planned for. The following is a link to the financial data for your review showing development activity in the past three years and the sudden change in the fall of 2007,
click here.
It was always anticipated that a slowdown in development for the city might result in staff reductions for development-related staff. This has happened and the city did reduce its staff by 8 full-time employees. However, the city must also find a delicate balance between (1) laying off so much of its workforce that needed services are also eliminated or severely reduced and (2) raising fees and/or taxes.
The City did reduce its projected development-related revenue slightly in the 2007-2008 budget because it did not believe that the market would sustain the aggressive development pace of 2006. The problem that we are currently facing is not one of predictability, but rather, illustrates a need to not rely so heavily on one-time revenues for regular city operations. In the future, the city will be putting plans together to avoid the use of one-time development revenue for ongoing operations. The city will also be establishing financial goals and policies that produce sustainable revenue sources and not fluctuating revenues. To the extent that these measures can be put in place, then crises such as the current problem of having to quickly produce a large amount of new revenue can be avoided in the future.
18) Did the city go out to bid for street lighting services?
a. The city hired Mt. States Lighting several years ago as the sole source provider of street lighting services for the city. Mt. States has been providing good service to the city and performs several planning and lighting design services at no charge to the city. It is always the city’s policy to go out to bid on its purchases except in cases where a sole source provider has been established and it becomes cost effective to not switch providers of this type of service. However, it is prudent for the city to review services periodically by other firms if they are available to make certain that the city is receiving adequate services at a good price.
Significant comments raised in the public hearing:
1) The city has too many police cars for a department of our size.
2) City celebrations are nice, however they are not an essential service during difficult financial times. Some residents would support eliminating them until we have sufficient revenue to cover them.
3) Property taxes could be raised and lowered at a later time.
4) The proposed property tax and utility fee increases are too high.
5) Utility fee (increases) are too high.
6) The city should explore a fire district.
7) The city should be increasing services and not laying people off.
8) City should still provide services without a tax increase.
9) Residents disappointed about not having a dialogue.
10) Utility fee increases shouldn’t provide deficit relief.
11) The city should not build a library or a pool unless it has cash to pay for it.
12) City should lay off more than 8 employees.
13) Property taxes should go up or an increase is inevitable, but taxes shouldn’t go up an excessive amount.
14) Landlords should be issued citations for code enforcement infractions.
15) Get proactive and get real lean.
16) City Council was elected to represent the residents.
17) The argument that property taxes are the lowest in Saratoga Springs is not justification for raising property taxes.
18) Police Department needs to find ways to cut the budget and run leaner during these difficult times.