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10/21/2000 City CouncilEdmonds City Council Budget Workshop October 21, 2000 3rd Floor Great Room - City Hall Officials Present: Staff Present: Mayor Gary Haakenson Tom Miller, Council President Michael Plunkett, Councilmember Chris Davis, Councilmember Lora Petso, Councilmember Dave Earling, Councilmember Jim White, Councilmember Dave Orvis, Councilmember Peggy Hetzler, Adm. Serv. Director Doug Farmen, Asst. Adm. Serv. Director Chief Robin Hickok Chief Tom Tomberg Duane V. Bowman, Dev. Serv. Director Stephen Clifton, Com. Serv. Director Brent Hunter, Human Res. Director Noel Miller, Public Works Director Brian McIntosh, Asst. Director Parks & Recs Scott Rogers, Park Maintenance Manager Joan Ferebee, Court Administrator Jana Spellman, Sr. Ex. Council Assistant Recorder Council President Miller called the meeting to order at 9:00 a.m. He gave a brief presentation explaining that the meeting was a workshop, not a public hearing, and there would be no audience comment taken. He informed the audience that this workshop was being held to allow the Directors an opportunity to give a brief synopsis of their budgets and then answer questions from the Council. He followed by explaining how the budget was constructed and how decision packages were established. He thanked the Mayor and staff for all the work involved in putting the budget together and said it was one of the easiest to understand. He thanked Councilmembers Petso and Orvis for sitting on the Budget Review Committee. Before he could call on any of the Directors, Councilmember Petso asked to be recognized. She commented on the decision packages she wanted to strike from the budget and various other budget items she would like to get more information on. She asked if some of her general questions could be put on the Council Retreat Agenda. Council President Miller then began the presentations by the Directors. Council President Miller then called on each Department Director to make a presentation. Each Director (or appointed designee) made a brief presentation and answered questions from the Council. Council President Miller completed the Workshop by summarizing the questions the Council wanted the staff to answer by a date certain in time for the next Council Budget Workshop as follows: Council President Miller requested a full -page summary, with totals, of the baseline budget as presented with adoption of all the mandatory and number one -ranked decision packages. Council President Miller also requested revenues to be calculated at 2% instead of 4% and asked if the budget would be balanced at those levels. Mr. Earling requested that the staff look into what grants are available and bring back a listing of those grants. Ms. Petso asked to be recognized. She requested budget figures before the L-5 decision and after the L-5 decision. She wanted salaries to be separated out and not lumped together so she could compare with State averages. She stated that she would not be able to adopt the 2001 budget with the L-5 increases in place with the $97,000 Fire Chief pay. She stated she hated the L-5 policy. Councilmember Davis requested a detailed description of all vehicle purchases. Council President Miller then asked the Council for any other questions and received no response from the Council. President Miller then called on Mayor Haakenson who stated that he was concerned because the budget had been based on the library impact disappearing in the year 2002. He asked that the Council make a decision on what they wanted to do as pertains to the library. If the Council wants to leave it in the General Fund he stated that would make a significant different 5-year picture, a picture that would not be solved with a 6% property tax increase every year from 2002 to 2005. He stated there needed to be a Council discussion about the library impact as that was the backbone of the budget. A general discussion ensued between the Council with no consensus among the Councilmembers. The Mayor asked that the Council, during the budget deliberations, to come to a consensus on whether they will put annexation of the library into Sno-Isle on the ballot. Council President Miller stated that if 1-722 passes he would like the Mayor to come to the Council with possible budget cuts. The Mayor stated that the library issue had dragged on from January 4 to today. He stated that it is time to make a decision in order to give the citizens who want to support annexation a chance to get out and work the community, feeling the decision needs to be made now. Mr. Earling asked that the library annexation issue be scheduled on the Council Agenda. Council President Miller concurred and stated that he would schedule it for an upcoming Council meeting. Council President Miller asked if there were any more questions and thanked the staff for their hard work. The meeting was adjourned at 11:45 a.m. Page 2 Edmonds City Council Budget Workshop October 21, 2000