2004-12-06 - Laserfiche WebLink

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Mr. Lynch expressed concern about going back to the developer for the $15,000 because he thought the street was turned over to them in return for affordable housing. He said the additional land does not change the original spirit of the agreement, and questioned why we would ask for $15,000. Mr. Caravati said it was his understanding that the developer and staff agreed on this amount. Mr. Brown said he has not seen representative from the developer about the $15,000, only the Assessor's opinion about the value of the land. Dr. Brown suggested that this issue be discussed further prior to the second reading of the ordinance. The ordinance entitled "AN ORDINANCE AUTHORIZING THE CONVEYANCE OF CITY-OWNED PROPERTY (5TM STREET RESIDUAL RIGHT OF WAY) TO SOUTHERN PROPERTY LLC" was carried over to the next meeting for consideration. PRESENTATION: LIBRARY BOOKMOBILE Mr. John Halliday, Director of the Jefferson-Madison Regional Library, and Ms. Willow Gail, Supervisor of the Bookmobile Program, announced that as part of better coordination between the Library and Recreation Department, five new stops have been added for the Bookmobile. REPORT: ADOPTING LONG-TERM BUDGET GUIDELINES Mr. O'Connell highlighted three key proposed budget guidelines: no increase in the tax rate; target formula of 40% of new real estate and property tax revenues to the Schools; and presentation of a base budget as well as an analysis of a 5% and 10% budget reduction. Following is a listing of the proposed budget guidelines: 1) Propose no increase to the current real estate or personal property tax rates; 2) Develop operational budgets within projected available revenues; 3) Evaluate the efficiency and effectiveness of activities; 4) Continue the strong commitment to education by allocating up to 40% of new City real estate and property tax revenue to schools; 5) Invest strategically in employees by providing adequate pay, benefits, training, technology resources, support, and appreciation; 6) Annually review the living wage ordinance "so that every City contract for the provision of non-professional services will require that the contractor pay each employee assigned to perform services a living wage equal to no less than the lowest starting salary for City employees." In addition, annually review the lowest starting salary of City employees, taking into consideration any increase in CPI since the previous year; 7) Maintain a General Fund balance of 12% of operating expenditures and 60 days working capital in the utility and golf funds; 8) Maintain a policy of encouraging competition and privatization and the philosophy of gainsharing; 9) Fund no new programs or major expansion of existing programs without fully offsetting revenues or reductions in expenditures; 10) Focus on Council's priorities developed at the annual retreat. The priorities adopted by Council at their annual retreat are the following: Education, Economic Development and Employment, Transportation, Housing, Leadership in Regional Cooperation, Get Smart on Crime: Safety/Justice, Creating Community, Natural Environment; 11) Maintain a debt service to operating fund expenditure ratio of 8% or less; 12) Transfer any excess funds from parking fines above the amount budgeted in the General Fund to the Capital Fund for future parking projects; 13) Conduct an agency review jointly with Albemarle County, the Commission on Children and Families, and the United Way to scrutinize agency requests for program congruence with Council's priority areas; 14) Transfer at least 3% of General Fund expenditures to the Capital Fund; 15) Budget a Council Reserve; 16)Do not replace lost state revenues with local revenues, unless a critical service is being impacted; 17) Transfer 1-cent of the meals tax revenue to the Debt Service Fund to be reserved for debt service for future bond issue; 18) Stabilize all non-general funds by ensuring they have a