1993-04-01 - Laserfiche WebLink

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Mr. Vandever stated that his purpose in previously supporting substantially reducing the City's budget was to force the City to reorganize itself, but he was now inclined to have staff develop a plan to reduce the budget by $1 million as proposed previously by the City Manager. Given the revenue shortfall, Mr. Vandever stated that he was hesitant to reduce other revenue sources at this time. With regard to the large item pickup, Ms. Daugherty, Mr. Toscano, and Mr. Vandever stated that they did not favor charging a fee for the residential service at this time, but did favor making the service available on a demand response basis beginning July 1st. It was further agreed that large item pickup would be provided to commercial customers if they agree to pay for the service. It was agreed that a 20 cent per pack cigarette tax would be put forward at the April 5th public hearing for consideration by the public, but the revenues should be conservative computed on a 12 cent per pack tax, with one third reserved for a future tax reduction and no more than $100,000 used to fund new expenditures. Ms. Slaughter stated that she did not favor the cigarette tax unless the real estate tax rate is reduced. Additional expenditures which Council agreed should be included in the budget for consideration at the public hearing included: police overtime, cellular phones for the police, the elementary and high school CAP programs; Project Discovery, staff for CLASS Program, Reading Partners, operating funds for Teen Center, and 2 firefighters. Ms. Daugherty stated that she was initially supportive of the proposed'pension plan for public safety employees, but no longer thinks it should be added this year. It was agreed that the Retirement Commission would consider the pension for public safety employees and Council would discuss the matter further at its annual retrea~ in the fall. It was agreed that Council salaries and other resources for Council woUld be discussed at the annual retreat. Ms. Slaughter stated that she favored including funding for an organizational study and Mr. Vandever stated that he was willing to set money aside and look at proposals for its use. Ms. Slaughter stated that she continued to be interested in exploring the idea of a mobile van for the police and asked that the police provide feedback on the idea. Mr. Toscano noted that a substantial amount of funds, approximately ~250,000, needed to be set aside for future capital improvements on West Main Street. With regard to Pay for performance, Ms. Daugherty stated that she is hearing from City employees that they do not understand the new pay plan and preferred 'that the increase be across the board. It was agreed that employees newly classified in the Manager I-V category woUld receive a performance based increase and all other employees would receive a 4% across the board increase. The~ting ~resid~n~ was adj ourne d.