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Minutes TC 09/03/1996MINUTES OF PUBLIC HEARING/TOWN COUNCIL MEETING TOWN OF TROPHY CLUB, TEXAS SEPTEMBER 3, 1996 THE STATE OF TEXAS § COUNTY OF DENTON § The Town Council of the Town of Trophy Club, Texas met in a Public Hearing/Meeting on Tuesday, September 3, 1996. The meeting was held within the boundaries of the Town and was open to the Public. Council Members Present: Jim Carter Edwin "Ed" Decker Marshall Engelbeck Susan H. McCabe Edwin "Cotton" Moore Council Members Absent: Mayor Council Member Council Member Council Member Council Member Doug Glaspell Mayor Pro Tem Staff and Committee Members Present: Donna Welsh Town Manager Jack Jacobs Town Treasurer Pauline Shaw Planning/Zoning Administrator David Miller Chief of Police Bill LeGrand Public Works Director Barbara Allen Court Administrator Diane Cockrell Police Dept. Secretary Karen Sadri Town Secretary Robert Burns Finance Committee Member David Garlitz Finance Committee Member Staff and Committee Members Absent: John Hill John Carter Lee Pettigrew Scott Smith Also present were guests: Don Cotton Roger Unger Jerry Slyman Shirley Holley Miles Moffit Town Attorney Finance Committee Chairman Finance Committee Member Finance Committee Member Planning/Zoning Commissioner M.U.D. District Manager Resident Resident Fort Worth Star Telegram Reporter Page 2, Public Hearing/Town Council Meeting/09/03/96 CALL TO ORDER. Mayor Carter called the meeting to order at 7:00 p.m. noting a quorum was present. He then welcomed Council Members, Committee Members, guests, and staff. INVOCATION. An Invocation was given by Council Member Moore. PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE TO THE AMERICAN AND TEXAS FLAGS. The pledge of allegiance to the American and Texas Flags was led by Council Member McCabe. Before the Council attended to the agenda items, Mayor Carter announced that John Carter, Finance Committee Chairman, returned home today to recuperate from his successful quadruple by-pass heart surgery. He then asked Council Member Moore to lead a prayer for Mr. Carter. PUBLIC HEARING: TOWN COUNCIL OF THE TOWN OF TROPHY CLUB TO CONDUCT A PUBLIC HEARING ON THE BUDGET FOR FISCAL YEAR OCTOBER 1, 1996 TO SEPTEMBER 30, 1997. Mayor Carter declared the Public Hearing open at 7:05 p.m. Jerry Slyman of 229 Phoenix Drive wished to speak about the budget for the Parks Department. First he thanked the Council for separating it from the Public Works Department and then for the emphasis to increase line item expenditures. However, he still feels a lot of improvements are needed to make our park and sports fields competitive in the area. He then reminded the Council of his recommendation at the June 21st meeting of a full time parks employee with turf industry experience. He cited the following reasons for savings: 1. The employee would be his own consultant. 2. Casual labor costs would reduce by half. 3. Pride in ownership of park and fields. 4. Work five day week instead of two. 5. Other cities in area with a successful sports' program followed this approach. 6. In-house employee less expensive than outside consultants to meet future needs. He also questioned the current bidding process for landscape maintenance. He asked that the green areas and islands of our present contract be separated from the care for the park and sports field because the needs are so different. Mayor Carter responded that there is no specific plan for the Park's Budget, just the Council's response to the citizens for improvements. The plan will be forth coming from the Page 3, Public Hearing/Town Council Meeting/09/03/96 Parks and Recreation Committee. Town Manager Welsh stated that the expense of a full time park employee for only thirteen acres can not be justified at this time. TOWN COUNCIL TO ADJOURN PUBLIC HEARING. As no other questions, comments, nor discussion ensued from the Town Council, Staff, and Finance Committee concerning the budget, Mayor Carter announced the closing of the Public Hearing at 7:28 p.m. TOWN COUNCIL MEETING TOWN COUNCIL TO CONSIDER AN ORDINANCE APPROVING AND ADOPTING THE BUDGET FOR FISCAL YEAR BEGINNING OCTOBER 1, 1996 AND ENDING SEPTEMBER 30, 1997, AND MAKING APPROPRIATIONS FOR EACH DEPARTMENT, PROJECT AND ACCOUNT; REPEALING CONFLICTING ORDINANCES; PROVIDING A SEVERABILITY CLAUSE; PROVIDING AN EFFECTIVE DATE. Town Manager Welsh announced that all the requested changes had been made to the budget. Council Member Engelbeck then made a motion to adopt the proposed 1996-1997 budget as written. Council Member McCabe seconded. Discussion ensued regarding the separation of line item 40-7040 (Street Repairs) into Street Repairs and a new assigned line item of Future Engineering Planning. Council Member Decker then made a motion to separate line item 40-7040 into the two above named designations with $50,000.00 in each line item. Council Member Engelbeck seconded; motion passed with Council Members Decker, Engelbeck, and McCabe in favor and Council Member Moore opposing. Council Member McCabe confirmed that the amounts could be re- allocated during the year if the need arose. Council Member McCabe then addressed line item 40-7041 (Street Sweeping). Because of the heavy traffic of construction equipment, she felt that the job now being done is ineffective and poor. She made a motion to remove the $6,000.00 expenditure from this year's budget. Council Member Engelbeck seconded. During discussion Public Works Director, Bill LeGrand, pointed out that only the four major thoroughfares are swept, and that the Public Works Committee had requested the return of this service. Page 4, Public Hearing/Town Council Meeting/09/03/96 Mayor Carter called for a vote on the motion. The motion was defeated with Council Member McCabe in favor; Council Members Engelbeck and Moore opposing and Council Member Decker abstaining. At this time Council Member Engelbeck extended his thanks to the Finance Committee and staff for the hard work done on this budget. He said he now realized that the proposed cuts would not maintain the services the citizens were wanting. He then commended the M.U.D.s' efforts with the consolidation of personnel positions and shared expansion expenditures. Council Member Decker asked about the status of the bench marks which were in the original Planning and Zoning budget. Planning and Zoning Administrator Shaw informed him that the developers would be responsible for them and that this recommendation would be included in the newly revised subdivision regulations. Town Treasurer, Jack Jacobs, turned to the issue of Revenues and reminded the Council that current taxes are calculated at a 98% collection rate. He encouraged the Council to agree to the proposed budget with its shortfall of $134,000.00. Even with that amount taken from reserves, the Town's Operating and Maintenance Fund would have three months of resources to use. He then asked the Council to set a tax rate in order to determine the exact shortfall of the budget. Discussion ensued about lowering the rate to .3961 (one and one-half cents) or keeping it at the current .4111. Mayor Carter firmly believed that the residents should be rewarded by lowering it because the reserves would still be solid and the revenues for the budget were on the very conservative side. Council Member McCabe favored holding the tax rate as it is because of too many new undetermined expenditures (police and public works buildings and major street replacement). She asked the Council to establish a history of the new line items so that expenditures would not be underestimated in the future. She would consider lowering the tax rate provided it could be sustained for more than one or two years. However, she does not believe a lower tax rate could be sustained at this time due to the unknown factors stated above. Council Member Engelbeck also agreed to maintaining the tax rate, but felt the budget was far from conservative. Council Member Decker noted that the savings to the homeowner would be minimal. Mayor Carter called for a vote on the motion. Council Member Engelbeck then made his motion to adopt the 1996-1997 budget as amended. Council Member Decker seconded; motion passed unanimously. Page 5, Public Hearing/Town Council Meeting/09/03/96 At this time Mayor Carter announced his power under Section 52.003 of the Texas Local Government Code. The letter stating his reasons is attached to these minutes. *PRESENTATIONS BY CITIZENS No presentations were given. STAFF AND COMMITTEE REPORTS Town Manager Welsh asked the Council to note the following dates: Thursday, September 5 Chamber Event at Hawkwood Saturday, November 9 Annual Chamber Gala Planning and Zoning Administrator Shaw reported eleven new housing starts worth over two million dollars and one new commercial permit. Currently, the fiscal year total is 1,727 new homes. *PRESENTATIONS BY COUNCIL Council Member Engelbeck announced the October 19th date for the Fourth Annual Service Academy Golf Classic. He thanked retired General Ed Rafalko of 203 Inverness Drive for bringing this event to the Country Club. "It's a feather in the Club's cap." ADJOURN Council Member Decker made a motion to adjourn at 8:04 p.m. Council Member Engelbeck seconded; motion passed unanimously. V TOWN SECRETARY TO UAV' OF I Ms. Susan McCabe Mr. Cotton Moore Mr. Ed Decker Mr. Doug Glaspell Mr. Marshall Engelbeck Re: Ordinance Adopting 1996-1997 Budget Dear Susan, Cotton, Ed, Doug and Marshall, On Tuesday, September 3, 1996, as members of the Town Council you adopted and ordinance approving the Town budget for fiscal year 1996-1997. At that meeting, I expressed, to you why I believed the ordinance should not have been approved. Those reasons are set forth in my enclosed letter dated September 4, 1996. As Town Mayor, I am authorized under Section 52.003 of the Texas Local Government Code to return to Town Council any ordinance adopted by the Council with a statement of my objections to the ordinance. For the reasons set forth above and in accordance with Section 52.003, I return to you the ordinance adopting the budget and ask that you reconsider the ordinance in light of my concerns. Very truly yo es P. cc: Ms. Donna Welsh encl: Mayors' letter 10 Municipal Drive Trophy Club, Texas 76262 Tele. (817) 430-1911 Fax (817) 491-9312 Police Fax (817) 491-9886 September 4, 1996 Council, This letter is to inform you of my reasons for the action I took on September 3, 1996, by rescinding the Councils' passage of the ordinance for the 1996-1997 Town budget. Please understand that I have no problem with the budget as presented, my concern is in the method of funding the budget. Councils' have always had the citizen's interest paramount in their deliberations on budgets, tax rates and fiscal matters. I believe the current council has the same interest. Over the years, we have, with the staff and committees, been very careful and controlled expenditures to the lowest possible level. A commitment has been made to keep the tax rate as low as possible, to give the citizens the maximum service for the least dollar. I hope to have some additional information for you on the history of the budget and tax rate in your packet for the next Council meeting. In summary, we operated the Town for the first two years, without property taxes. As services were required and the Town absorbed many of the functions of the C.I.A., taxes were assessed. The assessment was always to cover the budget and to establish a reserve. The auditors have advised the need to have a three-month reserve. Donna Welsh estimated, in the current budget a $125,000 per month or a $375,000 requirement total. The council has agreed to set aside a sum of $150,000 for possible street repairs. Total required for reserve is $525,000. Total estimated in reserve at September 30, 1997 is $661,777 after reducing the reserve account by $134,495 to balance the 96-97 budget. The estimated balance of $661,777 is $137,777 over the required reserve balance. The $136,777 represents 7.6 percent of 1996-1997's budget revenue. What I am requesting is to keep with the commitment and lower the tax rate the same amount that it was lowered, last year, 11/2 cents. This will be a $22.50 tax break on a $150,000 home. However the principle of fiscal responsibility and to continue to reward the citizens when we experience growth is a mark of a concerned government and sends a positive message of our consideration for the citizens. Approximately one half of the 11/2 cents is generated by the reduction in the I&S portion of the budget. This amount is generated by the growth in property value increases only. My action was also predicated on my understanding on the .3961 tax rate as explained by Jack Jacobs at our workshop on August 6. As you will recall, Jack explained how we could lower the tax rate and still have ample reserves. Ed was not present, Susan voiced her objections to the lower tax rate, but the other Council members did not comment. I viewed that as acceptance of the lower tax rate since all three members were on the Council last year and approved lowering the tax rate a similar amount in last years budget. I went back to the tape of that meeting to check my memory. Council, I am requesting you rethink your position in light of the above information. Please call me with you questions and/or comments. I know you wish to reward the citizen. Please approve the tax rate of .3961. Sincerely, es P. Carter, ayor