ccss 09-15-1993
258
SPECIAL MEETING OF THE CITY COUNCIL
SEPTEMBER 15, 1993
The Schertz City Council convened in Special Session,
Wednesday, September 15, 1993 at 7:00 p.m. in the Council
Chambers of the Municipal Complex, 1400 Schertz Parkway,
Schertz, Texas. The following members were present: Mayor
Earl W. Sawyer, presidingi Joe Potempai Hal Baldwini
Mary Marsh and Ken Greenwald. Absent: Barbara Stanhope.
Staff present were City Manager Kerry Sweatt and City
Secretary June Krause.
Mayor Sawyer opened the meeting by asking everyone to rise
and join him in the Pledge of Allegiance.
#1
receive
taxes.
PUBLIC HEARING: The purpose of the hearinq was to
public comments on a proposal to increase property
Mr. Sweatt presented several slides at this time.
The first slide depicted the historical tax
City of Schertz from 1982 throuqh 1993. He
1993-94 value is predicated on a Certified
$257,826,670.
values of
indicated
Tax Roll
the
the
of
The second slide showed the historical tax rate for the
years 1981 through 1993. These range from the proposed
1993-94 rate of 46.84 cents per $100 to the low in 1987 of
24.70 cents per $100 value.
The third slide showed the breakdown between the debt
service and operations and maintenance. In 1981 the tax
rate was .64/$100, with O&M being 52 cents and I&S 12 cents.
The breakdown for the 1993 rate of .4684/$100 is O&M .3731
and I&S 9.53 cents.
The fourth slide showed a comparison of tax rates of the
area cities.
The fifth slide was a pie chart, not necessarily just
related to taxes but showing the relation of the General
Fund Income from its various sources of $2,848,290. Of
that, Ad valorem taxes represents 50%, (Mr. Sweatt pointed
out that this includes all taxes, including the In Lieu of
Taxes from the Utility Department) Sales tax 19%, franchises
payments 8%, Municipal Court 7%, Permits 4% and
Miscellaneous 12%.
Mrs. Marsh asked what was included in Miscellaneous and was
told that included platting fees, adoptions fees, pool gate
admissions, donations, interest earned, loans and lease
proceeds, grants.
0~~,
The sixth chart showed the expenditures breakdown for the
General Fund with Economic Development and Administration
being combined with Management. The City Council 1%,
Management 10%, Municipal Court 2%, Tax 3%, Planning 4%,
Legal 1%, Police 28%, Fire 8%, Inspection 2%, Street/Parks
14%, Municipal Building 5%, Animal Control 3%, Swimming Pool
2%, Library 4% and Non-Departmental 13%.
Mr. John Harris asked
Non-Departmental. Mr.
Non-Departmental included
ambulance support, audit,
records management.
for an explanation of
Sweatt explained that
such things as debt service,
insurance, lease payments and
Mrs. Jarman said she understood our taxes are going up due
to a decrease in appraised value of property.
Mr. Sweatt advised that was one of the reasons for the
change in the assessed value from last year to this year.
This represented a $3,297,225 decrease from the previous
year.
Mr. Sweatt said the increase in taxes represents
approximately a 10% increase in rate from last year to this
year. Part of that is the decrease in values, part is due
to recommended proposed hiring in the police and fire
department, vehicle purchase, fencing in the park, merit
increases in personnel.
Mrs. Jarman questioned the hiring in administration
departments, asking about secretarial pool etc. Mr. Sweatt
advised that there are only two secretaries in the City.
She asked if the additional employees were justified and Mr.
Sweatt said that was our recommendation.
Mrs. Jarman then asked about the rollback tax rate. She
said she understood that the recommendation was to jump up
the tax rate the highest it could be just under the rollback
rate.
Mrs. Sweatt said the definition of the
that it is the rate at which a rollback
developed. The calculated rollback rate
the recommended tax rate is 46.84
substantially below the rollback rate.
rollback rate
petition might
is 48.15 cents
cents, which
is
be
and
is
Mr. Jarman said that what he had heard so far in no way
justified a tax increase this year. He said the slides
justified nothing.
Mr. Sweatt said the slides were not intended for
justification but to explain the recommendations.
'/.'U
.....0
Mrs. Marsh said Council has spent an entire month Wednesday
and Tuesday nights, 2-1/2 to 3 hour sessions, line item by
line item, on this budget for justification and
prioritization, which is done every year. She indicated
that if Mr. Jarman had attended those meetings, he would
have what the justifications were. All meetings are open to
the public.
Mr. Harris observed that it seems like we get the horse
before the cart. The only way a citizen will know about the
budget is to attend those meetings, which he did this year.
He commented that if you are not at those meetings, you are
lost. By the hearing date, you are too late to understand.
He also said that he felt he was at a disadvantage at all
the meetings because he did not have a copy of the budget to
follow along. He realized that there are weekly changes
being made. He asked for consideration in the future where
citizens could look at the budget before decisions are made.
He said he understood that by law you do have to approve the
tax rate before you approve the budget. Mr. Harris also
said he was told what the justifications were and the
meetings are open to everyone to attend and listen and
comment. He was allowed to speak any time he had a question
and was given answers.
Mayor Sawyer said he appreCiated Mr. Harris' comments and
said it might be wise for the City Manager to have copies of
the budget available at the meetings in the future.
Mr. Sweatt
office and
meetings.
reminded
the City
him that copy was available
Secretary's office prior
in
to
his
the
Mrs. Jarman
heard several
Council had
she felt the
questions.
said before they came to this meeting, she
comments that it would not do any good because
already made up their minds and she told them
Council would like to hear citizen comments and
Mr. Baldwin said he agreed with Mr. Harris. He,too, feels
the system is backwards. He said he was not sure Why we
have the public hearing on the tax rate before we have the
public hearing on the budget but that is the way it works.
There is going to be a public hearing on the budget and he
said he was sure Mr. Sweatt would intend to fully justify
the budget, with proper slides. He said there was still
time for citizens to look at a copy of the budget so they
could ask questions. The budget is broken down and shows
three years of expenses. During the public hearing is the
time to ask your questions. There is still plenty of
opportunity to have input on the budget and opportunity for
the Council to change anything. He pointed out that Council
had not adopted either a tax rate or the budget.
2Gl
Mr. Ken Brown addressed Council with a prepared statement.
He felt the budget process was a big joke and waste of time
since Council lets the City Manager have anything he wants
without restrictions. He also said Council "thinks it is
okay to sock it to the taxpayers again since they are too
stupid to know the difference". Mr. Brown went on to say
he felt the budget process was a sham and that it is high
time "we make the City Manager accountable to the Council
and citizens and operate within the taxpayer's means". He
also mentioned that "partly because of the inefficiency of
our city employees, our water rates are going up again".
Mayor Sawyer said Mr. Brown says this every year and every
year Council beats him down. He resented Mr. Brown calling
our citizens "stupid".
Mr. Sweatt said he did not intend to answer or comment at a
public meeting.
Mr. Wayne Davis of 105 Roundtree, said he was an original
settler in Lone Oak moving there in 1965. He asked who
appointed the Guadalupe County Appraisal District?
Mayor Sawyer said they are voted into office by each entity.
The separate entities are giving a certain amount of votes
by the number of taxes they collect. In this district the
big entities are the schools, who really appoint the board.
The City of Schertz has votes to try to appoint about one
fifth of a member. Mr. Davis said he thought they should
do away with appraisal districts.
Mr. Davis then related an experience he had, saying they
have a sewage smell in the summer time. He said they can
not even have outdoor bar-b-ques because of the smell.
Another problem he mentioned was the dust from the concrete
plant blowing across and killing the trees at his mother's
house on Main Street. The concrete dust blows on the top of
the roof and when it rains, it forms a concrete sheet on the
roof.
Mr. Sweatt said he would contact the Texas Air Control
Board on this subject. He also said the sewer matter was
the CCMA treatment plant and we had thought it was taken
care of.
Mr. Baldwin asked that staff give Mr. Davis the meeting
nights of CCMA so they can gO to the meetings and tell them
about the problem. We have been dealing with them for at
least ten years about this.
Mayor Sawyer said we will also do the best we can on this.
Mr. Harris
the budget
Tuesday.
asked if he could go to city hall and go over
prior to the public hearing the following
26'1.
Mayor Sawyer mentioned that he would
public hearing on the tax increase.
meeting after this meeting and he
about other things then.
like to get back to the
There will be a council
would be glad to talk
Mayor Sawyer asked if there were any further comments from
the citizens - there were none. He then asked if Council
had any comments - there were none.
Mayor Sawyer then declared the public hearing closed at 7:50
p.m.
ATTEST:
A:~~l~s
CL , ~GJ~-U
Cif.1ecretary, ty of Schertz
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