ccreg 08-04-1992
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REGULAR MEETING OF THE CITY COUNCIL
AUGUST 4. 1992
The Schertz City Council convened in Regular Session,
Tuesday, August 4. 1992 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, presiding; Joe Potempa; Hal Baldwin;
Barbara Stanhope; Mary Marsh and Ken Greenwald. Staff
present were City Manager Kerry Sweatt and City Secretary
June Krause.
Mayor Sawyer opened the meeting by leading everyone in the
Pledge of Allegiance.
Before starting the regular meeting, Mayor Sawyer recognized
Mrs. Ann Vick with a proclamation naming her the "Star of
the Month" for August. After congratulating Mrs. Vick, he
told her the proclamation would be o-n display at the Schertz
Bank & Trust and later at Wuests store and the Municipal
Building. Along with the honor, Mrs. Vick received a gift
certificate fro~ Contreras Flower Shop.
#1 APPROVAL OF MINUTES: A.
B.
BOA Meeting of 7-7-92
Regular of 7-7-92
Mrs. Marsh..m()'y_~g to approve the minutes of the BOA hear ing
of July 7, 1992 and the Regular Meeting of July 7 I 1992.
Mr. Baldwin seconded the motion, which carried with the
following vote:
AYES: Councilmembers Potempa, Baldwin, Stanhope. Marsh and
Greenwald.
NAYS: None
#2 HEARING OF RESIDENTS: A. Mr.
Spicewood referred to the tax abatement
the City would be granting abatements to
the City, when or what will be given
businesses.
Ken Brown of 1217
and said that since
people coming into
to the existing
Mr. Sweatt advised that the Tax Abatement Agreement on the
agenda at this meeting is to upgrade an existing business.
B. Mrs. Jean Stewart of 1308 Circle Oak Drive said she had
visited the Municipal offices that day to get a preliminary
budget and was charged $22.20. She went on to say this is
high just to see a budget. She felt they should be readily
available to all citizens, since they need to know if they
can afford to live in Schertz.
She was advised that there is a copy available for anyone to
come in and look at as long as they wish.
C. Mrs. Tereletsky asked if the budget could be checked
out of the library.
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Mr. Sweatt again advised that a copy was filed with the
City Secretary and is available for review. If someone
wants to purchase a copy to take with them, they are
available and were priced in accordance with the Open
Records Act.
D. Mrs. Jeanie Ayote of 516 Mitchell said she felt
everyone knew that she had been having classes at the
swimming pool for senior citizens. Some of them walk with a
cane and cannot or have difficulty getting into the pool.
She suggested the possibility of a portable ramp. Mr.
Sweatt said he would look into the possibility.
#3 ORDINANCE: Mayor Sawyer introduced an ordinance
and read the caption as follows:
ORDINANCE NO. 92-T-16
AN ORDINANCE BY THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY
OF SCHERTZ, TEXAS, ESTABLISHING THE PECAN
DRIVE REINVESTMENT ZONE.
Mrs. Stanhope moved
ordinance establishing
Mr. Greenwald seconded
follows:
to approve the final reading of an
the Pecan Drive Reinvestment Zone.
the motion, which carried as
AYES: Councilmembers Potempa, Baldwin, Stanhope, Marsh and
Greenwald.
NAYS: None
#4 ORDINANCE: Mayor Sawyer introduced an ordinance
and read the caption as follows:
ORDINANCE NO. 92-T-17
AN ORDINANCE BY THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY
OF SCHERTZ, TEXAS, APPROVING A TAX ABATEMENT
AND A TAX ABATEMENT AGREEMENT FOR AND WITH
MR. REX BORNMANN, A PROPERTY OWNER IN THE
CITY OF SCHERTZ.
Mr. Baldwin moved to approve the final consideration of an
ordinance approving a Tax Abatement and a Tax Abatement
Agreement for and with Mr. Rex Bornmann. Mrs. Stanhope
seconded the motion, which carried with the follOWing vote:
AYES: Councilmembers Potempa, Baldwin, Stanhope, Marsh and
Greenwald.
NAYS: None
#5 ORDINANCE: Mayor Sawyer introduced an ordinance
and read the caption as follows:
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ORDINANCE NO. 92-S-18
AN ORDINANCE BY THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY
OF SCHERTZ, TEXAS AMENDING THE ZONING
ORDINANCE NO. 87-5-1 BY REZONING AREAS OF
LAND OUT OF GUADALUPE COUNTY AND REFLECTING
SUCH CHANGES ON CERTAIN ZONING MAPS IN
ACCORDANCE WITH THE SCHERTZ ZONING
ORDINANCE.
Mr. Potempa. moved to approve the final reading of an
ordinance amending the zoning ordinance by rezoning areas of
land out of Guadalupe County. Mr. Greenwald seconded the
motion, which carried with the following vote:
AYES: Councilmembers Potempa, Baldwin, Stanhope, Marsh and
Greenwald.
NAYS: None
#6 EXECUTIVE SESSION: Mayor Sawyer called an
Executive Session at 7:12 p.m. under Section 2 (e) of
Vernon's Texas Civil Statutes concerning pending litigation
and pending settlement offers.
The Regular Meeting was reconvened at 8: 10 p.m.
#7 Consider and take action, if any, on the above
Executive Session.
Mayor Sawyer announced there was no reason to take any
action as Council was just briefed by the attorneys.
#8 CITY MANAGER'S REPORT: None at this time.
#9 ITEMS BY COUNCIL: None
#10 ITEMS BY MAYOR: None
At this time, Mayor Sawyer called a short recess in order to
move the meeting to the conference room for the remainder of
the meeting.
#11 BUDGET WORKSHOP: The meeting was reconvened in
the Conference Room at 8:14 p.m. for a budget workshop,
with Mayor Sawyer announcing the meeting would last only
until 10:00 p.m., if not earlier.
Before starting on his explanations, Mr. Sweatt gave some
clerical changes on pages 7, 13, 24, 25 and 81. He then
referred to the charts on pages 2 through 5, explaining the
chart A gave the historical tax rates from 1981 through 1992
and the historical taxable values from 1982 through 1992.
Chart B indicates the General Fund revenues by category,
showing the percentages for each with taxes being the larger
at 43%.
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Chart C is the General
departments.
Fund expenditures by
larger
Chart D shows the General Fund expenditures by category,
with the largest being personnel at 63%.
Chart E shows the total budget request expenditures with
General Fund at 51% and Water Fund at 37%, SAFES 7%, Capital
Recovery at 3% and Fleet Service at 1%. This shows the
total budget, including all departments is $5,170,354.51.
Mr. Sweatt referred to page 7 of the budget, saying it is
the same information as on the last chart. The General Fund
revenues are estimated at $2,614,150.67, of which ad valorem
taxes represents $1,088,094.00; sale's tax at $525,OOOi
payment in lieu of taxes $210,000; various franchise
payments $100,420; municipal court fines $175,000, etc..
He said we have received from the Guadalupe County Appraisal
District a certified value of $253,847,4l0, with $3,048,037
in new improvements and $7,276,485 under protest. Under the
State Property Tax Code, we have calculated a number of
calculations. Last year our estimated values was
$269,354,784 and this year we estimate we have an assessed
value of some $8,230,839 less for 92-93 than for 91-92. On
that basis the calculation for the effective tax rate would
be 40.019 cents per $100 value. After preparing the budget
revenues and proposed expenditures, we have recommended to
you a tax rate of 42.55 cents per $100 value, which
represents an increase above the effective rate of 2.53
cents per $100 value. That is 6% above the effective rate.
Overall we have tried to use a conservative approach to
revenue estimates, based on passed performances or our best
estimates for next year.
Mr. Sweatt then explained the classification of accounts
numbering, with the first two digits designating the
department and the last three digits is a description of the
line item account - which is used in all departments. There
is a commentary before each department describing briefly
what that department consists of and the functions of that
department. Following that is the recap sheet, then the
detail sheet or sheets.
To make each department illustrative of the actual cost of
providing that service, we attempted to break out wherever
possible the actual costs for that department. Where there
is a general telephone cost, such as in the Municipal
Building, we have attempted to assign costs to each
department for their share of those telephone services and
the hardware involved. There are some kinds of activities
that are not very well defined and those are under
Non-Departmental Department, such as debt service.
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In the past, we have discussed the need for a necessary
reserve to meet good operating practices. Generally we
discussed the need of a minimum of a three-month operating
reserve. This budget, at $2,612,000, would represent a need
for a three-month reserve of approximately $426,000.
Mr. Sweatt then reviewed the tentative dates for the budget
workshops, those being the regular and workshop meeting
dates for August and possibly two in September. This would
anticipate that a Tax Public Hearing would be held on
September 8th, the budget Public Hearing on September 15th
and that Council would consider adopting both the tax rate
and the budget on September 15th.
There being no problem with the dates recommended, Mr.
Sweatt began going through the department budgets.
City Council, in the amount of $17,800.00
When asked what memberships were being dropped, Mr. Sweatt
advised the Metrocom Chamber of Commerce. He added that
under Special Events are included Senior Citizen Program
$500, 4th of July activities $1500, Military Appreciation -
$100, Christmas lighting $300, public relations
advertisements $200, float improvements $350,
miscellaneous - $500, and fireworks - $1,052 for a total of
$4,700.
City Manager, in the amount of $143,817.35
Mr. Sweatt advised this department includes the
Manager, his secretary, finance officer and finance
and a part-time clerk.
City
clerk
Line item Other Professional Services includes the license
fees for the accounting department software.
Line item City Insurance Commercial. Mr. Sweatt recalled
that at mid-year budget revisions, we had gone throughout
the budget and stripped out the department's share of
insurance cost and put that in Non-Departmental, trying to
get some accounting problems resolved. We believe we have
taken care of that and have gone back to each department and
budgeted it's share of all kinds of insurance.
Line item Other Repair/Maintenance Agreements. This year we
are allocating out to each department their share of such
things as data processing, license fees, telephone
maintenance, typewriter maintenance and things like that.
Municipal Court - budget of $51,345.35
Line item Other Professional Services includes fees for the
Judge, Prosecuting Attorney, and data processing license
fees.
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Line item Court & Jury Costs. The jury costs are $6 for
each juror and we anticipate four jury trials this year.
Tax Department - budget of $81,215.05
The primary increase is in the Personnel Services. In past
years, the secretary was paid half from this department and
half from the Inspection Department. This year, because of
problems in accounting and potential problems of
supervision, we have transferred that employee full time to
the tax department.
It was called to the attention of the City Manager some
transposed figures and an incorrect total in this
department. Mr. Sweatt was to check this out.
Planning & Zoning - budget of $86,507.50
When questioned concerning the Other Professional Service
item, Mr. Sweatt advised this is for consulting engineering
services and not for the comprehensive plan as we feel our
Planning & Zoning Commission and staff are qualified to
complete that.
He was also asked about the increase
Conference/travel/training and explained this includes
APA Conference for P&Z members as well as one major
processing session.
in
the
data
Mr. Sweatt said that, at this time, he would like to
discuss the manning document. As Council knows, personnel
in this department are the Assistant City Manager and
secretary to the P&Z Commission. We see the need to supply
the City Secretary with some assistance and are recommending
Mrs. Althouse (the P&Z secretary) for this additional duty.
Mrs. Austin's title would be changed to Office Manager/Data
Processing System Administrator. Mrs. Althouse is willing
and has the background and capability to assist the City
Secretary. The reason for bringing this up right now is the
extra money in training for this department includes
training for Mrs. Althouse. There are times when the P&Z
and Council meet at the same time; in that event Mrs.
Austin would serve as secretary to one.
Legal - $34,100.00
The department represents expenses directly involving legal
services.
Police Service - $708,166.15
Mr. Sweatt explained that personnel costs are the single
highest item, in the amount of $564,576.15, with vehicle
replacement cost being next at $26,971 for lease/purchase
payments. He said he would be recommending replacing five
vehicles. The Office Equipment expense is for the purchase
of an additional PC with color monitor.
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When asked what we would do with the replaced vehicles. Mr.
Sweatt advised that two of the best would be transferred to
the Inspection Department.
Mr. Potempa asked about the uniform allowance and if the
dispatchers were still paid the allowance. If so, why are
some of the dispatchers not in uniform. Mr. Sweatt advised
that it is not mandatory and if they choose to wear civilian
clothes, this is for cleaning.
Fire Department - $228,317.70
Mrs. Marsh asked why the clothing
and laundry decreased. Mr. Sweatt
to outfit all personnel with three
set for the part-time employees.
laundry.
allowance was increased
informed that we propose
sets of clothing and one
They will do their own
Mr. Sweatt explained the Capital Outlay for Building was to
replace the bay area with lockers for bunker gear. Also to
purchase a fan, chain saw, two minotors and water rescue
equipment that we have never had before.
The Training expense includes sending employees to HASMET
school, emergency management courses and schools and to send
one to be certified as an instructor so we can document
certain credits in-house.
Inspection - $52,327.85
This department is responsible for enforcing bUilding
related codes, support for the health officer and code
enforcement. The decrease from last year is because of
transferring half of the secretary's salary to reflect the
full salary in the Tax Department.
Street Department - $297,006.80
Mrs. Marsh questioned the decrease in the street
maintenance materials, adding that our streets are not in
the best of condition now. Mr. Sweatt advised that the
money is just not available - we could make that item
$140,000 and it still would not solve our problems with
streets. We cannot afford the level of maintenance that it
would take to bring our streets up to the required level.
This account contains money for continuing remedial patch
program only.
Mr. Baldwin
Mr. Sweatt
transferring
a decrease.
questioned the increase in personnel services.
explained we are not adding employees, just
some from Parks, where you will notice there is
Mrs. Marsh requested that after going through all
departments, Council should go back and discuss street
repairs. She then asked why the increase in chemicals. Mr.
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Sweatt said that last year we tried to eliminate the use of
herbicides at curb lines; however due to the excessive
rain, we do not have the personnel to do the weed eating
now.
Parks and Recreation Department - $114,549.28
Mrs. Stanhope asked about the program comments concerning an
Advisory Committee. Mr. Sweatt said there has been a
recommendation from one of the Visions Groups for a Park and
Recreation Advisory Committee.
Mrs. Marsh mentioned that some day the large pavilion has to
be painted. Mr. Sweatt said staff recognized that need but
felt we do not have the money this year.
Mrs. Marsh also expressed the need for
system for the pavilion. Mayor Sawyer
Manager to get some cost figures on that.
a better
asked the
sound
City
Mr. Potempa asked
giving BVYA. Mr.
electricity, water
concession stand,
repair fences.
what additional support
Sweatt said that included
and sewer; also red clay,
new score keeper stand and
we would
$14,400
roof on
repair,
be
for
the
and
Mr. Potempa asked if there was any bond money left and Mr.
Sweatt said none for parks.
Mayor Sawyer suggested stopping at this point and continuing
with the budget at the next meeting, which will be August
12th.
#12 ADJOURNMENT: Mr. Potempa moved the meeting be
adjourned at 9:55 p.m. with Mrs. Marsh seconding the
motion, which carried unanimously.
ATTEST:
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