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ccss-07-31-1980 190 SPECIAL MEETING OF THE CITY COUNCIL JULY 31, 1980 The Schertz City Council met in Special Session, Thursday, July 31, 1980 at 7:00 P.M. in the Council Chambers, 1400 Live Oak Road with the following members present: Mayor Jack M. Stomackin, Sr., presiding; Richard L. Howe; Barbara Taylor; Earl W. Sawyer and Jacqueline Lawler. Staff present were City Manager JimmY G. Gilmore and City Secretary June G. Krause. #1 PUBLIC HEARING: Mayor Stomackin opened the public hearing at 7:02 P.M., after welcoming and thanking those present for showing their concern by attending the public hearing. He explained the purpose of the public hearing was to allow citizens to be heard on the pro- posed increase in property tax assessment ratio by 15%. City Manager Jimmy Gilmore explained that the City has two sources of income - the General Fund and Water & Sewer Fund revenues. At the present time the Water & Sewer supports 43% of the services provided while the general fund inclUding taxes supports 35% of services. He showed with charts the assessment ration for taxing purposes for all years the city has been incorporated; a chart on the effect on indlvidual taxes with the proposed 15% assessment ratio.. increase, whiCh also showed the total taxable properties for the city and the effect of the increase on the whole. The Mayor then asked those in favor of the increase in assessment ratio to so signifiy, with an overwhelming number of people doing so. Of the approximately 96 persons present only 4 6r 5 said they were opposed to the tax assessment ratio increase. I . : I I Former Mayor Bueker of 1uOO Antler Urive addressed the Council, stating he was for the increase this year but the City should look at several items of revenue that could be raised - such as tax certificates and warrants. He also questioned some budget items such as fuel, electric costs of operating the municipal building, engineering costs, legal costs and chemical costs. In finalizing, he said that tax increases are not the onJyanswer to fiscal responsibility in the city; that we have the land and people and need to get more businesses to come into the city. Mr. Gilmore answered Mr. Bueker's questions on the proposed budget explaining we have just received an lncrease in chemical prices of 3U%, that last years budget fuel costs were based on lOt per gal Ion whereas with risi~g costs, this year's is based on $1.35 per gal Ion and that the electric costs is not just for the municipal building but all city owned buildings. Mrs. Hyatt of 410 Exchange next addressed the people rather than the Council, saying that a tax increase 6f some sort has been needed for a long time. She cited need for more pay for employess in order to keep them longer. Mr. Don Grainger of 101 Dearborne and william Courtney of4j13 Spanish Oak spoke in support of the tax assessment increase. Mr. Ed Tucker - 221 Westchester -also was for the proposed assessment ratio increase; but asked Council if they had considered exemptions for others with disabilities besides the elderly and verterans. 191 Mr. jDiCk Chambless - 504 Aviation Avenue - spoke ln opposition to the increase in cssessment ratio. He questioned Council' concerning budgetary items such as depr'eciation and certificate of deposits and mentioned seal coating of streets tha~ never did get accomplished. In cnswer, Mr. Howe read a memo the City Manager had given Council explaining to \h~ best of his knowledge the depreciation over the past several years. Mr. IGilmore explained that the City does have money in .Certificate of Deposits but ithat the money is restricted funds for interest and sinking, water and sew~r construction, ana buageted items. . I jVlr. iwalter ::>chneider - 111 Zuehl Road, spoke saying both ~lr. Bueker and Mr. Grainger brought out some good points and that he was not against the increase but Iwas agai nst the amount. He suggested Counci 1 shol(( d look at budget with a raise in service charges and very little tax increase. Mr. John Coste1lb - 104 Lintoln Drive - wanted to indicate his overall support of t he increase, sayi ng that he fee" s the vast majority of the employees ar~ ,underpaid and the lncreased revenues should go mostly to the lower paid emp I!oyees. Thel'e being no further citizens wishing to be neard, Mayor Stomackin closed thelPub1ic hearing at 8:09 P.M. and asked for a short recess. The Mayor reconvened the meeting at 8:,5 P.M. #2 REDISTRIBUTION OF REVI:.NUE SHARING fvllNEY: Mr. Gil more expl ai ned that originally there was $25,OUO in this year's budget for seal coating; however, this was from Revenue Sharing funcls and he has recei ved a 1 etter from the Secretary of State stati ng our Revenue Sharing funds have been cut by someri'$7,583, whi ch woul d only 1 eave $17l417 for seal coating. ' As our street sweep~r is out of comm'iission and the complaints we had on the last seal coating job, he recommend this money be redistributed. There is a need for three valves on FM 78 to alleviate the pro~lems had in the past, of LoneUak and Rio Vista subdivisions being in jeci~ardy if a fire occured during theoutage~ cause by breaks in the main line. The~e three valves would cost approximately $3,900. He also recommended part of ~hese revenue sharing monies be spent to resurface the utility yard as disqussed previously. Also there was planned in the water improvement contract un~er way to put in sensuring devices at the water tanks. However, with the increased ~ize motor being proposed, the sensures would require heavier wiring-system, which could be accomplished now for an additional $2,00U rather than the future replacement cost of $5,00U. Also a citizen has come in requesting the city put in a gravel road on the easement he granted in 1975. In the agreement, the City agreed to this, and at the moment we do not have estimate fi gures on cost but Mr. Gilmore requested some of thh revenue sharing money be used for this purpose as of course this was an unblldgeted item. After discussion by Council, Mr. Howe moved to allow the redlstribute these Revenue Sharing monies as discussed. the motion, which carried as follows: AYES: Councilmembers Howe, Taylor, Sawyer and Lawler NAYS: None Ci ty Manager to Mr. Sawyer seconded /2 /" OJ 192 Mrs. Lawler reminded Council of the County Conunissioners meeting the .next day to distribute their revenue sharing funds. ~r. Gilmore briefed Council on a meeting the Mayor, Mrs. Lawler, Tom Funk (SAFES Director) and he had witij the County Judge the week before to Qiscuss some problems SAFES has been having at the county hospital. They also dlscussed funding from the County Budget for the Library, since the Schertz Library has services available to approximately 40% of the County population. #3 ADJUURNMENT: at 8:48 P.M. Un a motion oy Mr. Sawyer, seconded by Mrs. Taylor and unanimously carried, the meeting was adJourned ATTEST: ~ J1 fY.-~-, ci ~r;: ctt}-'?:! Schertz . REGULAR MEETING OF THE CITY COUNCIL AUGUST 5, 1980 I ; I The Schertz City Council convened in Regular Meeting Tuesday, August 5, 1980 at 7:00 P.M. in the Council Chambers, 1400 Live Oak Road with the following members present: Mayor Jack M. Stomackin, Sr., presiding; Richard L. Howe; Barbara Taylor; Earl W. Sawyer and Jacqueline Lawler. Staff were City Mana- ger Jinuny G. Gilmore and City Secretary June G. Krause. #1 PUBLIC HEAkING: Mayor Stomackin opened the pUblic hearing at 7:00 P.M. and explained the purpose as being to allow citizens to be heard regarding the proposed annexation of 34.032 acres of land out of Guadalupe County. The City Manager pointed out on the map the location of the land being proposed for annexation. As there were no citizens wishing to speak on this annexation and Council had no questions, Mayor Stomackin declared the public hearing closed at 7:02 P.M. #2 PUBLIC HEARING: The Mayor opened this public hearing at 7:02 P.M. explaining the purpose was to allow citizens to be heard regarding the proposed annexation of 74.99 acres of land out of Bexar County. Mr. Gilmore pointed out on the map the location of the land being proposed for annexation. Again there were no citizens wishing to speak on this proposal. The Mayor declared the public hearing closed at 7:04 P.M.