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Home My WebLink About11/15/2005 Adjourned Meeting 2 343 ADJOURNED MEETING NOVEMBER 15, 2005 - 7:00 P.M. COUNCIL CHAMBERS - CITY HALL 1. Roll Call Present: Council: Mayor Paul George, presiding, Council Members Ron Bonlender, Dave Edler, Neil McClure, Mary Place, Bernard Sims, and Susan Whitman Staff: City Manager Zais, City Attorney Paolella and Acting City Clerk Watkins 2. Public Hearing on the proposed 2006 budget for the City of Yakima • Mayor George opened the public hearing YVCOG — Yakima Valley Conference of Governments ($39,130 Budgeted) Page Scott representing the organization said they hold the key to unlock federal funds in federal transportation dollars. They are the lead agency on the Commute Trip Reduction Program, a state mandated program, and also partner with Yakima Transit in the transportation planning arena. Clean Air Authority ($12,622 Budgeted) Les Ornelas, Executive Director and Air Pollution Control Officer, distributed a document that showed the services they provide. The local assessment represents 4% of that budget. He said they have developed a refined cost accounting system and can track the dollars. Over the years this assessment has gone from 39 cents in 1995 to the current amount of 15.8 cents. RSVP — Retired Senior Volunteer Program ($3,000 Budgeted) Deborah Wilson provided a handout with activity information outlining accomplishments for 2005. They had 643 active seniors who put in 119,000 hours working in 120 different agencies. They are asking for continued support of a very active program. Yakima County Development Association (New Vision) ($19,913 Budgeted) Dave McFadden, President, described 2005 as a strong year with new companies such as Maytag and HouseValues, as well as expansions such as Cub Crafters. They have also provided energy and leadership on community policy issues as well as provided stewardship to the Yakima County SIED fund. Hispanic Chamber of Commerce ($10,000 Unbudgeted) Ernesto Gonzales, President, said they will use the requested funds to foster community economic development, citizenship, and cooperation of city government to improve quality of life. They hope to complete a Hispanic survey to identify and 3 4.9x, ADJOURNED MEETING — NOVEMBER 15, 2005 BUDGET HEARING mentor Hispanic leadership and placement of Hispanics on City committees and boards. He distributed a handout that outlined how the money would be utilized. Summer ArtsVan ($5,333 Budgeted) Larry Mattson, representing the Allied Arts Council, presented their request. He spoke about how they have leveraged the money from the City to more than double what they received. The Summer ArtsVan served over 4,000 youth in 2005. Yakima Basin Storage Alliance, Black Rock Reservoir ($60,000 Unbudgeted) Chuck Klarich said they are requesting continued funding as they have another year to a year- and -a -half before the Bureau of Reclamation has the Environmental Impact Statement complete. Congress allocated another $1.5 million for the continuation of the Black Rock study. The Governor has said the study will be finished so they expect there will be state funding to add to the federal funding. The expectation is that between $10 -12 million will be spent to complete the feasibility study. The requested funding from the City is to help them make their presence known in Washington DC, where 50% of the project's funding will be coming from. During discussion it was noted the State of Washington Department of Ecology gave approximately $200,000 to the Bureau of Reclamation and asked them to look at preliminary studies of additional stored water along the Columbia River. It was also noted that the Bureau of Reclamation has not contributed to the Black Rock project funding. It is their hope that by June of 2006 Black Rock will be the only project meeting the criteria in the legislation. Then the EIS will go out for comment and they would then be able to go forward for funding of the design and construction phase. Yakima/Morelia Sister City— ($1,000 Unbudgeted) Jim Rigney spoke about the organization's beginning and how they have grown tremendously in the last five years. The requested funds will be used as a baseline. The last delegation visit cost $4,000 to host and they had a large outpouring from Yakima for support. Public Comments Clarence Barnett, 916 S. 17 Avenue, spoke about the depressed state of the economy emphasizing its impact on the citizens. He said over 22% of the people in Yakima live below the poverty level. His point was that these citizens cannot afford the utility rate increases reflected in the 2006 budget. He suggested the Council review the budget again and look at taking funds from other areas rather than having utilities fund other projects. He used the Black Rock project as an example noting that $120,000 will have been taken from Water and Irrigation in the past two years. Further funding of this project will require an additional 1`)/0 utility rate increase. He listed other items that impact the rates such as the Utility Permitting Management System, the increase of the In Lieu Of Tax, and the new 2 35G.. ADJOURNED MEETING — NOVEMBER 15, 2005 BUDGET HEARING Deputy of Economic Development that is partially funded by Water and Wastewater. The cumulative impact of using these funds for those purposes contribute to significant increases in the City's utility rates. He also commented that when the economy is depressed, it is not the time to add new programs such as the Code Compliance Officer for Refuse. He mentioned how the recent rate increase in natural gas and the reported increase in electricity further support his premise that the City's utility rate should not be increased due to the cumulative impact it will have on the citizens. Mr. Barnett also expressed concern regarding talk about looking into establishing a metropolitan park district and annexing the library. He feels the citizens need assurance from the Council that the City property tax levy will be reduced to offset additional taxes imposed by levies for a parks district and the library annexation. Lynne Kittelson, 305 N. 9th Street, agreed with Mr. Barnett's comments. City Manager Zais spoke in response to Mr. Barnett's comments advising the Council that a number of utility rate options are not budgeted as policy issues but are unbudgeted options for their consideration. Some of them emerged from the Budget Strategy Team, e.g. the library annexation and looking into a park district. The City also is experiencing higher prices for landfill costs, fuel costs, etc. These impacts are becoming more serious. The current budget is dependent on reserves within the guidelines of using less than 5 %. As referenced in the opening statements, we are at minimum reserve levels with mandatory spending and have to be very careful. In the absence of new revenues, we have to keep spending in check and incorporate program reductions into the budget. Mr. Zais then reviewed the mandated and contractual obligations to make the point that we're looking for revenue sources to cover the increasing costs. Council Member Sims responded to Mr. Barnett's comments by saying that during the seventeen years they served on the Council together, Mr. Barnett always saw doom and gloom. He then expressed his opinion about how we have responded to reduced revenues while still trying to create economic growth. He said we have to be creative in financing and many times we waited too long. He applauded our efforts at grant writing and some of the new opportunities for businesses to come to Yakima. Things are moving forward and we need to seize the moment. • Mayor George closed the public hearing 3. Adjournment McCLURE MOVED AND WHITMAN SECONDED TO ADJOURN TO NOVEMBER 22, 2005 AT 8:30 A.M. FOR BUDGET REVIEW AND OTHER BUSINESS IN THE COUNCIL CHAMBERS AT CITY HALL. The motion carried by unanimous voice vote. The meeting adjourned at 8:16 p.m. 3