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HomeMy WebLinkAbout09.12.2012 special SPECIAL CITY COUNCIL MINUTES - SEPT. 12, 2012 CITY OF MIAMI GARDENS SPECIAL CITY COUNCIL MINUTES SEPTEMBER 12, 2012 (A) CALL TO ORDER/ROLL CALL The City Council for the City of Miami Gardens,Florida,met in special session,Wednesday, September 12, 2012, beginning at 6:11 p.m., in the City Council Chambers, 1515 NW 167th Street, Building 5, Suite 200,Miami Gardens,Florida. The following members of the City Council were present: Mayor Oliver Gilbert,Vice Mayor Lisa C. Davis and Council members Lillie O. Odom, Andre Williams, and David Williams Jr. Councilwoman Felicia Robinson was not present. Also in attendance were: City Manager Dr. Danny O. Crew, City Attorney Sonja K. Dickens and City Clerk Ronetta Taylor. (B) INVOCATION (C) PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE Mayor Gilbert announced, "This is the first of two public hearings for the adoption of the millage rate and budget for the City of Miami Gardens for fiscal year 2012/2013." (D) RESOLUTION(S)/PUBLIC HEARING RESOLUTION NO. 2012-119-1714 D-1) A RESOLUTION OF THE CITY OF MIAMI GARDENS,FLORIDA, ADOPTING A PROPOSED MILLAGE RATE AT A PUBLIC HEARING,FOR THE FISCAL YEAR COMMENCING OCTOBER 1, 2012, THROUGH SEPTEMBER 30, 2012; ESTABLISHING THE ROLLBACK RATE; SETTING A DATE AND TIME FOR A FINAL PUBLIC HEARING TO ADOPT THE FINAL MILLAGE RATE; PROVIDING FOR DIRECTIONS TO THE CITY CLERK; AND PROVIDING FOR AN EFFECTIVE DATE. (SPONSORED BY THE CITY MANAGER) After the City Clerk read the above referenced item in to the record,Mayor Gilbert stated, "The proposed Millage Rate for the City for fiscal year 2012/2013 is 6.3620,which represents the roll-back rate." Manager Crew stated that he is recommending a Millage Rate of 6.3620,which is a decrease from this year's current millage rate. The City's property values did go up,and as required by state law to lower the millage rate in order to bring in the same amount of dollars that we brought in last year. As Special City Council Minutes - September 12, 2012 Page 1 SPECIAL CITY COUNCIL MINUTES - SEPT. 12, 2012 per the state this is considered a zero increase,budget. Mayor Gilbert opened the floor for this public hearing. After there were no interested parties to speak on this item,the public hearing closed. Motion offered by Vice Mayor Davis, seconded by Councilman David Williams Jr., and Councilwoman Odom to adopt this item. Councilman David Williams Jr.,asked whether public meetings will be held in the future,for the benefit of the residents,prior to the budget being presented to the Council for a vote. Manager Crew in response to Councilman David Williams Jr.,inquiry said staffhas conducted public workshops, in the past. There were two meetings held in July when the tentative millage rate item was introduced. Council said those two meetings were sufficient, at that time. Staff would do whatever it is the Council wants to do. Councilman David Williams Jr., opined that it would be appropriate at some point to have a public meeting involving the public for input,before the Council votes on these matters. Mayor Gilbert shared there was a public workshop held on this matter. Furthermore,the public is invited to speak at this public hearing. He said if it is the desire of Councilman David Williams Jr., to have a public workshop, in the future that is something we can do. Councilman Andre Williams stated we have a bond issue related to the construction of the Town Hall Center. He asked the city manager to summarize how the payments will be made this upcoming fiscal year. Manager Crew in response to Councilman Andre Williams stated the payments are approximately 3.4 million per year. He said when this project first started approximately one and a half years ago there were existing bonds that would be soon paid off. The money that would be used to pay those bonds would be shifted over to pay for the city hall bond. Councilman Andre Williams asked what money was used to pay off those existing bonds. Manager Crew in respond to Councilman Andre Williams'inquiry said the money used to pay off the existing bonds was the CITT money. Councilman Andre Williams asked how much did the city receive in CITT funding. Manager Crew in response to Councilman Andre Williams inquiry stated the City received 10.2 million dollars in CITT funding. Councilman Andre Williams commented the city will not have that CITT money for next year. Special City Council Minutes- September 12, 2012 Page 2 SPECIAL CITY COUNCIL MINUTES - SEPT. 12, 2012 Manager Crew in response to Councilman Andre Williams said this is correct. However the City will not have those four(4)bond issues either. He further shared that the city put approximately 3.2 million dollars into the city's emergency reserve. Councilman Andre Williams asked the city manager to explain for the benefit of the residents what the CITT funds are. Manager Crew explained the City of Miami Gardens along with Doral and Cutler Bay received part of the transportation money the voters established in 2002. Miami Gardens became a city in 2003. Miami-Dade County refused to give Miami Gardens a share of that money even though Miami Gardens' residents pay a share of those taxes. The city filed a lawsuit against Miami-Dade County approximately one a half years ago to get the city's portion of the CITT dollars. When Carlos Gimenez was elected Mayor of Miami-Dade County, he agreed with the city's position and agreement was reached with Miami-Dade County awarding a onetime amount of 10.2 million dollars. An agreement was also reach to include the City of Miami Gardens for future CITT increments just like all the other municipalities in Miami-Dade County. Councilman Andre Williams thanked Manager Crew for this explanation,and commented that the CITT dollars received to pay off current city debts. Manager Crew in response to Councilman Andre Williams' comments said the CITT dollars were used to pay off some of the city's existing bond debts. Councilman Andre Williams asked beginning next fiscal year what would the city bond debt payments be. Manager Crew said the city still has to pay of two bonds issued by Miami-Dade County. In addition the city has to pay on two land acquisition bonds and a public facilities bond. The payment for the bonds next fiscal year totals approximately 11 million dollars. There being no discussion,a motion was offered by Councilman David Williams Jr.,seconded by Councilwoman Odom to defer this item until discussion of the budget item(Item E-1). There being no discussion,the motion to defer passed by a unanimous voice vote. *Please note after the millage resolution was recalled,the motion to adopt passed and carried by a 4-1 vote. Vice Mayor Lisa C. Davis: Yes Councilwoman Lillie Q. Odom: Yes Councilwoman Felicia Robinson: Not present Councilman Andre Williams: No Councilman David Williams Jr. Yes Mayor Gilbert: Yes Special City Council Minutes - September 12, 2012 Page 3 SPECIAL CITY COUNCIL MINUTES - SEPT. 12, 2012 After the vote was taken to adopt the tentative millage,a motion to recall the budget ordinance was offered by Vice Mayor Davis and seconded by Councilman David Williams Jr.,there being no discussion on this item,the motion to recall the budget ordinance passed by a unanimous voice vote. (E) ORDINANCE(S) FOR FIRST READING/PUBLIC HEARING: E-1) AN ORDINANCE OF THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF MIAMI GARDENS,FLORIDA,APPROVING AND ADOPTING THE CITY'S BUDGET FOR THE 2012-2013 FISCAL YEAR; PROVIDING FOR THE EXPENDITURE OF FUNDS; AUTHORIZING THE CITY MANAGER TO TAKE CERTAIN ACTIONS; PROVIDING FOR CARRYOVER OF FUNDS; PROVIDING FOR INTERFUND TRANSFERS; PROVIDING FOR AUTOMATIC AMENDMENT; PROVIDING FOR ADOPTION OF REPRESENTATIONS; REPEALING ALL ORDINANCES IN CONFLICT;PROVIDING A SEVERABILITY CLAUSE; PROVIDING FOR AN EFFECTIVE DATE. (SPONSORED BY THE CITY MANAGER) Manager Crew explained this item presents a budget using the rollback rate. This is a very tight budget,which does not include any benefits for city employees(e.g.COLA,deferred compensation and merit increases). The good news is that the city's tax base is going to go up by three (3%)percent. Since the city is going to the rollback rate there is a decrease in revenue of approximately one million dollars. The city is absorbing that by elimination of certain positions (deputy city manager, code director, IT technician, media and events, as well as others). The decrease in positions totals about (1.1) one point one million dollars. Just after the tentative millage was set in July,the city received notification that it was awarded a grant to pay for ten(10)additional police officers. However,this is a fifty percent matching grant. The city has to pay approximately a half million that it had not anticipated. However, the city will have ten additional police officers. There are not a lot of new projects in the budget because there is no funding for them. The city hall project is the only major project. It is anticipated staff will be in the new city hall by September 1,2013. What projects that are identified will be funded out of the new CITT money(road paving projects). The city will be receiving approximately 3.3 million dollars in CITT funding every year. Mayor Gilbert opened the floor for this public hearing. After there were no interested parties to speak on this item,the public hearing closed. Motion offered by Councilman David Williams Jr.,seconded by Councilman Andre Williams to adopt the budget ordinance on first reading. Councilman David Williams Jr., asked whether the city was paving non-city owned roads. Councilman David Williams Jr., asked whether the City has carryover funds. Special City Council Minutes - September 12, 2012 Page 4 SPECIAL CITY COUNCIL MINUTES - SEPT. 12, 2012 Manager Crew in response to Councilman David Williams Jr., said the left over money from this fiscal year will go back into the general fund. For instance the half million dollars needed to pay for those ten(10)police officers will come from those carryover funds. Councilman Andre Williams expressed concern with the I I million dollars debt payment that's payable beginning next year. He further expressed concern with the fact that the city's revenue will be decreased by one million dollars due to the rollback rate. He recounted the auditors that were here some months ago raised some concerns about this fiscal year. He said he would like to hear from the auditors and would like for a representative from that auditing firm to be present at the next budget hearing. Vice Mayor Davis for clarification purposes asked whether the city would be receiving CITT moneys next fiscal year and if so,how much. Manager Crew in response to Vice Mayor Davis' inquiry said the city will receive CHI money next fiscal year in the amount of approximately$280,000.00 per month. Mayor Gilbert asked whether the city's intercity transport (shuttle bus service) is being developed utilizing CITT money. Manager Crew in response to Mayor Gilbert's statement answered,"Yes."He said$600,000.00 of that money must be used for transportation,if not it has to be returned to Miami-Dade County. Staff is currently evaluation the route for the shuttle service. That item will be coming to Council very soon. Mayor Gilbert encouraged council members that if they have not met with Assistant City Manager Daniel Rosemond and staff with regard to the shuttle service and the proposed routes to please do so. Councilman Andre Williams stated that he asked for the city's auditors to be present at the next budget hearing and asked whether this needs to be a directive to the city manager. Mayor Gilbert in response to Councilman Andre Williams'request advised him that he needed to get his colleagues' support. Vice Mayor Davis said she did not have a problem with the auditors coming to the next budget hearing,even though the firm had appeared before the council previously. Mayor Gilbert said he did not have a problem with the auditing firm coming but the purpose of the auditor is not necessarily to review the city's budget. He further clarified the motion Councilman Andre Williams is about to make does have a fiscal impact. Councilman Andre Williams said he was well aware of the auditor's role,and yes there may be a fiscal impact by having the firm auditing appear at the next hearing. However we are discussing a Special City Council Minutes- September 12, 2012 Page 5 SPECIAL CITY COUNCIL MINUTES - SEPT. 12, 2012 150 million dollar budget. He said he would like to hear from the auditors because of the perspective given about the fiscal impact during their report. Manager Crew said the cost would probably be approximately $1000.00 dollars, which is typically what they would charge for doing work outside of the scope of their responsibility. Councilman Andre Williams said the city's auditing firm had provided the city with a prospective on the city's financial condition,moving forward, which also included this current fiscal year. He said if we could at least have that read into the record at the next budget hearing and have copies available for the public as well. Councilman David Williams Jr., asked about the DRI agreement with Dolphin Stadium and asked when would this agreement sunset. Attorney Dickens in response to Councilman David Williams Jr., inquiry said that agreement does not impact this budget. She said certainly if they were to build and give the city impact fees that would affect the budget, but she did not see that within the foreseeable future. She said she would discuss this matter with Councilman David Williams Jr. Mayor Gilbert opined with the ongoing water issue in Tallahassee and the Housing Authority the city is trying to establish the city needs to retain lobbyists,especially as it relates to issues in Washington, D.C. There being no further discussion on the item, a motion was offered by Councilman David Williams Jr., seconded by Vice Mayor Davis to defer this item until after the adoption of the millage resolution. The motion to defer this item passed and carried by a majority vote. After the motion was entertained and voted on to defer the budget ordinance, a motion was offered by Vice Mayor Davis, seconded by Councilman David Williams Jr., to recall the millage resolution. This motion passed and called by a unanimous vote. Once a motion was entertained and voted on to recall this item,the motion to adopt on first reading passed and carried by a 4-1 vote. Councilwoman Lillie Q. Odom: Yes Councilwoman Felicia Robinson: Not present Councilman Andre Williams: No Councilman David Williams Jr. Yes Vice Mayor Lisa C. Davis: Yes Mayor Gilbert: Yes Mayor Gilbert announced that,"The next public hearing will be held on September 26,2012 at 6:00 p.m.,in City Council Chambers. At that time,we will consider the final millage rate and budget for fiscal year 2012/2013". Special City Council Minutes - September 12, 2012 Page 6 SPECIAL CITY COUNCIL MINUTES - SEPT. 12, 2012 Councilman David Williams Jr.,requested that a workshop be scheduled before the next budget hearing. (F) ADJOURNMENT. There being no further business to come before this Body, and upon a motion being duly made and seconded the meeting adjourned at 6:40 p.m. Attest: liver i bert,Mayor Ronetta Taylor, MMC, C4 Clerk Special City Council Minutes - September 12, 2012 Page 7