HomeMy WebLinkAbout08-09-2012 special called meeting
City Council of Peachtree City
SpiCial called Meeting Minutes
August 9, 2012
7:00 p.m.
The Mayor and City Council of the City of Peachtree City met in special called meeting on
Thursday, August 9,2012. Mayor HQddix called the meeting to order at 8:00 a.m. Other Council
Members in attendance: George Dienhart, Vanessa Fleisch, Eric Imker, and Kim Learnard.
The purpose of the meeting was to consider adoption of the 2012 millage rate.
Financial Services Director Paul Salyatore addressed Council, asking for adoption of the rollback
millage rate for 2012 property taxes of 6.756 mills for Maintenance and Operation and 0.422 for
Bond.
Dienhart moved to postpone the public hearing for two weeks. Learnard seconded the motion
for discussion.
Dienhart said he and Imker had {tems in the proposed budget they wanted to investigate,
adding that the rollback might not be needed. He felt it was important the City looked at those
items.
Imker asked what the legal implications were of postponing the public hearing and adoption of
the millage rate.
Salvatore said the advertising proc~ss w()uldhave to start again. State law required the hearing
for the millage rate be advertised'two weeks prior, assuming what was adopted was either at
the rollback rate or lower. Otherwise, the faw required three publiC hearings arid a notice of tax
increase. The ad could run in the Saturday, August 11, edition of Today in Peachtree City. The
earliest date the hearing could be held was August 27. Salvatore said he needed a specific
date for the ad. Council consensuS was August 27 at 8:00 a.m.
Imker said Council needed to know the big picture before voting on anything. He had not
heard any alternative plans to the proposed budget or millage, adding Council needed to look
at the following years and what would happen. If Council did not rollback the millage rate this
year the $635,000 shortfall in revenue in FY 2013 due to the decrease in the tax digest, the loss
would be $3 million when it was all added up. He wanted someone else on Council to take the
lead in looking at where $3 million could be cut and bring those ideas to the August 21
workshop.
Haddix said a needs assessment hpd to be done befor~cutting that much from the proposed
budget. Council needed a con<;:rete knowledge of what was wanted and needed before
moving forward on a long-term basis. The budget could not be trimmed here and there without
something firm in place to know where the City wanted to go. They did not have that.
Learnard noted the college and career academy project she was working on with local
businesses and the Fayette County Board of Education.. It had started in March when she was
talking to industries and learning there might be a hiring problem or disconnect. There was a
misalignment between what the schools were putting out and what was needed in the
workforce. She brought in the industry and education system leaders, as well as some
politicians. It did not take many months to pull something together that benefited everyone.
City Council Minutes
August 9, 2012
Page 2
Learnard said it might be time for Haddix to pull his ideas together, adding that staff was
stretched thin and leadership was needed to pull things together.
Haddix said he could put a committee together, but it would not be an instantaneous thing. He
applauded Learnard's efforts with the school and wanted it to continue. Work had been done
on a similar idea in 2008 and 2009 that had stprt~d moving forward and fell apart. He wanted it
to succeed no matter who was heqding it up. Haddix said he could definitely pull a committee
together, but it would take time. Learnard applauded Haddix for his willingness to pull things
together and examine things, ad(jing that he had ideas that needed to come to the table.
Haddix said he would get with staff to formulate a request to the community and pull together
the correct people. Learnard said she had done everything on her own, and there was no
need to give staff homework. Haddix said he was only talking about the advertising portion.
Fleisch said there was no need to <:;:ldvertise. She worked on the partnership with Fayette Senior
Services for seven months prior to bringing it to staff. Her concern was that Haddix wanted a
needs assessment done in August when staff started working on the budget in January, which
was when forming a needs assessment committee should have happened. Haddix said he had
requested it earlier but had gotteh no feedback from Council. The work with Fayette Senior
Services actually began yeprs ago, not this year. There was a lot already formulated to move
forward on, making it easier. Fleisch disagreed, saying they needed to move on.
Dienhart said they needed to get back on track and talk about the budget. He. applauded
Haddix for moving forward with the committee.
Imker said the City Manager and staff had given Council a proposed budget, which was what
staff said they needed to do the job Council set up for them to do. He was dumbfounded with
the referral to needs. There had Qeen a budget workshop and public hearing, and there had
been minimal input from citizens. They were trusting Council to do its job and determine how to
spend their tax money. Council determined what needs to present to the citizens. It was up to
Council to determine the priorities of what was needed versus what was wanted. He had held
his own citizen workshops in the past. He had gotten very good support from those workshops.
The last hour request for a needs qssessment from the citizens was outrageous. Council needed
to come back to the next few m~~tings with recommendations on where to cut the budget.
The citizens trusted them to do th~ right thing, and if they did not, the citizens would change
things next year.
Haddix said it was not a last mirwte request. He had requested it in pervious years. The
distinction was he could form a committee, and he was going to do so.
Council consensus was to contim.Je the public hearing to August 27 at 8:00 a.m. The motion
carried unanimously.
There being no further business to discuss, Imker moved
seconded. Motion carried unanimously. The meeting adjo
11t1~
to adjourn the meeting. Dienhart
ed at 8:13 a.m.
Don Haddix, Mayor