HomeMy WebLinkAbout08-21-2014scm-millage rate
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City Council of Peachtree City
Special Called Meeting Minutes
August 21,2014
7:30 a.m.
The Mayor and Council of Peachtree City met in a special called meeting on Thursday, August 21,
2014, at City Hall. Mayor Vanessa Fleisch called the meeting to order at 7:30 a.m. Other Council
Members attending: Terry Ernst, Eric Imker, Mike King, and Kim Learnard.
The purpose of the special called meeting was to hold a public hearing on the 2014 millage rate.
Financial Services Director Paul Salvatore noted this was the second of three required public hearing
regarding the proposed one mill increase to Maintenance & Operation millage rate, which would
increase the millage rate from the current 6.756 mills to 7.756 mills. The Bond rate would remain the
same at 0.332 mills.
Salvatore gave a breakdown of the one mill increase, which was estimated at $1,743,716. The list
included the following:
Landscaping Improvements
Infrastructure Improvements
Increase in path maintenance
Increase in Street Paving - G/F
Litter Removal (KPTCB)
Technology improvements
$635,000 ($253,000 FY20 14 + $382,000 FY201 5)
$200,000 (mainly bridge maintenance)
$ 75,000
$717,000
$ 45,760
$ 70,956
$1,743,716
Salvatore continued that the Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax (SPLOST) had generated $2
million annually in the budget. The proposed one mill increase would put $1.7 million back into the
budget.
Fleisch opened the public hearing.
Phil Prebor said the City needed to spend its money wisely. He had e-mailed members of Council
concerning the budget, and he had received feedback. Not many citizens were involved in the
public hearings, and Prebor said that was a credit to Council. People said the City was a nice place
to live, but it was looking somewhat rundown. He would like to see a drill down analysis of stormwater
fees.
Glen Adams noted he owned three houses in the City he had fixed up and rented. He had just sold
one. There was no profit when the taxes were added. He moved to the City in 2006, and he had lost
faith in the City's decision-making. His peers were also frustrated, and he said they saw no reason for
the City to purchase a helicopter (scrivener's note: no helicopter had been purchased or was being
proposed), have more police cars than officers, layoff Public Works employees, charge an inventory
tax higher than other cities, and more. He pointed out that property values had not increased by one
mill. and the City should be doing things more efficiently. He agreed the roads needed repairs, but he
was not sure about the stewardship of the funds, pointing out that the roads in Morallion Hills were
repaved six years ago, and a former mayor lived in that subdivision. The roads had been worse in his
subdivision, and they had still not been repaved. A retired Army engineer, Adams noted that patches
would not work on the one-base on Peachtree Parkway. The citizens had lost trust in Council. He
asked Council to put out a list of priorities for roads and cart paths. He did not want to sell his houses,
but he had too. There was no profit margin.
Russell Guillory said there were three areas driving the proposed millage increase and the pay raise.
He understood the City lost the Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax, but raising the millage rate to
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City Council Minutes
August 21, 2014
Page 2
compensate was not appropriate. The City had not justified the reason to double the funding for
roads. Adjustments should be made within the budget. He appreciated Council's desire to address
the landscaping complaints. Many cities managed contracted mowers. He recommended the City
continue to use contracted services augmented by City teams. The City had not shown employee
pay was under market. Raises should be given to everyone for inflation or individual raises should be
given to positions below market. He continued that an increase in taxes could have a negative
effect. Taxes should be kept low to keep the City vibrant. If the City's taxes grew more than the
surrounding communities, Council was not likely to accomplish its goals.
The public hearing closed.
Learnard noted there was a metric for the roads on the City website. City Manager Jim Pennington
said two workshops had been held on the roads and paths, with presentations showing the roads
needing repairs and the associated costs.
Fleisch recalled she had received an e-mail from Adams, saying she had forward his e-mail to the City
Manager. She added that the paths were also rated and prioritized for repairs and paving. She said
the landscaping had been outsourced in 2009, and the City had slowly been taking the landscaping
back. She continued that the $635,000 budgeted included manpower and equipment, so some of
that funding was a one-time cost.
Imker showed those attending the meeting how to find the road and path priority lists on the City
website. He also asked the citizens for their e-mails, saying he wanted to correct some inaccuracies in
their statements and follow up on some things.
Pennington said there would not be a 3% salary increase. It was a placeholder while staff waited for
the results of a pay and classification study. Guillory said the 3% salary increase was driving the millage
increase, asking if it would not be wise to wait for the results of the study.
Salvatore said a 2% cost of living increase was built-in with no increase in the budget or millage rate.
The Public Works director salary had been eliminated, and there had been a decrease in the cost of
the pension fund by $60,000 annually for two years. Those two things would take care of 1 % of the 3%.
He continued the 3% was a place holder. The study could say the salaries were fine. It would not be
an across the board 3% raise.
Salvatore continued that the funds for paving had not been doubled. Guillory said the City should be
able to maintain the roads without a SPLOST and from the General Fund without raising taxes. The City
would have been about to double funds for road maintenance if the funding had been left at the
level it was on before the SPLOST.
There being no further business, Imker moved to adjourn the meeting. Ernst seconded. Motion carried
unanimously. The meeting adjourned at 7:56 a.m.
~fr~lerk ~~I~~