Here’s the discussion on the budget – kinda live blogged – the meeting lasted til nearly 9:30. Too little time for anything else.
OVERVIEW
Goes over a document – not sure what it was, assuming it is attached to the agenda, but no time to check.
He says property values have gone up an average of 6% each year, now they are falling 1.5%. Levy will be more supported by non-residential property more than residential property in the next year. He talks about debt service being up 33%. The revenue is up $6M or 9%, state aid is up 4% mostly in transportation aid. Ambulance fee will go up over 70% in revenue, part of it is the base increase and then the rate by 50%. Room tax had been split 1/3 to general fund, Monona Terrace and GMCVB. This goes back to putting it in the general fund. Levy goes up 3.4%.
Ellingson says 5.4% increase in expenses and revenues up 9.4% why isn’t that equal. Schmiedicke explains the base of the percentages are different.
Mill rate is $9.30 for $1000, a 5.4% increase. That is cuz values went down. $47 increase or 2.23% increase can be expected. Page 5 is the levy increase calculations.
Sorry, he’s rattling off numbers too quickly and I lost the ability to keep up. Wish I could find this document. I guess its something they handed out, sorry I failed on this. Numbers are not my strength when typing fast. I’ll get a copy before I leave and post it tomorrow hopefully.
Says health insurance came in better, they budgeted 12% increase and it only went up 4%. WE may see another re-estimate of this after October. Recycling revenues change based on petroleum. Ambulance fee. Bus fare increases go a bit for a new route. Overture subsidy reduced by $1M. There is anew position in the clerk’s office, filling a position in the assessors office to get at properties that are constructed. Fire, library and police have some increases. Then there are some savings.
New expenditures are on page 8. He talks about the borrowing. He shows the supplemental budget requests and tells which ones are included and which are not.
Page 12 is backgorund on the ambulance fee.
Ok – have the document, will have to be a different blog post if I can get to it, or I will get it scanned. Too hard to keep up. Its 21 pages of pretty dense information.
Says that the county is dropping 16 positions in the Health department, some are being transferred to the Highway Department (clean sweep) and the others are lost due to federal funding.
Anita Weier interrupts and says it is not fair that the property values are dropping and the taxes are going up.
Schmiedicke explains it. But again, I kinda stopped paying attention since I couldn’t keep up.
He says the room tax went up 10% this year and will go up 5% next year. He explains changes in state aid. The computer aid number was just finalized and it was up 267,000 since the executive budget. The last pages are the erata for the budget, so far.
Discussion
He says one question is how much room is in the budget. Its a combination of 3 things, the first is the premium not used for capital project, there is about 500K general and 391K for libary. $267,000 estimate in change in state aids.
383,000 under the levy limit.
Mayor says that if they were to spend everything, it would be 1.5M available, he would strongly advise against.
Bidar-Sielaff asks to clarify the numbers. Rhodes-Conway asks if the $500K is for capital. Schmiedicke says that you could apply that to debt service and then reduce the library. He says this is a one-time fund. It has changed form 11M to 4.3M and if you use it for on-going purposes it will create structural problems.
Mayor says he tried to hold the increase in the levy to 2% and he says it is 2.2% and he would urge them not to increase it and get it back to 2%. Also, if you look at the increase compared to last year, about half of it is the increase in the debt service, the central library. And the other is compensation for the labor agreements. Schmiedicke says that there is premium due to the library and he recommends that not be touched in case there are any problems when finishing the library. If they don’t need it for the central library it could be used for other library purposes. The council has mentioned there is very little room for the council to work. He says there are a number of options, whatever people can dream of and the other is to reduce the levy. The half a million available for the premium for the debt service can be used to free up other money. He says that there are three items that were omitted. ON page 17, it is coincidence that the extra state aids add up to the extra items. Staff for police department that works with the pawn shops, he thought it was not filled but it is. The second is police maintenance on the new facility and the third is the $150K for the consultant on ???
Palm says 2% was the target and the 2.2 was the actual. What was your basis.
Mayor says that was what was reasonable in the current eocnomic time and costs of services.
Verveer thanks them for the summary, he asks about layoffs. They say they are all vacant positions. Deb Simon says that they have been vacant for years and its more of a clean up. Verveer says that the pawn position is the only one and that they have bumping rights.
Verveer asks if the 2012 has been updated as well. They says yes, you can see it bolded in the document.
Palm asks what the difference is on page 21. Ungrouped revenue p-card. Dan Bohrod says that they switched vendors or got a good deal, he says that it is a cash flow issue and it is what year they are recognizing it in.
Clear says the document is valuable, but asks to add this to the budget website. That way we can reference it.
Schmiedicke says they will attach it to the agenda.
Verveer asks them to email it to the alders.
Cnare asks why the ag land is going up so much. Schmiedicke says land value is tied to the price of corn which is doing well and it doesn’t take much to shift it because there is so little agricultural land.
Weier asks about the ambulance fee, she asks about the cost of a trip. It doesn’t seem to cost that much in terms of mileage. She wants an average cost of conveyance.
Lots of talking. Mayor says have to remember that we are paying for the cost of staffing 24/7. Schmiedicke says that we are not covering the costs, about 80% of the cost of the fire department is related to conveyances and we get $7M of $40M (?).
Bidar-Sielaff says it is not the cost of the trip, but having staff available 24/7, that is why ibuprofin in the ER is more than at the store because of the costs of running the ER. It’s complicated.
Mayor asks what teh first agency is, he asks to hold the question until they do Fire.
1. A continuing reduction in the budgeted amounts for on-line legal services and book purchases by changing vendors and eliminating paper books for the law library.
2. Leaving vacant a 0.5FTE Legal Secretary 2 position.
3. Eliminating funding for a UW Law School Program – Prosecution Intern.
Page 58 of the budget.
Attorney Michael May says not too many highlights, they hold where they are now. The main thing is that they can’t fully staff all the positions. He says the secretary has been vacant for a while and the prosecution program sometimes they have money and sometimes they don’t. They moved form Westlaw to Lexis and saved some money on that. Those are the main things.
Mayor says that someone suggested that the meeting would be done by 6:30, that was erroneous, just remember we have many departments to go through.
Rhodes-Conway says she enjoys the meetings, this is our best chance at getting information. (She is looking at the mayor in saying these comments). She says the mayor has had months with the budget. She asks about changes in numbers.
Deb Simon says that they restore one city attorney and then one of them is the council analyst. There is a difference in where it was originally placed.
Verveer asks why the binders need to be updated? Pages don’t fit or falling apart.
May says that his are falling apart, so are others, they didn’t expect to get that.
How many do you get for $5000?
May says that people buy it as a service, but more are getting it on line, 95% of the people who have it is city agencies.
Palm asks why there is all these paper copies.
May says there has to be some. People use it regularly.
Palm says he talked about on-line access and is wondering why they are not promoting it. He says that it is not easy to use, but you can download the pdf version to staff. Why don’t we have a pdf version out there, that might be more valuable.
Resnick says that the pdf quality, especially if you search from the tablets, it would be good to convert to html readable file, there is a cost to that, but then continue to update that would be easier for the general public to search. The pdf version is almost impossible to use and search in the current form from the tablet.
Clear asks about furloughs. There are a few furloughs to be accomplished this year, its still in litigation. There are no furloughs next year. May says that was replaced by retirement issues.
Bridget Maniaci asks about the supplemental – the computer services, was that the on-line services.
Yes.
1. Funding for the continuation of existing services.
Head of the IT department, blanking on his name, doesn’t present anything.
Maniaci asks about supplemental and the jump in contracted services, what is in there.
The equipment contract?
Maniaci says the maintenance contract. It was $112K, to $125 to 186K.
He says that the gap in the request and the executive budget. He says there were 11 supplemental requests to meet the requested cut, the executive restores most of those, he says some of the changes are for items coming off warranty. THose fluctuations go up and down.
Maniaci asks about training and travel.
He says he resisted cutting it. He tries to keep it stable.
Manaici asks about what other services is.
He says miscellaneous small items that might be corrections in putting things in the right lines. Most of it is corrections.
Maniaci asks about computer licensing. it goes from $646K to $1.2.
He says part of it is maintenace on some programs like the rfp system and the scheduling program for police and now using it for public works. He says other software such as how we pay for legistar and open data costs. There are several large items that account for the majority of this.
Is this the direciton the budget is going, license and maintenance fees.
He says that he thinks that they have had most of the big changes, the only other one coming up is the property assessment system. He hopes that have hit a plateau.
Maniaci asks about inter-agency billings for housing operations.
He says that he noticed that they were under-billing housing operations.
1. Funding for all current positions and positions unfunded in 2012 due to the smaller, temporary location of the Central Library.
2. Funding for Sunday hours at Pinney and Sequoya in January through April and at Central in September through December.
p 156.
They welcome the new library director. No presentation.
Maniaci asks that the supplemental requests page numbers should be added to their budget information. She asks about #2, and if the positions are currently filled.
They say that the positions are not filled.
So will that pay for existing staff.
Yes.
She asks about #10 and the positions, are they vacant.
Yes, they are.
Are there no supervisors.
They work between branches.
How long are they doing that.
They have done that for a while.
They are exploring something I missed – but not sure what it was.
Verveer asks about the materials budget, is it flat funded.
Yes.
How much.
$800K
That is the minimum we can have to get the tax exemption from Dane County.
What has the largest been.
When the Ashman budget, but it has been $1,060,00.
Verveer asks about the book festival. It was a supplemental request, can you tell us about the future of the book festival and the other community events you were hoping to have funded.
New director says that they are meeting tomorrow to explore possibilities, but they saw a priority for retention of staff and addition of staff to have resources for the new central library, but they are working to see if there are some alternatives, including gifts from the foundation, they want it to remain in Madison. It is a great event and it would be a good event to highlight the new library. They want it to happen just not sure how yet.
Verveer says that he sounds optimistic that it might happen. He said it sounded like they might need a full-time person.
He says they are looking at the costs and they are talking about scaling the event to a Madison event instead of a Wisconsin event. He is concerned that if they do take over the event that it is sustainable.
Maniaci asks about ?? (didn’t hear). Area care? What is that?
Common area maintenance for rented facilities.
Maniaci asks about computer operations – why $18K drop?
She says that number is based on hours, circulation, etc.
Manaici asks about on-line computer service – why is that going down?
Woman says it is the on-line booking reservation system they use.
Art and performance contracts has gone down? It’s a third of what it was. It was at $33K but it was at $13.
She says that they have other revenue sources like the foundation and they don’t have to just rely on the city.
Manaici asks if there are cuts in programming.
She says that they are planning through April, it will stay about the same in children’s programming that is the same.
What would get hit.
Didn’t hear.
Asks about hardware.
Director says part of that is due to the Central Library.
She asks about changes in supplies.
They say it fluctuates.
She asks why program supplies are changing.
They say creative staff.
Why AV rentals are down.
They are seeing a decline in use.
She asks about grants why is it zero.
They don’t know yet.
Asks if they will have direction from the foundations before the budget is over.
Don’t know.
Phair says he will pull the out of the weeds. REad Cap Times Q&A and was interested in his vision for the future, could you expand on that.
He says that he talked about 3rd space, a place to socialize with the age of the internet, people are keeping to themselves with the internet. AS far a library being the keeper of the information, they are more access to content, not just keeping it. IN the new Central Library they will have a makers market, an opportunity to contribute content. For instance e-books. Libraries have to lease that content. There is a moment with libraries to own the content. They also want to explore the content, so local authors would publish and they would own that – there is a movement to eliminate publishers.
1. Funding for the net operating expense (subsidy) of Monona Terrace, which is derived from the Room Tax. (See separate “RoomTaxFund” in the Special Fund Statements section of the budget.) The subsidy provided in the Executive Budget is $2,904,721, which includes a Payment in Lieu of Tax (PILOT) of $325,700.
2. Funding of $109,608 for the Greater Madison Convention and Visitors Bureau (GMCVB) for specific convention marketing.
3. Deletion of 4.25 FTE authorized positions (1.25 FTE Clerk Typist 2 , 1.0 FTE Program Assistant 2 , 1.0 FTE AV Technician, and 1.0 FTE Operations Worker) that have been vacant and unfunded for several years.
4. Avoiding use of reserves to maintain current funding levels.
5. Establishing the authorized level of City subsidy for Monona Terrace Community and Convention Center in 2013 and establishing the authorized permannt staff positions as adopted. All other amounts, except permanent salary and debt service, are provided as informational in order to determine the authorized subsidy level and may, in the course of the year, be adjusted by the City Finance Director to reflect income generated by Monona Terrace, if such adjustments do not increase the authorized level of subsidy or increase debt service.
They take this with the following item.
ROOM TAX
This is in the special funds section of the budget. Its the first item.
(a) The Projected 2012 total room tax receipts estimate is based on two calendar quarters of actual revenue data.
(b) The 2013 estimate of debt service on the CDA lease revenue bonds supported by room tax receipts reflects anticipated refinancing of the 2002 bond issue in late 2012. This refinancing is expected to reduce debt service by approximately $65,000 in 2013 and $125,000 annually thereafter until the bonds are retired in 2020.
(c) In 2007, the City negotiated and entered into a 5-year renewable agreement with the GMCVB whereby future year contributions to the GMCVB to support destination marketing efforts will be equal to 20% of the actual prior year room tax collections. The agreement was renewed through December 31, 2014. Funding increases resulting from the agreement will be invested, for the purpose of increasing conventions and other events in Madison, in additional resources in the following five areas: convention sales, convention services, marketing, sports development and strategic planning.
(d) The amount transferred to the General Fund for general purposes in 2011 was the net of actual room tax revenues received, other budgeted expenditures and adjustments to required reserves, so that the balance of unreserved funds as of December 31 was $0. In 2012, any remaining funds will be distributed evenly for three purposes: 1) establish an emergency reserve fund for Monona Terrace; 2) increase funding for GMCVB; and 3) increase the transfer to the General Fund for general purposes. In 2013, any remaining funds will be transferred to the General Fund for general purposes.
(e) In 2012, funding for Madison Scouts and Capitol Sound was transferred to the General Fund, and the Planning Division Art and Performance contract amount was increased by $12,000. The Madison Arts Commission will consider the allocation of these funds among all of its annual arts grants awards.
(f) These funds will be used to promote conferences and/or enterprises that the City helps host or sponsor designed to provide education and training for Madisonians and also to promote Madison as a city of distinction and place of topical interest.
(g) This new funding will be used to develop the music scene in Madison. It includes funding for Dane Dances ($5,000), Summer Solstice festival ($25,000), a music video ($50,000 to be matched equally from other sources), and a study for a music festival similar to South by Southwest in Austin, TX ($20,000). This plan is subject to approval by the Madison Arts Commission.By the adoption of this budget, the City Council hereby confirms that it is the intention of the Council to commit the resources noted in the room tax fund for the purposes of 1) support of Monona Terrace operations, debt service and capital purchases; 2) support of the Greater Madison Convention
THey says that Monona Terrace is not supported by the property tax. Room tax is healthy so is the Monona Terrace.
Maniaci asks about convention marketing being down? She is wondering about competition with Wisconsin Dells.
Missed part of the answer, says GMCVB has been whole through economic downturn and there isn’t much place to reduce expenses, they have no more areas to take efficiencies. It doesn’t help us with healthier communities like the Dells, but they are helping they can rebound and fill the gap and partner with the GMCVB.
Maniaci asks about the flat rental revenues.
He says that is accurate, they have not recovered since 2008, still down in revenue from then and don’t see an uptake.
She asks if additional marketing would help or is it hotel rooms, etc.
He says it is a combination, we are a middle market community, and the more we market the more it will add.
She asks about the supplemental request for marketing Madison, would marketing dollars be better fro the city or for Monona Terrace, would you benefit for marketing the city.
He says marketing the destination not the facility. There would be ancillary benefits to all and they support that, so many other communities have that.
Mayor asks about Middleton not funding GMCVB. Is it now funding.
Deb Archer nods yes.
Clear asks Schmiedicke to help them understand the fund balance amounts and where the excess room tax from this year will go. How does that come out in the 2013 budget.
Schmiedicke says that there is the fund balance, in that balance they set aside to pay for bonds for the Monona Terrace, they also reserve amounts to do the event booking with GMCVB.
Clear says the $1.2 projected is the additional room tax beyond what was budgeted.
Room tax receipts which had a 8.4% increase in 2012 and 4.5% in 2012 – 2013. The uses the revenue bond is going down, we are refinancing those bonds and we should have savings in 2014. There is also a GO bond. There is also operating costs and capital costs.
Clear says that in 2014 one of the bonds goes away.
Verveer asks about footnote (b) and if that should be explained there.
They explain that is only for the other bonds.
Schmiedicke says that destination marketing is a formula calculation where the GMCVB gets 20% of the increase, that will go up 11.5% and 8% in 2013. There is $1M in transfer for various items, rhythm and booms fluctuates, sister cities will go up. Some others will change, the WIAA basketball tournament is $15K and the music item is noted in the event. The balance then goes to the general fund. The balance at the end of 2012 would be split 1/3. Deb Simon explains that the projected column will zero out at the end of the year. The amount left in 2013 won’t be as large. It’s a presentation issues, it will be zero at the end of the year.
Maniaci asks about the music line and asks about the $50K music video. She asks about the requirements for room tax spending. Can they spend it on staff?
Schmiedicke says that they can spend it on staff, there are more macro requirements.
Director explains one use.
Manaici asks if the state checks up on how we spend the money.
Schmiedicke says that there is talk of the state auditing the spendings.
Director says it has been a hot topic.
Deb Archer says that the city is in compliance.
Maniaci asks about the civic promotion.
Verveer says that in the past they have given them a break down.
Mayor says sister city increase, he says they have been humbled by the gifts they receive vs what they give. He says it happened several times. Its not just gifts but refreshments and healthy ones at that. Fresh juices, fruit, etc.
Maniaci asks about Madison Music City and how they determined how the money would be spent.
Mayor says Karin Wolf is here and can explain the summer soltics and other event. In terms of the music video, about 2 years ago GRand Rapids was a considered a dying city and 4.9M hits now. Roger Ebert as the best music video he has other seen, he thought it was mediocre.
Maniaci asked how much they spent.
$40,000.
Mayor says we can do better.
Is the concern we are being marginalized or underviewed at live venues.
Mayor says the impetus is 5M hits and get attention and we can attract visitors and tourists and conventions and entrepenuers, to people moving here and see it is an interesting exciting city and I”m going there. He thinks the market will bring that audience.
Maniaci says she won’t debate it much more.
Bidar-Sielaff says we are not debating.
Phair asks about if it promotes us or music here.
Us.
Phair asks about the $15K.
Mayor says that when they were trying to save the WIAA tournament we did a number of things, talking to hotels about pricing of rooms and the idea that we had taken them for granted and there was nothing special so since there is a 100th anniversary we would do something special.
So do we give them the money?
Deb Archer says they are looking to us to create the experience.
Phair says it was a good idea.
Mayor says they were in negotiations and he made a commitment, the council doesn’t have to keep it. He says it is not a state tournament unless it is in Madison.
Karin Wolf says that they are trying to engage musicians, this is part of an overall strategy as showing us as a music city.
Mayor asks her to expand on the Summer Soltice.
She says it is a music holiday where people are encouraged to play on their porch and throughout the neighborhoods. She is hoping 10 neighborhoods would bring people out to safe parts of the streets where we can get permits for.
Maniaci asks how the money would be spent.
Wolf says that part of it is for software to match them. Someone who is interested can say they are interested and the neighborhood can say where they want it. New York is sharing quite a bit of resources but they have to adapt them and they might hire an coordinator.
Maniaci asks about the South by Southwest study -what is that.
Wolf says that we have a lot of great festivals. We need the funding and see if the community can support a music festival. We think it can, can we get the media and venues to start something 1/7 of the size of South by Southwest.
Maniaci asks if this is financial. She says the problem is that attitude in zoning and fire and bureaucracy that is limiting it. Is that part of it.
Wolf says that needs to be addressed that we need to do internally, not for the finance study. Those are valid concerns.
Cnare asks about music matchmaking – could it be used for other events and venues.
Wolf says in New York they don’t, there is match making software for donations, etc.
Cnare was hoping there were other ways they can use it.
Resnick says that he sees the grassroots elements he sees could be built by entrepreneurial community, many of these events the community is facilitating it from the ground up and the government just supports it. South by Southwest has been around since he was born, its the spirit of the City itself, you can’t just have music, its also a tech and other conference. Resnick asks about the music video – he says we can do better. He says that the ad placement would cost more than $50K – if we can pull it off correctly.
Clear asks about what the GMCV would be affected by the changes in the budget.
Deb Archer says that they will have to back fill the funding. With the increase in the room tax they can’t count on it until it comes in. That money is used for prospecting and then we are reimbursed and they hope they can back fill it.
Clear asks if they have thoughts on changing the budgeting policy from a 1/3 equal split to us taking all the funding for the general fund.
Archer says that the mayor is trying to promote the community more in promoting Madison, so we were hoping that the surplus would be split to do public relations to do more than one video, but she hasn’t talked to the Mayor yet, would love to have that discussion with the Mayor and us. She says that the more investment the more they bring. She says her concern is for the next three years that until there is another motel, we are not competitive. Hopefully there will be a hotel announcement and then we can promote a competitive package. She is happy to see the increases in the event assistance fund. That is what will help bring people here. They put in money to that, as well as sports commission and the county.
Verveer says that they were blown away by the increase in room tax, why are we seeing that increase. He says talk about the Epic impact and share your thoughts and where we are at in growth, is 5% realistic for next year?
Deb Archer says that the user group is growing 25% per year, they are having a positive impact on the community. World DAiry brought 72K people and that is the highest ever, they did more promotion. She says there is also a rebound from 2009. She says that occupancy has risen, but not the average daily rate. She says the sustainability of the room rate depends on the economy. It will come down in a few years. The 4.5% projection could be close, but doesn’t think it will be higher. They are looking at a flat budget.
Greg McMannors says that Epic will expand from 7500 to 25000 in the next 3 – 4 years.
Deb says that they will send some of those people to the Dells, we don’t have the room to house them.
McMannors says that they are bringing in vendors and others, he think Epic is having a huge impact, we’d like to say we have an impact as well, our business is flat, so its the new player in the market.
Archer says that other businesses are not bringing in as much, so they are filling that. Like Cuna.
Manaici asks about the decreases in their revenue, if they went back on the 1/3 split would they go back on their payments to Monona Terrace? ????
Archer says that they plan their budget around the Monona Terrace budget, they will likely back fill it, this is a one time expense, if we can do it we will. Mostly sending people to trade shows and customer entertaining.
McMannors says that if they have excess it could go to GMCVB, he would suggest and support an amendment to that effect.
Maniaci says that if a musci video or public information specialist, it sounds like we need to do more to promote the city, do you have perspective about how to do that best?
Archer says she only briefly heard about the position in the Planning Department, we are not marketing ourselves enough as the Mayor said, you will see it pay off if you can make the investment. You will put more people to work, visitors and getting people to move here. The mileage is big that you get out of the promotions.
Palm asks what the payoff is? He says yes if an investment in funding and Madison has been underpromoting in conventional means but we have strong, larger-than-life world views so that is an advantage, what are the calculations
McManners says it is consideration, we aren’t in the conversations about moving a company here, we are an island to ourselves and we have to be competitive to be in consideration.
Archer says $3M budget and book $30M in business.
Palm says that is a base line.
This is new business, we don’t include existing events, incremental busineses.
Archer says that city contribution is $1.8. She talks about some of the recent events.
Mayor asks about some article.
Palm says that other places don’t have a football team or other things.
Archer says we are blessed with the natural publicity.
Palm says that we don’t need to grow new things, but ????
Archer says that we need to work on our strengths, but also bring something like Ironman here, that is a new opportunity. Sports are great, but that is not everyone’s interests and we need to look at other opportunities.
Mayor says that a number of years ago ESPN did a number of games here, that failed, but that certainly was an eye opener in terms of sporting events and probably was why they use Madison for Ironman. The novelty of State St with locally owned stored and not a string of chains, there is a vibrancy to State St. that you cannot create. Epic wants its customers to have the Madison experience. They try to get people to downtown hotels, they also have advisory councils and that is almost as big as the user group meetings were. There are two series of events and there are companies all over the United States that do not have their meetings in their hometowns. Microsoft has them all over the country, we know that Epic has made a very wise decision and we want to build on that and have others see the wisdom of that decision. If you study the backdrops of the city at the football games. They show State St, Capital and Monona Terrace, its not as interesting for other cities. The idea of attracting the next Judy Faulkner and reaching the average family on where they stay on their vacations. A faculty member has something to show that people in other areas of the United States do not.
Palm asks about 1100 hotel nights, why don’t they build a hotel.
Archer says that is not the business they want to be in.
McManners says that they want them to have the Madison experience.
Mayor says that is not to say that someone won’t build a hotel out there. He says that as the events get bigger the event hotel rooms move further outside. Mayor says that if there is a convention event at Monona TErrace we can’t set aside enough rooms for Epics smaller events.
Palm asks about the other options and infrastructure.
Mayor says that a portion of Monona Terrace is kitchen, mechanical and office for the staff. One day that will be moved out and 35 -40,000 sq feet will be available.
Laughter about where to put the mechanicals.
Mayor says parking ramp.
Rhodes-Conway frantically trying to get them back on the operating budget and room tax.
Ellingson asks about upgrading the Inn on the Park.
Laughter.
Mayor says they are serving a niche that likes it that way and nothing will change.
Maniaci asks about Epic brining 25K people, do we have that type of large events.
They say Midwest Horse Fair, World Dairy and football games.
McManners says that 600 people stayed in the Dells last time, they explain that Epic wants to be here in Madison.
Lots of talking on top of each other.
1. The goal of maintaining a minimum daily staffing level of 78. The staffing level assumes both the continuation of creative staffing methods developed by labor and management to optimize personnel resources and an absence level based on future projections and past experience.
2. Matching funding for the first SAFER Grant of 18 firefighter positions.
3. The second SAFER Grant of 18 firefighter positions to staff the new Far East Fire Station 13 planned to open in 2014. The grant revenue funds all of the salaries and fringe benefits for these positions; City funding is included for supplies, uniforms and medical services.
4. Funding to conduct a promotional process for Lieutenants.
5. Funding of $67,194 for WiFi cards and support/maintenance contracts for fire apparatus software.
6. Funding of $51,840 for parking spaces for personnel during the remodeling of Station 1.
7. Authorization for a summer/fall recruit class with no specific funding in the budget,as is typical of past practice.
8. An increase of $300 in the ambulance conveyance fee to $900 for residents and $1,000 for non-residents and an increase of $3.50 per mile (to $16.00 per mile). This represents the first increase since the 2009 budget. Ambulance revenues are included in the General Fund Revenues in the Summary section of the Budget.
9. Upon a vacancy occurring, any Fire Inspector position may be deleted and a non-commissioned position may be created.
Mayor asks him to start with the cost of an ambulance ride.
It costs $120 per hour to run the ambulance for staff. A 12 leed heart rhythm interpretation is $3500 in an emergency room and we do that in a living room. The numbers can vary greatly.
Maniaci asks why phone is going up from $65K to $105. They explain that is 911 changes in the communication changes, that is the WIFI and other items. Part of it is from the county changes.
Maniaci asks about in service training going up.
They explain that this is the in-service training for paramedics and basic life support, they get revenues back from it, the more employees you put through the training the more money you get. Paramedics have pretty extensive trainings.
Is it increased cost?
Yes, but the state also is requiring more training hours.
Maniaci asks about training reimbursement, the rest of the city has a small fund but police and fire have their own.
Yes, that is part of the collective bargaining agreement.
So, you are projecting more people will use it.
Yes, more people using on-line options and going back to school.
Maniaci asks if there is a base line requirement.
He says as long as it is accredited.
Rhodes-Conway asks about the supplemental requests, Madison College training center?
He says that as part of the user agreement they have an increase in maintenance. They are bargaining with MATC on that and other issues, but they are still working on it.
Weier asks about $120/hour for staff, but they are paid anyways, right, but you charge extra for those who use the service.
He says it goes back into the general fund, its a source of revenue for the city and they can adjust from time to time as needed. We are still below the area in the fee compared to others in the area. We can bargain and adjust later.
Mayor says that we also have cost of training and cost of ambulance itself.
Staff says that it will never be self-sustaining, costs are all escalating, cost of drugs, etc.
Bidar-Sielaff says that they won’t changes rules as far as who qualifies for charity care.
Right.
And we have a generous policy.
Yes.
Bidar Sielaff says that is her experience.
Verveer asks them to bring the hardship waiver tomorrow and he wants to know about the 3rd party administration and that waiver.
Finance staff say that is up to us.
Verveer asks about the parking for fire station 1 for the year. They explain that they will pay for 14 people to park in city ramps. Finance staff says there are 24 spaces. They explain this is for call backs and special events and supervisor staff will park there occasionally.
Verveer asks about temporary quarters, is that in the operating budget, is it built in.
Yes.
Verveer notes they have not decided where they are going.
Chief Davis says that they have $28,000 budget.
Finance staff says there will need to be an amendment to the budget for the moving costs for 2012 and then $25K for the year for 2013.
Verveer asks if this is State St.
He says they are looking at 30 on the square. They will also use station 4. They have some work to do on that. They will be displaced a short time.
Maniaci asks about special duty that is new for $87K.
She says that is for the University and that used to be in a different fund, same thing just in a different pot.
Finance says that is a GASB requirement. Its an accounting requirement.
1. Savings of $305,765 from eliminating the purchase of 11 of 22 police squad cars scheduled for replacement.
2. Savings of $170,000 from eliminating the purchase of 10 mid-sized sedans scheduled for replacement.
3. Savings of $58,200 from holding a vacant Fleet Technician position unfunded.
Rhodes-Conway asks about eliminating purchase of squad cars and then they are restored in supplemental requests, please explain.
They says that they had 7 of 32, adn 4 were restored to get 11 and they are 11 short. He says they are getting more cars then they had and they are keepign them on the streets longer. Decentralization has allowed them to extend the life on the cars some. They are keeping the cars for 7 years, but that is about 3 years longer than they should.
Maniaci asks about inter-agency billings for engineering, storm water and parks. Is something going on.
Sewer Utility and Engineering have changed the number a bit but its all one pie, they are closer to the actuals and parks is going up.
Maniaci asks about them charging themselves.
He says that is the city fleet pool. They do get some reimbursement on the take home vehicles.
Maniaci asks if there is an increase.
He says it is the number of vehicles and the age of the vehicles.
1. A plan to address Police Officer position vacancies and consequent staffing shortages by moving the annual preservice academy from spring to fall and allowing the Department to overhire for anticipated attrition in the following year. Funding of $256,911 is included for a one-time accelerated preservice academy for about eight Police Officers in spring 2013 necessitated by the delay in the year of implementation.
2. Funding of $11,390 to upgrade two Police Officer positions to Detective positions as required to fulfill the terms of the COPS grant.
3. Addition of $50,000 in overtime and fringe benefits to staff the additional workload in the Central District on Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights. The Department will maintain the $30,000 Southwest Safety Initiative funds and reallocate the $50,000 Downtown Safety Initiative funds to citywide safety initiatives. These citywide funds are likely to be used primarily downtown, but will be available for any district with emerging issues.
4. Addition of $118,425 in overtime and fringe benefits to fund the full projected cost in 2013.
5. Addition of $50,000 for new equipment for the new police squad cars due to incompatibility of the old equipment with the new cars.
6. Addition of $100,000 as a first step in a multi-year effort to budget for Vacation Convert to Pay.
Chief asks to make a presentation. He says that they need to deal with the attrition factor for resignations and retirements. He says that moving the academy. He says retirements are going to be critical and this will address the staffing gap.
Rhodes-Conway asks about supplemental request #8.
Wray says it is stormwater work and maintenance at the training facility.
Would that bring it in house.
He says it would be engineering staff.
The stormwater costs had not been charged, they told them of unmet needs and put together proposal for interagency work.
She asks if it is custodial.
They say it is both, they had some funding for mechanical, this adds custodial.
Verveer asks about the Downtown Safety Initiative. He asks about budget highlight 3, DSI was 50K in the budget and got an additional 50K citywide. Is that correct.
Yes.
Verveer says that it was almost always Friday and Saturday and now it is Thursday, is that intentional, is there spikes in incidents.
Wray says it is intentional, it allows for flexibility.
Verveer asks if they have used it on Thursday.
Wray says that they haven’t, but sometimes on summer nights we have issues and we can plan if we see a pattern.
Verveer asks about estimate how much of 50K is also used Downtown.
Wray says that a majority will be Central, but the demands are citywide. Some will depend on trends. Central is planning on a weekend basis how to use it.
Verveer says the staffing report says overtime instead of adding staff.
Wray says yes. DSI is to fill staffing gap, and the staffing study recommended that they use overtime because staffing was cost prohibitive.
Verveer notes that the Southwest Safety Initiative is still funded too. He asks about the position on the pawn shop that was added and forgotten in the Mayor’s budget. Its supplemental request #9. Verveer asks them to explain the position.
Wheeler says that when this went through they said the needed someone to monitor second hand dealers on line. The old system was paper and had no review, there was too much paper. They would rather have people on the street. Since the program assistant has been there they can assure ordinances are followed. That has been a struggle. They have been proactive in going after suspects who are stealing or burglarizing homes. The program assistant has been there since July and they recovered 6 high end bikes worth $32K. They are able to get information they need because it automatically comes to them. They also can be proactive in some areas of the city. One house was a problem and there was a burglary ring and they were able to address this quickly and efficiently. The people can get their things back more quickly. They have waiting period to sell items and they are able to get them back quicker with this system.
Verveer reminds them that the license fees were raised to pay for the position. He will be expanding the ordinance and it will be introduced at the next meeting. Verveer asks about the software issues and why they can’t tell how much they brought in.
Wheeler says they are trying to figure that out, but there is the compliance issue and they are working on that.
Palm asks about the supplemental request 11.
They explain that last year they proposed to require funding for special events to offset actual costs. There are many events, including Mifflin, they thought they should raise revenue by the people impacted, that was never pursued. They have a revenue line of $25K but have not obtained revenue.
Palm asks about area specific funding. He says that he has a problem designating funds for a special area. These were areas that “just popped up” but we keep spending money in these areas. He says that they reallocate their staffing, so why are they no reallocating resources in the districts instead of having long standing initiatives. Shouldn’t that be part of the core.
Wray says they look at calls for service and adjust between districts and within districts they have neighborhood officers, resource teams, etc. We also have an internal process for other special needs and overtime would be approved. If is it an issue, a crisis, we would do it anyways. Separating downtown, where it comes into play,it involves discussions with the alder and if something is occurring for a sustained period of time and we know it will take place for a period of time they come to council. With or without downtown or citywide funds, these issues will be addressed and you will see it in the overtime report. He has a responsibility to have the staff there.
Palm asks why continue to delineate these things. Why not just ignore it and fund it out of overtime budget.
Wray has no problem not doing it, since they have to report back. He says the Southwest didn’t come from the police department, only the Downtown one did and they measured the effectiveness. He says it is his sense that people want to make sure it happens. If it is your recommendation to eliminate it, they will still do the work.
Mayor says that he wants it in the budget to track how they are doing in the neighborhoods. If the number continues to grow or declines, then why. He says this is not normal overtime and we need to know what the costs are.
Palm compares this to the library budget and he appreciates track financials but why not systematically city wide. What makes the southwest or Downtown/Central so special. Every district has a safety initiative. It is just built into the budget.
Mayor says that up until now this is the most challenging areas and he wants to know what is going on.
Mayor says it is broken down in the overtime budget.
Palm says that there is also an impact in where the officers are. We are nickeling and diming on $30K and ignoring the staffing patterns that cost millions.
Wray asks what he is asking.
Mayor says that this is an unusual expense, you won’t find the rhythm and booms homicide, he can take it out of the budget, but he will still ask the chief for the information.
Bidar-Sielaff asks if they can do that specific reporting?
Yes.
And you have the data?
Yes.
So if West needs three more officers, just regularly, you could provide that info in the shifting needs of the district.
Wray says yes, there is a process in place to make those adjustments.
Missed something.
Clausius asks about the Downtown Safety Initiatives. He says that remnants of Occupy Madison took over one of the parks and it is almost a crisis proportion there and the neighborhood policing team is working on it. Could these funds be used for that.
Wray says Captain Schauf should ask them and they will ask if they have the resources.
Clausius says that with the two parks it is getting overwhelming there.
Maniaci asks about building repairs and other charges and why they are all going up.
They said that the city-county building formulas are allocated to them through the finance office. They did add space for the property room.
Maniaci asks about repairs and maintenance going form 5K to 30K.
They say the buildings are getting older and the training facility. Some of it will be offset with revenue.
What about maintenance contracts.
They says that some of that will be offset by revenues and ??????
Missed some, sorry.
Maniaci asks about Federal grants going up, are these in hand or wishful thinking.
We have them, its the COPS grant.
Missed some more.
Phair asks about the Southwest Safety Initiative, was it just overtime hours.
No
They had a plan and there was a Crime Prevention through Environmental Design plan,so its not just overtime hours. They put police on buses, that was proactive.
1. A decrease of $595,000 in anticipated revenues from the sale of recyclables to reflect expected market prices in 2013.
2. A $30,000 decrease in anticipated Appliance Sticker revenue due to retailer provided electronics recycling.
3. Restoration of funding for the following items:
-$184,525 to maintain general plowing standards at 3 inches of snowfall.
-$78,533 to maintain service levels for sanding operations at night.
-$23,929 to maintain snow hauling services.
-$14,858 to continue the plowing of alleys and carriage lanes.
-$35,953 to continue overtime funding for clearing snow and ice from crosswalks.
4. Savings related to the following reductions:
-$58,544 from the reduction of leaf collection overtime.
-$19,168 from the elimination of Sunday hours at self help drop off sites.
-$20,072 from the elimination of overtime for the student move out in August.
-$19,168 from the closure of the South Point yard waste drop off site.
-$68,000 from the elimination of maintenance and operating funding for the Global Position Satellite Program.
Rhodes-Conway asks about Sunday drop-off hours. Chris Kelley says that is the day the least amount of people come there, Saturday is busier. Rhodes-Conway asks about the hours on weekdays. 8:30 – 4:30. Dreckmann explains Tuesday and Thursday they are open til 8:00. She asks about the Southwest drop off. He says that is yard waste and not sued as much.
Rhodes-Conway asks about GPS. Kelley says that instead of losing a body and a half they could delete that service. She asks what the impact is. He says the units will probably go back. So we don’t own the units, we least them. I think so.
Rhodes-Conway asks about the bio-digester. They left out money for the study, mayor kept it in. He was on vacation and wasn’t here. They are getting the report right now and the numbers show us a path forward and it is worthwhile to continue on to the next phase which is the engineering and prepare a rfp. We won’t know if it will work until we see what they will charge us to build a facility. They think they have a cost-competitive way to move forward in the short term and definitely in the long-term. Rhodes-Conway asks if that is $150K. Yes.
Verveer asks abut the collection overtime and leaf colleciton coming from the stormwater utility, is this levy? Kelley says it is all levy. They do overtime for that. 50% is Stormwater Utility and they took half of their money. Kelley says there would be no overtime. $47,500 would be saved in Stormwater Utility, if they don’t work overtime they won’t get billed. Dreckmann explains that the overtime reduction is in their budget and then there would be no stormwter costs without the overtime.
Verveer asks about overtime for student move out. He says last year the mayor put it back in. He says that student move in is mid-week next year like it was this year. What does the $20K get us and we are used to the good service and military precision and with the cut in overtime how much worse will it look. Kelley says that they come in at 4am and they bring everyone in. If it is during the week it is a less problem. This year we only have 3 days of overtime. If on the weekend we have more of a problem with the mess. Verveer asks if $20K is 3 days of funding. Yes. Dreckmann says they will still send them in 7 – 3 shift in advance of the move out – its not overtime at 4am. When we start at 7 they have to go to their assigned area before bringing them to the move out area. Verveer asks if the cut is sustained and there is no overtime how much longer will it take to clear it. Kelley says another 2 – 3 days. The 15th is Thursday and it will sit on the weekend. Dreckmans says the issue is that the ripped open bags creates a bigger problem and the property owner has to clean up. Verveer asks if it is all Thursday areas. They say yes.
Clausius asks about the self-help drop off sites, particularly Sycamore. He says there are some busy Sundays in the spring, could we ask for a review on this, he expects complaints. Kelley says they have made this recommendations for a few years, they usually do a study on that to see what the impacts are. They thought they would have the same issue when they closed on the holidays and they were pleasantly surprised. Dreckmann says the good thing is that in the spring they are collecting. Kelley says he expects to see the problem in the fall.
Resnick asks about the GPS benefits was for liability if a truck was accused of knocking over a mailbox or side swiping someone. Has that come up at all, is there a pro and con of having this. Kelley says that it has come up several times. One issue was a county vehicle, they have been able to get warranty’s used because thy could show they were not driving too fast. They also have been useful to police. He says they want to keep it, but they need the bodies. Resnick asks if it will effect time. He says that it won’t change the time, it will take longer to process claims, it has helped us for accidents and damaged vehicles. Resnick notes there is a cost somewhere in there. He says yes.
Ellingson asks how bad the city is going to look. Kelley says in the 80s is was a week to 10 days, it won’t be like that. Carts have changed the student move out process. This year they went up the first of the month. The 13th, 14th, 15th is where the overtime is. He doesn’t see it going back to what it was in the 80s, we don’t want to go back to that, none of us do. We won’t be as fast, we don’t have the early time, you can get a lot done 4 – 7 am with 60 trucks, you cover a lot of area in a short amount of time with no traffic.
Maniaci asks about metal fees that were dealt with at move out? They are trying to figure it out. Maniaci says they took a hit there. She says the scrap collectors were caught by the staff. Is the recycling taking a hit because of scrap collectors or prices. Dreckmann says it is the state of the economy. He says they have not been able to realize the revenue form scrap metal because as soon as they negotiated a contract, that is when the economy hit and people started taking appliances. Manaici asks what the revenue from hippie christmas is. Dreckmann says $25K – 35K per year, and thye think that is conservative. Kelley says closer to 40 – 45. This isn’t just uptown. When things tanked, people were doing this as a living. They are out all night long. Mayor says it is not random, they are following the sanitation schedule. Maniaci asks if there is an increase in fees or is there more we need to do to create a program where people need to put the television sets. She says that she said that she had to explain it to a property manager. Dreckmann says that it has been in place for years, it is a state law. He says he has sympathy for tenants because he has less of an education budget, but property owners are not doing their due diligence. He has seen a decline in compliance. Usually it improves. The older the law, the worse compliance. We were driven to this by the messes we were seeing. Television and computer monitors are the only thing they had to change. Maniaci asks if they are seeing a bump in the fines. DReckmann says it is a special assessment and they have no record of the cash, it goes into the general fund. He could check the violations and could extrapolate. Its not like the sticker sales that they track. So if they comply it goes in your fund. No it goes in the general fund. They say they have more costs now to pick up the television with a different truck. That is why they never wanted to pick it up in the first place. Maniaci asks if they track those costs. Kelley says they can do that since they keep track of the staff time. Maniaci asks if they get reimbursement in the budget for non-compliance. Schmiedicke says no, it goes in the general fund. Dreckmann says they charge $10 plus $30. That goes to the clerk so the property owner is billed and he thinks it should be $50 or 60. Maniaci says that they need a full accounting of the cost.
Palm asks about appliances and items with the sticker. Can you do an rfid on the stickers to find out where they might be. Dreckmann says Rockford. He says they could do it, they thought about doing it with the carts and it was done with a sticker and it was $5 per sticker plus the cost would go up more than that. Palm says the price has gone down. Why don’t we track what happens. Dreckman says stickers can be torn off. Mayor asks if you use a satellite to track it. Dreckman doesn’t know. You could scan it after you retrieve the item. Mayor says that when you can track it with a satellite let him know and then they will send a drone after them.
Maniaci asks about graffiti removal cut, is that city property. Kelley says it is not a cut.
1. Restoration of $35,000 for weekly median maintenance.
1. Increased charges of $1,442,210 (8.64%) from the Madison Metropolitan Sewerage District (MMSD).
2. An estimated 5% customer revenue increase and an overall revenue increase of 6.54%. These rates will be adjusted as more information becomes available regarding MMSD rates, volumes, and various other expense related items.
1. Funding for the street sweeping (100%) and leaf collection efforts (50%) of the Streets Division.
2. An employee sharing program with the Streets Division.
3. Funding for a University of Wisconsin study of Lake Wingra.
4. A 4% projected increase in customer revenue.
They do Engineering, Sewer and Stormwater all together.
Maniaci says that the consulting services budget is significantly changing, is there a philosophy shift behind that. Rob Phillips says a grant came to an end, it was a pass through. So what are we doing instead? PHillips says the services are no longer available?
Maniaci asks why they are saving so much in milage. Phillips says it is not quit that good, we look at the mileage of the employees and sometimes it is better for us to give them a city vehicle instead of reimbursing them for mileage. Maniaci says Fleet Services charges are also down. They say that Fleet Services comes in as a whole and we are reflecting only the engineering charges here.
Maniaci asks about other sources in corporate grants and she wants to know more and she asks about federal. They say that is the EPA grant from MG&E and the federal grant is not longer available.
Maniaci asks about Sewer Utility and the costs for disposal. Phillips says that is MMSD pass-through, there are a few reasons but the main reason is the plant expansion.
Maniaci asks about the customer service line and the increase, where is that coming from? Why the jump? Phillips says it is water utility charges and they looked at it closer. So they are taking the calls, but they are yours. Yes, they collect the revenue, but the sewer utility pays 50%. There are things they do that are the sewer utility responsibility. Yes, that is the AMI.
Maniaci asks about consulting services. Phillips says that the city is working on Friends of Wingra on the watershed and that is for services provided for that.
Maniaci asks about Stormwater Utility federal grants. They say that is the interest on some bonds. This is budgeting for the rebate.
Maniaci asks about Lanfill, reserves generated, are they making money on the landfill?
(You should see the annoyance of people in the room at the moment.)
She asks if the rates are changing? Phillips says they are staying the same. They explain that the bonds require revenue. Maniaci asks about where the $50K is coming in from? They say that is a guestimate.
1. Continuation of existing services.
1. Restoration of $26,736 of seasonal funding for daily shelter cleaning and maintenance. Costs will be offset by a fee increase for shelter reservations, generating net revenues of $3,264.
2. Restoration of funding for the following:
– $46,988 for seasonal staff at East Parks, West Parks, Mall Concourse, and the Cemetery.
– $32,964 for Park Ranger Funding.
– $11,468 to prevent a 0.20 FTE Clerk-Typist 2 partial layoff.
3. Partial funding for the following:
– $20,048 of $21,348 requested to allow for WPCRC to operate at 2012 levels.
– $15,000 of $28,355 requested for hourly wages, plants and materials at Olbrich Gardens.
– $15,000 of $26,250 requested for portable toilets and winter restrooms.
– $15,000 of $22,968 requested for the Meet and Eat Program.
– $12,000 of $33,780 requested for the operation and maintenance of a new spray park.
4. Funding is not provided for the following requests:
– $108,130 to reduce salary savings from 3.0% to 2.0%.
– $51,244 to restore seasonal salaries to Forestry.
– $25,066 to restore funding for a vacant equipment Operator 3 position.
– $78,074 to restore funding for nine outdoor ice rinks: Garner, Goodman, Olbrich, Warner, HeritageHeights, HillingtonGreen, Nakoma, Westmorland, and Wexford parks. Regional rinks would be retained at Tenney, Elver, and Vilas.
– $57,236 to restore funding for one vacant Parks Maintenance Worker.
– $86,664 to provide attendant at Cypress Spray Park and lifeguards at seven beaches: Bernie’s, B.B.Clarke, Esther, James Madison, Olin, Spring Harbor, and Warner. Regional beaches at Olbrich, Vilas and Tenney would remain at current service levels.
5. Funding for street tree replacement has been moved to the capital budget.
6. Requested funding of $25,000 for the Youth Conservation Program with Operation Fresh Start is provided as part of the CDD budget.
1. Funding for a continuation of operation of all 72 holes at the Yahara, Odana, Monona and Glenway Courses.
They do Parks and Golf together.
Rhodes-Conway asks she won’t ask about ice rinks or life guards. She wants to know what the forestry hourly staff do. Kevin Briski says its the pruning. What is the impact? It slows us down. What is the cycle? How many do you do in a year. Briski sasy that ideally it is a 15 year cycle, they do have cycles where trees are growin gquicker, and they address complaints and issues. It is around 10 – 15 years is what we want. WE are over 15 years and that would push it back. So 16 or 17 years? Yes. Rhodes-Conway says she assumes the trees will be ok, is it a tree health issue. No its more on the aesthetic. Mayor asks about canopy and high winds. Briski says if not addressed then an issue. Rhodes-Conway says that complaints will be addressed first. Briski says yes, they have a crew that handles those quickly.
Clausius asks about item 17 and the new spray park. He says that the funding is in there, would it be constructed at the end of the season because you would need a full time attendant. Briski says because of the construction season and they hope to have it for the last 1/3 of the year.
Resnick asks about how the Mall Councourse is affected. They say there should be no changes, they are about the same with the Mayor’s budget. They are billing about the same, minimal changes but no service impacts.
Resnick asks about portable toilets and winter restrooms and what is included. They requested budget the externally funded for event toilets are included, but nothing is included for athletic fields, boat houses and ice fishing. Winterizing Cherokee restroom and Warner Beach house, some of it was restored, we will have to evaluate based on usage how we will deploy those this year. It is a 40% cut. He suspects that Cherokee and Warner will be winterized. Briski says unless supplemental request they will go with only the most active areas. Mayor says that Darbo Neighborhood festival needs port-a-potties. Briski says it is a collaborative issue with the police.
Maniaci says she promised to ask about the trees for Rummel. They explain it went to the capital budget. Maniaci asks about shrubs. Yes, that is what got moved. But plants and materials got cut in half. They say that was Mall Councourse and there was just some adjustments in some numbers, but there was a small decrease – but mostly it was just moved.
Maniaci asks about concessions being down? Did they close concessions? They say that they are trying to true up the budget. Some of it might be in catering and there may have been a technical change in where the numbers were put.
Maniaci asks about donations. Woodman’s for Elver fireworks, Ride the Drive and other event donations.
Naiaci asks about cuts on lifeguards and ice rinks being cut and increasing some other things (Meet and Eat). Briski says that the program is a historic success, it was a mayor initiative, it energized the neighborhood and social interactions. We have seen the event be like Ride the Drive and tremendously successful and we are expanding that, we support it.
Maniaci asks about a partial layoff. They say it was restored in the executive budget.
Maniaci asks about youth conservation program. They explain that it was moved to CDBG to be a competitive process, that is fair, but they added a supplement for our parks, it is a transfer and a moot point as far as the supplemental.
Weier asks about the usage figures for the ice reinks and beaches. Could you send that info out. Briski says he sent it already.
Weier asks what they mean for winterizing. They drain the water in the pipes, restrooms not available.
Verveer asks 50,000 cut to seasonals last year, can you comment on that. He was worried Mall Councourse would lose seasonals. They say that this year was not a “normal” year as far as cutting grass or anything, it has worked out. They are comfortable with the level in the budget. Briski says that he is comfortable with it.
Maniaci asks about the info they sent to the council, he asks if the neighborhood beaches are the ones they will not staff. Sure says Briski. Briski further explains. Maniaci asks about how this interacts with the engineering efforts for beaches and investments in water quality for those areas. If your agency is dis investing will they still work on the water quality. Briski says it is just an exercise to meet budget requirements. People have a choice to have a guarded or unguarded beach. Maniaci asks about lifeguards worked on beach maintenance. She says no.
They recess til tomorrow.
