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Yerington City Council Special Budget Workshop March 24, 2023 at 9:00 a.m. – Yerington Theatre for the Arts The special budget workshop of the Yerington City Council was held at the Yerington Theatre for the Arts at 9:00 a.m. with the following present: Mayor John J. Garry Council Members Jerry Bryant, Matthew Galvin, Shane Martin (Via Telephone) and Frank Pizzo City Manager Robert Switzer City Clerk Sheema D. Shaw Chief of Police Darren Wagner Building Inspector Joel Brown Bookkeeper Lori Phillips Public Works Deputy Clerk Michele Larson Absent: City Attorney Chuck Zumpft, Public Works Director Jay Flakus, Guests: Mr. David Ray, and Mr. Dave DeGrendele The meeting was called to order within the Yerington Theatre for the Arts. The Pledge of Allegiance was led by Mayor Garry. Public Participation Mayor Garry asked for comments and no comments were made at this time. Agenda Approval Mayor Garry stated the agenda would be approved as presented unless there were any objections or corrections. City Manager Switzer stated no corrections need to be made at this time. Mayor Garry stated the agenda was approved as presented 2023-2024 Budget Review City Manager Robert Switzer reviewed the many different funds on the budget and went over the different accounts associated with each one. He asked the Council members if there were any questions in regards to this, there being none, he moved on. He stated that this upcoming year would be one of transition with no more Pandemic funding and very little to be expected from the Federal Government this go around. ---PAGE BREAK--- City Manager Switzer referenced that PERS has sent out their memo stating the increases that will go into effect as of July 1, 2023. Police and Public Safety contributions will increase from 44% to 50% with the Regular employees’ contributions increasing from 29.75% to 33.5%. This is a mandatory cost and not something we can decide against doing. Salaries City Manager Switzer stated that the proposed salary increases would be 4% across the board. Although this is well below the current inflation rate, it will show an effort on the City’s part towards our employees. Agreements and Resolutions City Manager Switzer stated that our contract with the Mason Valley Fire Protection Department has gone up again this year. Although we only pay a capped 27% of the property tax valuation, our portion this year looks to be about $551,000.00. This is significantly higher than last year’s portion. He also stated that he has been speaking with Chief Draper about possibly purchasing equipment in lieu of making a monetary payment. Expenditures City Manager Switzer explained the three different columns showing in the expenditures portion of the Budget. The first column being the past budget from 2021-22 fiscal year, the middle column representing this current year we are in, and the last column being the upcoming 2023-24 fiscal year. Councilman Galvin asked how the projected percentages were figured for this next year. City Manager stated that when it comes to the revenue side of budgeting, you must think conservatively. The expenditure side of budgeting, you must be more aggressive. If you don’t budget it in advance, you can’t spend it later. Municipal Court City Manager Switzer stated that this year the Municipal Court had to sign an agreement placing Walther Law as the City’s Public Defender. This will be a amount paid directly to them for their services. The cost of interpreters has also gone up significantly this year. The City has had to implement the new “Civil” system that the State is putting into place. This new system is free to the City for the first 1 to 2 years; however, after that, all costs and fees for this program will come from the Municipal Court budget. ---PAGE BREAK--- Public Safety City Manager Switzer stated that the Police Department’s budget has had an increase in costs for this year, but nothing out of the ordinary. He also referenced the Fire Department contract increase again. Cross Connection City Clerk Shaw stated that the Cross Connection grant through ARPA will be ending in June 2023. At this time, only about $20,000.00 of the original $150,000.00 has been paid out. She also stated that it has been brought to our attention that there are possibly another 14 grants being processed now and in the coming future, so it is unclear how much of the remaining grant money will be unspent after July 1, 2023. Streets City Manager Switzer stated that the Streets Department has just the necessary increases in budget, nothing out of the ordinary. Airports City Manager Switzer stated that the cost of a tanker of aviation fuel is about $50- 60 thousand dollars. We have set the current price of aviation fuel at $6.89 per gallon. As the costs of fuel rise and ebb, the cost per gallon will reflect that. City Manager Switzer stated that the Air Show back in October was a great success. They are currently considering doing another show this spring. He is also looking for capital to help with building new hangars. Building City Manager Switzer stated the goal of the building department is to have the revenue from building permits throughout the year be able to cover all the costs. At this point, we do look to be staying even with this, however it is the hope in the future for the revenues to exceeded the budget. Animal Control City Manager Switzer is looking to increase the wages at the Animal Shelter. We currently have one employee that works about 2 to 4 hours a day there. This employee spends the rest of his time doing work for the Public Works department. The goal is to ---PAGE BREAK--- get a full time employee to be on site every day. We also have about a dozen or so volunteers that do the day-to-day work at the Shelter. Parks & Recreation City Manager Switzer stated the Parks and Recreation department has just the usual increases this year in operational costs. He also stated that the restrooms that we have ordered should be delivered sometime in June with a possible grand opening in July. A discussion was started in regards to the current state of the bathrooms at the ball fields. It was asked if cameras are going to be purchased for security and to deter vandalism. It was also asked if any footage from these cameras can be used in prosecuting. City Manager Switzer stated that the legality of using any footage and in the placement of these cameras would be a question for City Attorney Zumpft. Chief Wagner asked if there was any way to get a contract with the Sani Hut Company in town to see if they could help with the cleanup of the current bathrooms at this time. City Clerk Shaw said she could definitely look into this. Summary of numbers City Manager Switzer stated at this time, he does not have the final numbers from the State. Once we receive those numbers, the tentative budget could change He stated that we have until April 15, 2023 to submit our final budget. He is hoping to get those final numbers sometime this week or early next week. Fixed Assets City Manager Switzer stated that from the 1.8 million in ARPA money from last year, only about $250,000.00 remains. He stated that Public Works Director Flakus has requested a small street sweeper for this next year. He suggested possibly looking into a larger sweeper to help maintain all the roads that are currently being repaved around town. Chief Wagner suggested looking into what it would cost to lease a sweeper that could even possibly have a maintenance contract with it as well. City Clerk Shaw stated that this year the City offices are only requesting the purchase of a small truck for the meter reader position. The current vehicle is very old and not suited for the job. She has requested a more reliable all weather vehicle. Councilman Bryant said he could look into what is available, but the approximate price should be around mid $30,000.00. Councilman Bryant also asked if we could, put aside money in a reserve for when our future vehicles start to age out. This way it won’t be a huge cost to the City to replace our fleet of vehicles. ---PAGE BREAK--- City Manager Switzer stated that the money approved in last year’s budget for the lighting in the City Hall parking lot would be going towards the purchase of new lighting this year. The original amount for the 14 posts throughout the lot will be downscaled to 6 light posts at the front of the lot. Chief Wagner stated that the only item the Police department is requesting is one new vehicle to replace the old 2006 Expedition. He stated that once this car is replaced, he should not need any new vehicles for the next 3 to 4 years. He currently has 9 vehicles in the Police department fleet. City Manager Switzer stated that he is currently waiting on a quote from John Fielding regarding some reconstruction ideas for City Hall. This new idea would include enclosing a small conference room area in the back corner of the gym for Municipal Court and City Council meetings. They would also like to get another set of bathrooms built near the kitchen. This would help relieve the burden of letting the public use the current bathrooms that are located down the hall near offices. Councilman Bryant asked if there was any way to institute a special use tax for the purpose of building a new free standing Police Department? Councilman Galvin suggested utilizing the entire area of the gym at City Hall to build a police department along with the proposed Municipal Court / City Council meeting room. City Manager Switzer said we could put something in the budget to hire an engineer to come design an area and quote what a total reconstruction would look like. Mayor Garry would like to see something put on the agenda in the future to discuss this. Mayor Garry thinks that having some time to brainstorm and get a clearer vision of what we would like to see first, would be the best course of action before hiring the engineer. Special Revenue Fund City Manager Switzer stated the Room Tax Revenue should be about $100,000.00 this year, although he is only budgeting $95,000.00. Not all of this money will be available for grants to the public. The City takes a portion and fees are paid out to the State and County as well. Mayor Garry asked why the Room Tax does not make recommendations to City Council when it comes to giving out the room tax grants twice a year. He said that all other boards give recommendations to Council and final approval comes from them. City Clerk Shaw stated that when the City decided to do room tax grants, they adopted the entire rules and regulations from the way the County was currently doing theirs. City Manager Switzer stated that he believes the Room Tax Board should have to get final approval from City Council and he can check with City Attorney Zumpft on what needs to be done to change this in the future. - Aviation FAA Bill Grant – This money is being used to redo the runway and taxiways and the pavement in front of the hangars. ---PAGE BREAK--- - Kiss & Drop Program – This is still having issues at this time regarding power lines, but there are plans to move forward in the near future. - Animal Shelter – The shelter is receiving about $3,000.00 in donations a year. - Boys & Girls Club Pedestrian Crossing – This project has been put on hold due to the Q & D Construction and water/ sewer project. City Manager Switzer is going to check again with the Reviglio and Peri families to see if they are still willing to donate to this project. - Travel Nevada Grant (new) – This grant is to be used to help pursue and promote tourism in our downtown district. Councilman Galvin asked if we are still moving forward with the concept of getting ownership of Main Street. City Manager Switzer said we are still moving forward. Councilman Bryant asked if they are looking to only use this money to beautify downtown because Goldfield Avenue is also a main thoroughfare into town as well. City Manager Switzer the plan is currently only for downtown Main Street. - Vacant Building Ordinance – Mayor Garry asked if we could start instituting notices to owners of vacant buildings like those that we do with weed control. He is hoping this would help entice the owners to clean up their building or possibly sell to someone that could. Water Fund City Manager Switzer stated that there should be less meter repairs or replacements because of the water / sewer project. He also stated that the depreciation will be lower this year. These newer lines should have a life span of at least 70 years, so we can spread out the depreciation over its lifetime. City Manager Switzer stated there should be in increase in revenue as the water rates will be adjusted this next year. Sewer Fund City Manager Switzer stated there was increased revenue this current year due to the increase in the sewer rates for customers. The depreciation for the this year should also decrease like the water, due to the newer lines and longer lifespan. Public Works requests Public Works Director Flakus was not in attendance but sent in a list of requests for this year’s budget along with corresponding documents for each item. His list was discussed by the Mayor and Council in depth, but only certain higher priority items were agreed upon as necessary. The street sweeper and attachments being one of the most talked about items. There being quite a bit less money for the budget this year was discussed as well. ---PAGE BREAK--- Public Participation Dave DeGrendele spoke to the Council saying it was his recommendation that Public Works Director Flakus be given what he has requested so he can continue doing his job. He also stated that he thinks any extra ARPA funds should stay with the City and not be given to non-profits as it is not our responsibility to fund them. Mayor Garry thanked him for his comments and said everything will be taken into consideration. There being no further business, the meeting was adjourned. Mayor of the City of Yerington ATTEST: City Clerk of the City of Yerington