SUMMARY
MINUTES OF A BUDGET WORK SESSION
OF THE CHAPEL
HILL TOWN COUNCIL
WEDNESDAY, MAY
19, 1999 AT 6:00 P.M.
Mayor Rosemary Waldorf called the meeting to order
at 6:00 p.m.
Council Members present were Flicka Bateman, Joyce
Brown, Joe Capowski, Pat Evans, Julie McClintock, Lee Pavăo, and Edith
Wiggins. Council Member Kevin Foy was
absent, excused.
Staff members present were Town Manager Cal Horton,
Assistant Town Managers Sonna Loewenthal and Florentine Miller, Finance
Director Jim Baker, Assistant to the Manager Ruffin Hall, Personnel Director
Pat Thomas, Public Works Director Bruce Heflin, Transportation Director Bob
Godding, Parks and Recreation Director Kathryn Spatz and Town Clerk Joyce
Smith.
and 1999-2004
Recommended Capital Improvements Program
Mayor Waldorf asked if Council Members had any
specific questions about the written material before them. There were none.
Personnel Director Pat Thomas explained that phasing
in the pay plan in two stages (November and January) would save $21,500 in the
General Fund and $7,000 in other funds.
She cautioned the Council that implementing the plan in two phases would
be complicated and would affect the pay increases of 198 of the Town’s most
senior employees.
Council Member Bateman said that saving $21,500 did
not seem to be worth the cost of lower morale.
Other Council Members agreed.
Mayor Waldorf stated the Council was agreeing to
implement the new pay plan for all employees on November 1st. There was general agreement of the Council.
Item 3 —
Consideration of Budget Working Papers Reissued from April 28th
Mayor Waldorf asked for questions or comments on
these items. There were none.
Item 4 —
Consideration of Additional Budget Working Papers
Mayor Waldorf noted that the Council had previously
questioned the Parks and Recreation Department about the need for tennis court
renovations at Ephesus Park.
Mr. Horton noted that the report from the Parks and
Recreation Department explained that people on the eastern side of Town
expected the courts to be refurbished.
He added that the staff supported proceeding with those refurbishings.
Mayor pro tem Capowski asked how much was allocatedin the current budget for this project. Mr. Horton answered $60,000. Mayor pro tem Capowski said that if the Council did nothing then the courts would still be repaired.
Council Member Bateman asked if it was true that interest
in tennis was dwindling. Parks and
Recreation Director Kathryn Spatz replied that it was true in general, adding
that participation in tennis classes had dropped by about 40% in the last few
years. She explained that the
Department had held the $60,000 from the 1998-99 budget with the intention of
adding $60,000 more from the 1999-2000 budget because it would take $120,000 to
repair all six courts.
Council Member Brown asked how funding these repairs
would affect the tax rate. Mr. Horton
replied that there probably would be no effect because the Council would
reallocate the money to other maintenance needs if it was not used for the
tennis courts. He explained that a
penny on the tax rate was worth $294,000, but added that he could not in good conscience
recommend dropping this project in order to lower the tax rate.
Council Member Brown asked if not using the money
this year would make a difference in cost if they decided to repair the courts
in the future. Mr. Horton replied that
deferring maintenance would most likely be more expensive.
Council Member Evans said that she was in favor of
resurfacing the courts, noting that having public facilities in disrepair sent
a poor message to passersby.
Mayor pro tem Capowski asked what the space might be
used for if the Council decided that there was not enough demand to justify
spending $120,000 to repair the courts.
Ms. Spatz replied that without a Parks and Recreation master plan she
could not answer that question. Mr.
Horton added that there could be no response other than anecdotal comments and
their own observations.
Mayor pro tem Capowski said that if the Council
decided not to fund the repairs then they should allocate the funds to another
more demanding project. Mr. Horton
stated that the Town could use the money to repair buildings at the Hargraves
Center, for example. He noted that the
Town could close the tennis courts for a year or so until the Council figured
out what it wanted to do with them.
Council Member Evans asked whether the courts were
still being used for educational programs.
Ms. Spatz replied that tennis classes were still given there. She said that the busiest courts were at
Phillips School and predicted that people from the Ephesus neighborhood would
begin going there to play tennis.
Council Member Pavăo reminded the Council that they
had decided against putting tennis courts in Northern Community Park because of
dwindling interest. He recommended that
the Town repair the Ephesus courts since it was not constructing any new
ones.
Council Member McClintock agreed that the courts
should be resurfaced, noting that they were a Town asset. Mayor Waldorf and other Council Members.
Mayor Waldorf also expressed support for the new
position that the Parks and Recreation Department had requested. Other Council Members agreed.
Mayor pro tem Capowski said that he opposed
allocating a penny a year for affordable housing, an idea which had been
proposed by several housing groups.
Mayor Waldorf said that she also opposed it, adding
that she thought there were better ways to achieve the goal.
Council Member Bateman said she supported the plan
and placed it on the floor for discussion.
Council Member Brown said that she objected to the
plan because it would increase the tax rate on lower income individuals.
Mayor Waldorf suggested that the Town first make
greater use of low-interest loans and tax abatements before considering raising
taxes for this purpose.
Council Member McClintock, acknowledging that the
goal was to increase affordable housing stock, cautioned that people might have
to move away because of the increased tax burden.
Council Member Wiggins said that she had not heard
the same concern about keeping the tax rate down when the Council had discussed
some other programs. She stated that
she would support the idea 100% if she could see a master plan showing exactly
how the money would be used and what the goals would be.
Council Member Pavăo said that the Town would never
be able to do anything about affordable housing unless it did something like
this. He said, though, that there
should be a plan. Council Member Pavăo
said that the Town would not have the affordable housing it needed unless it
agreed to subsidize it.
Council Member McClintock noted that the Council had
spawned a lot of groups that were working on this issue. She stressed that the main purpose of local
government was to provide services to the community, and said that she wondered
if the citizens of Chapel Hill would consider a program for affordable housing
to be something on which the Town should spend money.
Council Member Brown emphasized that she had been
concerned about raising taxes every year that she had been on the Council and
had voted against all but one small tax increase. She stated that she was still interested in removing items from
the budget and was hesitant to add to it.
Council Member Evans noted that this was a tight
budget year and that the affordable housing proposal was a large budget item
considering the scale of things the Council had been discussing. She said that she would not support it.
Council Member Wiggins said that she was not ready
to go forward with this idea at the present time. She said that the idea might be a good plan in the future, and
repeated that the argument that the program would affect low-income people’s
tax rate was a “sporadic” one. Council
Member Wiggins said that no one spoke against other additions (“such as high
priced positions”) because of the impact they might have on the tax rate. She also said that she hoped the concern
about the high cost of living in Chapel Hill would stay with the Council
throughout the year.
Mayor pro tem Capowski argued that in a tight budget
year the Council should channel its money and energy into basic municipal
services. He said that any investment
in something other than a municipal service ought to make a good dent in the
problem. Mayor pro tem Capowski pointed
out that $290,000 per year in a 17,000 household town with 500-1000 new housing
units per year was not going to make much of a dent, if the goal was to reduce
each house by $20,000. He said that he
could not, therefore, support the tax increase.
Mayor Waldorf said that she was not in favor of the proposal
because she thought more affordable housing could be achieved in better ways,
such as getting University employee housing on West Rosemary Street at no
public cost. She added that she would
be happy to go back and look at something like this proposal again if other
approaches do not work.
Mayor Waldorf said that she would not support the
Red Cross’s request.
Mayor pro tem Capowski said that he was opposed to
it as well, noting that the Red Cross was free to compete for funding. He also suggested that the Town give the
Human Services Advisory Board the power to decide who received what
funding.
Council Member McClintock said that she would like
to put a “kind word” in for all that the Red Cross has done. She added, though, that it would be a hard
stretch to fund the request this year.
Mr. Horton explained that the Bikes and Walkways
Task Force’s main point at the public hearing was that the total cost of
identified projects came to $15 million.
He said that the Task Force had requested more money for bike
improvements as well as $40,000 for a bike planner. Mr. Horton
added that there was about $50,000 per year forecasted in the Capital
Improvements Program for bike and sidewalk improvements and about $300,000 in
remaining bond funds for those projects as well.
Mayor Waldorf added that the bond funds could be
used as the Town’s local match for federal funds.
Council Member McClintock asked if the bike planner
position was in the present budget. Mr.
Horton replied that it was not.
Council Member Wiggins asked what a bicycle planner
would do. Mr. Horton replied that s/he
would help prepare plans for bikeway improvements and for grant applications,
if there were grants to be obtained. He
added that most of the available funding was obtained through the State and
sometimes through the federal government.
Mayor Waldorf said that she thought the Town was
doing okay without a bicycle planner.
Mr. Horton agreed.
Council Member McClintock asked if the Town would be
able to attract more money if they had such a person. Mr. Horton replied that it probably would not because money for
this purpose was obtained through the local intergovernmental process.
Council Member Wiggins commented that there seemed
to be no interest in pursuing this request.
Mayor Waldorf asked the Transportation Director for
a summary of options for transporting people to the Human Services Center. Mr. Godding said that an extension of the
“A” route would be the least disruptive modification. He noted, however, that the “A” route ran only at peak
hours. Mr. Godding said that the
mid-day service had been cut because of poor ridership. He recommend against extending a fixed route
but added that if the Council wanted to do so then extending the “A” route
would be the best option. Mr. Godding
estimated that expanding the “A” route to all day would cost about $40,000. He added that the Shared Ride service had
the capacity to get people to the Human Services Center.
Mayor Waldorf asked Mr. Godding to explain how a
person would get to the Human Services Center by a Shared Ride taxi at 10:30
a.m. Mr. Godding said that the rider
would take an “F” bus to the center of Town, then take a bus up to the
Homestead Road/YMCA area, and tell the driver when getting off that s/he needed
Shared Ride service. He explained that
the bus driver would then call it in and the taxi would pick the person
up. Mr. Godding added that a person
could book the Shared Ride Service ahead of time, and noted that the cost was
only one fare regardless of how many times a rider changed buses.
Council Member Bateman asked if there was a plan to
notify the Human Services Center so that they could build up interest in and
awareness of Shared Ride service. Mr.
Horton offered to prepare a handout that the departments could give clients
that would explain how it worked.
Council Member Bateman also requested data on the
number of clients the Human Services Center had per week who had been riding
the bus.
Mayor Waldorf asked if it had been agreed that the
staff would prepare information to give to the patrons of the Southern Human
Services Center so that they could access public transportation. Mr. Horton replied they would do so.
Council Member Evans pointed out that there was a
proposal to increase fees per hour to help cover the cost of repairing the
trolleys. She stressed that there was a
demand for them and noted that the Downtown Commission had made many points
about why it would be wise to keep them.
Council Member Evans proposed that the Council reverse its decision to
sell the trolleys and pointed out that this was not a budget issue.
Council Member Brown asked for staff comment. Mr. Godding replied that the trolleys had
served their useful life and were expensive to maintain and operate. He said that maintenance costs would one day
exceed the revenues that the trolleys generated, adding that now would be the
time to dispose of them if that was what the Council wanted to do.
Council Member McClintock recalled that the Town had
gone through a lot of trouble to get the trolleys in the first place. She said, noting that they add “specialness”
to the Town, that she would like to continue maintaining them.
Council Member Pavăo stated that he liked the
trolleys too, and had used them for weddings and tour groups. He said, noting that they were restorable,
that someone might be interested in them even if they were not running.
Council Member Pavăo asked what would happen to the
proceeds if the trolleys were sold. Mr.
Godding replied that the Town would be expected to pay the funds back in the
same way that it was received: 80% federal, 10% State, 10% local. He said, though, that the Town probably
would be able to keep the money just as it had on other similar projects. Mr. Godding estimated that the trolleys
would sell for between $10,000 and $30,000.
Council Member Wiggins said that she had thought the
sale of the trolleys would impact the budget.
She said, if it would not, then she recommended maintaining them.
Mayor pro tem Capowski said that he was willing to
support maintaining them provided that the Town did not take expensive measures
should a major problem arise.
Council Member Bateman asked where the funds for
major repairs would come from. Mr.
Godding replied that they would come from the Maintenance line item in the
Transportation Department’s budget.
Mayor Waldorf remarked that the Council seemed to be
deciding to keep the trolleys. She
commended Mr. Godding for his tough management approach and explained that the
Council wanted him to continue to do so even though they were making a
sentimental decision in this case. Mr.
Godding replied that he understood and agreed to keep the trolleys running as
best he could.
Council Members Bateman and Brown pointed out that
they did not vote to keep the trolleys.
Council Member Brown requested that the issue come back to the Council
next year.
Mr. Godding explained that there had been objections
to changing the meter rate for violations.
He said that not changing the meter rate would decrease the Department’s
projections by $60,000. Mr. Godding
also noted that there had been a suggestion to change the meter from one to two
hours. He noted that the Town had not
had good experience with two-hour parking and pointed out that making the
change would mean fewer citations. Mr.
Godding added that officers tended to be lenient about issuing multiple tickets
at meters. He added, though, that if a
vehicle had been left for several days or more, the Town could tow or issue
multiple tickets.
Council Member Pavăo reported that he had heard
objections to raising fines from nearly every owner-operated business on
Franklin Street. He pointed out that
downtown businesspeople were not happy about the prospect of raising fines,
noting that an increase of $60,000 was something the Council must consider.
Council Member McClintock suggested looking at
lowering the meter rate rather than increasing fines.
Council Member Evans proposed increasing the parking
meter fine to $15 and trying two-hour
parking on the 100 block. She
also recommended doing a better job of enforcing no parking in fire lanes,
especially at shopping centers, noting that doing so would raise revenue.
Council Member Bateman supported changing the
violation fee to $15. She asked if
Council Member Evans wanted to change the price for the meters. Council Member Evans replied that a person
would pay for one hour but the meter would run for two.
Council Member Brown asked if the meters would have
to be changed. Mr. Godding replied that
all of the meters on the 100 block could be easily changed by the Town.
Mayor pro tem Capowski said that he supported
increasing the fine. He recalled,
though, that the reason for having a one-hour limit was to prevent student
parking. Mr. Godding replied that the
parking deck was being used by students.
He said that those attending a single class would use two-hour
meters. Mr. Horton said in that case
the merchants would complain and petition the Council to change it back
again.
Mayor pro tem Capowski asked for the Manager’s
recommendation. Mr. Horton replied that
it would be appropriate to experiment with two-hour parking.
The Council unanimously agreed to raise the parking
fine to $15 fine and the parking meter limit to two hours.
Ms. Hubbard, Chair of Joint Orange-Chatham Community
Action (JOCCA), noted that articles about JOCCA had been appearing in the press
for weeks regarding a special audit by the State of a JOCCA program from four
years ago. She assured the Council
that, contrary to the State auditor’s opinion, JOCCA members were good stewards
of public dollars and had used funds judiciously. Ms. Hubbard said that JOCCA had recently hired a full-time
finance director, received a clean audit, and reduced its $126,000 deficit to a
little less than $20,000. Ms. Hubbard
explained that all money spent in the program in question had been accounted
for and that she, as Board Chair, took issue with some of the auditor’s
findings. She stated that JOCCA was
getting out of the housing business and had transferred six lots to Habitat for
Humanity rather than requesting additional funding to complete those
projects.
Council Member Wiggins noted that the funds the
Council appropriated to JOCCA were for a completely different program, which
had not been in question.
Mayor Waldorf explained that she, Council Member
Wiggins and Mr. Horton had met with Rebecca Clark, who was concerned about the
Mayor’s suggestion that the Council take $10,000 out of the CIP for the old
cemetery. Mayor Waldorf said that Ms.
Clark provided documentation showing that in 1987 the Town had adopted a master
plan for rehabilitation, maintenance and enhancement of the cemetery, and that,
in her opinion and others, the Town had not lived up to its commitments. Mayor Waldorf said that she personally
wanted to take back her suggestion and recommended leaving a sum of $35,000 to
be allocated for repair, lighting and landscaping of the cemetery.
COUNCIL MEMBER MCCLINTOCK MOVED, SECONDED BY COUNCIL
MEMBER PAVĂO, TO LEAVE THE $10,000 IN THE CAPITAL IMPROVEMENTS PROGRAM FOR THE
OLD CEMETERY. THE MOTION WAS ADOPTED
UNANIMOUSLY (8-0).
Council Member McClintock asked the Manager what the
Police Department’s request would cost.
Mr. Horton replied that it would cost $7,000.
Mayor Waldorf announced that the Town would not have
to provide matching funds for NC Department of Transportation beautification of
NC 86. She said that the Town would
receive $50,000 from this fiscal year and another $50,000 from the next fiscal
year for that project. Mayor Waldorf
explained that this made $10,000 more available to the Capital Improvements
Program.
Council Member McClintock requested more time to decide
on the stormwater manager position. She
said that she needed more data in order to understand how essential that
position was, and asked the Council to give her time to look into it.
Mayor Waldorf said that she was prepared to support
the position, adding that the Council had expressed concerns many times in the
last year but that those concerns were subsiding. Mayor Waldorf also pointed out that individuals had come to her
office with problems on their property and had expected assistance from the
Town even though the Town’s resources have had to stretch.
Council Member Pavăo said that he was willing to
support the position as well.
Council Member Brown expressed interest in finding
ways to lower the tax increase.
Council Member Wiggins asked how much that position
added to the tax rate. Mr. Horton
replied two tenths of a cent.
After a show of hands indicating that the Council
was ready to support the position, Council Member McClintock agreed to support
it as well.
Mayor pro tem Capowski asked Mr. Horton to summarize
what the Council had decided about salary increases for employees. Mr. Horton replied that the Council had
agreed to adopt the basic plan and to put it into effect on November 1st.
Mr. Horton, in response to an earlier comment about
having to increase taxes during prosperous times, pointed out that the Council
had authorized the issuance of bonds, additional programs, and facilities. He said that this had added debt and created
a structural change in the cost of operating the Town. Mr. Horton added that if the Town had not
made that structural change the Council would not be talking about changing the
tax rate.
Mayor Waldorf recalled that when the Council passed
the bond issues in 1996 they clearly stated that they were looking at a
potential eight cent tax increase just on debt service alone.
Mayor pro tem Capowski said that he was considering
voting against the budget because he thought it arbitrarily gave money to
outside organizations and because the Town was beginning to play the County’s
role, double-taxing Chapel Hill citizens as a consequence. He said he would like to see a list of every
outside organization that had applied for money this year as well as a list of
the ones the Town would be funding.
Mr. Horton pointed out that the Human Services
Advisory Board had not yet made their recommendations for grants. He said that the staff had given a list of
what was requested but could not give one on what had been recommended because
that had not happened yet.
Mayor Waldorf expressed dismay that anyone might
object to the budget at this late date.
She requested that those who do object be specific.
Council Member Brown asked Mr. Horton why he had put
financing the computer systems analyst on his list of priorities. Mr. Horton, replying that this position was
the brains of the organization, emphasized that the Town desperately needed
this help. He added that computer
systems were the weakest point in the organization from an administrative
standpoint.
Mayor pro tem Capowski added that computer systems
were the basic infrastructure for employees to do their work just as roads were
for people to move around.
Council Member Bateman said that she would like to
go on record as wanting to cut the sanitation worker. She stated that if the Town wanted to continue the luxury of
backyard pickup then it should trade that for letting brush sit longer in
people’s yards.
Mayor Waldorf added that if the Town had gone
curbside three years ago they would be looking at a penny and half tax increase
rather than two and a half pennies.
Council Member Wiggins said that she would support
the overall budget even though it included some things that she did not
support.
Council Member Evans, noting that she would not be
available for the vote on June 14th, pointed out that the majority
of the Council had decide to move ahead and approve the budget. She argued that the others should respect
the democratic process and support the majority decision. Council Member Evans remarked that the
Council had gone through a very good process, had looked at many more issues
than in previous years, and had searched for ways to reduce the tax
increase.
Mayor Waldorf noted that there were things that she
too wished were in the budget, specifically the public works construction crew
position and the police officer position.
She pointed out, though, that the Council had made some reductions.
Council Member Pavăo noted that the tax rate last
year was the lowest it had been in 50 years.
He noted that the cost of everything was increasing and pointed out that
properties were worth more as well.
Council Member Pavăo argued that this was a fair budget and a fair tax
increase.
The meeting was adjourned at 7:44 p.m.
The minutes of
May 19, 1999 were adopted on the 23rd day of August, 1999.
__________________________________________
Joyce A. Smith, CMC