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HomeMy WebLinkAboutTB Pre Budget Study Session 2014-07-30 Town of Estes Park, Larimer County, Colorado, July 30, 2014 Minutes of a Study Session meeting of the TOWN BOARD of the Town of Estes Park, Larimer County, Colorado. Meeting held at Town Hall in Rooms 202/203 in said Town of Estes Park on the 30th day of July, 2014. Board: Mayor Pinkham, Mayor Pro Tem Koenig, Trustees Ericson, Holcomb, Nelson, Norris and Phipps Attending: All Also Attending: Town Administrator Lancaster, Finance Officer McFarland, Directors Bergsten, Chilcott, Kufeld, and Winslow, Town Clerk Williamson, Public Information Officer Rusch and Grant Specialist Crosser Absent: None Mayor Pinkham called the meeting to order at 8:10 a.m. REVIEW OF BOARD RETREAT HELD JUNE 26, 2014. Town Administrator Lancaster reviewed the 2015 Strategic Plan draft developed at the Town Board Retreat on June 26, 2014. He stated as the Town has not received reimbursements from flood expenses there continues to be a lot of unknowns related to funding from reimbursements and grant funding. FEMA has delivered funds to the State which has not allocated funding and would not release funds until work has been completed. Therefore, the Town continues to be in a fiscally reserved state and should develop a budget around the restrictions. A list of the objectives outlined for 2015 were categorized by those needing funding to complete, additional staffing needs, and those needing both funding and staffing. 2015 Board Objectives A revised Sign Code would require funding to hire a consultant that specializes in sign code development and has the knowledge of current sign code regulations. Staff estimates $30,000 to develop the code without a public process. Director Chilcott stated the current code may place the Town at risk of lawsuits as it is not defensible as written if staff tried to enforce the code. A new code would be content neutral, enforceable, and easy to understand and enforce by staff. Downtown Business District would need staff to work on the project and can be delayed until an Assistant Town Administrator has been hired. Broadband Access. Staff has been working with an ad-hoc committee that continues to meet and additional staff would be needed if the item moves forward. Paid Parking requires staffing and funding or a consultant with parking experience to design and develop a parking plan to determine the type of technology that would work best in Estes Park. Visitor Center Parking Structure may need additional funds from the Town to build the structure as cost of construction has increased in Northern Colorado. Staff estimates the structure would be out to bid by the end of August with bids due at the end of September. Kathy Gilliland/CDOT Commissioner has reached out to the Federal and State entities to express the need for additional funds for grant awarded projects. This would require the Town to increase the match only. CDOT would not be able to move forward with projects without an increase in funding. Staff intends to use funds not used for the Event Center and Pavilion on the parking structure. Town Board Study Session – July 30, 2014 – Page 2 Facility maintenance funding plan requires staff time to develop. Mayor Pro Tem Koenig questioned if the Town could hire an outside consultant to develop the plan and then utilize a local contractor to maintain the infrastructure. Director Muhonen stated it would be cheaper to have staff develop a plan and complete the work than hire outside consultants. Special Events. The addition of new events would require additional staffing and funding. Staff and the Special Event ad-hoc committee have been reviewing all events to determine the type of events to add to the community and which events have run there useful life. There has been discussion of adding an additional Event Coordinator position to the fairgrounds staff with the increase in events. Conference Center. The roof needs to be replaced and would require funding. The Board consensus was to move the replacement of the roof to the top of the list of items to complete by using funds set aside for items such as the museum storage facility. Landfill mitigation would require substantially less funds than anticipated. The State Department of Health has found no ground water contamination; however, they have requested the Town redirect the flow of water and build a cap over the landfill to keep water from flowing down through the landfill. Stewart Environmental has begun work with the Fire District to address water used at the fire training grounds. The Town anticipates $400,000 to complete the project. Comprehensive Plan updates continue to be completed by staff; however, staff has identified possible grant funding since the flood to provide funding for a new plan. The Town does not have the funds to complete a new plan but could move forward if a grant is awarded. Director Chilcott stated specific areas could be identified to address with a new plan such as areas affected by new project like FLAP. Trustee Nelson commented the Town needs a vision as it relates to urban planning to identify what the Town should become. The Board requested staff pursue grant opportunities to complete a new plan. Housing Issues – The objective would require significant staff time to complete an updated housing needs study for the valley, form a local housing committee to study the issue, and convene a housing summit of CAST communities. Staff suggested the summit be held next year. Mayor Pro Tem Koenig requested staff send a letter to the other communities to identify the level of interest in holding a summit. Public Art Policy – The item has been turned over to the newly formed Park Advisory Board. Town Policies – Staff continues to work on updating policies. This effort was significantly impacted by the flood recovery efforts. Transportation Advisory Committee signage recommendations would require both funding and staff time to ensure a uniform signage plan was implemented. Mayor Pro Tem Koenig requested staff consider adding sidewalks, bike, and pedestrian lanes to areas of high concentration of school children. Trustee Ericson stated money should be set aside for a second stall barn in the Community Reinvestment fund annually. The replacement of stall barns has been identified as a 5 year goal. Director Winslow would like to have the new barn in the next 7 years to keep from losing shows. Staff would prepare the 2015 budget with the objectives in mind and bring forward the budget implications. Town Board Study Session – July 30, 2014 – Page 3 REVIEW OF FLOOD RECOVERY EXPENSES AND FUNDING. Finance Officer McFarland reviewed the Town finances as it relates to flood recovery efforts. Finance has broken the projects into emergency, repair, exigent and river master plan project to be completed and hazard mitigation projects which would only be completed if the Town receives grant funding to move forward. More specifically the major flood recovery efforts include: 1) Rock crusher project has a net project cost of - $200,000; 2) Fall River exigent work was estimated at $913,000 and should be under budget and 100% reimbursable; 3) Town property damage has been and continues to be reimbursed by the Town’s property and liability insurance company CIRSA. Current estimates are $1.5 million in damage and $1.45 reimbursed; 4) Walsh Engineering has been retained to create master plans for the Fall River and Fish Creek Master Plans at an estimated cost of $400,000 and the Town reimbursed $350,000; 5) RG & Associates and HDR Engineering are contracted to complete engineering and design phases, and construction management of Fish Creek, Community Drive and 27 other locations at a cost of $1.37 million with the Town reimbursed 80%; 6) FEMA reimbursements through the State have been slow with the Town only receiving $76,000 to date. The Town has incurred $1.3 million in out-of-pocket expenses and waiting on reimbursement; therefore, the fund balance has been affected. UPDATE ON FLOOD EFFECTS TO FINANCIAL STATEMENT/BUDGETS. The beginning General fund balance in 2104 was $3.75 million. The existing flood- related costs continue to be manageable as long as the Town receives reimbursements in a timely manner. Once reimbursements are received the net effect on the General fund would be $355,000 for 2014. In the interim, the General fund continues to be drawn down and would continue to fluctuate depending on the timeliness of reimbursements coupled with invoicing from the projects. The cost for capital projects far exceeds the General fund balance and could jeopardize the solvency of the fund. All hazard mitigation grants have tight timeframes and require matching funds that would need to be considered by the Town before accepting as the timing of the grants may cause a cash flow concern. FORECAST OF FUND BALANCES. Finance Officer McFarland stated all funds are preforming well as it relates to fund balance with the exception of the General fund at $575,000. The addition of the flood related costs to the financial statements has rendered the General fund balance highly volatile, especially on the short term. The cyclicality of revenues, especially sales tax, exacerbates short-term financial analysis. As reimbursements are received and larger sales tax months are received the General fund balance should stabilize and would be at approximately $1.6 - $2.6 million by the end of 2014. The Town could borrow from other funds in the short term such as Light and Power or the Vehicle Replacement fund. A review of current spending trends was discussed with Finance Officer McFarland demonstrating a need for a balanced budget in order to maintain a 25% fund balance. At current spending the Town would be at approximately 5% by 2018. Staff would be decreasing operational costs in the upcoming years. GENERAL THOUGHTS ON REMAINDER OF 2014 AND 2015 The new 1% sales tax would be placed in four new Special Review funds and should generate approximately $1.2 million in 2014 and $2 million in 2015. The Community Reinvestment fund was revised mid-year; however, additional changes are noted: 1) the parking structure would exceed grant funds due to increase cost due to rising construction costs; 2) Fall River trail grant does not require a match, decreasing the Town’s expenses by $63,000; 3) staff recommends moving the STIP to the new Street fund; 5) the estimated $1.5 million fund balance is comprised of $200,000 reserved for the museum storage facility and $1 million from the sale of Lot 4; and 6) the Certificates of Participation (COP) note payment for the construction of the Event Center and Pavilion is $517,623. The Community Services fund contains funds transferred to operate the Museum, Senior Center, Visitor Center, transportation and events. Staff requested these funds be moved to the General fund in 2015. The $4.2 million for the Town Board Study Session – July 30, 2014 – Page 4 devolution of Highway 34 and the associated match funding for the FLAP grant should be cost-neutral. Review of department needs. Town Administrator Lancaster presented a list of needs by the individual departments:  Security cameras  Audio visual in Board room  Shuttle buses  Dias security improvements  Parking – shuttle system for employee parking.  Digital kiosk Visitor Center to replace brochures  Docking station for electronics  Community Development staff  Vehicle replacements to consider alternative fuel vehicles such as electric with grant funding  SCADA irrigation system  Facilities Manager  Human Resource staff  Restorative Justice staff to continue successful mitigation program  In car cameras for Police vehicles Personnel costs Staff has begun work on the market study for employee salaries and would be recommending changes for the 2015 budget. Health insurance premiums are estimated to increase by 26% due to a large ongoing claim. Administrator Lancaster stated he would like to review summer sales tax prior to recommending the addition of staff including the Assistant Town Administrator (ATA) and Event Coordinator to the 2014/2015 budget. Board discussion followed and has been summarized: Mayor Pro Tem Koenig, Trustee Holcomb, and Trustee Phipps would recommend adding the ATA prior to adding an Event Coordinator. Trustee Phipps requested no additional expenses be added to the 2014 budget until a review of budgets in October. Mayor Pinkham agreed. Trustee Norris and Ericson agreed with the priorities; however, there continues to be a growing need for additional staff support for special events and requested the Events Coordinator be hired in 2014. Trustee Ericson stated a need for additional personnel in Community Development. Administrator Lancaster stated staff continues to review and identify grant funding opportunities for staffing. Trustee Nelson expressed the need to take care of the employees the Town has and to add personnel to complete the work needed to make the Town what the community would like. After further discussion it was agreed to add Facilities Manager to the list of positions needed immediately. Administrator Lancaster stated the Event Coordinator could be funded in conjunction with Visit Estes Park. Mayor Pro Tem Koenig expressed concern with Visit Estes Park spending funds on items that are not their role/charge and requested their mission be reviewed. She also stated concern with unclear boundaries for the position if it were funded by two different entities. There being no further business, Mayor Pinkham adjourned the meeting at 11:00 a.m. Jackie Williamson, Town Clerk