With the rising COVID numbers, the next Council meeting will be back to fully remote. Hopefully things improve soon, but for now given the circumstances and an abundance of caution, the meeting will be back to Zoom only. There are a few significant items on the agenda for the meeting:
- We will discuss a conceptual framework for the ARPA (Pandemic Recovery Reserve Funds) funds. Of the total $2.9M that we will receive over the course of two tranches, we have spent or appropriated approximately $1.46M. This means that while the remainder approximately $1.4M is tracked separately, it is treated in the same way our general fund reserve is - it can be spent or not spent for any general purpose. This agenda item is to discuss a framework of how to spend down these reserves.
- We will discuss the proposed budget for FY23 (ending June 30, 2023). The current itteration of the budget shows a general fund deficit of $107K. The budget proposal suggests possible options for addressing the deficit including:
- Deferring contribution for police vehicle replacement (this would save approximately $70K). Each year a contribution is made to fund vehicle replacement where in the normal course the oldest vehicle is replaced. We would still be able to purchase a vehicle this year using the prior year contribution, however next year we would be behind in our scheduled vehicle refresh. The oldest vehicle in the police fleet is approximately 9 years old.
- Eliminate the stipend for City Councilmembers and Planning Commissioners. This could save approximately $40K.
- Cap the costs of the outsourced City Engineer to $12K/month. This could save, however it would mean that work for the City Engineer would be prioritized and those with the lowest priority may not be accomplished.
Other potential actions could include rolling back the salary of the city manager and/or reducing or eliminating COLA increases for miscellaneous employees.
Staff is recommending however that the entirety of the deficit be covered from reserve spending.
- We will also be discussing the FY23 proposed master fee schedule. Staff is recommending an increase to all fees by CPI for an increase of 8.8% (to the extent allowable by law). Part of the larger increase is because this was not done last year as a result of COVID and staff turnover.
If you have any thoughts or questions on the above please let me know.
