Item 5ACity of Southlake
CITY COUNCIL BUDGET WORK SESSION
MINUTES
August 26, 2003
(Town Hall Training Rooms 3C and 3D)
CITY COUNCIL PRESENT:
Mayor Pro Tem W. Ralph Evans; Deputy Mayor Pro Tem Rex
Potter (arrived at 6:28 p.m.); Councilmembers: Carolyn Morris, Keith Shankland, Greg
Standerfer and Tom Stephen.
CITY COUNCIL ABSENT:
Mayor Andy Wambsganss.
STAFF PRESENT:
City Manager Billy Campbell, Assistant City Manager Shana Yelverton,
Assistant to the City Manager John Eaglen, Planning Director Bruce Payne, Public Works
Director Pedram Farahnak, Finance Director Sharen Elam, Director of Public Safety Rick Black,
Director of Community Services Malcolm Jackson, Deputy Director of Administrative Services
Garland Wilson, Director of Economic Development Greg Last, Director of Human Resources
Kevin Hugman, Manager of Technical Services Gary Gregg, Deputy Director of Community
Services Steve Polasek, Recreation Supervisor Steve Moore, Lieutenant Rhonda Wilson,
Landscape Administrator Keith Martin, Audio Visual System Technician Pam Jordan, and City
Secretary Lori Farwell.
Agenda Item No. 1, Call to order. The work session was called to order by Mayor Pro Tem W.
Ralph Evans at 6:05 p.m.
Agenda Item No. 2, Executive Session. There was no Executive Session held.
Agenda Item No. 3, Discussion: Fiscal Year 2003-04 Proposed Budget. City Manager Billy
Campbell welcomed Council and made opening comments. He stated that this budget provides
for high quality service delivery, attention to physical infrastructure, as well as strategic financial
initiatives promoting long-term sustainability.
He addressed the challenges of this budget year as being: structural budget imbalance addressed
during FY 2003, with spending reductions, tax rate increase and utility rate hikes; continued
vigilance and decisive action required to ensure balance is maintained; and strict adherence to
financial strategies/goals is a must to ensure future financial integrity.
Assistant City Manager Shana Yelverton gave a multi-year perspective. She said the challenges
are not completely resolved and that today’s decisions must consider future impacts. She said we
must continue to understand structural imbalance and guard against it and pay careful attention to
recurring costs.
Assistant City Manager Yelverton listed budget objectives as: addressing structural imbalance;
maintaining and improving service delivery; maintaining the competitiveness of the pay plan;
paying close attention to the bond rating; and maintaining adequate reserves.
Assistant City Manager Yelverton addressed the general fund highlights as: proposing the same
tax rate; continuing payment for the vehicle replacement program; including pay plan market
review/adjustments; and moving SPDC workers into the General Fund.
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August 26, 2003, PAGE 1 OF 3
Director of Finance Sharen Elam presented highlights from other funds: SPDC workers to
General Fund; TIF debt supplemented by General Fund; Utility Fund has 64 days of working
capital; and consideration of the Drainage Utility District.
Director Elam presented the operating budgets for the General Fund as $20.76 million, Utility
Fund as $14.5 million, Crime Control District as $2.1 million, SPDC as $1.76 million, and Park
Dedication as $200,000. She presented the General Fund – Fund Balance – with the proposed
budget as 22.33%.
Director Elam presented revenue data for the following sources: ad valorem, sales tax, franchise
tax, fines, charges for services, permits and fees, miscellaneous, and interest income with a total
revenue amount of $20,021,348. She presented the proposed tax rate to be the same as the
current tax rate of $0.462.
Director of Human Resources Kevin Hugman presented personnel information to Council. He
said he has completed a market survey with 11 benchmark cities and compared job duties to the
th
50 percentile. He reviewed the data received from the survey with Council. He presented Pay
Plan Adjustments, Option A and Option B, and reviewed the advantages and disadvantages of
both. Option A includes a market adjustment as well as a cost-of-living adjustment (COLA).
Option B includes a market adjustment only.
Deputy Mayor Pro Tem Potter arrived.
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Director Hugman summarized the proposed budget as: adjusting pay grades to 50 percentile of
market and leaving COLA as an option; and continuing the pay plan step increases to 3% instead
of the previous 5%. He stated that staff recommends Option B with a start date of October 1.
Deputy Director of Administrative Services Garland Wilson presented the proposed fee schedule
revisions with Council. Council discussed the proposed fee schedule.
Council agreed that a fee should be charged for all residential and commercial plan reviews and
to credit the amount back when a permit is pulled.
Councilmember Morris stated she would like to increase the earth disturbance fee.
Deputy Director Wilson agreed to review the fees for earth disturbance permits and sign variance
permits.
Agenda Item 4, Meeting Adjourned. With there being no further business to discuss, Mayor Pro
Tem Evans motioned to adjourn the meeting at 7:24 p.m.
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August 26, 2003, PAGE 2 OF 3
___________________________
W. Ralph Evans
Mayor Pro Tem
ATTEST:
__________________________
Lori A. Farwell
City Secretary
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