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HomeMy WebLinkAbout01/14/2014 Study Session Minutes�0 N of 9k MARAANA 7 'I letZo�� STUDY SESSION MINUTES 115 5 5 W. Civic Center Drive, Marana, Arizona 8 5 6 5 3 Board Room, January 14, 2014, at or after 6:00 PM Ed Honea, Mayor Jon Post, Vice Mayor David Bowen, Council Member Patti Comerford, Council Member Herb Kai, Council Member Carol McGorray, Council Member Roxanne Ziegler, Council Member STUDY SESSION CALL TO ORDER AND ROLL CALL. Mayor Honea called the meeting to order at 6:00 p.m. Town Clerk I3ronson called roll. All Council Members were present except Council Member Kai, who arrived at 6:27 p.m. PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCEIINVOCA"-l"IONIMOMENT OF SILENCE. Led by Mayor Honea. APPROVAL, OF AGENDA. Motion to apl)rore by Vice Mayor .Fast, second by Council Member Bowen. Passed 6-0. CALL TO THE PUBLIC. No speaker cards were presented. DISCUSSIONIDIRECZ:"IONIPOSSIBLE ACTION I : Presentation: Relating to Administration; Strategic Plan approval of vision statement, and presentation and discussion of the framework for development of the fiscal year 2014-2015 budget and its role in the implementation of the Strategic Pian (iilbert Davidson stated that this was the annual kick-off to set the stage for the 2014-15 fiscal year budget preparation. The presentation is in two parts — the first is a discussion of where we are with the Strategic Plan development; reviewing the draft language. Then it will transition to Mr. Montague to talk about the past, present and future of the budget. Mr. Davidson noted that what is before Council is the revised vision statement — somewhere between a mission and a vision statement that is the essence of Marana in the Strategic Plan document. Mr. Davidson read the statement as follows "Marana's pioneering spirit leads us to reach new horizons. We embrace innovative thoughts that challenge the norm. Our commitment to success and excellence drives us to think, plan, discover and take action; to be the community that residents, businesses and visitors choose." (Underscores are Forum suggestions.) He noted that this statement was the direction that Council gave when Peggy Fiandaca led the work group back in August. Council expressed their approval of the statement as it gets to the heart of innovation, creativity and taking action to set a course and get things done. The next component of the Strategic Plan is the proposed Marana values. The four value statements — Dedicated service, Fiscal responsibility, Engaged innovation, and Strategic alliances -_ are the same that have been in the previous two versions - just simplified a little. From the Council workshop direction was given to define what these things are, so we're still working on some of the language. The focus areas are the same Commerce, Community, Innovation, Heritage and Recreation. The next section gets into the actual format to be used to describe what's in Commerce. He talked about some of the characteristics of a place where there are diverse and thriving businesses as well as entrepreneurial spirit. Community talks about what we're going to provide for the town such as safety, opportunities for community engagement, balance growth, quality amenities and diverse, interconnected communities. Much of the wording is the same as in previous plans. Innovation is designed to embrace change, be bold, visionary and efficient, more intradepartmental collaboration and developing a culture of systems to drive advancement. This also speaks to Council Member Kai's desire to find finding ways to incentivize and reward employees. Heritage is about getting the pioneering spirit across to preserve and protect the land ........ to be principled and focused as good stewards of our resources. Cour community has been about taking advantage of the land while we have it. The idea was to instill something deeper about the people who have lived in the community over generations. Council Member Bowen would like a little more description of who we are. Gilbert noted that all of the statements will have some explanations attached to them. Recreation characteristics are to provide healthy and active lifestyle opportunities, diverse recreational amenities and showcase the Sonoran Desert. This Plan will be a helpful tool when talking to developers. It's a great document to challenge them in the design of their communities as it can help them integrate with existing amenities. He briefly discussed the documents handed out including the August 13 work document. Mr. Montague began the budget presentation with the final results for FY 2013 and general fund reserves. When he provided the last update to Council in October, the numbers at that time were preliminary. He issued financial statements in December. From FY '12 to '13, roughly $2.6M was added to reserves which is what he indicated would happen back in October. It's important to note that with reserves - they are the key focus of budget discussions over the years. The difficult decisions made by Council in prior budget cycles got us to where we are today - with liquidity to meet the needs of the organization and to provide for capacity and flexibility to invest in key initiatives and to leverage potential dollars in the future. Having those cash balances are extremely important. We are roughly where we were pre -recession, even though we didn't feel the effects until 2008-09. But immediately, significant changes were made in how the business was operated to maintain key service levels. The financial statements are available on the website. Next, Mr. Montague went over the current month available - focusing on the big three - TPT from. July 2006 -November 2013 for October transactions. Data is lagging about two months. Holiday sales rose for the first time above the $800. line. We don't know what the holiday sales are for this most recent December. Those numbers will come in most likely in February. However, we are moving in the right direction. Retail, Hotels and Restaurants are up year over year. From a TPT standpoint, though, Contracting shows the largest increase primarily due to the wastewater treatment plant and the housing recovery. The top ten in that category are home builders. Year over year, we're up about 15% - mostly related to contracting. For Intergovernmental Revenue — we are up about 7% overall year over year. The JLB C (Joint Legislative Budget Committee) provided the estimates related to projections that occurring at the state level, and they are pretty optimistic about the next two to four years. Depending on the category, they're predicting between four and a half and five percent growth. That's important to us because as the state does better, so do we. The third major category is Licenses, Permits & Fees. For the current year's budget, we anticipated about 550 building permits The strength of the housing market is apparent here. Through December we're over halfway to our goal. For the calendar year, activity is occurring three areas: northern Marana which includes San Lucas, Gladden Farms and Rancho Marana; the east side which includes Dove Mountain, Sky Ranch, Tangerine Crossing and The Preserve; and the southern portion which includes Continental Ranch and Reserves, The Pines, Saguaro Bloom and Willow Ridge. The biggest player was Saguaro Bloom in that area. We're a little over where we were last year. March was the biggest month for building permits. He gave examples of new commercial businesses. He then gave a high level overview for 2015, noting that for planning purposes, early assumptions or projections are based on information available. other key areas are sales tax of about 6.9%; governmental revenue of about 3.7%; and licenses and fees of about 17%, including the regional landfill host fee. Tipping fees for the first quarter (the first 10 days) were $9000, which is very encouraging. There is still some pressure on the budget. One is attributed to the Class and Compensation study. Staff has been working on getting those changes into play by December 28, and for those who are eligible to receive an increase, those adjustments will be in the 1117114 paychecks. He talked about health insurance benefit costs. Meetings are underway for options such as renewal. Gilbert also pointed out that Council was provided with a worksheet on self-funded vs .fully insured benefits. Staff has been working to gather the facts related to a self-funded insurance program with the benefits consultants, and they will schedule a February study session with the benef its consultant. We could create our own insurance component up to a certain dollar amount and then a stopgap with Cigna kicks in above that. Basically Cigna and all the big health insurance providers are covering more people so they want to make that up by asking us to pay a higher monthly premium. Self-funded is where we cover that gap. Even if we are self-insured, we still go through the Cigna network. We are self funded in the dental area. Retirement costs are another cost rising - but just a little. The contribution amount is going up but the disability f s i "t f :' k s� - � } Rv �O - - . v . �y .. k e , 1 _ ' r� - - , 'T ,, " � I , — I., - 1, 9 LIM NMA41OAt 'ZI 1) j 1 -15. il i -1 J a I vi . - � VE f k PRII11 ON ii, 31 �!i .�- �} y- ��'• "�� �,. `�'""� � � � _� rack �'. � i �•. � � !. 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