|
December 3, 2008 The hearing was divided into separate sections with questions and comments for each fund. In total, approximately six residents spoke at the hearing. Most of the questions and comments dealt with the General Fund. Note: For the convenience of those reading this summary, and because there was an overlap in the questions and comments made by the different speakers, this summary is being organized by department or budget category rather than by the person/s who raised the issue. General Comments At the beginning of the hearing, Supervisor Peters noted that the budget was the first time since 2003 that expenditures had decreased. For 2009, there was a $585,000 decrease in general fund expenditures. Revenue projections for 2009 are $1.4 million lower than 2008. Mr. Peters credited Director of Labor Operations Eric DiBartolo was saving $874,000. At the conclusion of the hearing, the following general comments were made by members of the town board: Councilman Jim Martorano said the town had to balance the need to keep the town economically viable while at the same time not cut back on services which, once cut, would be hard to get back. Councilman Campisi expressed his gratitude to Highway Superintendent Eric DiBartolo, noting that if it had not been for the savings he had realized, the board could not have presented the budget it did. He also noted that the town board had been able to cut the 4.4% increase in the supervisor's tentative budget to 2.57%. Councilman Bianco said there were items in the budget he both liked and disliked, and expressed his concern about no new police cars and reductions in the paving line. (See below.) Responding to comments from some residents that more money should have been taken from the surplus to reduce taxes, he stressed the importance of maintaining the surplus. General Fund Revenue projections In general, several speakers, including Don Roberts and Ed Donovan, questioned what they thought were overly optimistic estimates for certain revenue lines such as sales tax and inspection fees for new construction. Sales tax: Comptroller Joan Goldberg explained that the sales tax revenue for 2008 was holding to earlier projections because of the increase in gas prices. She said she was confident that despite the recent drop in gas prices, the town would be able to meet the $4 million projection in 2009. Councilman Lou Campisi added that if the sales tax revenue came up short next year, money would have to be taken from the surplus to offset the loss and Councilman Matthew Metz noted that gas prices could go back up.. Inspection fees: Ms. Goldberg explained that that line was based on a five year average and that the town as gradually lowering the projected revenue amount. She said she was comfortable with the $100,000 projection for 2009. Mortgage tax: Ms. Goldberg said that the revenue estimate was cut 35% from 2008 projections. Councilman Metz defended the $1.4 million estimate was realistic. Skate board: The revenue projection is based on the 2008 estimate although the park was only in operation for a short time in 2008. Recreation Superintendent Jennifer Fava explained that revenue is expected from selling season passes, day revenue and also by holding special events. The plan is for the park to be revenue neutral, i.e., revenue will costs. Police fees: These fees come from photocopying accident reports and other minor income. Open Space fee: Gil Kauman asked where in the budget the $30 annual open space fee was shown. Ms. Goldberg explained that the revenue from this source was not part of the General Fund but was in a separate trust account and that the proceeds from the tax could only be used for open space acquisition. The town recently borrowed $1.4 million to acquire land on Turkey Mountain. The bond will be paid back from the $30 fee. SRO (School Resource Officers) $288,000. This amount reflects the contribution of the Yorktown and Lakeland school districts and the Town of Cortlandt for the four school resource officers, one each at Yorktown and Lakeland High Schools, and one each at the Strang Middle School and Cooper Beach Middle School. For three schools, the town's share is 50% of the cost; for Cooper Beach, Yorktown's share is only 25% while Cortlandt pays 25%. Despite comments from Ed Ciffone that these officers be taken out of the schools and put back on regular patrol duty, all board members defended the expense of the SROs as providing a valuable service to the community. Search fees, $50,000: Susan Siegel (the person writing this summary) asked if the search fee, included for the first time in 2008 but never implemented, would be implemented in 2009. Mr. Metz said the new charge would go into effect in January, 2009. He said no local law was needed to establish the fee. Property tax revenue: While the budget assumes 100% collection of the town taxes due, based on past history, Ms. Goldberg said that there was likely to be about a $200,000 shortfall in actual revenue collected. Overall, and including past due town taxes and unpaid school and county taxes where the town has had to advance the money, the town has about $4 million in unpaid taxes. Fund balance. Mr. Ciffone suggested that an additional $150,000 be taken from the town's roughly $3 million surplus and applied as a revenue for 2008 in order to reduce taxes. The board rejected the suggestion. Expenditures Bingo: Town Clerk Alice Roker explained that both the fee schedule and the requirement that the town have an inspector on site during the game are state mandates. The town has no flexibility over revenue or expenses of the program. Cell phones. Mr. Roberts noted that while costs had gone down in some departments, they had also gone up in others. He said the total throughout the budget was $36,680. Ms. Goldberg said that in 2009 the town would be looking at a new plan which she expected would lower total costs. Webcasting town board meetings: The board did not have to add an additional $6,000 to cover this cost as the $20,000 budgeted in 2008 for “cable services” and repeated in the 2009 budget could cover this additional expense. Contingency line item, $210,284: Some residents questioned what this was for and why it was needed. Councilman Nick Bianco explained that along with the surplus, this was a “rainy day” fund. The money could also be used to fund possible CSEA raises in 2009 as a result of a new contract. The money in this line item must be transferred to another line item before it can be spent. Recreation Department/Contractual expenses, $110,000. This line item reflects a change in the way the town provides money to several volunteer sports clubs such as YOAC, SOAC, etc. Board members explained that several years ago, the town decided that it would be more cost effective to provide a subsidy to these clubs rather than have the town provide the programs. The money is used to pay for equipment, referees and custodial costs. Ms. Fava explained that in the past the town would make the individual purchases for the clubs on an informal basis but that at the suggestion of the town's auditors, the town has decided to enter into contracts with each club, giving them a specific amount of money each year and letting them handle all the financial transactions. The amount of money, she emphasized, was the same as last year; it was just being shown in different line items for 2009, i.e., the $110,00 budget line reflects decreases to other lines that previously funded these contributions. In response to comments from Mr. Ciffone stating that these expenditures were not needed, board members supported the expenditure as a more efficient way to provide an important recreational service to town residents. Recreation/Debt for Shrub Oak pool. Mr. Ciffone suggested that the town use its surplus to pay off the $2.1 million remaining debt service for the pool in order to reduce expenditures. Ms. Goldberg explained that the bond was not callable, i.e., it could not be paid off whenever the town wanted Police cars. By far, this was the most extensive discussion of the evening. Initially, Councilman Bianco asked Police Chief Daniel McMahon to clarify the number of cars the department had, a figure, he called “mind boggling.” The chief said that the department had 20 marked patrol cars and 14 unmarked ones. Four additional vehicles were used for other purposes. The 20 did not include six cars that are considered “out of service” but which could be fixed up and brought back into service if needed, if one of the others cars became disabled. The chief wants two new cars, as part of a commitment the board made several years ago to replace two cars each year in order to retire cars with high mileage. He estimated that a patrol car used 25,000 miles a year. That practice was suspended last year due to budgetary constraints. In 2007, four new cars were purchased. While the board was sympathetic to the chief's request, and recognized the long term financial problem of repeatedly putting off new purchases in the short term, in the end a majority of the board voted 3-2 to defeat a motion by Councilman Bianco to add $50,000 from the surplus to fund the purchase of two new cars. (A new car, with accessories is estimated to cost $26,400.) Councilman Jim Martorano supported Mr. Bianco's motion. Prior to making the motion, Mr. Bianco called for the police department to find some efficiencies in its budget, which he pointed out, represented 39% of the general fund expenditures. He said that there was always room for efficiencies. Engineering. The salary line continues the practice of including money to hire an assistant engineer even though none was hired in 2007 or 2008. Ms. Goldberg explained that the town wants to hire someone but has not found an acceptable candidate who was willing to accept the offered salary. Legal Services. In response to several questions from Ms. Siegel, Town Attorney John Buckley explained that the $27,000 for retainers for outside attorneys for the Planning Board and Zoning Board of Appeals was included in the $120,000 “litigation expense” line item. He was confident that the remaining amount would be adequate to cover the town's litigation costs in 2009. The $10,000 for legal fees was for outside attorney consultations that were not related to litigation, labor matters or certiorari cases. The $10,000 expense line was for expenses incurred by the outside attorneys. Tax Receiver/computer expenses. Ms. Goldberg said that the town expected the tax receiver would be changing over to the KVS software used by the Finance Department in 2009. The software module has not been purchased yet and will require an additional maintenance charge, resulting in a slightly reduced software maintenance expense for the tax department. Central Purchasing: The $38,000 for computer hardware and software was for new purchases for various departments. Ms. Goldberg said the town was still reviewing plans to create a centralized purchasing now that the department has the storage capacity to purchase items in bulk. Currently, the town has a part time purchasing clerk who does centralized purchasing for office supplies but each department purchases its own supplies. If the town creates a new central purchasing department, that would be a civil service position. Vehicle Maintenance/allocation of expenses across departments. While the salary line in the central garage budget is charged for the labor for maintaining town vehicles, the cost of parts for the vehicles is charged to the department that uses the vehicle. Inter-fund Transfers for Shared Services Ms. Siegel questioned why there were no inter-fund transfers to reflect work done by one department for another, such as when water department employees who are paid for by Water District Taxes, perform work for the parks department or highway department. Ms. Goldberg and Director of Labor Operations Eric DiBartolo explained that they were currently keeping records when employees were assigned to a different department for a whole day but not when the assignment was for less than a day. Ms. Siegel noted that even half days should be accounted for as they added up to full days. Ms. Goldberg said that they were working on a system for accomplishing this. Mr. DiBartolo said that based on records he has kept to date, the cost of the shared services between the different departments under his jurisdiction were a wash. Councilman Biano noted that as the water department represents only 60% of the town, it was important to keep track of time spent by water department staff, even half days, for other town purposes. In a related question, Ms. Siegel asked why the 2009 budget did not include the department organizational charts that had been in previous budgets. Ms. Goldberg noted that because of the shared services between the six departments under the Director of Labor Opertations, the charts had become unworkable. Museum/Bernstein property. Ms. Roker explained that a survey has been completed that will split the property into two lots; a two acre parcel that will include the house, and the remaining four acres that will have a conservation easement as it includes wetlands and backs up to a town park. The property will be put up for sale in 2009. She declined to provide a possible number of how much money the sale could generate. In response to Mr. Ciffone's comments that the proceeds from the sale were supposed to go to the museum, Ms. Roker said that it would be up to the board to decide what to do with the proceeds. Highway Fund NYS CHIPS program. Highway Superintendent DiBartolo explained that if the state did not provide the expected $200,000 for this paving program, the town would not be able to do the paving. Snow removal: Mr. DiBartolo reported that the department under spent its snow budget in 2007 but overspent it in 2008. The department's fund balance for 2008 will be applied to snow removal as necessary. He pointed out that it was more expensive to deal with ice than snow. Costs also depended on whether the ice or snow came during the week or on weekends. Truck Purchase: No new truck purchases are included in the 2009 budget. The board has set a policy of purchasing new trucks every other year. Last year two trucks were purchased; the next purchase will be scheduled for 2010. Mr. DiBartolo indicated that trucks are costing between $160,000-$180,000. Library Fund In response to Mr. Ciffone's question of whether the budget could be reduced, Library Director Pat Barresi explained that cuts had been made in several areas. The board added that it did not want to reduce hours or close the library one day a week as a way to save money. Supervisor Peters noted that in bad economic times, residents were more likely to use the library. Ms. Barrisi added that the Friends of the Library contributed $20,000 to the library but that that revenue was not part of the budget. On the revenue side, Ms. Goldbeerg explained that state aid varies from year to year based on the grants the library is able to obtain; this cannot be budgeted in advance. Ms. Barrisi added that through the Westchester Library our library gets about $1,400 a year through the “E rate” that's a charge on our phone bills. Water Fund Staffing levels. In response to Ms. Siegel's question why two water meter foremen were needed to supervise two, or possibly three workers, Mr. DiBartolo justified the additional foreman position explaining that the foremen did whatever job was needed and didn't stand on ceremony based on their job title. He said the second foreman position was needed because of added job responsibilities. Revenue from new taps: In response to a question from Serafina Mastro, Mr. DiBartolo explained that revenue was down because there was less new construction in town. Equipment costs: In response to Ms. Siegel's question about the refund status for the $284,000 vactor machine that proved to be unusable, Mr. DiBartolo and Ms. Goldberg explained that the machine has been returned to the manufacturer and will be used as a trade-in for a new machine that is expected to be delivered in February. Ms. Goldberg expects there to be a net loss to the town of about $8,000. Surplus: Mr. DiBartolo explained that the $3.6 million surplus had been built up in previous years in anticipation of shifting to a radio read meter system that would have lowered staffing needs. The system would have cost $9 million. However, upon additional investigation, it was determined that the system would not be cost effective for Yorktown and the town will not be making the change-over. Road Repair: In response to a question from Ms. Mastro regarding the uneven costs in this line item, Ms. Goldberg and Mr. DiBartolo explained that if the water department has to tear up a road to repair a water main break, the department is responsible for repairing the road. The budget figure is based on a five year average as the number of breaks varies from year to year. Under the new shared services approach, the highway department is doing the final repaving of the road (after the subsurface has been prepared by the water department) but the water department is charged for the blacktop and labor. Capital costs: Mr. DiBartolo said that the major ongoing capital expense was the replacement of the French Hill pump station. Water rates: Mr. Ciffone suggested that the town sue New York City which has been increasing water rates. . |