Carefree Truth
Issue #648, May 25, 2018
Gary Neiss reported that the Town is now 2/3 of the way through the budget process. Budget workshops were held in April, and the bottom line of approximately $8.5 million, which sets expenditures limits, was being heard at this meeting. As required by State statute, once the bottom line is officially approved, the budget will be advertised on forms from the Auditor General, then the final budget will be on the agenda for approval at the June 5th Council meeting. The new fiscal year (FY) begins July 1st.
Revenues will remain steady at approximately $6.4 million. Organizational expenses will remain consistent and proportional to inflationary indexes. Approximately $2 million will be taken from reserves to fund capital projects. Reserves are at their highest levels ever, at $7.86 million.
Because local sales tax accounts for 50% of the income, marketing is vital to bring people to Carefree. The revenues don't include the money coming from reserves, which is the equivalent of moving money from a savings account into a checking account. Public safety includes the Master Fire Contract with Rural/Metro (R/M), which is a big benefit to Carefree residents. If not for this contract, it would cost the average household $1000 a year to subscribe to R/M's services. Mr. Neiss repeated the budget schedule and asked if there were any questions from the Council.
Vice Mayor John Crane asked if there were any changes to the line item budget given to the Council previously. Mr. Neiss replied that no changes had been made other than some fine tuning stemming from discussions at the last meeting.
Councilman Mike Farrar noted that a lot of time and attention had been given to the marketing budget at the last meeting, stating that the marketing budget had grown from $300,000 to $500,000 in the past 3 years. He asked if there would be more events or less. He made a motion to table the vote and hold another budget session to examine the marketing budget and event calendar.
Mr. Neiss again explained that there are statutory timing issues related to the budget. Money can still be moved around in the budget and policy discussions can still be held. But municipalities are required to advertise their budget. Mr. Neiss explained that what Mr. Farrar was questioning is a policy issue and could be vetted at a future meeting on the marketing budget, at which point it could be reduced or left as is.
The new FY begins on July 1st. The budget process is timed so that the Town can advertise the budget, per statutory requirements, before the final budget is approved at the June 5th Council meeting. Town accountant Jim Keen must populate the spreadsheet after this hearing process and publish it in a newspaper to have the advertising period met.
Mayor Peterson pointed out that not all the marketing budget was spent in the FY coming to a close. Councilwoman Cheryl Kroyer said they are talking about spending approximately $418,000, with a cost recovery model that would return $170,000, making the actual expenses $243,000. The events were not laid out on a flow chart yet. That usually gets done as plans are developed. She pointed out that the Council is just looking for adoption of the bottom line now.
Councilman Steve Hatcher asked how long the budget must be published. Town clerk Kandace Contreras explained that the budget must be published 4 times within a 3 week period. Carefree publishes it in the Record Reporter. Mr. Neiss pointed out that there is internal lead time for Mr. Keen to populate the spread sheets with what is approved that night. This takes approximately 2 days. These internal steps must be taken in order to meet the sequence of events dictated by the State. There is also lead time with the publication. It is not published the day after the call is made to place the ad. That process must be completed prior to the June 5th Council meeting where the final budget will be adopted. Mrs. Contreras added that the date of the hearing must be included in the budget advertising.
Mr. Farrar said there are 2 things going on here. One is the publication of the budget hearing and the other is the publication of the adoption of the budget, correct? Mrs. Contreras replied, "No". Mr. Keen again explained that the proposed budget is published as well, and sets the bottom line. Money can be moved around inside of that. But the bottom line must be set and advertised.
Mr. Farrar said he was trying to get an understanding of this, and stated only the notice of the budget hearing needed to be published, correct? Mr. Neiss repeated that both the notice of the hearing and the Auditor General's forms must be published at the same time. Mr. Farrar asked how much time there was before this had to occur. Mr. Neiss again explained that it takes about 30 days to meet the advertising requirement. Mr. Farrar stated there is a window of 30 days. Mr. Neiss said there is no window. The bottom line must be adopted now. Ms. Kroyer added that they were just accepting the bottom line and can still move money around.
Mr. Farrar said he was OK with accepting the budget maximum number if they can have a serious marketing discussion about what has and hasn't worked, and wanted to know exactly what was going to be done. He wanted a clear identification of what success those events accomplished, maybe in an executive session.
Mr. Neiss said that is not an executive session issue, but he would celebrate public discussion and debate on it. Mr. Farrar said they had held an executive session on it last year and he was upset about that, so was glad to hear it would be heard publicly now. No one recalled having an executive session on marketing. Mr. Farrar said it was held in the fire station. Vice Mayor Crane said the Town cannot discuss marketing strategy in executive session. Mayor Peterson remembered having discussions and disagreements. Mr. Farrar again insisted that it was heard in an executive session that was held in the fire station. Mrs. Contreras noted, as a point of clarification, that the only executive session regarding the budget was held in regard to staff raises and salaries.
Mayor Peterson said he would be happy to have another meeting to discuss marketing strategy but the budget number needed to get locked down now. Councilman Mike Krahe asked if they needed another motion or if they had a motion. Mr. Hatcher noted that Mr. Farrar had made a motion and there had been discussion. He said they needed to see if there was a second to that motion. Councilman Gene Orrico seconded the motion. Ms. Kroyer said she didn't think tabling the approval of the bottom line was a possibility and asked if Mr. Farrar would like to rescind his motion and make a new one. Mr. Farrar stood by his motion to table the approval and reschedule a hearing.
Mrs. Contreras repeated the motion and Mayor Peterson called for a vote. Mr. Farrar and Mr. Orrico voted in favor of tabling the approval. All the other Council members opposed the motion, which was denied 5-2. Ms. Kroyer made a new motion to approve the bottom line. Vice Mayor Crane seconded. The motion to approve the bottom line passed 5-2.
https://vimeo.com/268114914
Lyn Hitchon
Prepared by Carefree Truth
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