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HomeMy WebLinkAbout1996-04-30 Council Minutes - Budget Work Session• CITY OF KENAI FIFTH BUDGET WORK SESSION APRIL 30,19% COUNCIL PRESENT: Measles, Bookey, Swarner, Moore, Bannock, Williams and Smalley (Smalley arrived at 8:56 p.m.) STAFF PRESENT: Freas, Kornelis, McGillivray, Elson, Graves, Morris, Porter, Springer, DeForest, Sweeney and Manninen. OTHERS PRESENT: Kin Booth (KVCC), Laura Measles (Kenai Chamber), Linda McNair (Library) and Peggy Gill Thompson (Kenai Fine Arts Center). DISCUSSION: Discussion began with Mayor Williams reviewing the information brought to the meeting as additional information. 1. Three -Year Travel Budget - Councilman Bannock provided council with a three-year average of travel costs by department. The information showed the FY96 budgeted amounts were 54% used. There were two big areas of concern, i.e. Fire Department budget set at $20,000 ($8,000 was added for the ARFF travel) and the Police Department which increased from $8,708 to $13,860. Chief Morris explained there was an increase due to so many new officers needing to travel for training. Other areas of increase were noted: Animal Control, from $1,400 to $3,600; Shop budget doubled; Streets from $270 to $1,350. Manninen reminded council the travel budgets also increased due to the registrations, now being included in the travel budgets. Prior to this budget, they were included in the Miscellaneous budgets. Williams asked if council wanted to have registrations placed in - the travel budgets. Making that inclusion changes the criteria. Bannock stated he used only the amounts listed on the accounting page. It was noted that the three-year average did not include travel costs for the dock or the city manager's budgets. Sweeney explained he did it this way because the amounts for per diem (when meals are included in conference costs) are hidden in Miscellaneous. He added, he could go back and get the amounts of registrations, etc. from last year's reports to give a more detailed report. Williams stated council did not have that amount of time. 2. ITEM A: 4/24/96 Budget work session notes. Williams noted the format was limited notes and asked if there were any corrections or comments. There were none. 3. ITEM B: 4/24/96 "To Do" List. Additional information requested by • Williams was a breakdown of employee salary and benefits information and PERS costs .KENAI CITY COUNCIL FIFTH BUDGET WORK SESSION April 309 1996 Page 2 for council review. (Sweeney passed that information out.) Information included in the packet of information distributed to council at the beginning of the session included the General Revenue Summary, General Fund Expenditure Summary and General Fund Appropriation of Fund Balances (with all corrections, additions and deletions included). Williams asked if the Appropriations were the total appropriations of the fund balances. Sweeney answered they were the totals from the originally approved budgets beginning each year. Councilman Moore referred to Page 4 of the budget, Item 4, last sentence. Moore asked Sweeney to show where the average General Fund transferred of $500,000 compared to the amounts on the information which was distributed. Sweeney stated $586,586 was rounded to $500,000. Williams stated he was confused in moving from Page 4 to Page 35 where it stated transfers in from 94 and 95 were different. He had been confused with which amounts were correct. Sweeney explained the transferred in were from a different fund. The appropriated amounts were those appropriated from savings. 4. ITEM C-1, Revenue Summary: Williams asked if the information included on the sheet had changed. Sweeney answered, he changed the fund balance showing the difference made by the taxes removed. Moore asked if the revenue that would be budgeted against would be changed by ordinance. Williams noted that amount would not be known until council deals with the ordinance. Williams stated it was his intention to get through the rest of the budget discussion at this work session in order for the budget ordinance to be introduced on May 15, 1996 meeting and passed at the June 5, 1996 meeting. to Discussion followed as to whether the budget ordinance would require 30 days in which to become effective. Attorney Graves stated he would check the code, but thought the ordinance would be an appropriation ordinance and would not require the 30 days. FINDINGS: The budget ordinance is to be introduced at the May 1501996 meeting, after the bed tax ordinance and the ordinance should not be on the consent agenda. Council could make any necessary amendments or needed alterations during the May 15, 1996 meeting at the introduction. • KENAI CITY COUNCIL FIFTH BUDGET WORK SESSION April 30, 1996 Page 3 Clerk Freas noted the bed tax ordinance would be listed as a public hearing on the May 15 agenda. The budget ordinance would be a new business item. 5. ITEM C-2, General Fund Expenditure Summary - Sweeney stated that all the changes made to date were included in items C-1 and C-2. Those amounts had been worked into the budget and reprinted. These pages were up to date. C-1 was Page 35 in the budget and C-2 was Page 36. Sweeney added, taxes decreased from the original amounts and there were very large outlays which were requested to be put back into the budget, i.e. Habitat and the Forest Drive Rest Room. Williams asked if C-2 had the amounts included in it from Item D (department head suggestions for decreases to tue proposed budget). Sweeney adswered yes, as well as other changes from other work sessions. Manninen corrected Sweeney and stated C-2 did not include the changes suggested by the department heads. C-2 included everything up to Item D. Williams asked if the appropriations of fund was $976,684. Answer: Yes. 6. ITEM C-3, General Fund Appropriation of Fund Balances - It was noted that this information included appropriations of fund balances for 1994, 95 and 96. In FY969 the amended budget totaled $1,242,206 and of that, $679,000 had been spent. Williams noted the recommended appropriation of fund balance was the same as FY96 and council's concern wis the loss of earning power from the amounts appropriated. Moore stated there seemed to be a significant increase in non -reserved balances and there were two different amounts. It appeared that they were dipping heavily into unappropriated balances. Sweeney explained that they only topped $1 million in unreserved and it showed they underestimated revenues and overestimated expenditures (which was a practice followed in the past). Williams noted they all understood that at the end of the year, they strive not to have spent what came out of the fund balance. Sweeney stated that if the same logic was followed they would be starting at a deficit of $5 million. They tried to whittle down as much as they could. Salary increases and PERS costs are two big amounts. Manninen added, about $700,000 in cuts were take out and those were reflected on the UFR list. 7. ITEM C4, Salary & Benefit Information - Williams noted amounts would . be approximately $267,000 more in the FY97 budget than what it was in the FY96 (this KENAI CITY COUNCIL FIFTH BUDGET WORK SESSION April 309 1996 Page 4 is with a 2.7% COLA). The PERS costs increased from $46,697 to $281,000. Sweeney passed out PERS information with the percentage of changes that will occur in 96 and 97. Sweeney explained the rate for FY97 should have been computed at 7.94. The most it could jump up was 6.03. That is part of the rationale that it would raise. PERS wouldn't commit to a written document of what 1997 and 1998 rates will be. Williams noted there would be two figures for personnel costs. When it increases the budget, it will probably occur again next year. 8. ITEM D - Department Head Suggested Cuts - Council reviewed the suggested items to be removed from the proposed budget. These items were suggested to be cut by the department heads. Williams noted the total amount of cuts was $324,997 and $398,444 needed to be cut to so that no more than $500,000 would be appropriated from the General Fund. • Parks - McGillivray explained they were suggesting the restroom at Municipal Park be one like those placed at the beach and Cunningham Park. It would not be connected to water/sewer and would not have running water. Discussion followed. Bannock stated he had no objection to building a wooden restroom like those at Cunningham Park and the beach. Bookey stated he would rather wait a year and build the restroom with water/sewer connections. McGillivray explained the Municipal Park restroom had been scheduled to be built this year by Parks & Recreation and one would be built each year thereafter (three in all). Councilman Smalley had suggested that the money to build the restrooms be appropriated separate from the Parks budget. Because of that, the schedule for building new restrooms was pushed back one year. Swarner stated she would rather wait. Kornelis stated he would like council to consider that with outhouse toilets, everything gets put down them. The dumping method now allowed, may not be allowed much longer. If that happens, there could be a problem with disposal. He recommended the restroom be connected to water and sewer. It may be more expensive, however, it would be much easier and probably less expensive to maintain. Also, in the future, the garbage vacuumed from the outhouses would have to be separated before it could be dumped into the STP process. C� J KENAI CITY COUNCIL FIFTH BUDGET WORK SESSION April 309 1996 Page 5 McGillivray recommended that if the council was going to delay building a new restroom in the park, that the old outhouses be removed and filled and portables be placed. The cost would be about $135 a month for each one. Discussion continued. Councilman Measles suggested using monies left from this year's budget for a portion of the cost of the restroom and the remainder be included in the FY97 budget in order to build the restroom with water/sewer connections, i.e. $50,000. Manninen stated there may be significant amounts of money left in the non -departmental regular insurance budget and Sweeney added, the city had paid what premiums needed to be paid in FY96. . It was suggested there be a capital project set up for the construction of a $50,000 restroom at Municipal Park. $30,000 from FY96 budget would be transferred into the capital project and $20,000 would be included in the FY97 budget for inclusion in the project as well. FINDING: Set up capital project for construction of a restroom at Municipal Park. Transfer $30,000 from FY% budget into the capital project and put $20,000 In FY97 budget for remainder of cost. $10,000 could be taken from salaries since McGillivray's successor will have a lower salary. - Beaudfication - Christmas lights were removed by the department heads. McGillivray explained the cost of the lights were added during the last work session. The white lights used last year, could be used one more year. Swarner disagreed and stated she thought they should purchase new lights. FINDING: Remove $13,580 from Beautification budget for purchase of Christmas lights. Recreation - Universal Machine - McGillivray stated he and Frates discussed this and felt the weight machine could still be used. They check the cables periodically and feel it could be operable for another year. The cables are not frayed. A new machine could be put in next year's budget. They have talked with the Universal people and have been told the machine is guaranteed for only ten years. It is no longer under guaramee. It will need to be replaced, however it could be used another year. so KENAI CITY COUNCIL FIFTH BUDGET WORK SESSION April 309 1996 Page 6 Measles noted that council needed to keep in mind that if they were cutting items from this year's budget just to add to next year's budget, next year's budget would be doubled. Williams stated he was not looking at it that way. Measles stated the PERS costs will hit them again next year and the personnel costs will not go down. Williams agreed and stated that an adjustment to revenue side of the budget may have to be considered next year. FINDING: Remove Universal Machine from budget. Congregate Housing - Landscaping/Sidewalk and Trim Painting - Williams asked if it would more appropriate to take costs from the Congregate Housing Reserve Account? Porter answered, the trim painting could as the reserve account was set up for maintenance. Measles added, the reserve account should be able to be used without affecting the General Fund. Porter agreed. Porter added, she would try to have some of the sidewalk work done from the FY96 budget. Sweeney read from the Code in regard to use of the reserve account, "...significant repairs, renewals, purchases..." Graves suggested the code could be amended to include landscaping. Measles stated the painting of the trim would be a repair. Graves stated, the question would be whether it is a "significant" repair. Williams asked for the present balance. Sweeney answered the projected undesignated was approximately $250,000 and the Reserve Repair account balance was approximately $270,000. Williams stated his concern that taking amounts out does affect the General Fund. Measles stated if it is taken out of the repair fund or the General Fund, the cost would be the same. He added, he thought it was the appropriate place to fund repairs as it was set up for that purpose. Bannock suggested setting an amount on repair costs and Measles suggested "repair" needed to lie defined. However, it was felt that if the ordinance was amended to allow for repairs and the costs would exceed $2,500, council would have to approve the expenditure anyway. Porter stated she would try to find funds for the landscaping and sidewalk out of her FY96 budget. FINDING: Strike landscaping/sidewalk from General Fund. Trim painting will be charged to the maintenance fund. E KENAI CITY COUNCIL FIFTH BUDGET WORK SESSION April 30, 1996 Page 7 Library - Computer Program and Machinery & Equipment - DeForest explained the computer program would be used as a bookkeeping device for serials. However, they could continue doing this tracking by hand or, with their new CPU, a program could be devised to handle the serials, much like their program for periodicals. FINDING: Remove computer program purchase from library budget. Machinery & Equipment - DeForest explained these funds would be used to purchase a new microform printer, however $3,000 remains in her Machinery & Equipment budget. Swarner asked if she would have any funds from the FY96 budget to make the purchase. DeForest answered no, however with the new technology, she hoped equipment would be soon available that would be able to scan microfiche. FINDING: Remove $3,000 from Library Machine.y & Equipment budget. . BREAK TAKEN: &35 ?.M. BACK TO ORDER: 8:55 P.M. Fire Department - NFPA - Elson explained these are fire retardant day uniforms which are worn under other clothes. They meet the NFPA standard and would bring the department up to standard. The uniforms are fairly expensive. Williams asked if they had safety problems that wouldn't have happened without the uniforms. Elson answered, not to date and that the present uniforms were okay as far as standards are at this time. The NFPA uniforms will be put in the budget again next year. SCBA Communication - Elson explained this is a self-contained breathing apparatus and is a safety issue. Fire fighters would use this apparatus during a fire and would be able to communicate with each other. At this time, they yell to each other. There would be 16 units. Front Loading Washing Machine - Elson explained this machine would be used to wash the department bunker gear. It is recommended that the bunker gear be washed in a front -loading machine as it does not agitate and doesn't break down the materials of the gear. KENAI CITY COUNCIL FIFTH BUDGET WORK SESSION April 30, 1996 Page 8 Automatic Blood Pressure Monitor - Elson explained this was of fairly low priority. The methods that are now used are accurate for what they do. This machine would give heart rate and other vital signs which are now done by the medics. Life Smear Cutter - Elson explained this is a cutter similar to the "Jaws of Life." The "Jaws" now in use has not failed in service but is 15 years old and sees a lot of use. Moore referred to the Fire Department Machinery & Equipment budget and asked for an explanation of the medical cot and mannequin. Elson explained the cot is a striker cot and is a new model gurney. This style is made for heavier duty and should have a longer life. They will need to replace some of their gurneys. The mannequin would be used for training and would allow their life support training to is be done with one mannequin, instead of moving from station to station. Discussion followed in regard to the items listed for removal from the Fire Department budget. Williams suggested the uniforms and washing machine could be omitted, as well as the blood pressure unit. However, he suggested the SCBA Communication should be purchased because of the large number of big buildings now in the city. It may be needed. He also stated he would like new shears purchased. Swamer suggested, if there were funds left in the FY96 budget, the shears could be purchased this year. Sweeney stated there were no extra funds. Bannock asked how many cutters the Department has in use now. Elson answered there were three. One was purchased last year for the tower and the ISO upgrade. The old one is a multi -use unit and is now being repaired. The third is a smaller unit and used for first run calls. Elson added, their will be a set purchased by the airport for airport use. Williams stated he thought the life safety issue should be funded. Bannock agreed to purchase the spreader/cutter. Manninen explained the listed items were suggested by the departments. The Department felt they had the equipment to do the job. Williams asked Elson if the Department had the equipment to get someone out of a wrecked vehicle. Elson answered yes. FINDING: Remove all items listed from the Fire Department budget. 0 KENAI CITY COUNCIL FIFTH BUDGET WORK SESSION April 30, 1996 Page 9 Buildings - Senior Doors - Williams noted these were items the council wanted to have in place for ADA requirements. Porter stated that after she spoke with Springer and Kornelis, she found that as automatic doors, they would all open at the same time which would let a lot of cold air into the building at one time. At this time, they have had no complaints from the handicapped who use the facility. Typically, someone will go to the door to help and the drivers of the vans (who transport handicapped visitors) get out and open doors for those who need it. They have had no complaints. Porter added, she thought the doors may not be required as the building was built prior to the ADA law. Kornelis added, the automatic doors are not an ADA requirement. FINDING: Remove the automatic doors from the Buildings budget. City Hail Engineering for Heating System - Kornelis explained there are problems with the heating system and the engineering study would give some indication • of what should be done to make the system work better. FINDING: Remove. Fire Hall Remodeling - FINDING: Remove. Fire Hall Doors - Information was distributed which indicated that $2,324 would be needed to replace the rollers, springs, etc. and installation for two of the doors with the worst problems. The ambulance doors have failed multiple times and they are the doors that get the most use. Elson stated he thought that repairing them would help for a little while and didn't believe the repairs were a long-term solution. The doors are over 25 years old. Springer noted they replaced the tracks and motors in 1990. Measles asked if the two doors would be replaced with new doors, how long would they last. Springer stated 15- 20 years and added, those two doors are used ten time more than the other four doors combined. He thought the operators were changed in 1990, but not the springs and rollers. Elson stated the doors jump the track and the operators have failed too. Springer reported the door manufacturers said the hinges, etc. could be replaced but they didn't like doing it because of the difficulty to replace them on doors that are 24 years old. It can be done, but putting new roller bearings on is difficult. •KENAI CITY COUNCIL FIFTH BUDGET WORK SESSION April 30, 1996 Page 10 FINDING: Repair the two doors this year. Change $27,400 to $2,343.20 for the repair of two doors. Communications - CAN System - It was stated that the $1,000 is for a membership fee. Such a system could have been used during the chlorine leak in Soldotna. Chief Morris reported he spoke with the Nikiski Chief and a CAN representative will be coming to the area to make a presentation. Some questions he would present are whether the neighborhood phone lines would handle the system; if a person's number is unlisted, how would that home be called; and, what kind of load would be placed on the dispatchers with the system. These questions should be answered before stepping into the membership. Williams stated he believed there would be liability to the city either way. Kornelis reported that on June 2 the STP will be going to use sodium hypochlorite and wouldn't be using chlorine anymore. Swarner noted it is a $1,000 membership and then • $1.00 per call. Measles noted that the system would be there and accessible if needed, however the cost would be more. Moore asked who would decide to use the system. Morris answered, the command chief of either the Borough or City. For the city, it would be the city manager or the Ore chief. FINDING: Remove from the budget. 24-Hour Recorder - Morris explained there was nothing else to remove - from the Communications budget and it would be a gamble. They may be able to get one more year's use from the present system or if there is a problem, they may have to request purchase of new system from council during the year. The maintenance contractor will continue to maintain the present system. There had been approximately 150 failures this year. All maintenance costs are included with the maintenance contract. Morris further explained that for calls coming into the station, many are copied for use by attorneys as discovery. The city also uses the recordings in criminal investigations. The new system would be a Dictaphone Digital Recorder which records for 24 hours on eight tracks. Their present system is nine years old. Williams stated he thought the recorder should be left in the budget as it is an invaluable tool. Bookey stated he agreed to a point, but the new system would be very expensive. Morris stated the current recorder cost $26,000 nine years ago. He also looked at a magnetic tape and the price was $16,000. This type is not used in many places. KENAI CITY COUNCIL FIFTH BUDGET WORK SESSION April 301,1996 Page 11 Measles stated he believed that within a year there would be new technology and equipment that would be able to store a week's worth of information on a single tape or disk. Williams asked how long it would take to get a new system if the current system totally crashed. Morris answered, maybe a week. He added, they caj record on short cassette tapes (30 minutes) from the consoles. FINDING: Remove the 24-hour recorder ($24,400 as corrected amount). Also, remove $900 from Communications, Small Tools for cartridges, but add $2,750 for tapes. The maintenance contract will be 5% more, approximately $9,000 (which Includes all communications equipment). Street Lights - Kornelis explained the amount had been cut back to $20,000 for seven lights. Cutting the $15,000 would allow to place the two lights in VIP which council had approved during the first work session when requested by Ms. Koester. .Bannock and Swarner stated their concern that this was a safety issue. Council approved to adding five to the two, equalling seven lights altogether. Kornelis 8 g rneus reported the HEA estimate for placing the lights had not yet been received. They may be able to get ten lights for the $20,000. Bannock asked Kornelis if three lights would be placed in Inlet • Woods and added, he did not want to buy poles and not put them up. The number of lights was again set at five. Swarner asked if Kornelis would be storing poles. Kornelis stated he would buy the same fixtures and poles, ten of each. They would install five lights and store the other five for future use. Swarner stated she did not want to store them as that $15,000 could be used elsewhere. Kornelis suggested putting in $7,500 and putting up only five lights. Bannock stated, council had put up ten a year and thought that a worthwhile goal. He did not agree that poles and fixtures should be purchased and stored. FINDING: Cut total amount of lights to seven, placing five In Inlet Woods and two in VIP. $79500 should be left in for the Five lights to be placed in Inlet Woods. Safety - Ergonomic Analysis FINDING: Remove. Police Department - Car - Morris stated one car could be eliminated. The one to be replaced is a 1980 vehicle. KENAI CITY COUNCIL FIFTH BUDGET WORK SESSION April 309 1996 Page 12 FINDING: Reduce by one car, remove $23,970 from the budget. In -Car Video - Morris reported the Department has applied for a grant to get more video cameras. FINDING: Remove In -Car Video ($2,150), Transportation - Crime School ($3,250); Professional Services ($2,000); Camera/small tools ($400), VCR ($325); training suit ($1,250); two desks ($880); and software upgrade ($113). City Hall LAN System FINDING: Remove. Habitat for Humanity (water/sewer) - Williams stated he thought this cost should be left in as the building of the Habitat homes would open up that part of town • for more development. This development. could include as many as ten new homes. He thought the development of ten homes would be worth the $30,000. If an LID is petitioned, it would cost the city twice as much. Smalley added, if Habitat would petition for an LID, the $30,000 would not be donated. Kornelis reported that he contacted Tony Doyle and he stated Habitat did not have a water problem when they tapped into the main. However, they only tapped into the top of the main. The- concern of --a water problem fluctuates. Bookey stated he was not really in favor of making the donation, however, if an LID is done, it will cost the city more money. Swarner agreed, and added, it was hard to start a policy and make donations to non -profits. Bannock suggested it be looked at as good for the city. Bookey stated he would agree if the $30,000 would complete the job and the city would not fund any more of the project. Williams referred to the previous work session notes where the request was discussed. Bookey asked if that would be all they would get from the city. Williams answered yes. Moore asked if a time frame should be included. Williams stated a time frame would not be necessary as it is Habitat's intention to do the work as soon as possible. Manninen stated that if they are looking at it as an investment, it would not be worth it. Williams stated it needed to be looked at as a way to build new homes in the city. • Manninen stated that between Inlet Woods being held down and Hall's area not being • KENAI CITY COUNCIL FIFTH BUDGET WORK SESSION April 3091996 Page 13 used, there was not a lot of growth in the city. It would also be a problem with contractors who want to build and are not able to get lots because people are holding up lots by buying and not building. Manninen suggested that if council wanted to build ten houses a year, perhaps the city should make financing available for lots, etc. or extend the infrastructure. Williams noted the city does have a lot of land in Section 36, etc. but people owing there don't want to build until there is water and sewer and they won't do an LID. FINDING: Remove $30,000 for Habitat donation. Human Resources Consultant - FINDING: Remove. Finance - Chairs - Sweeney explained these would be new chairs for four of Finance employees. Sweeney also stated that $175 could be removed from subscriptions for the Wall Street Journal. He added, Attorney Graves gets it and he could look at his copy. Attorney Graves stated he pays for his subscription himself and does not use city funds. FINDING: Remove chairs ($660) and subscription ($175) from Finance budget. City Manager - Transportation FINDING: Remove $1,000 from City Manager Transportation. OTHER DISCUSSION: Moore stated he requested information in regard to the 16 lots in Inlet Woods which the city owned but received no answer. Williams suggested the city market the lots. Measles asked if a "for sale" sign could be put on the lots and forego the the closed bids, etc. since the city had already done those and found no buyers. Attorney Graves stated the 16 lots were foreclosed upon for assessments. He added, he would do an analysis for Wednesday's council meeting to determine whether the city could just sell the lots by offering them for sale. He reminded council there were back taxes on the lots that would need to be paid also. Williams noted that if those amounts were added to the cast of the lots, it puts the price way out of site as far as market value. Measles added, he thought signs needed to be put up so that people will know the property is available. KENAI CITY COUNCIL FIFTH BUDGET WORK SESSION April 30, 1996 Page 14 Discussion followed in regard to cost of making signs and how many lots were available on Evergreen. FINDING: Discuss during 5/1/96 council meeting. ITEM E: Color Copier - Council reviewed the information in regard to the printer/copier requested by Mayor Williams. FINDING: No purchase. ITEM G: Kenai Fine Arts Center - Williams referred to the information distributed to council from Attorney Graves which stated that the building could not be donated to the non-profit without a public sale. The agreement already stated they were to maintain the building. Smalley stated they said if there was a way to identify ownership of the building, they would be able to request grants for repair. He asked if • the city could act as a pass -through agent for grants. DeForest stated that could not be done as the grants must go directly to a non-profit. Bannock asked if there was something wrong with selling the building at a public sale. Williams answered, nothing fundamentally wrong except that the Fine Arts may not get the building. Measles stated the building could be put up for sale with the understanding the city had the right to refuse any and all bids. If more than one bid was received, they could reject all the bids. Williams suggested they handle it like the other requests for donations and say no. Let them do what they can on their own. Measles added, he thought the repair work done last year should carry them through until next year. C-39 30000 Fund - Sweeney stated the total was $573,600. If the bed tax was deleted, it would be increased by $102,000 or $675,600 from the Fund Balance. Williams stated he would vote against killing the bed tax. He spoke with the mayor of Soldotna and he told him he had talked with Soldotna hotels and motel owners. He asked them if Kenai's bed tax increased their business. None said their business increased because of the bed tax. He added, there are people who should be paying bed tax who don't, i.e. fishing excursions that include the bed for free, etc. KENAI CITY COUNCIL FIFTH BUDGET WORK SESSION April A 19% Page 15 Facilitator - Swarner stated she did not agree with the $20,000 for the facilitator for the Challenger study. Williams stated it had been removed. The payment for the facilitator would be paid out of FY96 funds and the grant received from the Alaska Aerospace Development Corporation. He requested $10,000 remain in the account, $5,000 of which would be used to promote moving the health nurse program to another building within the city. Planning & Zoning/Desk & Panels - Kornelis explained the desk would replace the Planning & Zoning secretary's desk which was falling apart. The panel is to replace that which is in front of her desk which will move out further, giving her additional space. Water/Sewer Operating and Repair Supplies - Swarner asked why the cost was up In this budget. It was explained the added amounts were for chemicals and the new well. Williams stated he was not happy with the budget as it was and hoped that Sweeney had underestimated the sales tax. Bannock asked if pull tabs were taxed. Williams stated he spoke with people from other areas that tax pull tabs and have had a lot of problems collecting the taxes owed. The tax would be on the ideal net, which would not be much. But, it was pointed out, it would be $45,000 more than what -the city gets now. Smalley stated that two years ago the council stated they would investigate other avenues from where to collect. As it is now, the bed tax goes after one segment of tourism dollars. Bannock added that the hotel/motel owners were the only people from which the tax was being collected. The bed tax was not being collected from tourists except those who stay in the hotels/motels, bed & breakfasts, etc. Swarner suggested changing the ordinance to include RV parks. COLA Increase - Council agreed to include a 2.0% COLA increase. Budget Ordinance - Williams stated they would be within the legal parameters if the ordinance was introduced on May 15 and passed by June 10. He requested that the ordinance not be placed on the consent agenda and amendments could be made to the ordinance at the May 15 meeting. •KENAI CITY COUNCIL FIFTH BUDGET WORK SESSION April 30, 1996 Page 16 Manninen reported he would be traveling to Michigan in June and would be out of the office from June 1-14. He won't be at the June 5 meeting. ADJQV.RNMENT The work session adjourned at approximately 10:38 p.m. Notes prepared by: Carol L. Freas, City Clerk 0