Minutes 04/01/2008 - Laserfiche WebLink

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April 1. 2008 Schools The City's three-year funding commitment to Schools is complete in FY08. Unlike other City departments, agencies, and offices, schools were not asked to reduce expenditures in FY08 to offset the projected revenue shortfalls. Further, all departments, agencies, and offices other than Schools were required to submit FY09 budget requests at 5% less than their respective FY08 adopted budgets. Having satisfied Council's three year commitment, this will be the fourth year in which slightly more than 31 % of local tax revenue is allocated to fund our schools. In addition to this action limited CIP dollars have been earmarked for Park View Elementary opening at $1 million. Your commitment to education is demonstrated despite not fully funding the budget submitted by the School Superintendent. General Service Delivery Personnel We included a 3% market wage adjustment for service delivery personnel in order to retain and reward the highly valued members of our workforce. We are also positioning ourselves to be attractive to potential hires as we compete for talent. City-operated Retirement Systems Also included in this budget proposal is a "13th check" for pension recipients. For the vast majority of recipients, the 13th check will equate to 1.5% of their annual pension amount. However, we recommend capping the benefit at $1,000 and setting the minimum at $100. Some recipients would receive as little as $14 if the minimum were not established. This 13th check does not become a component of the base benefit and therefore does not further erode the level of funding in our retirement systems. Capital Improvements Plan (CIP) Given the need to stay within our debt-to-revenue policy limit, developing the five-year CIP required us to delay beyond the 5-year CIP many of the capital projects previously programmed. City Council's need to provide adequate facilities for Circuit Court is the major component that drives the decisions related to CIP planning. $5 million for the Circuit Court is proposed in FY2009 which will allow the project to move forward as other options for financing are evaluated. The $3 million per year programmed in the out years of the CIP for the Circuit Court are deemed to be sufficient placeholders for funding until financing plans are finalized. The other major driver in the CIP is the Holiday Inn Redevelopment Project as it is proposed in the initial development agreement agreed to by Council. A total of $11.3 million is programmed in the first year of the CIP for the redevelopment of the Holiday Inn Site. The Churchland Bridge repairs are considered high priority given the level of degradation of the west-bound lanes of the bridge and $500K was programming in FY2009 to address immediate structural issues. Additional funding for the bridge totaling $20 million has been programmed in the remaining out years of the CIP. Projects that were delayed beyond the 5-year CIP include the Children's Museum renovation; the Cradock Neighborhood Revitalization project; a component of the Midtown Corridor project to implement corridor and gateway improvements; the renovation of both the Cradock and Cavalier Manor recreation centers; and improvements to McLean Street and Cavalier Boulevard. Projects that were delayed, yet still included in the future years of the CIP include the rotating neighborhood improvement projects that address stormwater drainage and curb and gutter issues (delayed until FY2013), and the City's reoccurring capital maintenance projects (delayed until FY2010). We have incorporated $1 million of cash funding to conclude the Park View School construction project, but have delayed our contribution towards other school construction projects until FY2013. The Proposed FY09-13 CIP moves the City closer to our 12% debt to revenue policy limit, and by FY2013, we are under the 12% debt affordability ratio. Remaining within policy limits demonstrates to the credit rating analysts and our citizens the commitment to being fiscally conservative while forward thinking.