Minutes 04/29/1986 - Laserfiche WebLink

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April 29, 1986 this transaction will represent one of the most significant economic events for the City in recent times. The economic advantage is in the form of future cost avoidance, and hence, lowe future utility charges for all of Portsmouth's citizens. You will recall that we are under Federal mandate to upgrade the sewage treatment plant to secondary treatment. By transferring the facilities so HRSD, the City will avoid capital costs of approximately ~10 million (local share~ , and annual operating costs after construc- tion of nearly $2 million per year. Consequently, there is great long-term financial advantag to conveying our sewage ~rea~ment facilities to HRSD. Even with this~rongly preferable alternative, the secondary treatment mandate will be very costly to the City. We have been earning approximately $2.6 million profit from the sewage treatment operations which has been accruing to the benefit of all our citiznes in the form of lower sewage maintenance rates, lower water rates and a return on investment paid from the Public Utility Fumd to the General Fund. If we had not decided so convey our sewae treat- ment system to HRSD, we would have been required to conform to the mandate for secondary treatment. Consequently, all of our profits that had previously been going so the General Operating Fund would have immediately been converted to deficits. Even though the HRSD agree- ment will avoid the additional operating costs of $2 million per year, no alternative can pre- serve the annual $2.6 million profit that the City has been earning. Therefore, there will ha' to be public utility rate increases over the next several years due to the secondary treatment mandate, as well as our projected loss in revenues. The projected increases will only need to be about one-half as great as originally projected, if the HRSD agreement receives approval am is consummated. In light of these developments, [ have proposed modest public utility rate increases in this budget. I am recommending that the water rate be increased from $1.25 to $1.30 per 1,000 gallons and the sewage maintenance rate from S1.48 to $0.55. In addition, I am recommending for purposes of cost recovery that the water "on-off" charges be increased from $7.50 to $10.0 and that "strong waste" charges to industrial and commercial businesses be increased by approx mately 50%. As you recall Council elected last year ro phase the "strong waste" increase zn over several years until parity was reached with HRSD. The average residential utility bill will increase approximately ~0.71 per month, or 3%, as a r~sult of the recommended ~ncreases. Parking Parking has'become a key problem in our Central Business District. Four years ago, how- ever, there was no problem, and development and growth were lacking. The parking problem has now become acute because buildings that were long vacant are now occupied and new construction · s underway and anticipated. Because parking was not a~ a premium, rates were commensurate with their demand. It is, therefore, recommended that rates be increased at most loaations by $8 per month per space for reserved spaces. To address future parking needs, I have instructe~ our planners to ensure that parking structures are incorporated into future development pro- posals, which may necessitate the City paying for construction of one or more parking garages. Until such time that the construction activity on our waterfront is substantially complete, compared to the past, our staff and visitors will experience inconvenience. Employee Compensation I have included in this budget a General Wage ~ncrease of 5%. This action will make con- tinued inroads which will partially offset salary inequities existing in most ?ortsmo~th classifications compared to the region. [ have also included for those retirees in the Ports- mouth Retirement system, sufficient sums to give them the same percentage increase as that granted to our retirees by the Virginia Supplemental Retirement System. As zn past years, additional salary adjustments are included for those classifications that are more than 10% below the average prevailing wage rate for similar positions in local and regional surveys. Such practices have caused a dramatic improvement in salaries for City of Portsmouth employees. Salary adjustments in the 1984-85 budget included 184 classification and affected 1,344 City.~employees; in the 1985-86 budget year, you authorized increases under the same criteria for 68 City classes affecting 434 employees. This year's implementation is down ~o 40 classes and 344 employees. [ feel confident that our employees are responding positively to this hype of recognition by City Council of their worth. Because of the inability of professional firefighters and police officers to expe~ience upward mobility ~n their career due to the limited number of ranking positions, many officers remain in the entry level rank in the longevity step. In an effort to recognize those long term potmce officers and firefighters, I would like to reclassify them by establishing the title of "Master Firefighters ~and "Master Police Officer'~. This recognition will be ~n the for~ of a 5% salary increase, based on the City's Classification Pay Plan, and will be reviewed on an annual basis. · he~se Master Officers will be employees with at. least ten years of service who have passe, the test for the next ~ighest r~nk at the most recent testing. They will be required to meet such other specific standards of training and performance as the Fire Chief and Police Chief establish. I will review the recommendations of the Chiefs during the next fisd~l year and will implement this program at that time. ~mployees receivin~ the Master Firefighter or Master Police Officer recognition will have their status reviewed yearly and will continue to receive the increase only so long as they meet the prescribed qualifications and approvals or until they are ~womoted.