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Home My WebLink AboutNULL (272) IF 1 MINUTES DANIA CITY COMMISSION SPECIAL MEETING SEPTEMBER 19, 1988 ROLL CALL : 33 I Present : P Mayor : Charles McElyea i Vice Mayor : Jean Cook Commissioners : John Bertino Howard Hirsch Anthony Stevens City Attorney : Frank Adler City Manager : Robert Flatley City Clerk : Wanda Mullikin Mayor McElyea called the Special Meeting to order at 8 :00 p.m. 1 . Public Hearing regarding resolution approving final millage rate for 1988-89. City Manager Flatley presented ,justification for the millage increase from 4 . 7 to 5 .9 due to the revenue shortfalls of the past three years. He commented that the millage really should be at 6 .3 and that this is a very lean budget. It Vice Mayor Cook said she felt the only way to deal with the city ' s problem was to go with the 5. 9 millage. She asked for the City , Clerk' s opinion. City Clerk Mullikin concurred with City Manager Flatley and commented that the least they can work with is 5. 9 . Vice Mayor Cook expressed confidence that the citizens realize the VI: problem and that this is the only way to keep the city intact . i Commissioner Bertino, expressing concerns for citizens on fixed incomes and staying below Hollywood ' s millage for purposes of annexation, asked City Manager Flatley what next year 's contingency is. The reply was $56,000. Commissioner Bertino -�•.,F suggested running a zero contingency in order to drop the millage to below Hollywood 's proposed 5 . 77. Commissioner Hirsch commented that in order to support a budget of V 1 8.5 million dollars, he concurred with keeping the millage at 5.9 and suggested preparation for even more shortfalls. Commissioner Stevens, commenting that taxes should have been raised a long time ago when Federal Revenue Sharing stopped , agreed with the City Manager' s recommendation. Mayor McElyea opened the public hearing. Jeanette Eby commented in favor of the 5. 9 millage. Mrs. Warman asked if the $200,000 loan from the water fund to the general fund must be paid back in this next year. City Clerk Mullikin responded that it must be paid back, but as funds are available, not necessarily next year. Howard Richards , President of the General Employees ' Association, spoke in favor of the 5. 9 millage but questioned the layoff of 9. 5 employees collectively having given approximately sixty years of service and the hiring of six new people at higher cost to the city. Mr. Richards described the failure of attempts to work out reasonable terms in meetings with management to preserve ,jobs. He said the G.E. A. will be filing a class action grievance against i the city to test the legalities of this reorganization plan. City Manager Flatley presented the following justification for the 1 hiring of six new employees : 1 ) a contractual part-time employee, i 30 hours a week, currently the deputy comptroller for the City of Hallandale, announced her resignation, is a C. P. A. , accounting and financing major, and will bring her financial expertise to the city at no increase over the pay she is getting in Hallandale at Special Meeting 1 September 19, 1988 .I 1 the moment; 2 ) the supervisor in Public Works is a civil service position to be tested shortly that will replace the Department Head for Public Works because of the down-sizing of the Public Works Department and the supervisor will supervise the work crews , the garage, will be trained as a mechanic and will also be in enforcement;. 3 ) a full time City Attorney - we have a City Attorney budget that was quite large in previous years but Frank Adler is now going to be our full time City Attorney; he will have his office in City Hall; this will be again a money saving move; i 4 ) and his secretary, who has been with him for years , will come j s with Frank and she will be one of the secretaries on the staff; 5 & 6) the two other positions are part time marine safety officers and these lifeguards will replace a full time marine safety officer - again a cost saving move. He concluded by saying that all six positions will add expertise and save the city money. Mike Cassano, Union President of the Dania Firefighters , spoke in favor of the 5 .9 millage. Vincent Carroll spoke in opposition, suggesting that the Commission consider merging the Fire Department with the County as well as letting the County handle summer recreational programs . Hearing Irving Warman state that he is willing to pay the extra taxes to help meet the deficit, but urging the city to reject the idea of selling off valuable assets and to concentrate more on increasing user fee revenues and bringing in more income by negotiating better deals with entrepreneurs to benefit the city, the Mayor closed the public hearing. During Commission discussion of the $200,000 water fund loan, City Manager Flatley pointed out that he plans to try to pay it back next year but that it is not in this budget. The resolution of the City of Dania, Florida, as required by the City Charter and Section 200.065, Florida Statutes , approving the millage rate necessary to be levied for the fiscal year 1988-89 (5.90) was read by City Attorney Adler. A motion was made by Commissioner Hirsch, seconded by Vice Mayor Cook to adopt the resolution approving the 1988-89 millage rate. After lengthy additional discussion, Commissioner Bertino proposed an amendment motion that $75,000.00 shall be added to the budget as increased revenues to keep ,jobs that right now people are being laid off. Being reminded by City Attorney Adler that the motion on the floor is to approve the millage, not the budget, Commissioner Bertino retracted his amendment motion. Mayor McElyea said he would have liked to stay below Hollywood ' s millage but felt it was impossible to do so at this time and expressed trust in and support of City Manager Flatley. The motion to approve the 5. 9 millage then passed on the following roll call vote: Commissioner Bertino-yes Vice Mayor Cook-yes Commissioner Hirsch-yes Mayor McElyea-yes Commissioner Stevens-yes i 2. Public Hearing regarding resolution approving the final budget for i the fiscal year 1988-89. i The resolution of the City of Dania, Florida, as required by the City Charter and Section 200. 065 , Florida Statutes , approving and adopting the annual budget of the City of Dania, Florida, for the fiscal year 1988-89 was read in its entirety by City Attorney Adler. In response to Vice Mayor Cook' s questions , City Manager Flatley said he based this budget on the layoffs and saw no place to find any money to reinstate any of the affected employees at this time. Special Meeting 2 September 19, 1988 ,ram f Mayor McElyea opened the public hearing. Hearing no comments in favor or opposition, the Mayor closed the public hearing. u A motion was made by Commissioner Bertino to adopt this budget at 5.9 millage with the addition of $75,000. 00 to be placed in miscellaneous incomes and to be earmarked for retaining Jobs that have been cut in this particular budget at the discretion of the City Manager. Commissioner Stevens seconded the motion for purposes of discussion and asked City Manager Flatley how this j would affect the budget. City Manager Flatley said he does not have the $75 ,000. 00 in the budget for that and after further discussion regarding estimated revenues , Commissioner Bertino' s motion failed on the following roll call vote: I Commissioner Bertino-yes Vice Mayor Cook-no Commissioner Hirsch-no Mayor McElyea-no Commissioner Stevens-no i A motion was made by Commissioner Hirsch, seconded by Commissioner Stevens to adopt the resolution approving the 1988-89 annual budget as prepared and recommended by the City Manager. The motion passed on the following roll call vote : i Commissioner Bertino-no Vice Mayor Cook-yes Commissioner Hirsch-yes Mayor McElyea-yes Commissioner Stevens-yes i This Special Meeting was then adjourned , 6 I MAYOR-COMM SSI11 T CITY CLERK-AUDITOR �.wN i 3 f 1 i { I i f { t j I Special Meeting 3 September 19 , 1988 I AGENDA DANIA CITY COMMISSION I SPECIAL MEETING SEPTEMBER 19, 1988 8:00 P.M, f 1. PUBLIC HEARING regarding resolution a t pprovingrnpnsed millage j rate for 1988-89. i i 2. PUBLIC HEARING regarding resolution approving the p-. is mna ry- budget for the fiscal year 1988-89. -� i i I I ' I � I i I I I I i I i i ds Ak:. 1� a V ti