Board of Aldermen Budget Workshop

Meeting Agenda

MEETING NOTICE

The Ballwin Board of Aldermen will meet in a Budget Workshop on Monday, October 13, at
5:30 p.m., prior to the Board meeting at the Donald “Red” Loehr Police and Court Center at 300 Park Drive.

This meeting and all other meetings are open to the public and the building is handicapped accessible.

Robert Kuntz, City Administrator

Residents of Ballwin are afforded an equal opportunity to participate in the programs and services of the City of Ballwin regardless of race, color, religion, sex, age, disability, familial status, national origin or political affiliation. If you are a person requiring an accommodation, please call (636) 227-8580 (V) or (636) 527-9200 (TDD) or 1-800-735-2966 (Relay Missouri) no later than 5 p.m. on the third business day preceding the hearing. Offices are open between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m. Monday through Friday.

Budget Work Session #2
AGENDA
October 13, 2014, 5:30 p.m.

1. Call to Order - Mayor Pogue

2. Administration Overview - Tom Aiken

3. Public Works Overview - Gary Kramer

4. Parks Overview - Linda Bruer

5. Police Overview - Chief Schicker

6. Adjourn - 7:00 p.m.

Meeting Minutes

CITY OF BALLWIN
BUDGET WORK SESSION MINUTES
OCTOBER 13, 2014

The Minutes are prepared in summary to reflect the overall discussions – not verbatim quotes.

The Budget Work Session was called to order at 5:40 p.m. by Mayor Pogue. In attendance were Aldermen Dogan, Finley, Fleming, Harder, Kerlagon, Leahy and Terbrock. Also in attendance were City Administrator Kuntz, Assistant City Administrator Aiken, Chief of Police Schicker, Director of Parks and Recreation Bruer, Director of Public Works Kramer, Finance Officer Keller and City Attorney Jones.

City Administrator Kuntz said the purpose of this meeting is to emphasize the major highlights and significant changes in the budget. The presentations will be brief and open to questions. Overall, the bottom line is projected to be slightly lower based on our initial projection of what we expect to spend. He indicated that we are not looking for any major expansion or personal to be added. We are forced to budget for higher road salt costs in 2015. The road brine application will be used to extend the salt and reduce our overall usage moving forward. We are expecting to pay $150,000 as our contribution towards the Olde Towne debt retirement.

Mr. Kuntz mentioned that the Board has previously discussed as supported budgeting to the Henry Road resurfacing project and golf course irrigation system on the Capital side. Overall, we are looking at a 2% increase in our revenues. At the next budget review session, we will present a revised forecast and an overview of the Capital Improvement Plan.

Finance Officer Keller pointed out several key items from the utility graphs included in the packet. She indicated there would be a savings of electric usage at the Pointe due to the HVAC replacement. Last year, the electric usage was $132,000. We are expecting about $120,000 this year and about $95,000 for 2015. That number would be lower except Ameren has proposed a 9.7% rate increase. We have budgeted for that increase effective April 1, 2015. The second biggest impact for the rate increase is the street lights. We are expecting an additional $40,000 expense because of the rate increase next year.

Gas usage has also been positively impacted by the HVAC replacement at the Pointe. Last year, the gas expense was $27,000. This year we are expecting to spend $25,000 and plan to cut that in half in 2015. We are projecting a slight increase for all other locations, but do not expect a rate increase for gas.

The City’s water usage has not been impacted by the HVAC replacement; however, there are some fluctuations. In 2012, there was a spike in usage for the golf course due to a hot summer. This year, there was a leak at the splash pad in Vlasis Park, so this year’s number is a little higher than usual for parks. The North Pointe had a leak from the plug, so the water bill was a little higher than normal. The Pointe had extra fills this year, so the water use was higher. Overall, we are expecting water usage to be lower next year.

Administration Overview

Assistant City Administrator Aiken gave an overview of the 2015 Administration Budget. He said that although the budget doesn’t change much from year to year, it is subject to one-time expenditures that have an impact. The department is looking at an increase of $162,000 in 2015. He explained that this includes a 3% increase for personnel costs and changes in line item costs driven by inflation and variations in the economy.

Planning and Zoning: There is an increase of $8,500 to lease two cars. The maintenance costs were lowered to account for the two new cars, but there is no change to fuel projections.

Community Service: This is mostly human resource functions, but the other major issue is street lights, which has an increase of about $40,000 for 2015.

Legal/Legislative: There are essentially no changes across the board, just a minor change based on a personnel adjustment.

Support Services: This covers all of the miscellaneous costs for department. This includes fuel, utilities, insurance, office supplies, copy paper, copy machine maintenance, etc. Last year, the program included an anomalous expenditure of $1,975,326 that makes direct program comparisons with 2015 difficult. If the 2014 program budget total is adjusted for this payment from reserves, the 2015 budget is $77,083 higher than 2014. This is directly attributable to an increase from $25,000 to $50,000 in Great Streets to pay for the bollards and an increase of $50,000 in building equipment and fixtures to pay for the remodeling of the lobby windows in the administration and court areas to promote security and function until a major remodeling or building replacement takes place.

Information Systems: There is an increase of $21,000 to this program. There will be an expenditure of $15,000 to replace the server for the police CAD system. There is also an increase of $15,000 for maintenance of the Barracuda email archiving system and Sonic Wall firewall software. He pointed out there is a savings from the telephone purchase this year. Ballwin is in the middle of a two year program to upgrade the telephone system. We did the hardware and software work necessary to the PBX this year to allow that conversion. We were also able to buy the handset equipment this year. The rewiring of the Government Center was not done this year due to the unknown future improvement status of the facility. Instead, next year the plan is to rewire the Pointe. IT Manager Reeds is optimistic that she will be able to do an interim wiring adjustment in the Government Center that will carry until is it replaced or remodeled.

Court Program: The budget will increase about $7,000. This is primarily related to the personnel costs, but an increase in the annual maintenance of the Rejis software and public defender services is also part of the issue.

Finance: There is almost no increase in cost to this program. There are however increasing credit card service charges. The City has to pay a percentage for the service and the fees continue to rise.

Document storage: The State of Missouri doesn’t mandate the use of microfilm; it allows the jurisdictions to decide what storage media to use. We’ve decided that storing documents electronically is the best way to go; there is $4,000 budgeted next year to begin the multiple year process.

Public Works Overview

Director of Public Works Kramer indicated there are no personnel changes for next year. He has budgeted for four part-time maintenance workers to work an average of 28 hours per week and he will continue to use temporary labor for the curbside leaf program.

Street list: The 2015 street maintenance list in the packet will be discussed at the regular meeting in greater detail. The pavement ratings of the streets need to be updated. This will be in the budget for next year to give guidance for future roadway expenditures.

Henry Avenue: This CIP project is already approved for 80% federal funding. The engineering contract has been approved. The easements will be acquired in 2016 with construction to begin in 2017.

Kehrs Mill Road: Water ponding continues to be an issue. It occurs after each rainfall and whenever the Essen Place subdivision irrigation system is operating. To avoid utility conflicts, a slotted drain pipe is proposed under the curb and gutter and connected to a downstream curb inlet. Based on a meeting with the contractor, the project will cost about $20,000 and is in the budget for next year.

Sidewalk Program: We will continue to replace sidewalk curb ramps and trippers along the streets where we’ve done resurfacing. There are streets where we will do slab replacements. We recommend using approximately $40,000 from the Community Development Block Grant program to upgrade curb ramps to current ADA standards.

Striping: This year we contracted with St. Louis County to repaint all centerlines and lane lines. This was a savings of $7,900, compared to contractual striping. We recommend continued contracting with the County on an annual basis.

Salt brine: Salt brine is again in the budget. With salt brine, we can pre-salt the streets with brine during normal work hours and save approximately 90,000 tons of salt during each pre-treating of streets. We recommend budgeting for 2,322 tons of salt. The Board already committed $66,724 for the purchase of 1,000 tons to be delivered this January. The remaining 1,322 tons is budgeted at an approximate cost of $75 per ton.

Mosquito fogging: In the past, this service was provided by St. Louis County. This year, Ballwin went back to doing the entire city itself on a weekly basis. The 2015 budget continues in-house fogging. A full-time maintenance worker is reassigned to evening fogging for six months. The cost is $41,620; $20,600 for pesticide and $21,000 labor.

Ries Road Bridge: This project has been funded for replacement beginning next year. We are currently interviewing engineering firms. The project will be engineered next year with the easement acquired in 2016 and construction scheduled to begin in 2017 with 80% reimbursement.

Ramsey Lane: The culvert/bridge on Ramsey Lane has been rated by MoDOT as structurally deficient. In anticipation of a federal funding opportunity in 2015, an application fee of $4,000 is included in the 2015 budget. This fee is refundable if the project is not funded. If approved for federal funding, the project expenses and federal reimbursements will be included in the capital budget.

Vehicle tracking: The system has been installed and will be available during leaf season to keep track of where the trucks have been. This system was an expense in 2014 that will not happen again. We will have an annual cost of about $3,000 a year for the company to host the satellite feed on its system.

Radio system: In November 2009, the voters of St Louis County approved a sales tax to fund a county-wide radio system that includes various first responders. This will finance furnishing the two-way radios at no cost to the City. Ballwin will own the radios, but will have to pay for batteries. The annual operation costs will be covered by the sales tax. The public works radios are scheduled to be online in mid-December. The 2015 budget does not include any costs for radios. Additional cell phones are budgeted for supervisors since the new radios do not provide privacy.

Dump trucks: There are five dump trucks that need to be replaced as soon as possible. The 2015 budget only includes two trucks due to funding limitations.

Deferred Items: Due to funding limitations, the following expenditures have been deferred from the 2015 budget. The pavement approaches on New Ballwin Road, Ries Road, and Holloway Road at Manchester Road are severely rutted. The options include replacing the top portion of the asphalt pavement with concrete or full depth replacement with concrete. The engineering plans and specifications are complete for the Caybeth retaining wall replacement. An easement will be required from the adjoining property owner whose property is supported by this wall. The project is expected to cost $55,000.

Mayor Pogue said he talked with City Administrator Kuntz about the rutting of New Ballwin Road. He feels we need to look at doing that project in 2015. He’d like for the Board to consider leaving that on the table and allow Director of Public Works Kramer to contact the contractor who is doing Great Streets about doing this as an extra. If we decide to do this project and put it out for bid, maybe they would help coordinate the contractor and possibly get the projects done at the same time. He mentioned the road is continuing to get worse and he is receiving numerous complaints. He feels now is the opportunity to do the project with the construction along Manchester Road.

Parks Overview

Director of Parks and Recreation Bruer said the 2015 Budget consists of six programs; parks, golf course, North Pointe Aquatic Center, The Pointe at Ballwin Commons and the recreation programs, Ballwin Days Festival and our building services program.
The budget emphasizes maintenance of existing program and facilities, includes salaries and benefits and is less than 1% more than last year’s budget.
Ferris Park: The park pavilion is in need of significant repairs. This year we have been replacing the floor boards, which are becoming a safety concern. Staff recommends replacing the rest of floor boards, fascia, roof and railings in 2015. The budget also has money to replace more Ameren fixtures in our current facilities.

New Ballwin Park: There are eight Ameren street lights that are proposed for replacement with more efficient fixtures.

Street Trees: This program is the biggest task facing the department in the next few years. The City of Ballwin is receiving a $25,000 TRIM Grant from the Missouri Department of Conservation. It will pay for 70% of a new street tree inventory that will allow the development of a plan for removal and replacement of trees in the next few years. It is proposed that the amount budgeted for contractual street tree maintenance is increased from $15,000 to $30,000. It is for high crown cleaning of big street trees that can’t be reached because of equipment issues. Manchester’s truck is borrowed when available, but there is a need to contractually trim trees as well as remove them. There are about 7,400 street trees as this time.

Golf course: It is proposed that the golf course irrigation system be replaced by applying for a St. Louis County Municipal Park Grant. It is anticipated the City’s share of the $532,000 cost will be approximately $7,000. This will be budgeted as a capital expenditure. The golf course roof is over 25 years old and it needs to be replaced. Enough storm damage was discovered and the insurance company will pay for a new roof. Even though it will be paid with insurance funds, it has to be competitively bid. The revenue will be split between two years and the expense will be in 2015. Staff is proposing to replace the 21 year old reel grinder and the 1998 pick-up truck used by the maintenance crew. The overall golf course budget is $19,000 less than the 2014 budget.

North Pointe: This will be the 13th season for the North Pointe. The goal is to keep the facility fresh and safe and looking as new as possible. The budget includes having the “Bucket Falls” play structure and the two-story water slide supports professionally painted. The remaining 236 deck chairs will be re-strapped. The frames are recycled with new material to replace broken and faded straps.

Pointe: The budget for the Pointe includes the operation of the facility and recreation programs. It is $108,592 less than the 2014 budget. Phase III of the Pointe renovations, which is the last phase, is proposed. This phase includes reconstruction of the slide tower, painting the pool walls and replacing the lockers. Utility expenses were lowered by $40,000 and the equipment maintenance budget was also lowered by 30% or $20,000 in response to the implementation of the energy savings systems. It is recommended that Ballwin wait another year to replace the cardio equipment for a budget savings of $42,792.

Ballwin Days: The Committee co-chairs will present at tonight’s Board meeting a suggestion for upgrading the entertainment. Approximately $20,000 has been budgeted for the upgrade. They feel the event will be able to offset the cost through sponsorships.

Building Services: This includes personnel, supplies, and equipment to repair and maintain all city buildings and perform small renovation projects. There will be no major equipment or personnel changes for 2015.

Police Budget Overview

Police Chief Schicker reviewed the Police Department Operating budget. He said that as with the past several years, 86% of our budget is in personnel costs, which includes training.

Equipment: The 2015 Budget includes equipment upgrades for Field Operations. The department plans to replace the current 13 units with HD/DVD video systems, wireless download to a stand-alone server, storage and a 5-year manufacturer warranty at a budget amount of $106,818. A three-year rotation is recommended to replace the oldest of the 16 radar units in operation, with dual antenna units at a cost of $5,450 for three units.

Fixture upgrades: The department is requesting funding to replace the remaining Ameren post top fixtures in front of the police station; $18,000 has been budgeted.

Adjourn: A motion was made by Alderman Fleming and seconded by Alderman Terbrock to adjourn the Budget Work Session. A voice vote was taken with a unanimous affirmative result. Mayor Pogue declared the meeting adjourned at
6:58 p.m.

Tim Pogue, Mayor

ATTEST:
Robert Kuntz, City Administrator

CE