02/17/2009 Meeting Minutes - Laserfiche WebLink

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Council Minutes of 2/17/2009 and there may be a greater need for adjustments to cover the unexpected items that pop up along the way as there is no flexibility in this budget. More line item transfers may have to be brought forward as we work through this. 3) Ordinance 2009-17 is the hiring of Squire, Sanders & Dempsey as bond counsel. Ordinances 2009-18, 2009-19, 2009-20 and 2009-21 are the street notes and computer notes. The first are the 2007 and 2008 rollover notes, and 2009-20 are the street notes for the $1,010,000 for Dover Center Road and the asphalt overlays and reclamation that were talked about in the budget hearings and the street meeting. Ordinance 2009-21 is for the computer equipment for the a-mail and archiving server system and the replacement for the MUNIS server. 4) Looking at revenues through February, $12,000 in estate taxes are in the pipeline already for the second half of 2049. On the negative side, income tax collection through February, which represents two periods, is down by $201,000 from last year. Withholding and net profits are substantially down. She has asked RITA to look at two taxpayers as to why and more investigation is being done. RITA is also tracking the 25 to 30 companies that were looked at to develop the estimate for 2009. They will be compared monthly as they represented 40% of our income tax. We will then have a better idea of where the problems lie before we get to the end of the year and find out we're in trouble. We're going to watch this very closely. Councilman Gareau said he wished Mr. Ryan well in his endeavor as he leaves this Council. Mr. Ryan has been here a number of years and has been involved in city government for far longer than his time on City Council. He wishes Mr. Ryan well. Councilman Gareau, chairperson of the Finance Committee: 1) The Finance Committee met three times to discuss the appropriation Ordinance 2009-5, an ordinance to make appropriations for current expenses and other expenditures for the City of North Olmsted for the year ending December 31, 2009, which will be amended this evening. The total time spent as a committee with most members of Council present was 9 hours and 45 minutes. • At the first meeting, Mayor O'Grady gave an overview of the city and where we currently stand. He emphasized that government is smaller than when he took over in 2005. He believes that he has right-sized through attrition, reshaping the city government to provide improved services at a reduced cost to taxpayers. He emphasized that current projections do not indicate a recovery during 2009. He believes that, barring concessions from bargaining units, it is unlikely that we will be able to bring any laid off workers back. The Mayor advised that given Council's lack of support for a temporary income tax credit reduction, he instructed his directors to cut all spending that is not absolutely essential. He further advised that he has reduced the budget beyond last year's actual expenditures wherever possible. He indicated that further efforts to reorganize government and to reduce cost will continue. Manning, salaries, benefits, longevity, and overtime will be discussed in the future. The budget includes 0% salary increases for 2009 for all non-bargaining unit employees with the exception of elected officials whose pay was established several years ago and the 4