West Seneca Special Districts and Preliminary Budget 11/08/2006
Supervisor Paul T. Clark called the meeting to order at 7:00 P.M. with 30 seconds of silent prayer followed by the Pledge of Allegiance. ROLL CALL: Present -
Absent - None Supervisor Clark read the Fire Prevention Code instructing the public where to exit in case of a fire or an emergency. BENEFIT BASIS BUDGET Motion by Supervisor Clark, seconded by Councilman Osmanski, that proofs of publication and posting of legal notice: “OF A PUBLIC HEARING TO CONSIDER THE YEAR 2007 BENEFIT BASIS BUDGET (SPECIAL DISTRICTS BUDGETS), UPON WHICH THE COST OF MAINTENANCE AND DEBT SERVICE THEREOF IS APPORTIONED AND ASSESSED IN PROPORTION TO THE AMOUNT OF BENEFIT CONFERRED” in the Town of West Seneca, be received and filed.
Motion by Supervisor Clark, seconded by Councilman Hicks, to open the public hearing.
Supervisor Clark advised that the 2007 Benefit Basis Budget included specialty service areas that were specific to an area and covered sewer service, water service, and lighting. The budget called for general inflationary increases and there was nothing extraordinary. The town was continuing all the maintenance programs and they were under a lot of review by the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (NYSDEC). They were doing what they could to comply and to operate a system that was both reasonable in cost and worked properly without undo problems. Councilman Osmanski noted that again this year they had included $500,000 for major repairs in Sewer District #13. The Town Board made a commitment to try to stop infiltration of storm water into the sanitary sewer system and they were steadily making advances. Paula Minklei, Orchard Park Road, questioned if all the figures in the Benefit Basis Budget were tax levies that appeared on the residents’ tax bills or if they were included in the General Fund. Supervisor Clark advised that the figures were separate tax levies and only property owners that lived in the special district would have the tax levy appear on their tax bill. Tom Trimper, 14 Pine Valley Court, questioned if there was an expected end date to the Sewer District #13 tax. Councilman Osmanski responded that it was a 15-year program. Councilman Graber stated that $3.6 million was budgeted each year. Five hundred thousand of that was for the upgrade and the remainder was for operating the sewer district.
BENEFIT BASIS BUDGET (continued) Mr. Trimper questioned if there were any further developments concerning merging with Erie County. Supervisor Clark stated that they had approved the consultant that was hired to look at combining and consolidating so they could get more economies of scale. Sewer District #13 was very large and required a lot of maintenance because of its age, and unfortunately, those costs fell on the shoulders of the taxpayers of that district. Councilman Graber commented that Sewer District #13 was 85 percent clay pipe and 105 miles long. One of the biggest charges to it was $2,000,000 for the Buffalo Sewer Authority service charge. Supervisor Clark noted that Erie County would have significantly more leverage in negotiating power. They could audit costs of the Buffalo Sewer Authority and challenge some of their cost applications and overrides that they impose on their customers. Motion by Supervisor Clark, seconded by Councilman Osmanski, to close the public hearing.
Motion by Supervisor Clark, seconded by Councilman Osmanski, to adopt the 2007 Benefit Basis Budget as submitted.
PRELIMINARY BUDGET - GENERAL & HIGHWAY FUND Motion by Supervisor Clark, seconded by Councilman Osmanski, that proofs of publication and posting of legal notice: “OF A PUBLIC HEARING TO CONSIDER THE PRELIMINARY BUDGET FOR THE FISCAL YEAR BEGINNING JANUARY 1, 2007” in the Town of West Seneca, be received and filed.
Motion by Supervisor Clark, seconded by Councilman Osmanski, to open the public hearing.
Supervisor Clark stated that the rates for 2007 were no different than what they were for 2006. He complimented the Town Board members on working together to control costs and noted that they continually tried to drive costs down. Supervisor Clark stated that the Town of West Seneca was a 25 to 30 million dollar operation with 600 to 700 employees and various operations. When compared to other towns, they ran a reasonably lean and effective government. Supervisor Clark commented on property taxes in Western New York and New York State being higher than anywhere else in the country and stated that the county tax contained huge state mandates including runaway Medicare costs and extraordinary pension costs. The Town Board had to deal with all these factors that were beyond their control. Since the town was primarily a service organization, they tried to set service levels. Services included recreation, senior services, engineering services, sanitation & refuse pickup, highway, police, etc. and although West Seneca was not lavish, they were serious in their attempt to deliver a good and consistent level of service to the residents. They accomplished this with strong management, a lot of communication, and excellent and cooperative department heads that realized the need to cut costs. Supervisor Clark stated that although a reduction in services was a tool they could use,
PRELIMINARY BUDGET – GENERAL & HIGHWAY FUND (continued) there were no drastic service level reductions proposed. Many residents were willing to pay slightly higher local taxes in order to receive the services offered. The Town Board had to gauge what they thought were the needs of most of the residents. Supervisor Clark commented on how the town responded to the severe October storm and stated that there was equipment, manpower, and supervisory personnel available to get out on the streets in a cost effective manner and with public safety and employee safety in mind. They removed a lot of dangerous debris, got the roads open, and were available to help the residents. Paula Minklei, Orchard Park Road, stated that in most departments, including the Town Council, salaries were raised from 1.4 percent for the Supervisor’s secretary to almost 17 percent for the Assessor. With the increases there were additional costs of social security, Medicare, Workman’s Compensation, pension benefits, etc. Mrs. Minklei noted that the median household income for West Seneca was $46,278 and this often included two or more paychecks. Half of the households had an income of less than that. She thought that the Town Board should keep the town citizens and taxpayers in mind when salary increases were made. Mrs. Minklei commented that, as in the past, the budget was very general with many items unidentified, and with benefits all lumped together it was difficult to determine the real cost in individual departments. She questioned the following items in the budget: 1) Page two - A 12.5 percent increase in the Town Attorney’s salary; 2) Page three - Who is the personnel clerk, who does professional negotiations, who is the engineer draftsman and is $108,000 the going rate for this position; 3) Page four – Special Items – Who does the general liability, fire & theft consultation for $190,000, who does what professional services for $43,125, and who does the insurance administration for $11,000; 4) Page four & five – Police – Do police personnel qualify for overtime (It would be helpful to fully understand the cost of the Police Department if pensions, insurance, and overtime, if applicable, were listed under this heading); 5) Page six – Dog Control – Why are the salary increases for the Dog Control Officer (5.8%) and Assistant Dog Control Officer (9%) so much; 6) Page seven – Building & Plumbing – What is covered under Other Expenses, which increased from $3500 to $41,000 and why are there Electrical Inspection Costs of $20,000 when there were none last year; Page eight – Buildings & Grounds – Why the large salary increase for the Working Crew Chief (9.8%) and how many full-time laborers are in that department. Supervisor Clark responded to some of Mrs. Minklei’s questions and comments as follows: There were three draftsmen in the Engineering Department; police personnel did qualify for overtime; the town will be doing their own electrical inspections and charging for them, so the increases were for the cost of that program, but there was also additional revenue reflected and they should actually make money on it; salaries were set for a number of employees by contract and in January, but two years ago there was no increase provided because of the tactics of labor negotiating; there are 17 full-time laborers in the Buildings & Grounds Department. Virginia Grandoni, 870 Orchard Park Road, commended the Town Board for not increasing taxes this year and questioned the amounts to be raised by real property taxes for the General Fund and Highway Fund in 2006 and 2007. Wayne Drescher of Drescher & Malecki advised that for the General Fund the amount to be raised by real property taxes was $11,891,323 in 2006 and $12,291,247 in 2007. For the Highway Fund it was $7,353,145 in 2006 and $7,562,935 in 2007. Mrs. Grandoni thought there would be a larger increase in that figure with the change in Assessors and the increase in assessment of commercial properties in town. Supervisor Clark responded that the assessed valuation was increased but the rates then went down which helped stabilize taxes.
PRELIMINARY BUDGET – GENERAL & HIGHWAY FUND (continued) Karen Lucachick, 61 Greenmeadow Drive, commented that there was some improvement in the budget presentation and referred to the words “account code” that were added. She also referred to a recent newspaper article concerning the cost of local government and stated that the Town of Amherst with a population of nearly 117,000 operated on a budget that was less than the Town of West Seneca with a population of about 45,000. Mrs. Lucachick questioned what Amherst was doing different than West Seneca and noted that the Amherst Town Board discussed items at their board meetings. Business was not as cut and dry as it is with the West Seneca Town Board. Mrs. Lucachick questioned if the Supervisor and Council Members were full-time positions. Supervisor Clark responded that he worked a full-time schedule, and although there was no specific listing for the Council Members, they worked a lot of hours. Councilman Osmanski stated that they did not have a clock that said they had to work 40 hours per week. Mrs. Lucachick questioned which of the board members received health benefits, and if they did not, did they receive anything in lieu of the benefit. Councilman Osmanski responded that board members who did not receive health benefits were compensated 25 percent of what the cost of the insurance would be, if they received it. Mrs. Lucachick referred to the Other Expenses line items on the budget and stated that the total for all departments was about $200,000. She thought this was rather open ended. Supervisor Clark responded that the Other Expenses line item complied with the NYS Comptroller’s Office required presentation. Other expenses were generalities and they were all monitored. Mrs. Lucachick referred to the Equipment line items that totaled $110,000 and asked that the Town Board purchase a new sound system and visual aid for the Court Room so that residents could hear and see what was going on. She also asked that next time the budget is prepared it include bar graphs, pie graphs, and more detailed breakdowns. Councilman Graber commented on the study done by Kevin Gaughan that appeared in the newspaper and stated that all of Amherst’s elected officials’ salaries were larger than West Seneca’s elected officials, so there was no way that the study was accurate. Supervisor Clark agreed and stated that the study included only Amherst’s two Judges and none of their support staff, but in West Seneca they included all of the support staff. He thought the comparability factor was horrendous and had asked Mr. Drescher to look into it. Tom Trimper, Pine Valley Court, referred to Page 1 and the Salary of Other Clerical under the Comptroller. He questioned if the $136,000 was for two employees. Mr. Drescher responded that there was some personnel shuffling in the Comptroller’s Office and the Deputy Comptroller position was eliminated while another clerk was added. The $136,000 was actually for three clerical positions.
PRELIMINARY BUDGET – GENERAL & HIGHWAY FUND (continued) Mr. Trimper commented that it would be helpful to the public if last year’s budget figures were shown on the proposed budget and if the number of employees covered by a line item was indicated. He was happy that there was no tax increase this year, but noted that over the last five to six years the total budget was up about 65 percent. Mr. Trimper thought that West Seneca was in need of a re-evaluation and commented that if it is done properly it will help level the playing field. Joan Russo, Parkside Drive, questioned what would happen if the estimated revenues did not meet the projections. Supervisor Clark responded that if the estimated revenues did not meet their projections the fund balance would be reduced automatically and it would be reflected and readjusted in the following year. The budget was their best educated guess. Mrs. Russo stated that she did not notice anything on the budget for overtime costs in the various departments and she questioned if that was budgeted for. Supervisor Clark responded that overtime costs were included in the salary line items, and these costs were continually studied and monitored. Mrs. Russo thought the budget presentation was very vague and referred to the Police Department budget. She commented that it was difficult to see the entire picture of the budget when salaries were listed as a lump sum and the number of employees was not included. Town Attorney Timothy Greenan responded that the town was not mandated to have a designated number of police officers, so they did not include a number in the budget. They did not want to be committed to maintain a certain staffing level. Mrs. Russo questioned how many secretaries were in Supervisor Clark’s office. Supervisor Clark responded that he had a full-time secretary and one other full-time clerical person that handled personnel issues and was listed on the budget under the heading Personnel. Mrs. Russo questioned if most town positions, specifically the Dog Control Officer and Assistant Dog Control Officer, received overtime. Supervisor Clark responded that the Dog Control Officer and Assistant Dog Control Officer received overtime and were dispatched by the Police Department after hours to respond to certain situations and occurrences. The Dog Control Officers also removed all the dead animals from the highways rather than the Highway Department personnel performing that duty. Motion by Supervisor Clark, seconded by Councilman Osmanski, to close the public hearing.
Motion by Supervisor Clark, seconded by Councilman Hicks, to adopt the 2007 Highway and General Fund budgets as proposed.
PRELIMINARY BUDGET – GENERAL & HIGHWAY FUND (continued) On the question, Councilman Graber agreed that taxes were too high in New York State, but he thought that most of the problems were in Albany. He referred to the high pension costs and stated that in October 2000 when the pension fund was flourishing, the NYS Legislature eliminated the 3 percent employee contribution for employees with ten or more years of service. After September 11, 2001, the pension fund was affected by the stock market plunge and they had to go back to the towns. In 2000, the town’s contribution for all its employees was approximately $53,000. Last year, the cost was $1.7 million and the taxpayers had to pay for that. Councilman Graber stated that the West Seneca Town Board previously went on record asking for a Tier 5 for New York State employees that would have a permanent 3 percent employee contribution. He would also like to see pensions based on an employee’s annual salary only, not including overtime. Supervisor Clark commented that the Town of West Seneca tried to stay away from high-tech expensive operations, but still make sure that the public had access and could have their questions answered. They had to deal with a lot of mandates from Albany and he thought they were doing their best. Councilman Bove stated that the town was fortunate when they received a grant to remodel the basement of the Senior Citizens Center for a senior fitness center. The town was not experienced in running a fitness center, and they looked into hiring an agency to run it but found that it was very costly. The Town Board then found a way to offer the service without spending tens of thousands of dollars and they decided to just hire a part-time trainer.
ADJOURNMENT Motion by Supervisor Clark, seconded by Councilman Hicks, to adjourn the meeting at 8:20 P.M.
__________________________________ PATRICIA C. DEPASQUALE, RMC/CMC |