budget worksession Minutes
March 14, 2011

The meeting was called to order at 7:01 p.m. Present were Mayor Calvo, MPT Wilkinson, CMs Ahrens Dennison and Kulpa-Eddy. Also present were Town Administrator (TA) Murphy and Clerk Harper.

1. Mayor

Announcements: CM Ahrens noted that the Berwyn Swim Club, where his family had a membership, was not integrated in the early 1970s and did not admit blacks. An education rally is being held in Annapolis tonight. The recently appointed principal of Greenbelt Middle School left for family reasons.

2. Budget

Mayor Calvo said that tonight the Council will review the budget section by section to identify items where funding can be reduced or, if money is left over, increased. Motions can be made at any time to reduce funding for a line item or shift money between line items within a department or major activity. Any proposed increase funding has to come from decreases elsewhere in the budget. Any money saved will be set aside in a kitty, and can later be used to fund Council priorities, such as additional code hours. Tonight is the last meeting at which changes can be made to the budget that will be reflected in the budget to be introduced in April. Mayor Calvo said that the way the purchase of a $158,000 trash truck is reflected in the budget should be changed. He asked for a motion for the budget to show the truck being funded with $140,000 from the vehicle replacement reserve and $18,000 from surplus instead of being funded entirely from the vehicle replacement reserve. CM Ahrens so moved. CM Dennison seconded. The motion passed 5 to 0.

Revenues: The Council reviewed the proposed FY2012 budget for important changes from last year.

Taxes: A 1% increase in real property tax revenues reflects the balance of the Homestead Tax Credit that has phased out over the last few years. Personal property taxes are budgeted $10,000 above what has been collected in recent years primarily because collection will include payments from prior years. Personal property taxes should also be collected from the Concrete Ready Mix Institute, which has not paid since being incorporated into Berwyn Heights in 2005. It may take a collection agency or a lawsuit to get them to pay. Mayor Calvo would prefer to have estimates of current year receipts separated from prior year receipts to better discern trends. Income tax revenues are proposed to come in 5% higher than last year. With the economy improving, more people will elect to pay taxes they deferred in FY 2010 and FY 2011. In prior years, these receipts have been budgeted conservatively but actual receipts turned out to be higher.

Licenses & Permits: Business license revenues are budgeted lower than last year, mainly because the business climate is still depressed and some businesses may close. Rental license revenue is projected at $51,000, based on 181 rental licenses granted.

Intergovernmental: Police aid is budgeted 17% lower than last year, as the State continues to have to cut back on expenditures. Highway User Revenues (HUR) are expected to come in at $6,600, 4% less than last year.

Fines & Forfeitures: Police fines & forfeitures are proposed at $40,100. However, this year, these revenues have fallen short, with only $21,000 collected so far. Speed camera fine revenues collected so far stand at around $30,000. There are a large number of delinquent tickets, however. The Council plans to introduce legislation that would impose a penalty for tickets not paid by the due date. Revenues from code liens have not been budgeted because the County has not yet provided information on liens. Mayor Calvo said, as directed in last year's budget process, code revenue should be broken down into the following categories: 1) clean lot; 2) abatements; and 3) rental. Liens are not a separate source of revenue but a method of payment for the different categories of code fines. This should be implemented for the next budget.

Miscellaneous: Interest & Dividends are down by 50% because the interest rate paid by the Maryland Local Government Investment Pool pays only a .45% interest rate on investments. Mayor Calvo said this could be improved. An interest rate of 0.9% could be earned by investing in Treasury bonds. Town Center rental revenue is projected at $5,200. While in the current year, only $2,500 has been collected to date, much of the revenue tends to come late in May and June. Line item 370-500, Other, reflects the reimbursement from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) for the February 2010 snow emergency. This line item should be moved under Intergovernmental Revenue.

Expenditures:

Town Administration: This budget is proposed to increase by 2%, due mainly to salary and benefits. The dues & conventions appropriation will go up because funding for the Town Administrator's conference returns after being stricken last year.

Town Center: This budget is proposed to go up by 43% due to a large increase in maintenance & repairs, which includes the replacement of the front and back doors. TA Murphy is considering funding the less expensive replacement of the back door from the current budget. CM Dennison so moved. CM Ahrens seconded. The motion passed 5 to 0. The savings will go into the kitty.

Police: This budget is proposed to go down by 1% due to savings in the salary line item because of the retirement of the former police chief. The dues & conferences appropriation and the seminar & training appropriation are proposed to increase by 60% and 40%, respectively. This accommodates a request by Chief Antolik. In response to MPT Wilkinson, Mayor Calvo said that the radius of the take home car policy was changed from 40 aerial miles to 40 road miles. He proposed to further reduce the radius to 30 road miles, effective whenever an officer moves or a new officer is hired. TA Murphy asked whether this would mean officers living beyond the 30 mile radius would be charged for mileage or could not take the police car home. Mayor Calvo suggested that the officer may need to find a safe place to park the car at the 30 mile limit. The take home car policy will be discussed further at the next worksession. The miscellaneous appropriation was reduced by $5,000 on a motion by CM Dennison and second by CM Ahrens. The funding was increased in FY 2011 because of the police chief search. Next year this expense will not occur. The savings will go into the kitty.

Public Safety Miscellaneous: This budget, which funds contributions to NW/EP and the fire department, is proposed to remain flat. Mayor Calvo said he may ask the Council to consider an increase in the contribution to the fire department to be funded with speed camera revenues.

Code Compliance: This budget is proposed to go up by 6%, mainly due to a proposed increase in the part-time salaries appropriation, which would add 5 more part-time hours per week for code officers. This would increase total part-time hours per week to 20, and would be split between 2 part time officers. Another 15 hours per week is proposed to be added for a part-time code clerk if funds are left over. TA Murphy will provide a cost estimate at the next worksession. CM Ahrens said the Code Department would like to shift money between different appropriations as follows: increase supplies by $300, decrease public relations by 300; increase dues & conferences by $200, decrease travel by $200; and decrease training by $400. Mayor Calvo opposed making the cut in training. CMA moved to make the changes without  cutting the training appropriation. MPT Wilkinson seconded. The motion passed 5 to 0.

Public Works Building: This budget is proposed to increase by 18% to fund a number of needed repairs and improvements as reflected in the maintenance & repairs and capital outlays > 500 appropriations. A more detailed discussion of improvements to the Public Works yard is planned after a Council field trip to the yard.

Streets & Sanitation: MPT Wilkinson proposed to fund new signage for the main entrances of Berwyn Heights to replace the deteriorating banners. Mayor Calvo said that he would prefer to install marquees that could display electronic messages about upcoming events. These would be placed further inside the Town rather than at the entrances, such as Seminole and 60th Avenue. CM Kulpa Eddy said that there are already too many signs in Town. Some of these should be evaluated before new signs are installed. Mayor Calvo agreed. Further, this type of expenditure should be funded from the capital projects budget.

Mayor Calvo said that the FY 2011 estimate for solid waste disposal fees should be increased from $50,000 to $70,000 because that is more in line with what was spent in previous years. The snow & ice removal appropriation may also need to be increased to $8,000 to be more in line with previous years.

Recycling: Mayor Calvo proposed to integrate the currently separate Recycling budget into the Streets & Sanitation budget because the salary appropriation, which is the biggest expense, does not reflect a dedicated employee. The employee is used interchangeably for other Public Works tasks. MPT Wilkinson so moved. CM Dennison seconded. TA Murphy explained that the recycling budget was set up as a separate account when the Town switched to in-house recycling and wanted to track the cost of the recycling program. The motion passed 5 to 0.

Street Lighting: TA Murphy was asked to check whether the street light appropriation can be reduced by $2,000. The flasher at the school should also be checked to see if it can be turned off on weekends.

PRECA: The budget is proposed to increase by 9%, mainly due to an increase in the equipment appropriation which will help fund the construction of Boys & Girls Club shed. The media resource center appropriation could be reduced, because there no longer is a commercial internet connection. Possibly, the center could be closed because it no longer operates as a public computer lab. The space might be better used as a meeting room in the evening. CM Dennison may use $100 from Pops Park supplies to fund improvements to the garden at the school.

Cable: The Council plans to fund an overhaul of the Audio Visual system from this budget. The plans may be discussed later in the budget season.

Miscellaneous: This budget may go up if health care insurance rates go up. TA Murphy was asked to break out the health care expenditures and show which employees use which health care system. There should also be a cost comparison chart between different health plan options: e.g. Carefirst PPO and HMO and Kaiser Permanente HMO. Mayor Calvo said he prefers to give employees the choice between a salary supplement and absorbing a share of health care cost increases by switching to a less expensive plan on the one hand, and remaining in a more expensive health care plan and receiving no salary supplement on the other hand. Mayor Calvo asked Councilmembers to think about whether they would prefer to give an increase in the Cost of Living Adjustment (COLA) or merit increases.

Capital Projects: Councilmembers were asked to think about items that should be funded from this budget. New signage for the Town entrances is one item that was proposed tonight.

Mayor Calvo asked if Councilmembers would support a 2.5 cent increase in the real property tax rate to fund the renovation of Seminole and Ruatan Street. CM Ahrens and MPT Wilkinson were supportive. CM Dennison said she sees the need for infrastructure improvements. CM Kulpa-Eddy said she does not as yet support the tax increase. The roads in Berwyn Heights don't seem so bad when compared to roads outside the Town. However, she needs to take a closer look at the Town streets before making a decision to support a tax increase.

Signed: Kerstin Harper, Town Clerk

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