Council Tackles City Budget
The Helotes City Council meeting was opened at 7 p.m.
The Public Hearing on the approval of the Economic Development Corporation’s (EDC) FY 2010 budget was opened at 7:03 p.m.. There was no one present wanting to speak, and the hearing was closed at 7:04 p.m.
There was also no one present wanting to speak during the ‘Citizens to be Heard’ portion of the meeting.
The Mayor reported that the playground equipment for the Helotes City Park and Playground was delivered last Friday. City employees and volunteers will put the equipment together, which, according to the Mayor, will save approximately $6,400. Tomorrow they will install 64 fence posts. Vulcan Materials has donated 5 yards of concrete. The work will begin at 9 a.m. tomorrow and should be done within 60 days. All volunteers are welcome.
On the Consent Agenda, Council approved the minutes of the last meeting, the bi-weekly revenue/expenditure report, the appointment of ex-Council member Pat Wootton to the Economic Development Corporation Board of Directors, the Agreement for Management Services between the City and the EDC for FY 2010, and an ordinance requested by TXDoT lowering the speed limit on Hwy. 16 from Loop 1604 through Helotes just past Scenic Loop Road to 45 mph. (I thought it was already 45 mph; maybe I heard it wrong?)
The only agenda item listed for individual consideration tonight was discussion of the proposed FY 2010 City budget.
The Mayor started the discussion on the budget by informing the Council members that each of them could only speak twice. The first time they could each speak a maximum of 15 minutes (I’m pretty sure that is what he said, but I guess he could have said a total of 15 minutes, because he did seem to stop each speaker after about 6 minutes), and they could only speak a second time after everyone else had had a chance to speak.
Council member Gary Johnson spoke first asking the City Administrator, Rick Schroder, for clarification on some of the budget items. He questioned how Rick had come up with the projected revenues for FY 2010, specifically the revenues from property taxes, franchise fees, building permits, and court fines.
Rick said he had increased the projected property tax revenues because property appraisal values had actually increased a little in Helotes and there are more homes this year. (I believe the figures actually come from the Bexar County Appraisal District.)
He based the franchise fees proposed for FY 2010 on what has actually been received in FY 2009 ($134,000).
He stated that building permits issued had actually decreased this year, but the building permit fees were higher because of the large fee paid by NISD for the new elementary school (I think he said it was around $75,000), and that will not happen again in FY 2010.
He had increased the estimated revenue from court fines because of the STEP program that is being tried by the Police Department on a trial basis. This program brings off-duty police officers in for extra shifts and dedicates them solely to traffic enforcement, freeing the other officers to patrol. The tickets they are issuing are bringing in extra revenue which, so far, has justified the extra manhours and vehicle use, and will probably result in adding an extra court day a month.
Mayor Schoolcraft then stopped Johnson 6 minutes into his 15 minutes and called on Council member Whitehead.
Whitehead told Rick that he would be more comfortable if the budget projections were closer to being plus or minus 3 percent instead of 10 percent. Projected sales tax revenues are $480,000, which does not include the sales tax that will be received from the new CVS that has been projected at $100,000, give or take $10,000.
Whitehead said that he would like to see the police officers get a 2 percent merit pay increase this year (all other City employees are getting 1 percent). He said he would also like $20,000 to $40,000 allocated to buy new/used patrol cars. The police department now has four or five vehicles that each have over 100,000 miles on them, and we will soon need to buy new vehicles or at least used vehicles with only 40,000 or 50,000 miles on them.
At this time, Mayor Schoolcraft said his time was up.
Council member Massey questioned why $5,000 had been allocated for the Community Band. Rick said they want to expand the number of concerts they have during the coming year, and to do this they have to buy new music, which is apparently very expensive.
Schoolcraft asked if Legendre and Villanueva had any comments to make or questions to ask before Whitehead spoke again, and they said no.
Whitehead stated that he was not in favor of the whole concept of the STEP program. He didn’t think it was a good idea to work the officers extra hours just to issue tickets. He said that some little towns would issue $200 tickets to drivers going 30.5 mph in a 30 mph zone, and he did not want Helotes to be that kind of town.
He also questioned all of the overtime being worked by the police department for the MarketPlace in Old Town Helotes and for movie night. He said they were not being reimbursed by the Economic Development Corporation (EDC). Rick told him that they were not being reimbursed by the EDC because, in his opinion, it is not an EDC event; it is a City event. (Funny, if I remember correctly, when this event first started it was called Market Days and Live Music, or some such, and was put on by some outfit as the result of a contract with the EDC. Or maybe their contract was with the City, but it was brought to Council by the EDC. At any rate, it was definitely an EDC project. Another thought I had was, shouldn’t the Council determine if the police budget is reimbursed for expended overtime and by whom, not the City Administrator??) Rick said he had stopped the reimbursement of the police overtime because it was taking a lot of money from the MarketPlace, and they couldn’t do some of the things they wanted to. (??)
Schoolcraft then spoke up and said that the STEP program was never intended to turn Helotes into a speed trap. Using patrol officers to deal with traffic infractions took away from their patrol time. As far as police vehicles, if they need new vehicles, the City will buy them, but he thinks it will not be easy to find used patrol cars with only 40,000 miles on them because most police departments hold on to them longer than that.
Gary Johnson then took his second chance to talk. He questioned Rick further on some of the things he had done with the budget. He wondered why the office supplies and operating supplies had gone up so much. Rick told him that instead of listing those two categories under each department, he had lumped them altogether under the Administrative Expenditures section. Johnson also said that when he reviewed the budget for the Police Department, he was shocked at the salaries of the officers. He agrees with Whitehead that they should get an additional one percent increase in their pay.
At this point Schoolcraft (sounding a little indignant in my opinion) said that the salaries of our police officers and firefighters were very competitive with other cities our size. He actually said something to the effect of, before someone popped off and made a comment like that (referring to Johnson’s comment about being shocked), they should do some research. City staff had compared the salaries of our firefighters, and we had come out on the top end. He will have their human resources staff person do the same comparison on the police officers’ salaries to see if they are being underpaid.
Johnson actually apologized for making an off-hand remark like that about the police salaries.
Schoolcraft then said that Council members could address any questions they might have about the budget to City staff or the City Treasurer, Susan Wootton. They are all available to help, and it wouldn’t take up so much time at the meetings.
In response to that, Cynthia Massey said she thinks that that is what these public meetings are for, to discuss this in public, to keep the public informed. What he (the mayor) thinks is “minute,” she considers important.
Council member David Legendre finally had a comment. He said it would be good to have a comparison on the salaries so we know where we fall.
Council member Ed Villanueva had no questions or comments on the budget at all.
Whitehead then countered what the mayor had said pertaining to his (Whitehead’s) earlier comments. He said he is not just pulling his figures out of his head. He has been the Council liaison to the police and fire departments for 3 years. In the past, they had purchased three used vehicles for the price of one new one. Some police departments (especially the larger ones I’d imagine) do sell their vehicles when they hit 50,000 miles. The mayor was not right about that. He also said that our police officers are not leaving in droves. Most of them are happy here. An extra one percent in salary would only amount to $8,000 from the City’s budget.
Schoolcraft then said something to the effect of (may not be a direct quote), “Well, that being said, if there are no objections, this meeting is adjourned at 8:09 p.m.”
Councilman Edward Villanueva had NO COMMENT on the budget??? I guess that means he doesn’t care about it, or maybe he’s just happy with whatever Schoolcraft and Schroder put together. I also just noticed that his property in Old Town Helotes is being leased by the construction company, EZ Bel, that got the contract with the City for the improvements in Old Town. I don’t know if that would be a conflict of interest or not, but he does appear to be profiting from a City contract that he voted to approve.
What a difference a voice makes. Those who questioned the mayor on the budget issues should be congratulated even if these are tepid comments. Massey finally sounded like an independent voice speaking for the right of the people to access information, which attacks the core of Schoolcraft’s attitude toward us, the governed. Hurray for Johnson! We need somebody with backbone and knowledge to challenge the Schoolcraft-Schroder “we do what we want” team. More money for the mayor’s wife’s band and the EDC events? Hello? TAX AND SPEND. It’s just a shame that only three representatives of the people questioned the budget and two kept their mouths shut.