<br />Summary Minutes: Special City Commission Meeting September 6, 2011
<br />First Budget Hearing
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<br />Sunny Isles Beach, Florida
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<br />new lifeguard stand up and so it is not for the full year, and City Manager Cohen said we had
<br />started construction but then we had to resubmit plans because the plans did not fully comply
<br />with the new Code. One of our employees is going to construct that tower, and when it is
<br />constructed and placed on the beach, this is the estimate that it will cost us for the rest of the
<br />year. The long term redistribution will be when we have ten (10) stations next year.
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<br />Vice Mayor Thaler asked about the $211,000 for Heritage Park, item 21, is it possible that we
<br />can turn out some of those lights during the day in Heritage Park, they are on 24 hours a day,
<br />seven days a week, is it a legal requirement? City Attorney Ottinot said he will research it.
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<br />Vice Mayor Thaler asked about the Public Works trailer, we had $150,000 that was not
<br />recommended, and now you are asking for $25,000. Public Works Director Gio Batista said
<br />the difference is that the $25,000 is a lease, whereas the $150,000 was an outright purchase.
<br />The $25,000 includes the monthly lease, delivery, tie-down, plumbing, a temporary holding
<br />tank, and the electrical hook-ups. City Manager Cohen said it is for 12 months, and the
<br />monthly rental is about $800, and a lot of that infrastructure we will be able to use when we
<br />transition to a different type of setup there.
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<br />Commissioner Aelion asked about item 33, the increase and transfer out of Capital Projects
<br />Fund, and City Manager Cohen said you will not see it as a separate number, Line 33
<br />represents the differential between what we transferred last year to the Capital Projects Fund,
<br />and what we are going to transfer next year. Mayor Edelcup said that last year we transferred
<br />out less because we had a payment to make on the building, the Malibu Plaza, and Assistant
<br />City Manager/Finance Minai Shah said we took on additional debt, $15 Million at service
<br />because in past years we transferred about $2 Million, and because we took on that additional
<br />debt, we had to bring down the transfer out for $600,000 in order to balance it. Right now we
<br />are working to build that transfer out back to $2 Million. City Manager Cohen said on page
<br />C-5 at the back of the budget book, is the CIP account, the 4th item down is transferring from
<br />the General Fund $1.3820 Million, and so last year that number was $700,000 less, and that is
<br />where the $700,000 is in that $1.3 Million.
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<br />Mayor Edelcup asked to go into more detail in the separate funding, and City Manager Cohen
<br />said in the Capital Projects Budget, one of the structural changes is that they created two new
<br />budgets to separate some items specifically our streets budget and the Building Department.
<br />In the Building Department we want to keep better track of our revenues and expenses to
<br />make sure there is a more of a matching between those two, so we can better comply with
<br />regulations. It is a similar situation for Transportation Funds, the funds we receive are to be
<br />used for transportation purposes and so we are separating them to keep better track of them
<br />and for auditing purposes to make it easier to show that we are using the funds properly.
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<br />City Manager Cohen said the Capital Improvement Projects budget on page C-7, are the
<br />main projects that are being funded under the General Funds and he made that distinction
<br />because there are some other funds after that, we have the large outlay for the Newport Pier
<br />Park of$l ,009,000 and that is our big project for the year; and Collins Avenue Improvements
<br />is a continuation ofthe project that has been ongoing. We have monies for looking at studies
<br />on how we can best mitigate concerns that are being generated by the recreation area at Town
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