2008 0911 Special City Commission Meeting

Home Browse Search

Summary Minutes: Special City Commission Meeting September 11,2008 First Budget Hearing Sunny Isles Beach, Florida City Manager Szerlag said the reason he did the Bar Chart is, if you look at the expense side on the left, which has the purple rectangle, indicates $14,825,135, that is what was given with the 5%; and now he has $14,794,135 which is a 4% rate increase, and so the number the Commission was given initially compared to what he would expense for FY 08/09 is less. He can take that difference, give the same number he presented initially, and take care of the lower tiered employees by giving them 5% without increasing the number. It also shows why the Surplus is less now than it was earlier. Mayor Edelcup explained if you want to give the 5% then you will have to add $35,000 more to the budget because it is not listed here, although it comes out the same because of the cut in personnel positions. It was the consensus of the Commission to put back the $35,000 and challenge the staff, between now and Second Reading, to find $33,000 to $35,000 elsewhere, other than taking it out of Surplus, so that those under $50,000 will be able to get up to 5% and it won't penalize as much the people above $50,000. Mayor Edelcup said that it still means that once you put that in there, the people in that income bracket can still get more or less than 5%. City Manager Szerlag said that during a staff meeting, there was a request to renew Workers' Compensation Insurance and he had asked for some quotations, just to calibrate the quote that we had received. He asked the Commission, what ifhe received a quote that was greater than $35,000, and the Commission said that would cover that increase. City Manager Szerlag said that he did find a savings in Workers' Compensation already. Assistant City Manager Doug Haag said that on the September 18, 2008 Commission meeting agenda there will be a recommendation that we switch our Workers' Compensation carrier because we got a very favorable proposal from the Florida League of Cities pool, and it is a pretty substantial savings but we are still finalizing the numbers. Vice Mayor Thaler said in one of the notes that came by on the cost of the school to the City was $17,000 of insurance, why do we need additional insurance, and Mr. Haag said he will double check that. We have a separate cost center this coming year for the school which includes the crossing guards, an extra officer and insurance benefits for that officer, but he doesn't recall any additional property or casualty insurance. Commissioner Scholl said he recalls it and his assumption was that it was the cost associated with Pelican Community Park. Mayor Edelcup noted a typo in Section 1 of the Resolution, it should be Fiscal Year 2008/ 2009 not 2007/2008. Commissioner Brezin moved and Vice Mayor Thaler seconded a motion to approve the resolution, as amended. Resolution No. 2008-1305 was adopted by a roll call vote of5-0 in favor. Vote: Commissioner Brezin Commissioner Goodman Commissioner Scholl Vice Mayor Thaler Mayor Edelcup yes yes yes yes yes 4