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CC 03-27-95 CC-89gB MINUTES Cupertino City Council, Adjourned Regular Meeting March 27, 1995 CALL TO ORDER At 7:00 p.m., Burnett called the meeting to order and led the Pledge of Allegiance. ROLL CALL Council members present: John Bautistz, Don Bumett, Barbara Koppel, and Lauralee Sorensen. Council members absent: Dean. Staff present: City Manager Don Brown; City Clerk Kimberly Smith; Administrative Services Director Carol Atwood; and Public Works Director Bert Viskovich. ORAL COMMUNICATIONS - None. NEW BUSINESS 1. Study session to review the Five Year Fiscal Forecast and Five-Year Capital Improvement Plan, 1994/1995 - ! 999/2000. The Administrative Services Director handed out a revised copy of the Five Year Budget Forecast for 1995-2000. She reviewed the introductory letter dated March 23 and discussed a replacement chart entitled "Financial Trends-General Fund" which included a new line entitled "Expenditures Without Debt". She reviewed charts showing fund balance trends and revenue and expenditure estimates for all city funds (general fund, special revenue funds, debt service funds, capital projects fund, enterprise funds, and internal service funds). In response to questions by Council, the City Manager explained that the law enforcement trends shown in the charts were expected to be fairly accurate. Some categories were based on historical usage, such as beat officers, dispatchers, etc., and the city did not pay for detectives unless they were needed. Also, this year the expected booking fees were lowered and a rebate was received by the county. The City Manager discussed the reserve balance and said that the City of Cupertino maintains a balance that is over 100% of operating expenditures. .. March 27, 1995 Cupertino City Council Page 2 The Council reviewed the financial trends in more detail. The Administrative Services Director said that the major components of the anticipated shortfall included: (1) A decrease in anticipated sales tax $600,000; (2) the discontinuance of school impact fees of $640,000; and (3) increased Debt Service payments for the Youth Sports fields (ELVIS bond) $1,000,000. The City Manager said that the sales tax issue is a systemic problem to be dealt with and Council's goal to improve economic development will help accomplish that. He added there are other potential turnaround issues, but they have not been charted in this document. They include such things as the change in ownership of the Vallco Shopping Center and their aggressive leasing of vacant space and consideration of further development. He said that the financial forecast was not ' all negative and the Administrative Services Director did a good job in forcing Council and staff to look at this in a very conservative way. There's also a chance for the business to business use tax to improve. Bautista said the philosophical question is whether Council should try to recoup the losses. If so, they should find way to increase revenues or reduce expenditures. Another solution would be to acknowledge this as a one-time hit and absorb it by paying for it out of the general fund reserves. Bautista said that although the report is conservative, there are still some assumptions which should be watched, such as the assumption that the investment loss would be recouped, and that certain bridge widening funds will be received. The City Manager explained that a historical perspective is important. The main reason why there is such a large amount in debt service is because the City Council improved the stock of community assets in a huge way by buying parks and buildings in the last few years. He believed that in the long .run, the decision was wise and to the extent that the city can absorb $5 million a year in debt service, it should be kept in perspective. He said he was concerned that the city made huge capital inve~h~ents knowing that they would be expensive, and to start reducing other services to cover that cost is difficult to justify. Bautista said the issue is whether a fixed cost, such as employee compensation services, should subsidize acquisitions which have occurred in the past. The Administrative Services Director stated that the city had done an excellent job in keeping operating expenditures down and routinely ended the year. The Public Works Director reviewed the Five-Year Capital Improvements Program charts. Koppel expressed interest in programming the Senior Center as soon as possible. The City Manager said that as currently proposed, design was rescheduled for 1999-2000 and construction was currently unprogrammed. -; ~ March 27, 1995 Cupertino City Council Page 3 The Parks and Recreation Director said that there are approximately 5,000 people using the facilities and that number goes up annually. They use the Quinlan Center and the Sports Center for overflow events. Koppel said she would consider using reserves for a project like this because she did not want it to be too far out in the future. The City Manager suggested that it be reviewed again next year and considered for programming at that time. The Parks and Recreation Director reviewed information about building maintenance needed at McClellan Ranch Park. He said that some of the buildings needed new roofs very soon and they will try to pay for some of those out of operating funds. Ms. Lonnie Toensfeldt, chairperson of McClellan Ranch Task Force and also 4-H leader, said that their group had participated in replacing the tack room roof 20 years ago. It is now in very poor condition and must be replaced soon. She said that both the blacksmith's shop and the house are historically significant but there has been no money put into capital improvements for them for over 20 years. Ms. Ethel Warren said she was the new director of the Cupertino Historical Museum. She said they would investigate a restoration grant and they would also target volunteers, but some seed money from the city would take the project much farther. Bantista said that this kind of creative revenue enhancement could be discussed at the staff retreat. Another topic might be the investment of CDBG funds for ADA required retrofits of buildings and modifications. The Public Works Director explained that the Stevens Creek Specific Plan figures should be amended to matcli the budget forecast charts since the Stevens Creek Specific Plan was placed in its own project. Therefore, the capital improvement project totals would result in removing $1 million from 1988-99 and 1999-2000. He said that Phase I would involve tree planting and relocation of sidewalks. It · would be funded by the Gas Tax Fund and transfers from assessment districts. He said that up to $1.5 million may be reimbursed by future development. Koppel suggested an "adopt a tree" program. The 36-inch box trees thor are proposed for planting would cost about $300 each. The Public Works Director acknowledged an error on the chart on page 42, because Stevens Creek Specific Plan did not show on-going maintenance costs. He noted that on page 44, the street project at Bollinger Road and Calabazas will .- March 27, 1995 Cupertino City Council Page 4 probably not proceed since the water district will not be replacing the culvert because of budget problems. Discussion was held on whether an additional signal was necessary on Stevens Creek at Saich. Bautista and Koppel asked that it could be delayed until there was further development along Stevens Creek. The council members concurred. At 9:00 p.m., the meeting was adjourned.