2014-0911 Special City Commission Meeting (2)

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Summary Minutes: special City Commission Meeting September 11, 2014 Sunny Isles Beach, Florida First Budget Hearing that after we set the millage rate, fortunately $200,000 is not enough to affect our ability to cover a loss of that amount but there are communities that are struggling, that is an issue especially to be notified of that after your taxable status date. And so, this is a long -term issue that we are working on in conjunction with our legal department. This is an item that is on our regular agenda but it is significant enough that he is going to mention it, it is a good thing that the City has a very good rainy day fund, the designated fund balance reserve for emergencies such as a hurricane. We recently had the collapse of significant portion of the south seawall behind the Intracoastal Park. We had emergency analysis of the entire seawall and we are making about a SI Million repair on that. Again, because of our financial condition and the $1 Million emergency repair, it is something that we can handle without any problem, that is being done right now. The only good part about that is that they are using the stagging area where the playground is going to go and so as they clean up that area they will excavate for the foundation for the new playground which will be good timing, and we will get the Park totally completed. City Manager Russo said he wanted to make one other statement about this proposed Fiscal Year 2014-2015 Budget, and he read a comment that he put in his Budget message. He noted the Budget is on -line in the City's website. "The staff is extremely grateful for the continued support of the City Commission. I would be remiss not to point out that this will be the last Budget approved by our Mayor, as he will retire in December due to term limits. There was a time many years ago when the City was fledgling and small, we did not have the sophisticated staff as we do now. ", and I might add the intelligence of the staff we have now. "Mayor Edelcup, before he was Mayor, was a guiding force in assisting me, and a limited staff with regard to financial decisions and budgeting, for that we will always be thankful." Commissioner Levin asked the City Manager to talk about the Evergreen Study since there are some increases in pay across the board. City Manager Russo said it is all budgeted. Every few years the City does a study to see that we stay competitive with our rates, scales, and ranges, and it is called a "Clarification Study ". Where we have some corrections, this was also discussed at the Workshops, and we make adjustments along those lines. There are throughout the Study, and it is public information, there are throughout the staffing some adjustments that were made. It all falls within an amount that we budget in our Human Resources budget and it covers raises or any adjustments of that sort. That amount as in previous years was still sufficient to cover the proposed changes from the Evergreen Study, and our potential raises for the coming year. Vice Mayor Aelion said he wanted to take this opportunity to thank staff for having presented to the Commission a very well thought out and well balanced budget, on the conservative side. We are the 7h lowest Millage Rate in the County, a very young City compared to the other 35 municipalities. It speaks volumes of the efficiency of the City has been run since its inception. Also to the efficiency of excellence from our City Manager who used to be with us once and came back. He has a very well thought -out process both financial and otherwise the performance for the good government of this City and so he wanted to thank him. With that said, the allocation of funds were also of thought to different departments and the Capital Funds, and the Improvement Programs, etc. also reflect the appropriate location for the upcoming Capital Improvement Projects, and everything is in line for us to continue to be on a E