Brent
04-15-2004, 06:58 AM
All,
My notes from last night's (04/14) meeting. Please review these and suggest any updates/corrections. Town Council has asked to keep up with our progress, so I will send a summarized version of these minutes to council in a few days.
In particular, please look at the Mission Statement (we would like to have this ratified/amended by more people in the group who couldn't attend last night's meeting) and the focus area topics (please suggest any others that you would like to focus on)
--------------------
Citizen Budget Review (“The People’s Money”)
Second Meeting 04/14/2004
Participants:
(* indicates attendance at this meeting)
Robin Joyce (helped facilitate first meeting only)
Adam Arnold (covering some meetings for the Cary News)
* Mike Dodson
* Matt Danielson
* Brent Miller
John Finn
* Kat Haney
Daryl Baker
Josh Mills
Ray Czarnecki
Bynum Walter
Matt Walter
Tom Woodard
Ken Elowitz
Darryl Black
Tom McCuiston
* Cathy Heath
* Don Hyatt
New Participants since first session:
Don Frantz
Kelly Commiskey
Lynne Loots
Betty Pickett
June Schmidt
Anita Porter
Cas Nowak
* Karen Griffin
* Spencer Combos
Notes Since Last Meeting:
· Several new participants (noted above)
· Don Hyatt has set up a forum and e-mail list on the carypolitics.org Web site for use by the group for general discussion (thanks, Don!)
· The Cary News did a story about our first meeting; we will invite the press to selected meetings in the future (once we have made some significant progress)
Agenda:
· Develop mission statement/goals & objectives for the group (see “Draft Mission Statement” below)
· Poll the group about particular interests (projects, budget areas, etc.) (See “Other Discussion/Questions” and “Resolved” below)
· Consolidate requests for any additional information we want to request from Staff (see “Requests for Information” below)
· Develop detailed plan for going forward (see “Ideas Going Forward” below)
Draft Mission Statement:
Everyone: Please stare at this for a couple minutes and post something in the Forum, indicating your approval or suggested changes.This volunteer citizen group will examine the Town budget (2004/2005) in an objective manner and offer advisory input to Cary Town Staff and Town Council about fiscal issues, including revenue and spending priorities, individually and through group consensus.
Requests for Information:
Brent will consolidate these on behalf of the group and send to appropriate staff members to ask for more data:· What has been/has been recommended to be cut from the CIP?
· Via e-mail from Lynne Loots : In the Town of Cary, how many miles of streets are designated private? [This figure indicates how tax dollars are allocated, because private streets are not maintained by the Town.] How many thousand feet of sanitary sewer lines meet state standards yet are considered substandard by the Town of Cary, and thus considered “private” by the Town staff? [Monthly sewer fees are collected from all households. According to the budget, more than $7 million becomes available each year from utility fees. Most of the “extra revenue” goes for expenses other than utilities. According to the real estate company Triangle Condos and Townhomes, approximately 8000 townhomes/condos are in 70 developments in Cary. All 70 developments (and some single family developments also) are on sewer lines classified as “private” by the Town of Cary staff and don't receive Town maintenance. If each residence pays on average $13.50/month for sanitary sewer fees, the total annual fees are $1,296,000. Where does this money get spent? ]
· What is the capacity of a 2-lane road (built to Town of Cary standards) versus a 4-lane median-divided road (also built to Town of Cary standards)?
· We want to see the FY ’05 budget as soon as we can
[b]Other Discussion/Questions:
· By department, does any one stand out as having too much planned spending? Parks, Recreation & Cultural Resources does, for many in the group
· Consider allocating near-term parks spending for land acquisition, without actually building the parks immediately (to reduce pressure on short-term spending while still keeping options open for additional parks in the future).
· We aren’t trying to solve the Town’s $2M revenue gap (this is not our mission)
· We should consider ranking general expenditure categories in priority order (as opposed to focusing on individual, small budget line items). This may include near-term expenditure reductions in a particular category that still make progress in that category – for example, see parks suggestion above).
· We should consider splitting into sub-groups who are interested in going into the details of particular budget areas
Resolved:
· We do not favor near-term “quick fix” revenue options that defer hard revenue/spending decisions
· We favor that money in a designated fund be used for that designated fund, rather than transferring between/among funds
· We will focus on a small number of general fiscal categories, including at least:
o Cost of annexation
o Parks, Recreation & Cultural Resources
o Capital Improvements Program
o Others???
Ideas Going Forward:
· By approximately May 5, we should have a general report on group consensus on “general principles” for the capital budget (as input to the Council Budget work session for the capital budget on May 12) and similar input for the operating budget by approximately May 18, for the Council Budget work session for the operating budget on May 25.
· We can follow this up with specific recommendations for the FY ’05 budget once it is available
Next Steps:
· Request follow-up information from Staff
· Schedule for next meetings
o Thursday, April 22: Topics: Annexation; Parks, Recreation & Cultural Resources. Location Cathy’s deck and/or dining room table (we’ll order pizza) – she’ll get directions to us
o Tuesday, April 27: Topic: CIP. Location Carolina Café in Arboretum?· Don Hyatt will e-mail the entire group with these minutes and encourage more on-line participation/discussion via the carypolitics.org forum
· Everyone, please review these minutes, I will send a summarized version, with any corrections noted by anyone, to Council in a few days (they have asked to keep up with our progress)
My notes from last night's (04/14) meeting. Please review these and suggest any updates/corrections. Town Council has asked to keep up with our progress, so I will send a summarized version of these minutes to council in a few days.
In particular, please look at the Mission Statement (we would like to have this ratified/amended by more people in the group who couldn't attend last night's meeting) and the focus area topics (please suggest any others that you would like to focus on)
--------------------
Citizen Budget Review (“The People’s Money”)
Second Meeting 04/14/2004
Participants:
(* indicates attendance at this meeting)
Robin Joyce (helped facilitate first meeting only)
Adam Arnold (covering some meetings for the Cary News)
* Mike Dodson
* Matt Danielson
* Brent Miller
John Finn
* Kat Haney
Daryl Baker
Josh Mills
Ray Czarnecki
Bynum Walter
Matt Walter
Tom Woodard
Ken Elowitz
Darryl Black
Tom McCuiston
* Cathy Heath
* Don Hyatt
New Participants since first session:
Don Frantz
Kelly Commiskey
Lynne Loots
Betty Pickett
June Schmidt
Anita Porter
Cas Nowak
* Karen Griffin
* Spencer Combos
Notes Since Last Meeting:
· Several new participants (noted above)
· Don Hyatt has set up a forum and e-mail list on the carypolitics.org Web site for use by the group for general discussion (thanks, Don!)
· The Cary News did a story about our first meeting; we will invite the press to selected meetings in the future (once we have made some significant progress)
Agenda:
· Develop mission statement/goals & objectives for the group (see “Draft Mission Statement” below)
· Poll the group about particular interests (projects, budget areas, etc.) (See “Other Discussion/Questions” and “Resolved” below)
· Consolidate requests for any additional information we want to request from Staff (see “Requests for Information” below)
· Develop detailed plan for going forward (see “Ideas Going Forward” below)
Draft Mission Statement:
Everyone: Please stare at this for a couple minutes and post something in the Forum, indicating your approval or suggested changes.This volunteer citizen group will examine the Town budget (2004/2005) in an objective manner and offer advisory input to Cary Town Staff and Town Council about fiscal issues, including revenue and spending priorities, individually and through group consensus.
Requests for Information:
Brent will consolidate these on behalf of the group and send to appropriate staff members to ask for more data:· What has been/has been recommended to be cut from the CIP?
· Via e-mail from Lynne Loots : In the Town of Cary, how many miles of streets are designated private? [This figure indicates how tax dollars are allocated, because private streets are not maintained by the Town.] How many thousand feet of sanitary sewer lines meet state standards yet are considered substandard by the Town of Cary, and thus considered “private” by the Town staff? [Monthly sewer fees are collected from all households. According to the budget, more than $7 million becomes available each year from utility fees. Most of the “extra revenue” goes for expenses other than utilities. According to the real estate company Triangle Condos and Townhomes, approximately 8000 townhomes/condos are in 70 developments in Cary. All 70 developments (and some single family developments also) are on sewer lines classified as “private” by the Town of Cary staff and don't receive Town maintenance. If each residence pays on average $13.50/month for sanitary sewer fees, the total annual fees are $1,296,000. Where does this money get spent? ]
· What is the capacity of a 2-lane road (built to Town of Cary standards) versus a 4-lane median-divided road (also built to Town of Cary standards)?
· We want to see the FY ’05 budget as soon as we can
[b]Other Discussion/Questions:
· By department, does any one stand out as having too much planned spending? Parks, Recreation & Cultural Resources does, for many in the group
· Consider allocating near-term parks spending for land acquisition, without actually building the parks immediately (to reduce pressure on short-term spending while still keeping options open for additional parks in the future).
· We aren’t trying to solve the Town’s $2M revenue gap (this is not our mission)
· We should consider ranking general expenditure categories in priority order (as opposed to focusing on individual, small budget line items). This may include near-term expenditure reductions in a particular category that still make progress in that category – for example, see parks suggestion above).
· We should consider splitting into sub-groups who are interested in going into the details of particular budget areas
Resolved:
· We do not favor near-term “quick fix” revenue options that defer hard revenue/spending decisions
· We favor that money in a designated fund be used for that designated fund, rather than transferring between/among funds
· We will focus on a small number of general fiscal categories, including at least:
o Cost of annexation
o Parks, Recreation & Cultural Resources
o Capital Improvements Program
o Others???
Ideas Going Forward:
· By approximately May 5, we should have a general report on group consensus on “general principles” for the capital budget (as input to the Council Budget work session for the capital budget on May 12) and similar input for the operating budget by approximately May 18, for the Council Budget work session for the operating budget on May 25.
· We can follow this up with specific recommendations for the FY ’05 budget once it is available
Next Steps:
· Request follow-up information from Staff
· Schedule for next meetings
o Thursday, April 22: Topics: Annexation; Parks, Recreation & Cultural Resources. Location Cathy’s deck and/or dining room table (we’ll order pizza) – she’ll get directions to us
o Tuesday, April 27: Topic: CIP. Location Carolina Café in Arboretum?· Don Hyatt will e-mail the entire group with these minutes and encourage more on-line participation/discussion via the carypolitics.org forum
· Everyone, please review these minutes, I will send a summarized version, with any corrections noted by anyone, to Council in a few days (they have asked to keep up with our progress)