Brent
05-03-2004, 11:59 AM
Folks,
Sorry to be so tardy in posting these minutes.
------------------
Citizen Budget Review (“The People’s Money”)
Third Meeting 04/22/2004
Participants:
(* indicates attendance at this meeting)
Robin Joyce (helped facilitate first meeting only)
Adam Arnold (covering some meetings for the Cary News)
* Mike Dodson
* Matthew Danielson
* Brent Miller
John Finn
Kat Haney
Daryl Baker
Josh Mills
Ray Czarnecki
Bynum Walter
Matt Walter
* Ron Woodard
Ken Elowitz
Darryl Black
Tom McCuiston
* Cathy Heath
* Don Hyatt
* Don Frantz
* Kelly Commiskey
* Lynne Loots
Betty Pickett
June Schmidt
Anita Porter
* Cas Nowak
* Karen Griffin
Spencer Combos
New Participants since previous session:
* Mike Heath
Notes Since Last Meeting:
· 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!). We need to make more effective use of this resource.
· Brent submitted the group’s specific questions to staff; the questions and answers are posted on the budget forum on carypolitics.org
Agenda:
· Cost of annexation
· CIP
· Consolidate requests for any additional information we want to request from Staff
· Refine detailed plan for going forward
[note: we wandered from this original agenda, but did discuss parks, recreation & cultural arts spending priorities, noted later]
Requests for Information:
Brent will consolidate these on behalf of the group and send to appropriate staff members to ask for more data:
· Three questions from the previous meeting were submitted; the questions and answers are posted in the budget forum in carypolitics.org. Some discussion indicated that at least some of the answers were unsatisfying. Do we want to ask follow-up questions?
Questions/General Observations:
· Town private streets and private sewers are a real concern. Sewers not meeting Town of Cary standards affect 20% of households, and aren’t providing service but are charging the same sewer rates as “official” town sewers [see questions & answers on budget forum]. Suggestion that more of those concerned about this issue organize and contact council, including at “Public Speaks Out”. The concern was noted here; we may want to have a separate discussion with Tim Bailey et al.
· “If there is a service in the yellow pages, the government shouldn’t provide it” (rule of thumb, not absolute).
· Concern about public money funding Culturas Unidas and other “feel good” groups. Noted that Cary does have a gang problem that is Hispanic-related, which is why they are forming relationships with groups like this.
· Debt service on Town Hall expansion alone will be double vs. what it was in 2000.
· Suggestion to split into two groups (say, capital and operating). This is still on the table; for the next meeting, we will discuss spending priorities for capital spending.
· What we’re really interested in is “value for the dollar”
· Consider opening up some services to private bids
Discussion:
· Suggestion: rank budget line items as “required” vs. “discretionary”, then rank the discretionary items based on importance so that we can give a general idea of what budget items are important to us
· We can also give input on general trends that we don’t like
· Town of Cary should take over all private streets and private sewers within Town limits.
· What we are really interested in is value for our tax dollar – not tax rates or spending items per se.
· PRCR spending seems out of proportion versus the rest of the budget.
· Work toward a “Top 10 Expenditures” list, a la the recent Preston letter to the editor (Preston letter said):
1. efficiency and responsiveness of govt.
2. fiscal responsibility
3. annexation policy and referendum
4. Regency Park
5. CTran
6. Triangle Rail
7. Town Tennis Center
8. Fees for service
9. Taxpayer involvement in decisions
10. Safety and bike paths
We could come up with a “Top 10” list for operations and for capital budgets that we could lead off with. This will be our homework – come up with your #1 priority for the operations budget. Group consensus on parks & recreation priorities:
Parks & Recreation spending is out of proportion versus the rest of the budget.
#1 priority is maintenance (unanimous in group) – maintain what we have
Other priorities among the group:
Renovate existing parks (especially Lexie Lane), complete projects in process (before starting new ones), get out of money-losing ventures, land acquisition (don’t need to build parks today, but acquire the land today), build a dog park, preserve open space, connect existing greenways, especially in older neighborhoods, support a low-cost recreational pool (minority view that one person supports the aquatics center – “exactly what the Cary voters approved in the bond issue”).
We ought to look at the five options that have been proposed for the aquatics center and see if prefer any specific ones of those.
Lowest priorities are aquatics “super center” as defined (much more support a low-cost center that was recreational in nature and for citizens), public art, public takeover of failing parks & recreation facilities (e.g., Tennis Center)
* Growth management needs to be a future topic
Ideas Going Forward:
From last time:
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 any follow-up information from Staff
· Schedule for next meetings
o Thursday, May 6, 6:30 p.m.: Topic: CIP. Location TBD (we will ask for something like the Page Walker). Homework: determine your own highest and lowest priorities for capital spending.
· Don Hyatt will e-mail the entire group with these minutes and encourage more on-line participation/discussion via the carypolitics.org forum
· Brent will ask Michael Joyce to e-mail those who are signed up to encourage further participation and ask for a town venue for the next meeting. Done. (everyone should have received an e-mail from Michael Joyce)
· Invite some Council members to next meeting. Done (invited Julie Robison, Jennifer Robinson and Nels Roseland to next meeting. Julie, at least, hopes to attend).
Please note any omissions or corrections.
Sorry to be so tardy in posting these minutes.
------------------
Citizen Budget Review (“The People’s Money”)
Third Meeting 04/22/2004
Participants:
(* indicates attendance at this meeting)
Robin Joyce (helped facilitate first meeting only)
Adam Arnold (covering some meetings for the Cary News)
* Mike Dodson
* Matthew Danielson
* Brent Miller
John Finn
Kat Haney
Daryl Baker
Josh Mills
Ray Czarnecki
Bynum Walter
Matt Walter
* Ron Woodard
Ken Elowitz
Darryl Black
Tom McCuiston
* Cathy Heath
* Don Hyatt
* Don Frantz
* Kelly Commiskey
* Lynne Loots
Betty Pickett
June Schmidt
Anita Porter
* Cas Nowak
* Karen Griffin
Spencer Combos
New Participants since previous session:
* Mike Heath
Notes Since Last Meeting:
· 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!). We need to make more effective use of this resource.
· Brent submitted the group’s specific questions to staff; the questions and answers are posted on the budget forum on carypolitics.org
Agenda:
· Cost of annexation
· CIP
· Consolidate requests for any additional information we want to request from Staff
· Refine detailed plan for going forward
[note: we wandered from this original agenda, but did discuss parks, recreation & cultural arts spending priorities, noted later]
Requests for Information:
Brent will consolidate these on behalf of the group and send to appropriate staff members to ask for more data:
· Three questions from the previous meeting were submitted; the questions and answers are posted in the budget forum in carypolitics.org. Some discussion indicated that at least some of the answers were unsatisfying. Do we want to ask follow-up questions?
Questions/General Observations:
· Town private streets and private sewers are a real concern. Sewers not meeting Town of Cary standards affect 20% of households, and aren’t providing service but are charging the same sewer rates as “official” town sewers [see questions & answers on budget forum]. Suggestion that more of those concerned about this issue organize and contact council, including at “Public Speaks Out”. The concern was noted here; we may want to have a separate discussion with Tim Bailey et al.
· “If there is a service in the yellow pages, the government shouldn’t provide it” (rule of thumb, not absolute).
· Concern about public money funding Culturas Unidas and other “feel good” groups. Noted that Cary does have a gang problem that is Hispanic-related, which is why they are forming relationships with groups like this.
· Debt service on Town Hall expansion alone will be double vs. what it was in 2000.
· Suggestion to split into two groups (say, capital and operating). This is still on the table; for the next meeting, we will discuss spending priorities for capital spending.
· What we’re really interested in is “value for the dollar”
· Consider opening up some services to private bids
Discussion:
· Suggestion: rank budget line items as “required” vs. “discretionary”, then rank the discretionary items based on importance so that we can give a general idea of what budget items are important to us
· We can also give input on general trends that we don’t like
· Town of Cary should take over all private streets and private sewers within Town limits.
· What we are really interested in is value for our tax dollar – not tax rates or spending items per se.
· PRCR spending seems out of proportion versus the rest of the budget.
· Work toward a “Top 10 Expenditures” list, a la the recent Preston letter to the editor (Preston letter said):
1. efficiency and responsiveness of govt.
2. fiscal responsibility
3. annexation policy and referendum
4. Regency Park
5. CTran
6. Triangle Rail
7. Town Tennis Center
8. Fees for service
9. Taxpayer involvement in decisions
10. Safety and bike paths
We could come up with a “Top 10” list for operations and for capital budgets that we could lead off with. This will be our homework – come up with your #1 priority for the operations budget. Group consensus on parks & recreation priorities:
Parks & Recreation spending is out of proportion versus the rest of the budget.
#1 priority is maintenance (unanimous in group) – maintain what we have
Other priorities among the group:
Renovate existing parks (especially Lexie Lane), complete projects in process (before starting new ones), get out of money-losing ventures, land acquisition (don’t need to build parks today, but acquire the land today), build a dog park, preserve open space, connect existing greenways, especially in older neighborhoods, support a low-cost recreational pool (minority view that one person supports the aquatics center – “exactly what the Cary voters approved in the bond issue”).
We ought to look at the five options that have been proposed for the aquatics center and see if prefer any specific ones of those.
Lowest priorities are aquatics “super center” as defined (much more support a low-cost center that was recreational in nature and for citizens), public art, public takeover of failing parks & recreation facilities (e.g., Tennis Center)
* Growth management needs to be a future topic
Ideas Going Forward:
From last time:
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 any follow-up information from Staff
· Schedule for next meetings
o Thursday, May 6, 6:30 p.m.: Topic: CIP. Location TBD (we will ask for something like the Page Walker). Homework: determine your own highest and lowest priorities for capital spending.
· Don Hyatt will e-mail the entire group with these minutes and encourage more on-line participation/discussion via the carypolitics.org forum
· Brent will ask Michael Joyce to e-mail those who are signed up to encourage further participation and ask for a town venue for the next meeting. Done. (everyone should have received an e-mail from Michael Joyce)
· Invite some Council members to next meeting. Done (invited Julie Robison, Jennifer Robinson and Nels Roseland to next meeting. Julie, at least, hopes to attend).
Please note any omissions or corrections.