09-24-18 Regular Meeting of the La Porte City Council

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Creek Consolidated School District. Mr. Alexander responded yes. Council agreed to remove the position from the budget. City Manager Corby Alexander informed Council that there has been an increase of $600,000 over the past three years for Electric Franchise Fees. No further franchise fee increases are anticipated. City Manager Corby Alexander recommended eliminating funding of $430,000.00 for Phase 1 of a Private Fiber Network. Council agreed. (b) Discussion and possible action to propose a Fiscal Year 2018-2019 tax rate for the City of La Porte and establish public hearing dates (if applicable) as required by State law - J. Weeks Assistant City Manager Jason Weeks presented a summary. Councilmember Earp commented after reviewing the proposed budget with Staff, he is not asking for a reduction in the tax rate. Councilmember J. Martin made a motion to keep the tax rate at $0.71 per $100 of property valuation, and incorporate the budget changes discussed tonight. Councilmember Bentley seconded. Councilmember Zemanek commented there is a savings of $1.95 million in the budget and asked if Council is willing to earmark some of the savings to move forward with a project of a new fitness center. Councilmember Earp commented he is in favor and was going to originally propose to earmark $2 million to start the funding, but to keep the budget fairly flat and not impact it as far as the total dollars of where we are at, we would have to reduce it to start with to about $1.5 million, which would get us to where we are, kind of budget neutral, from what we cut vs. to be able to start our funding for the rec center. Councilmember Ojeda commented she is hesitant to earmark funding when the cost is not known. Assistant City Manager Jason Weeks informed Council they can come back with an item to move the funding into a reserve account. Council agreed to earmark funding for a new fitness center. Councilmember J. Martin amended his motion to consider a tax rate at $0.71 per $100 valuation and earmark any savings established tonight to fund a new fitness center and other amenities. Councilmember Bentley seconded. MOTION PASSED. Ayes: Mayor Rigby, Councilmembers Earp, Ojeda, Kaminski, Zemanek, J. Martin, Earp and Engelken Nays: None Absent: Councilmember K. Martin 6. ADMINISTRATIVE REPORTS There were no additional comments. 7. COUNCIL COMMENTS regarding matters appearing on the agenda; recognition of community members, city employees, and upcoming events; inquiry of staff regarding specific factual information or existing policies. Councilmembers Earp, Ojeda, J. Martin, K. Martin, Kaminski, Zemanek, Bentley, Engelken, and Mayor Rigby Councilmember Earp thanked Staff for their work during the budget process and answering his questions and commented he is not pleased with a campaign by the Economic Development Page 6 of 7 September 6, 2018 Council Meeting Minutes