The Peachtree City Council was presented the staff-recommended draft of the city’s budget for the 2007 fiscal year Monday night.

The $27.21 million general fund includes a call for three additional police officers and three additional firefighters and a related millage increase of .25 mills, which would work out to about $20 a year extra on a home valued at $200,000.

That’s the staff recommendation, but council hadn’t begun tweaking the budget at Monday’s meeting, instead absorbing information from department directors and chiefs.

For more than three hours Monday, council dove into the budget books they had been provided over the weekend and the city’s department directors and chiefs shared details while answering questions from council. But they took no direct swings at the budget, holding off for a second budget meeting scheduled Tuesday night after The Citizen went to press.

City Manager Bernie McMullen said the millage rate could be held the same as this year if not for the additional staff, but Councilwoman Judi-ann Rutherford indicated that other cuts could be made to allow the six new positions to be filled.

Rutherford said she opposes the continuing use of long-term financing and she wants to cut some capital projects to reduce the annual debt service payments.

Finance Director Paul Salvatore noted that the financing allows the city to avoid burdening the budget, but he added that he wouldn’t mind cutting some capital projects to reduce the debt service payments.

This year’s budget proposal involves using $820,000 from the city’s cash reserves to balance the budget, and that’s after an anticipated $1.3 million is deducted from the cash reserves to balance the current year’s budget, Salvatore said.

Salvatore noted that the city would have to look at ways in the future to rebuild the cash reserve balance, which after 2007 is projected to be down to $5.3 million. Of that amount, the city only has access to $2.2 million, with the remaining amount tied up to keep cash on hand and other uses, Salvatore noted.

One of the changes proposed by staff would be a revision of the the city’s pay for performance plan, which would restructure the potential annual raise that an employee can earn based on their evaluation.

Currently there are only two tiers of raises available: 2.5 percent for employees that are “fully satisfactory” and 5 percent for those who are “outstanding.” Employees who are rated “marginally satisfactory” receive no raise and those who receive an unsatisfactory rating are likely to be fired.

The new plan, which would save $152,000, would make three tiers instead: 1.5 percent for those who “meet expectations”, 2.5 percent for those who “exceed expectations,” and 4.5 percent for employees rated “exceptional.”

City Manager Bernie McMullen suggested that the city work towards capping the number of employees who can receive an excellent review — thus earning the highest raise — at 25 percent per department. He also suggests capping the lowest category at 25 percent per department, with the rest of the employees figuring into the middle range.

This suggestion has drawn criticism from some employees which was voiced by some of the department directors, all of whom contended that the city has excellent employees pretty much from top to bottom.

City staff is working with the Atlanta Regional Commission to revamp the employee evaluation process to make it based more on goals that can be measured, but that has not yet been finalized.

Salvatore said the new pay for performance plan would keep salaries from increasing so fast. He noted that some departments gave most of their employees “outstanding” performance reviews, meaning those staffers got the maximum 5 percent pay raise.

Council also learned of more changes staff devised over the weekend that would total a net reduction of $60,000 to the proposed budget, including:

• Giving all employees a 1 percent cost of living raise as opposed to a 2 percent raise. Saves $134,000;

• Some employees will also get a small raise so their status on the city’s new pay plan will be equal incrementally to the new pay steps, which will be separated by 1.5 percent. Each employee on a given pay grade earns between a minimum salary and a maximum salary, and the salary amount is determined by the employee’s particular step in the system. This one-time readjustment will cost $62,000.

• Eliminating $116,000 in debt service for a new storage facility for the Kedron Fieldhouse;

• Making employees pay 25 percent of their monthly insurance premiums for a savings of $22,000. For those on the individual plan, this would be a cost increase from $16 to $20. For those on the family plan, the cost would increase from $40 to $50 a month;

• Increasing the number of laptop computers for the police department from the previous cut-back number of 25 to 41. The laptops will allow officers to run criminal and traffic checks on license plates from their cars without calling dispatchers, which can be much quicker because the dispatchers link to the computer system sometimes gets backed up. Also, officers will be able to type up reports and transmit them wirelessly to be approved by supervisors instead of the current procedure which involves hand-writing reports to be keyed in by administrative staff; and

• Financing $108,000 for a computerized system for the fire department that will map the city’s 70 properties either considered most dangerous due to the presence of hazardous chemicals or whose that have the greatest number of “life safety issues.” The result will give firefighters diagrams, photos and layouts of each building so they can properly respond in case of a significant emergency. The layouts would indicate important landmarks on the building site such as the location of gas turnoff valves. The computer server and software will be financed over five years.

McMullen noted that city staff cut $2.08 million from the budget before it was presented to council. Those cuts came from departmental operating budgets and from reduction in the debt service for the city’s capital improvement plan, he said.

Included in those cuts were $621,000 in purchases that were delayed, including a new pumper truck for the fire department, saving $95,760 this year in debt service payments.

Salvatore said that last year staff had projected needing a .45 mill increase for this year. Rutherford observed that staff is projecting a 1-mill increase would be necessary for next year.

Salvatore said the 1 mill increase represents balancing the budget and avoiding any use of cash reserves, but that figure doesn’t involve replenishing the cash reserve fund.

Maj. Mike DuPree said the police department had actually requested eight positions so an additional zone could be added to the city. Getting only three officers means that all three will likely be assigned to patrol, particularly given the pending opening of the Target store, which DuPree said will increase crime in the city, in part due to its proximity to the city’s northern limits.

DuPree noted that the department is underfunded by 39 percent compared to cities in the same size classification as Peachtree City.

Assistant Chief Ed Eiswerth of the fire department said the three firefighters included in the budget would not allow the department to man each apparatus the city has, but the goal ultimately is to have two men on each apparatus.

Currently each of the department’s shifts is short two firefighters from manning all apparatus, meaning that two units are left behind if all firefighters are responding to calls at the same time unless a volunteer driver is available.

Meeting the department’s long-term manpower goal would require 19 new positions, Eiswerth said. The short-term is to reach 17 positions per shift which would require 12 new firefighters, Eiswerth said.

Eiswerth said he was applying again this year for a federal grant that would provide an additional three firefighters, but the city’s chances might not be great since the city’s tax rate is low compared to other cities in the running.

Under the recreation category, staff was directed to look at increasing the usage fees for the Kedron pool and other facilities and also to look into closing the Clover Reach public pool, which is the least used of the city’s three pools by the general public, according to Randy Gaddo, the city’s director of leisure services.

Council was short one member as new Councilwoman Cyndi Plunkett was out of town Monday night.

login to post comments