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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMinutes - Finance Committee - 03/18/2013 -r _____C .Finance Administration____I 0——I I 2~FIoort-Ort CoLLins Fort Collins,Co 80522 970.221.6788 ~~~7B2~fax Council Audit &Finance Committee Minutes 3/18/13 10:00 to 12:00 CIC Room Council Attendees:Mayor Karen Weitkunat,Mayor Pro Tern Kelly Ohlson, Ben Manvel Staff:Darin Atteberry,John Voss,Mike Beckstead, Bruce Hendee,John Voss,Jessica Ping-Small, Katie Wiggett Others: Approval of the Minutes of January 14,2012 Kelley Ohlson moved to approve the minutes for the January 14,2013 meeting.Ben Manvel seconded the motion.Minutes were approved unanimously. Other Business Mayor Weitkunat moved that the Committee cancel the April meeting to allow for the appointment of new councilmembers.Council agreed. Mike Beckstead asked that the agenda be changed to make “Financial Policy Structure”the last agenda item.Council approved the change. Financial Highlights 2012 John Voss reviewed revenue,expenditures,debt and a summary of fund balances.Highlights include: •Governmental Revenues for 2012 rose 18.5%and Enterprise Revenues rose 10.8%.Sales Tax, Grants and Utility Fees led to higher revenue.Kelley Ohlson noted the important of recognizing that it is outside sources such as grants that have largely driven the revenue increase—not citizens’taxes.Mike Beckstead noted that the City hit a record high in Sales and Use Tax even without KFCG factored in.This increase primarily reflects an increase in Use Tax collected. Because 2012 finished so strong,the City needs sales tax to grow 1.4%to reach the 2013 budget. Mayor Weitkunat noted that the chart on Expenditures by Service Area needs more explanation in order to tell a meaningful story.Council agreed. 0 0 Per capital debt in 2012 ($987 debt per person)is 45%less than it was in 1986.With the current limit of 15%as established in 1997,there is room for $114 M more debt.Mike noted that debt per capita is one of the chief considerations in Moody’s rating system;our low debt per capita contributes to our AAA rating.Kelley asked why the debt limit established in 1997 is 15%when we have never even hit 10%.Ben noted that perhaps our policy needs to be changed to a 10% limit. •The General Fund balance when combined with the Sales and Use Tax Fund (which was transferred into the General Fund in 2012)increased by $8M in 2012 over 2011 driven by stronger revenue and expenditure underspend Grocery,Property Tax and Utility Rebate Program —2012 Recap The Finance Department currently administers three rebate programs for low income,senior and disabled residents.The rebates are for Property Tax,Utilities and Sales Tax on Food.In May of 2012, City Council approved changes to the ordinances which improved consistency amongst the rebates, allowed an increased number of residents to qualify for the Property Tax and Utility Refund and simplified the process for applicants.The Sales Tax on Food Rebate was also increased from $40 to $54. In 2012,the number of rebates issued increased 13%.Staff attributes the increase to the improvements made to the program and additional outreach such as distributing to the Poudre School Authority and providing on site help at the DMA. Goals for 2013: In addition to the standard outreach,staff intends to partner with PSD during their Back-to-School program to distribute information about the rebates.The application will also be translated into Spanish to reach a larger demographic. Kelley said that he is very pleased with the changes to the program.This rebate is vital as long as the City taxes take-home foods;and for many years,it wasn’t universal enough.Kelley encouraged Staff to put together a strong policy/procedure book that details the history of the rebate,including the 2005 election which pushed the importance of improving the rebate program.Such a book would help institutionalize the changes made in the past 8 years.Kelley also asked staff to consider extending the property tax and utility rebates to all applicants under the 50%area median income. Financial Policy Structure John Voss noted that many of the City’s financial policies have fallen out of regular review.Because strong Financial Policies are valuable,Staff plans to make policies more effective in 2013.John listed several deficiencies in the current policies,including a lack of centralization and availability and an inconsistent review cycle.Darin Atteberry noted that this report is not a criticism of what has been done in the past so much as a push to do even better in the future. Kelley said that one policy that may need considered is the way we handle closing out projects,one example of a problematic closeout being the BCC closeout.Ben said that Capital Improvement Plan Policy needs to be fine-tuned this year.Darin agreed that the CIP Policy is a time sensitive issue. r Council Direction /Next Steps The Council Finance supports the Financial Highlights 2012 report and hopes to see the document fine- tuned for future Councilmembers review.Staff will work to improve the report and will put a narrative together to better explain the expenditures by service area. Council is pleased with the changes made in 2012 to the Grocery Tax Rebate Program.Staff will research the impact that extending the Property and Utility rebates to all applicants below the 50% medium income would have.Staff will also update the Rebate Policy and Procedure Manuel. Staff will put the possibility of lowering the debt limit on the agenda for future discussion.