TRSSD Budget Approved

Here is my version of Budget Approval meeting at City Hall. I got a chance to speak at the public hearing comments and the city was very accommodating at answering all of my questions.

Amy: I brought up the admin. fee. The cost of $100,000 is excessive and that is about the salary of two full time employees. I understand its a fixed rate of 15% but why not charge it off the actual expenses we incur and not off the revenue. For example this ending fiscal year our expenses were down and we ended up with about an extra $246,000 put into reserves. Why should we have to pay an admin fee to handle the money going into reserves? That would save us about $36,000 if we paid admin fee off the expenses instead of revenue.
City Manager: The percentage is off revenue. Besides you will eventually spend all that money in reserves so it would work the same in the end.
Amy's Thoughts: So we just paid how much in admin fee for the snow blower and stop signs?

Amy: Is is legal that we should be paying benefits to employees that work seasonal for us? (This discussion was answered by several people and I kept saying I understand the salary part, but why should suncrest pay full benefits when those employees work for city too.)
City: Your getting a deal paying for only 3 lower paid salaries. With that comes paying the benefits. We can't just fire and hire people every year. Besides sometimes your getting more help and more experienced and its not always the same people. The salaries equal man hours they put in for SunCrest. So if your paying full time salaries its the law you must pay their benefits too.
Amy's thoughts: I guess what they mean to say is like a school teacher. Paid full time with benefits but gets summer off. Still stupid reasoning because its still only about 30 days out of 365!

Amy: I want verification that the city won't touch our reserve balance and use it toward the SunCrest Fire Station.
City: Right now we don't plan on using it but we haven't really finished discussing the Fire Station issue yet.
City Manager: The reserve funds are to be saved up and used for such things as a salt dome or maintenance facility. If the road issues aren't taken care of it may need to be used to repair some roads. Until we get a new developer up there we don't know how those funds will be spent.
Summerhays: We can use that money for the fire station. I read it in the contract. It states right in the contract we can make you pay for the fire station.
Amy Thoughts: Ah, when is Summerhayes up for re election?

Amy: What happened to the TRSSD committee idea I presented to the council. I have never heard anything else about it. Is that still up for discussion.
Mayor: That really isn't a budget item to talk about.
City Manager: Its still up for discussion as far as I know.

Amy: I want to know if that is a final decision made about the making TRSSD paying for the stop signs? Because those of us that live in SunCrest ALL know those stop signs are there, even in fog. We go through them everyday. Its the non-residents that run the stop signs because they don't see them. So why should SunCrest have to pay for signs that non-residents don't see.
City: Yes, that was decided by unanimous vote by the council to charge the full amount of the signs to the TRSSD. At the time the residents wanted the sign it was said because of fog and weather conditions the sign was needed.
Summerhays: Of course you should pay for the signs. I have lived in high altitudes and even higher than SunCrest. I know what kind of weather you get. Think about that little bit of cost you just paid saved a life.
Amy Thoughs: I think everyone feels the same way as me.

Amy: What happened to the open house you were going to hold for SunCrest residents. Do you still plan on doing this. I can offer my help on planning it.
City: Yes, we still want to do one, maybe in July or August. We just had to get through this budget month.

My comments where finished and Bill Colbert had a comment. He was via phone.
Bill: I think the council should look into privately contracting out the work and see if its cost beneficial.
Summerhays: They already did that once and it didn't work out.
City: It has never been outsource in SunCrest.
Summerhays: Well I mean that Zions contracted it out and we got all kinds of complaints from residents about the crappy work they did and we had to send our guys up to fix it.
Amy Thoughts: Really, hmm, because the city won't set a foot on zions property. Besides it was more like western was plowing the city streets to get through to the ones they had to plow.