Tom Cantrell - Thanked the Council for allowing Scout troop to attend and be part of the meeting. Gave Council a card thanking officials for service. Thankful the boy scouts have the opportunity to see how city government works.
Consent Agenda
The minutes from the May 3, 2016 and May 17, 2016 Council meetings were approved. James Dayrymple was appointed to the Arts Committee.
City Reports
CM Rees - Family Festival was a success once again. Carnival company is already scheduled for next year.
David Bunker - TSSD meeting was cancelled. Golf clinics started today. 10 golf tournaments have already been booked this month. We have 4-5 events at Community Center each week. Summer lacrosse going well. Rec programs available on website. Working with LPPSD on policy and procedures update.
Mayor Gygi - MAG transportation committee is looking at transportation funding. Options include doing nothing, trying again for a Prop 1, having Legislature discuss a bill that is specific to Utah County, or look at utility fees for road needs. SL County will join discussions.
CM Geddes - Utah Valley Dispatch met this month. New building is moving along and should be ready by October.
CM Crawley - North Pointe did not meet this month. Encourages water conservation.
Review/Action on Conditional Use Permit for Walmart Outdoor Storage and Sales
Public Comment
Dievo Hagan - Speaking on behalf of Charelle Hagan. Has concerns about what Walmart has done regarding outdoor sales. Need to follow guidelines that were setup when approval for Walmart was granted. Council at the time had restrictions about outdoor storage and sales. It was never the intention of the Council to allow for this. Wanted a nicer looking Walmart than others in the area. What is allowed to happen at Walmart will set a precedence. Please do not allow this to happen in commercial zone.
Walmart entered into a development agreement that prohibited the outdoor staging and sale of goods. The Development Agreement states: "9.4 Outdoor Storage: The developer agrees that except for the areas designated in the Approval Documents, or in subsequent and separate outdoor sales area conditional use permits, there will be no storage allowed temporarily or permanently outside of the Wal-Mart Facility." Walmart has staged flowers, pavers, fertilizer, mulch and other spring garden supplies on the outside of their store. They are proposing to continue to stage these goods through July, and are seeking a Conditional Use Permit allowing them to continue to store these goods for the duration of a year.
Walmart is proposing outdoor storage from May-September for the following:
- Soils, mulch, garden products
- Propane, grills, smokers
- Garden pavers, boarders
- Floral on pallets
- Floral
- Grills, pools, swing sets
Walmart has not requested a conditional use permit before this date, though they have been storing items outside, which is not allowed by their agreement. My argument has been that we should allow for flowers to be in the front, but that all other temporary outdoor storage and sales should be limited to the garden center and the south side of Walmart. The original agreement said nothing should be done outside so this is a concession. I believe the Council that approved this project spent a significant amount of time researching options, meeting with residents, and created a development agreement that met the desire of the community in having a nice looking commercial zone that was different from what other cities have allowed. I would approve allowing flowers in the front of the store but restricting all other outdoor storage and sales to the south side of the building in the garden center.
CM Crawley said he appreciates Walmart. Wants to maintain look. Likes having flowers in front but keeping other outdoor items to the south side, but doesn't want anything in the parking areas. Does not want swimming pools and such in front.
CM Bailey said Walmart is largest retail in the country. Take feedback from shoppers and only bring in items that people will buy. They aren't bringing in stuff residents don't want. Feedback he is getting is that residents like that our Walmart is offering more items and they don't have to go to other stores to get the items they want. Feels if we limit them on where they can store then our residents will have to go to other stores to get it, which reduces revenue to the city. Likes the way it is setup.
CM Geddes said Walmart is a great neighbor and has done a great job. Just because something was approved in 2007 doesn't mean it has to stay that way. Uses evolve and Walmart evolves to provide what residents want. Doesn't want a reputation of not being business friendly. If it's done in a tasteful way then should be allowed. Leary of reacting when only one or two people are complaining. As long as it's safe, clean, and neat, then he's fine with
CM Zappala said in development agreement in 9.2.2, Walmart and the City Council agreed that City Council should be able to set parameters with regards to Conditional Uses. Agrees that we should limit storage and sales to south side. Items should be in the garden center.
Representatives from Walmart presented. Josh is the Asst Manager for Walmart in Cedar Hills. Was told by the community that they wanted more items such as pavers, so they didn't have to go to Home Depot. Items are selling very well. Listened to what people want and every customer has said they have loved what Walmart is now offering. Flowers are better quality than Highland Nursery. Residents feel they can go to one location to get what they need. Want to serve community and don't want residents to have to go to AF to get what they want. Said they cannot offer what they do if they can't sell in parking lot and front of store. They keep everything safe and clean.
My recommendation is they move flowers/trees to the front of the store in able to allow for more room on the south side for things such as the pavers, soil, etc. The whole intent of the development agreement, and our design guidelines is to keep a certain look and feel for our entire commercial area. If we change things now, we must allow all stores in the zone to store and sell items outside their store and defeats the purpose of the guidelines and development agreements. We've kept strict standards for Harts, for Walmart, for the Amsource property, and we should continue to adhere to those standards.
CM Crawley suggested that they can move some of the items that are less popular to the southwest side.
CM Bailey said that this could impact our sales tax revenue. CM Zappala said that the way sales tax is calculated, there wouldn't be a big impact.
CM Geddes said that we aren't retailers and should get out of the way and let the store setup the way they want.
Motion was made to allow for living plants and flowers in zone 10 and 11 (front of store), all other outdoor items will be limited to zones 5, 6, 8, 9 (south side of store) and must be kept clean at all times. Motion was approved 5-0.
Review/Action on Golf Course Driving Range Fence
The City Council has discussed the driving range fence for the last few years and it has been recommended to be up for discussion once again. The City Council advised staff to go back to our vendors because we did not want to add additional poles to clutter the area up. Staff went back to our vendors and they were gracious enough to work out the following with us: We are able to replace all existing 30’ poles with (11) new 50’ pole that will span the entire length of the driving range to get everything done once and for all. Our netting vendor will also replace ALL the old netting and hardware on the areas that are currently 30’ high. So when the project is done the entire driving range fence will be 50’ high. The cost for this will be the following:
- Niels Fugal will install (11) new 50’ poles for $16,525 and West Coast Netting will replace all the netting/hardware for $21,300.
- Niels Fugal will trade out $15,000 for a 2 year corporate pass, so the out of pocket total will only be $22,825 after the trade out.
This is only approximately $1,800 more than the last bid which didn’t include doing the entire thing PLUS we are adding 4 additional poles. We are currently on their schedule to have installation begin the last week of September, we have to work with their tight schedule and this time of year they are very busy. This was approved 5-0.
Review/Action on Golf Cart Lease Agreement
We have issues with our golf carts dying on customers on the course; it has become so severe that we have had to change out the batteries on our entire fleet of golf carts to assure that our clientele would be able to make it at least 18 holes without getting stranded. The City cannot afford to lose tournaments in the future as a result of these issues. Staff has been keeping the records to the lease and presented them to RMT who has been working with EZ Go to get the warranty work done. EZ Go denied the warranty claim. Wade has been working with RMT, our leasing agent, and they agreed with him that the best thing to do would be to switch out all batteries. RMT will cover the cost of this even though EZ Go denied it. In return they have asked that we extend our lease for 1 year to help them offset their losses in sending us 320 new batteries. In addition RMT will give the city a $4,000 allowance for new tires next year. In the end our golf carts are still in great shape and by getting new batteries we basically have like new golf carts for the next 1 ½ years until we will go out to bid again for the next lease. RMT has been great to work with and we appreciate our relationship with them. We are having carts consistently run out of battery power each day on the course on our clients. The cost to extend the golf cart lease would be $6,200 per month plus taxes. Total cost would remain at approximately $78,500. The cost for us to replace the batteries would be $80,000.
Issues started about a month ago. Our golf course has a unique terrain, which causes more wear on batteries. Our discharge unit wasn't functioning correctly, which is why we didn't catch the issues sooner. We now have a new discharge unit to prevent this from happening. We are also now testing daily instead of weekly.
Legal counsel will review warranty to determine if we should push for the leasing company to cover costs. This extension was approved 5-0.
Review/Action on Fund Transfers to Cover Water and Sewer Charges for FY 2017
The Utah State Auditor provided guidance in an Auditor Alert May 8, 2014 for enterprise fund transfers, reimbursements, loans, and services relating to Utah Code 10-6-135. The auditor alert requires governmental entities to charge governmental funds for any services provided by enterprise funds. The City is also required to hold a public notice because it reimburses the governmental funds for new water and sewer charges incurred.
Budgeted enterprise fund transfers from the Water & Sewer fund offset estimated charges to the General fund of $8,500 and $31,000 Golf fund for water & sewer used during each fiscal year 2016-2017. This was approved 5-0.
Review/Action Certifying Tax Rate for FY 2017
Statutes require that each year a certified property tax rate be calculated. The certified property tax rate is the rate which will provide the same amount of property tax revenue as was charged in the previous year excluding the revenue generated by new growth. Tax rates went down the last few years, which offset the rising property values.
New property growth from new residential/commercial activity was calculated by Utah County as a $10,589 increase for the next fiscal year.
The County Auditor’s certified tax rate for 2016 is .002186 and the total levy amount is $1,005,624: General Operations: .001512 ($695,654) Interest and Sinking Fund/Bond: .000674 ($309,970)
Residential property tax is calculated based on 55% of the value of the home. This means a home with an assessed market value of $250,000 has a taxable value of $137,500, and $300.58 is due November 30th related to the city in property taxes.
The County Auditor’s certified tax rate for 2015 was .002315: General Operations: .001594 ($685,065) Interest and Sinking Fund/Bond: .000721 ($309,970)
The County Auditor’s certified tax rate for 2014 was .002410. The County Auditor’s certified tax rate for 2013 was .002873.
Staff was asked to look at impact if we reduced the tax rate to collect less than the previous year. $100,000 decrease/increase to property taxes impacts the rate by 0.000217. Decreasing/increasing the property tax rate changes the city’s allocation of motor vehicle fees, which are based on each government entity’s property levy amount. Last year the city received $107,754 in motor vehicles, which amounts to approximately 10% of property taxes levied. Lowering the overall property tax rate to .001900 or $131,546 causes the motor vehicle fee revenue projections to lower by approximately $13,000.
My concern with cutting the tax rate this much is that I don't want to get into a situation that PG or AF is in where we've cut our revenues to the point that we can't take care of the infrastructure needs that we may need now or in the future. Our expenses go up each year but our property tax revenue stays consistent each year. I appreciate that our city sets aside money in the Capital Projects Fund each year to take care of our wants and needs as they come up instead of kicking the can down the road. We do a good job keeping our infrastructure in good shape so that we don't have issues like other cities have had. Reducing the tax rate means we'd have to cut some things from the budget, whether that be recreation programs or delaying improvements.
Certified tax rate provided by the County was approved 5-0.
Review/Action Adopting FY 2017 Budget
Budgeting challenges:
- Development of commercial zone and the related impact on service costs and revenues
- Pending litigation costs
- Tight job market—causing a lack of applicants
- Higher turnover rate requiring additional time to complete projects due to learning curve and availability of staff
- Potentially higher costs for contracted services
- Installation costs of additional park and recreational areas
- Ongoing maintenance contract of parks
- Dying trees around parks and trails
- Random water issues caused by pressurized irrigation systems running at maximum flow
- Aging water lines breaking
- Septic tanks potentially failing
- Sewer lines needing additional capacity
- Partners in public safety struggling with balancing budgets and put pressure on cities to pick up costs
- Limited availability of lots for residential growth in the city
- Solar panels impact on franchise fee revenues
- New growth for property taxes will be dependent on rate increases or limited new residential and nonresidential growth
- Approximately 75% of sales tax revenues collected for Cedar Hills is population based and the city is close to build out
- 65.7% of franchise tax revenues come from Rocky Mountain power, which will gradually decline as solar panel installations continue to decrease or eliminate what businesses and residents pay
GFOA Best Budgeting Practices
- Assess community needs, priorities, challenges, and opportunities
- Adopt financial policies
- Balanced budget—operating revenues equal to operating expenditures for all operating funds
- All funds use fund balance for one-time expenditures and also as a rainy day fund
- General fund unrestricted fund balance of at least 16.7% or 2 months of operating revenues
- Equipment Replacement Plan
- Capital Improvement Plan
- Building maintenance properly funded
- Bowen, Collins Utility Rate plan designed with long-term pay as you go perspective
- Debt service coverage for bonds is in compliance
- Utilize grants strategically aligned with budget
- Develop a budget consistent with vision and policies
2016-2017 Priorities with Significant
Funding Requirements
- Bayhill park
- Golf maintenance building
- Practice range fencing improvements
- Heritage park improvements
- Public works fencing
- Reduce City’s Debt
- Unfunded Priorities
- Cedar Hills Drive roundabout
- Sidewalks on Canyon Road
Revenue Budget Changes Compared to
Last Year In All Funds—at least $10K
- Certified property tax increased $10,589
- Sales tax revenue increased $48,000
- Telecom tax decrease $15,000
- Building permits $10,000
- Miscellaneous inspection fees $20,000
- Class C Roads increased $25,000
- Family Festival income increased $10,000
- Recreation programs increased $20,000
- Event Center rentals increased $50,000
- Pro shop revenue increased $10,000
- Water fees increased $36,475
- Storm drain fees increased $18,028
- Sewer fees increased $57,039
Revenue Budget Updates from Tentative Budget
Based on Trending
- 10-31-100 Certified property tax rate amount $5,654 higher due to new residential/nonresidential growth
- 10-31-500 Telecom tax decreased $5,000
- 10-32-200 Building permits increased $10,000 due to solar activity
- 10-32-210 Plan check fees increased $5,000 due to solar activity
- 10-32-260 Miscellaneous inspection fees increased $20,000 related to Amsource and Lakeshore developments
- The following revenues are from programs growth:
- 10-35-100 Family Festival Income increased $10,000
- 10-35-110 Recreation programs increased $10,000
- 10-35-111 Recreation & cultural classes increased $1,000
- 10-35-112 Event center rentals increased $35,000
- 10-35-120 Event center concessions decreased $9,360
- 10-35-130 Park reservations increased $500
- 10-36-100 Interest income increased $6,000 due to higher fed rate and Moreton asset management
Street Maintenance plan
- Public works has been preparing streets to receive HA5 and other Holbrook asphalt overlay road treatments this summer. HA5 is a high density mineral bond surface treatment that extends asphalt life, and has a nice look. Ideally it is applied 2-3 years after a road has been paved to get the maximum benefit.
- Cedar Hills drive, Box Elder Drive, the Cedars J-2 and J-3 subdivisions and the Meadows subdivision are on schedule to receive maintenance.
- Bayhill drive, and Cottonwood drive are under evaluation, and may have some maintenance performed in fiscal year 2017-2018.
Expenditure Budget Updates $10K or Greater Based on Trending
- 10-60-215 Contract labor increase $15,000 for solar building permits and plan check fees
- 10-61-150 Employee benefits increase $11,259 for moving from single to family health plans for public works related employees
- 10-61-310 Engineering services increase $20,000, which offsets the continued miscellaneous inspection fees for Amsource and Lakeshore developments
- 10-65-120 Salary & wages (PT) increase $21,203 and 10-65-150 Employee benefits increase $1,712 offset revenue growth of $35,000 in events and recreation
- 10-65-600 Family Festival celebration increase $10,000 to offset project increases in revenue
- 10-69-910 Transfer to Capital Projects fund increase $14,000, due to improved revenues vs. expenditures
- 10-69-913 Transfer to Golf fund decrease $21,500, because improving revenue trends, healthy fund balance, which allows one-time capital purchases instead of motor pool charges
Expenditure Budget Updates Based on Trending
- Move to electronic formats instead of paper products has helped reduce the following accounts:
- 10-40-200 Materials & supplies decrease $1,000
- 10-44-200 Materials & supplies decrease $1,200
- 10-50-200 Materials & supplies decrease $200
- 10-60-200 Materials & supplies decrease $200
- 10-61-200 Materials & supplies decrease $120
- Other potential decreases from improved contracts include the following accounts:
- 10-40-260 Office equipment decrease $1,300
- 10-40-330 Professional/technical decrease $3,000
- 10-40-975 Bad debt decrease $3,000
*At this point in the meeting I needed to leave as I had been sick all night. The rest of the notes below come directly from the Council packet with an update on the vote.
Review/Action on Adopting FY 2016 Budget Amendments
Based on the current trends 10-31-300 Sales & use tax revenues are estimated to be $100,000 higher, and 10-31-500 Telecom Taxes are estimated at $13,000 lower. The Sales & use taxes original revenue budget was based on a three-year average, because this revenue stream is very susceptible to decreases during downturns in the economy with our city’s population growth stagnant.
Budgets for 10-32-200 Building permits increased $45,000, 10-32-210 Plan check fees increased $30,000 and 10-60-215 Contract labor increased $25,000 related to the surge in solar installations. When state solar incentives expire in December 2016, the related building activity is expected to slow down.
10-35-100 Family Festival income increased $12,000 from ticket sales and donations. 10-65-600 Family Festival related expenses increased $9,000.
The following recreation and event budgeted revenues 10-35-110 Recreation programs increased $30,000, and 10-35-112 Event center rentals increased $60,000. 10-65-120 Salary & Wages (PT) increased $15,000 due to increased staffing needs. 10-35-120 Event center concessions decreased $10,000 due to contracted concessionaires having mixed results.
10-64-240 Park maintenance increase is $25,000 to make most of the park sprinkler systems more efficient to turn on and off during rainy weather.
10-69-910 Transfers out to Capital Projects fund is increased $400,000 and 40-30-801 Transfers in from General fund are increased $400,000 due to a strong economy, solar incentives, program improvements, public works staffing turnover, and slower legal activity than anticipated. These funds would be used to help fund projects and maintenance in the capital improvements plan.
$15,000 in combined golf trades with Chase Media and Valpak are recognized in 20-30-600 Season passes and 20-70-600 Advertising budgets.
$2,000 in 20-30-800 Other income and 20-50-100 Golf supplies is adjusted to recognize range balls sponsored by Pepsi as part of their concession contract with the city.
This was approved 4-0.
Review/Action on Amending Fee Schedule
Modifications are proposed to the City Fee Schedule in order to implement recommendations from the utility rate study as prepared by Bowen Collins & Associates and adopted by City Council in 2012. The fee schedule has also been updated to include non-residential impact fee rates, as adopted. Here is the updated fee schedule:
This was approved 4-0.
Review/Action Adopting Storm Water Management Plan
As part of the newly updated Uniform Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (UPDES) Phase II permit (March 1, 2016) enforced by the EPA through primacy of the State of Utah, the City is required to adopt an updated Storm Water Management Program. The program must address specific activities relating to six minimum control measures and the associated Best Management Practices (BMP’s) for storm water management and control.
Staff has spent several months preparing the updated Storm Water Management Program. A majority of the original program will remain in effect from the initial adoption of the 2004 Program and updated program in 2010. Some additional commitments are detailed in the new program as required by the permit. It is important to note the additional time requirements, for staff, including training and program administration. New development, design methods (LID) represents the most significant change.
This was approved 3-1.
Review/Action on E-Cigarettes, Park Curfew, and Noise in Parks
Parks are closed from 11:00 PM to 5:00 AM, this is the same as American Fork City (See AF Municipal Code 9.12.01). Noise regulations limit amplified sound from Labor Day to Memorial Day after 8:30 (9:30 on Friday and Saturday). And from Memorial Day to Labor Day after 9:30 (10:30 on Friday and Saturday). People can still be in the park after the amplified sound time limits, but not after 11:00 PM, see code 6-8-6. Elsewhere in the City, noise ordinance prohibits certain activities after 10:00 PM when adjacent to a residential zone (5-2-2). Currently, when a resident reserves a park, they are given a sheet of park rules and regulations.
Currently, the posted park rules prohibit the use of tobacco products in a city park. The proposed ordinance would place language in the Cedar Hills City Code prohibiting the use of tobacco product, including cigarettes, cigars, electronic cigarettes, chewing tobacco, and vaping products.
This item was tabled until the next Council meeting.
Review/Action on Placing Question on 2016 Ballot Regarding CARE Tax
In 2008, voters in the City of Cedar Hills considered and approved via general ballot opinion question, a local sales and use tax of 0.1% of particular transactions to fund cultural facilities and organizations, recreational facilities and programs, zoological facilities and organizations or botanical organizations.
Per Utah State Code Title 59, Chapter 12, Part 14, the tax may be reauthorized at the end of the eight-year period in accordance with said code, by submitting an opinion question to the residents of the city regarding the possible imposition of a city wide CARE Tax.
The city’s intent is to include this opinion question on the Utah County 2016 general election ballot for the residents of the city to consider. The proposed resolution is the next step in the process to advance the proposed opinion question to the ballot.
This was approved 4-0.
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