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HomeMy WebLinkAbout1982.11.17 CITY COUNCIL MINUTES~1 MINUTES OF SPECIAL WORK MEETING FOR CITY COUNCIL November 17, 1982 State of Idaho) County of Madison( City of Rexburg) A special work meeting for the City Council, held at 7:30 P.M., November 17, 19$2. Those Present: Mayor: John C. Porter Councilman: Jim Morris Glen Pond Sander Larson Nile Boyle Morgan Garner Councilwoman: Darlene Blackburn Mayor Porter handed to the council members a projected budget deficit. He had heard both pro and con on the franchise. He explained that we had taken the money from TEDRO for construction and used it to balance the budget, $111,500. We did that because we thought we would be getting money back from the franchise tax. It was projected an inflation on next fiscal year. budget that are dependant on property taxes $979,700 @ 5% which increases it $48,985. We can get an .additional $14,430 from the property tax at 5%. In order to balance the budget and pay. this back we need $146,055 for next year, and if we need to repair the streets that is another $100,000. He said we could cut back but not that much. The fireman can't be cut, street department don't have as many people as they did before the flood, we haven't hired anyone to replace Lou. The water department has only 3 men working and they use to have five, sanitation department .has two more than before the flood because we have more garbage to pick up, the police department is the largest department, before the flood they had a total of 16 people, they now have a total of 19 people. We would have to go back on police employees even before the flood. The mayor said he had called up the Idaho Power Company, they told him they would not have any problem with us having a frachise tax. They said he thought it should be what they call a voluntary, meaning it should show on the statement that the franchise tax is so much, and people should know that it is .going to the city. The PUC will approve it. Mary Smith called up the attorney for Utah Power & Light, he said they had no intention of bringing any legal action against the city, if we passed a franchise tax and he said it would have to appear on the bill that it was a city tax. He suggested that we make it a fluctuating tax, havin~ a certain height and provide that it can be diminished or raised up to that amount at any time by just letting the power company know. They would not make any collection charge. Mayor Porter said we have two franchise taxes in Rexburg already, one is on Natural Gas for 3% and 3% franchise tax on Cable TV. We need to consider that we had an Override and over 65% of the people okayed that. The franchise would have a good tax base because if we annex a housing division into the city they would immediately start paying the franchise tax, new homes or shopping malls, as soon as they started using power they would pay the franchise tax. With the amount of services that we would have to provide we would immediately start getting some money back. The mayor said he would propose that the funds be dedicated for street repair and rebuilding streets, snow removal, street lighting, for fire and police department capital improvement. This would give the people in Rexburg a certain amount of property tax relief. It would cost if your light bill was $100 per month it would cost you $1.00 for every per .cent. The mayor said there is $170,000 we owe the TEDRO if we have a sewer project. Mayor Porter said most ,people are concerned about how long of a franchise we give Utah Power & Light. When he had talked to Idaho Power they ask him what the rate was he had told them it was 8~ a kil. for commercial which. is twice what Idaho Power is. The mayor had told them to come over and take over and they had told him to make them a deal. He had told the Mayor that there would still have to be a franchise even if they came and bought them out. Morgan Garner said he would be in favor of making the franchise for 10 years. Jim Morris said he thought we should try to get them not to charge a demand charge on meters, just consumption. MINUTES OF THE CITY COUNCIL MEETING November 17, 1982 State of Idaho) County of Madison( City of Rexburg) A meeting of the City Council for the City of Rexburg, Madison County, held November 17, 1982, at the City Hall. Those Present: Mayor John C. Porter Councilman: Jim Morris Glen Pond Sander Larson Nile Boyle Morgan Garner Councilwoman: Darlene Blackburn RE: MINUTES A motion was made by Darlene Blackburn and seconded by Nile Boyle to approve the minutes. All Aye. RE: DISCONTINUING GARBAGE SERVICE AT MIKE SIGLIN'S STORE Mike Siglin was at the meeting to request discontinuing the garbage service at his store, because he has paper which he could put in bags and take home to put with his garbage. He said he felt that the garbage rates were outrageous. Mayor Porter said we have an ordinance that garbage is manditory. If we start letting one person not have garbage service soon everyone would not want to pay for the service. Before we had this ordinance three or four people were putting their garbage in their neighbors cans and paying for the one service. The mayor said .there is probably several in town that don't have much garbage. He told Mr. Siglin in comparison, J.C. Penneys has more garbage and they pay about $100 per month. The mayor said they would have a committee meeting and discuss it and see if we could come to a solution. The lowest fee for business in the city is $11.00. RE: REID PARKINSON'S TRAILOR HOUSE Reid Parkinson was at the meeting to talk-about his trailor house that he has on his mother's property. He received a letter telling him he would have to move his trailor. His mother is 83 years old, and it would be inconvient for him to move his trailor. He had not met with the committee. She can't drive at night and relies on him to drive her around at night. He said he was 60 years old. Morgan Garner said he would bring it up with his committee and let him know. RE: AGREED TO PAY CROSSING GUARDS Mayor Porter said he had met with the County Commissioners and they had agreed to pay $1,250 on the crossing guards. RE: LETTER FROM BLAIR MANWARING Mayor Porter said he had a letter from Blair Manwaring, concerning his trailer, the committee has given him until July 1 to move his trailer. He wants to know if he would be able to build an .office and shop where the trailer is. The council felt this would be okay if it met with the building code. Mayor Porter said he would write him a letter. E: PROBLEMS WITH PEOPLE OPENING FIRE HYDRANTS The mayor said we have had some problems in the last month or so with people opening fire hydrants to fill water trucks. If they will go over to the fire department they will fill them over there and charge them $5.00 for 1000 gallons. Some .people have a big pipe wrench and they open the fire hydrant and fill up their tank and leave. The problem we have with that is in most cases they don't open the fire hydrant clear up, they partially open it and the pressure ruins the valve. The mayor said if we find anyone doing it anymore there will be a warrant issued. U y RE: FRANCHISE TAX The franchise tax was discussed.. Mayor Porter said he had contacted Idaho Power and they said it did not make any difference to them. Mary Smith had contacted Utah Power & Light's attorney and he said they are agreeable to a franchise tax. He suggested if we could come to an agreement tonight and then have a special meeting and have a special reading of the ordinance and get the thing underway. RE: STEVE MOSER PROTEST GRANTING OF FRANCHISE TAX Steve Moser was at the meeting, he said he was not at the meeting to talk about the franchise tax but was at the meeting to protest the granting of the renewal of the franchise for 50 years with Utah Power & Light and. wondered if a study could be done of the feasibility of another utility taking over providing the power for Rexburg. RE: JOHN DUNCKLEY ASKED TO GET ANOTHER POWER COMPANY John Dunckley, he asked the council if they would consider getting another Power Company to come in Rexburg. Utah Power & Light are always raising the rates. RE: ANOTHER POWER COMPANY WOULD NEED TO BUY FRANCHISE Mayor Porter .said even if the franchise is given to Utah Power & Light and another company wants to come in and buy them out they would need a franchise, and it would be included in the buy. He said in talking to Idaho Power .Company he asked them if they wanted to come over and they said make them a proposition. The city is aware that the Utah Power & Light power charges are the highest in Idaho. There is no way the city could bond or get any money to buy their facilities out and put in their own system, we don't have the bonding capacity. RE: BOB SMITH WAS AT MEETING Bob Smith was at the meeting to observe. Several businesses are concerned about the Franchise Tax. RE: FRANCHISE IS JUST TAX Mayor Porter said he felt that the Franchise Tax is a very just tax. Everyone that uses power will pay the tax and the power company will not get any of that money they will collect it and turn it over to the city. If the franchise is 1% and your light bill is $100 you will pay $1.00. If there is a new family or a new home in Rexburg they will immediately .start paying for the services, or if a new area is annexed to the city they will immediately start paying the franchise tax. It used to be that when new property came into the city the next year they would be on the tax roll and they would be helping, now the Legislature has frozen the $1.00 amount that you raise, so when there is new property that comes into the city to get on the tax roll, the city does not get anymore money, to provide the increased services with no increased revenue except for. charges for water, anct sewer, and garbage. We had an override. election and it did not pass, 652% voted for it and said they would pay the additional money if they got the additional services. We are in a difficult situation, the city has grown with about 2500 more people since the flood and yet the money we receive from the property tax we only get 9%, and .with the inflationary problem we have had we have run out of money. We feel that this is an opportunity to get some extra money to help run the city. The Intermountain Gas and Cable TV have a 3% Franchise Tax. The cities are controlled by the State Legislature on many things they do, the city can't pass a revenue bond to put in our own power system. RE: MOTION BY NILE BOYLE A motion was made by Nile Boyle to authorize Mary Smith to proceed to draw up the ordinances necessary for the franchise, seconded by Morgan Garner. All Aye. RE: SPECIAL MEETING TO BE HELD A special meeting will be held to pass the ordinance and a special hearing will be held within 30 days. A special meeting for reading ordinance on Franchise to be held on November 29. RE: TRY TO GET COMPROMISE Jim Morris suggested that when drawing up the franchise we ary to get a compromise on the demands and some of the other things, this could make a difference on the per cent of franchise we will ask for. po U STATE OF IDAHO REXBURG, IDAHO 83440 PR03F,CTED I3iJDGnT DEFIC l T. S Transfer needed to balance budget this year (1982-83) $111 500 Some amount needed for next fiscal year (1983-84) $111 500 Inflation on next fiscal year budgets (1983-84) that are dependant or property taxes $979,700 @ 5% $ 48,985 ?mess increase in property taxes 288,595 ~ 5% $(14,430) Amount needed to balance next years budget (1983-84) $146,055 Add amount needed to do necessary street and equipment repair $100,000 TOTAL needed to balance 1983-84 budget $24b,05S ~4 RE: CHRISTMAS PARTyHELD DECEMBER 10 Mayor Porter told the council that the city employees are going to .have a Christmas party on December 10 at 3:00 p.m. at the Senior Citizens Center. RE: CONCERN OF CHILDREN WALKING PAST NEW MEDICAL FACILITIES Sander Larson said he had had a lot of people contact him about their concern about the children walking past the new medical facilities on East Main by the old hospital. Right .now the children cut through the vacant lot, when the building is built there will be no where to walk except the road. There needs to be a side- walk. Mayor Porter said he would contact them about it. RE: APPLICATION FOR BEER LICENSES Mayor Porter read applications for beer licenses. RE: MOTION TO APPROVE BEER LICENSE. Skaggs Drug: A motion was made by Nile Boyle and seconded by Darlene Blackburn to approve this beer license. All Aye. RE: MOTION TO APPROVE BEER LICENSE POD's: A motion was made by Darlene Blackburn and seconded by Jim Morris to approve a beer license for POD's. Those Voting Aye: Abstaining: RE: LEGISLATIVE MEETING Nile Boyle Glen Pond Darlene Blackburn Jim Morris Sander Larson Morgan Garner Mayor Porter told the council there would be a legislative meeting December 8, in Idaho Falls. RE: MAYOR PORTER READS NOTE Mayor Porter read a note received by the city with a $10 bill in it. Enclosed is $10 as a donation to the City General Fund, "Times are tough and every little bit helps," the note said. It was not signed. RE: MOTION MADE BY MORGAN GARNER A motion was made by Morgan Garner and seconded by Sander Larson, to pay the bills. All Aye. RE: MOTION MADE BY NILE BOYLE A motion was made by Nile Boyle and secon by 'm Morris to adjourn. All Aye. Meeting Adjourned / ~, May Jo Porter City Clerk, Rose Ba ley