Video Description:
Longmont City Council Study Session – October 4, 2022
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Note: The following is the output of transcribing from a video recording. Although the transcription, which was done with software, is largely accurate, in some cases it is incomplete or inaccurate due to inaudible passages or [software] transcription errors. It is posted as an aid to understanding the proceedings at the meeting, but should not be treated as an authoritative record.
Unknown Speaker 0:00
I agree that people that have guns should be trained and know how to use them and keep them safe. But to say that we shouldn’t have guns because some are dangerous is like saying nobody should drive a car. Because it’s 7580 miles an hour going through the boulder boulder that would cause a whole lot of trouble too. So it’s the person using the gun. It’s the person driving the car. Those are what we have to watch out for a gun just laying there doesn’t hurt anybody. Thank you.
Unknown Speaker 0:29
Thank you, Steve Hawley Christiansen
Unknown Speaker 0:38
Hi, my name is Polly Christensen, Mayor and fellow fellow or city council members. I live at 410 Judson in Longmont. I’m here to speak on gun violence prevention ordinance for Longmont. I know from your agenda that you have discussed this in executive sessions for legal advice. And prudence is a very good thing. However, so far that I know the only person the only member of council who has stood up for an ordinance publicly has been mayor peck the people of Longmont have the right to freedom from fear. We have the right to go to the movies without being murdered. That has happened in Colorado. We have the right to go grocery shopping without being murdered. That has happened in Colorado. We have the right to go to the doctor without being murdered. That has happened in Colorado. We have the right to go to church, synagogue or temple without being murdered that has happened in this country. On September 26 on Main Street in Longmont, Colorado, a man tried to grab grab a woman off the street. He got out and started waving around and threatening to shoot people and then shot his gun into the air. If City Council can ban smoking from downtown city council can ban guns from downtown. And mostly our children deserve to go to school and have the right to go to school without being murdered. They deserve to not even have to think about it. After the Supreme Court in June destroyed New York City’s 100 year old law to regulate itself and its gun laws. The town’s of superior Lewisville Lafayette and the Boulder County Commissioners passed gun violence laws in July and September. Why does Longmont lack the courage to do the same to stand up to this outrageous misinterpretation by the Supreme Court of the Constitution? You were elected to represent the people of Longmont to serve and protect, have the courage to do the right thing. And back this gun violence prevention ordinance. Thank you.
Unknown Speaker 2:56
Thank you, Polly. Ryan Forbes.
Unknown Speaker 3:07
Ryan Forbes 303 coffin. Last time I was here, a lot of people were talking about pedestrian safety. And as someone who doesn’t own a car and lives in downtown LA, I have a lot to say about the issue. And a lot of people have recommended having more police and changing the speed limit. I don’t think either of those would resolve the issue. The main issue that I see is the buttons on the crosswalks are actually the biggest issue. Because, for one, they’re not consistent, a lot of them don’t work. A lot of them, you hit them the lights change, and then on the pedestrian light doesn’t change. And you don’t know if it’s because it doesn’t work. Or it’s because the lights aren’t synced, right? Or it’s because the turn signals on for the car. And I’ve seen many times and I’ve done this myself, where I’ve been sitting there waiting for to go and then someone just walks right into the traffic. And in Denver they don’t have lights on the on like they don’t have buttons on the crosswalks, the lights are synced for the pedestrians to cross. So there’s always time for people to cross across the street. So there there’s not they do not need to have buttons on there. And people do not need to hit a button for there to be time to actually make it across the street. Whereas like on Fifth and Main. If you don’t hit the button, then you can’t get across the street even when the lights change change directions. So though that’s that would be the biggest thing is to actually change it for pedestrians and also if the lights change so that when they change from one direction to the other, it would let the pedestrian know because especially like winter is coming and if you’re out walking in the snow and the ice you want to get across the street as soon as as possible, and even in the summertime and you’ve got groceries and you’re carrying groceries, you want to try and move and get out of there. Whereas in a car, it’s not as big of an emergency, but I know there is traffic. But it’s trying to find that balance. And I think that is the biggest thing that would help. And one other note since I was here on the topic tonight the United States incarcerates most more of its population than any other country, and it has one of the worst gun violence problems than any other country. So prosecution does not help gun violence. Thank you.
Unknown Speaker 5:44
Thank you, Ryan, Stan galp.
Unknown Speaker 5:58
Good evening, I’m Stan Gelbe from Longmont. 2226 Sherman Street. There’s one question I’m asking you all to answer. What will it take? Gunshot deaths in America are now over 38,000 Every year, that’s 105 Gunshot deaths every day, every day. gun shots are now the number one cause of death for children aged 19 and under. What will it take for Longmont City Council to take action to minimize these ongoing terrible tragedies? Are you waiting for a mass shooting here in Longmont? Are you waiting for a mass shooting at a Longmont school? Are you waiting for a mass shooting at Longmont school that leaves dozens of children dead and hundreds of children scarred for life? What are you waiting for? When the next mass shooting occurs? Will you be able to look in the mirror? While admitting that you chose to do nothing that might have prevented the shooting? And the deaths of all those children? What will it take? Will you let excuses and alibis stop life saving measures? Or will you choose meaningful actions? Rock star Neil Young a half a century ago saying What if you knew her and found her dead on the ground? What will it take? Contrary to what some dishonest politicians are now saying all these gunshot deaths are not the price of freedom. Many gunshot deaths are the result of elected officials stalling on critical legislation. I urge you I plead with you take action now. In honor and remembrance of all the lives already lost and to save future lives. What will it take? Thank you for listening.
Unknown Speaker 8:15
Thank you Stan. Strider been stung?
Unknown Speaker 8:36
A little slow, Stryker bench 1051 was seven teeth. You know what with my health, transportation, poverty, communications and technology problems. It’s hard to get here. But hey, you do what you can. By the way, it was my good friend Tony, who got killed on Third Avenue. And people have known for decades that traffic is too fast for a major street that’s winding and narrow. But I don’t know what will ever get done. On the gun thing. Two things number one, it’s got to be geographical to have any meaning. Boulder superior others have gun laws and people bring the guns and like they sometimes dead on six than main to front of self across the street. But on the other side. The reason we’re not in a civil war right now with hundreds of 1000s Dead is because Stuart Rhodes and his people who led the insurrection were afraid of their guns being conference scheduled when they came in to Washington because they do have law banning guns, and they were going to confiscate and they confiscated a number of guns. But most of them left their their AR 15 ‘s and hotel rooms across the river and they were going to bring them after they secured the capitol to destroy the government. And if they’d have had those hundreds or 1000s of AR 15, suddenly we’d be in a civil war right now with maybe millions dead. That has been the policy of the underside of the Republican Party for the last 50 or 60 years. But I No need to go into that except to point out that just today they’re trying to overthrow the right to vote in this country. The Supreme Court has taken over the legislature after they have the you have minority rule in the in the Congress, especially in the Senate. So nothing ever gets done almost nothing. And so the Supreme Court has become the Congress and they’re passing laws hauled cloth. they overthrew Roe v. Wade, that was not in the legislation. I mean, in the court case that came up Dobbs had nothing, it said 15 weeks well, that’s bad, but it’s sane. And you could debate that but no, they changed it into overthrowing roe. And at this point. up guns everywhere is intended to be a civil war. We better wake up and fight and maintain the right to vote.
Unknown Speaker 11:47
Thank you Strider. So that means public invited to be heard. Is there anyone? Oh, I’m sorry, Lance. How could I miss you? The most important guy in the room.
Unknown Speaker 12:03
My name is Lance Whitaker. I live at 1750 Collier I’ve lived in lung month for two years. Voting libertarian logging the porcupine today is National SIM in button day. If that doesn’t fit in your diet it is also nationally through to Work Day. On that subject. I would like to also say that I’ve been traveling around South more Park lately looking at properties for real real estate purposes. And I’ve noticed that quite a few trees have been missing from the area near the flood area. And I would like to impose that the city might want to look into maybe planting some fruit trees in that area while we have the opportunity fruit trees bringing a lot of good things to the city. So I would hope that maybe we can plant some fruit trees along that path there where we’ve lost so many trees before the native weed tree known as the ash tree comes back in full force. So again, maybe we can do the community a little bit of good and plant some fruit. You guys all have a good day and I thank you for all your work in your years. Have a good day.
Unknown Speaker 13:46
Thank you Lance. I apologize for almost forgetting you. Sorry.
Unknown Speaker 13:50
You have a good day.
Unknown Speaker 13:52
You too. Is there anyone else in the audience that would care to come up for public invited to be heard? Seeing no one I will close public invited to be heard. Do we have any special reports or presentations?
Unknown Speaker 14:10
I guess not no mayor.
Unknown Speaker 14:11
We do have a study session item next which is the 2023 budget discussion and second public hearing. So Teresa Malloy is coming down for that presentation
Unknown Speaker 14:38
Good evening Mayor pack and city council trace Malloy budget manager. We had three topics for you this evening. I’m gonna go through very briefly the changes since we first presented the budget to you in August. And then we did advertise for a second public hearing. And then we’ll need final direction from Tonight so that we can bring back the associated ordinances for next week. So the overview of changes, I’m gonna go through them fun by fun. So general fund, we have both reductions and additions, reductions of property tax, and the amount of $186,130. That is due to the preliminary assessed valuations that we received, after we presented the proposed budget to you. And then, as Jim had mentioned, last week, we have a reduction in the ongoing amount of take home for the take home vehicle for $283,127. And then on the other side, we’ve got 64,000, and almost $64,500, of ongoing additions for Pay Plan corrections, and ongoing addition of 32,500 for long, long mount Public Media, which does bring long lat public media up to the 50% of the budgeted cable franchise. And the 120,001 time. So it’s these two the 32. Five, ongoing 120,001 time. That is that that brings us up to that 50%. And then on, again, a change for the take home vehicles only this time it is so we reduce the the ongoing, but we’re adding one on one time and the amount of $254,809. So the overall general fund reduction has both a decrease in revised revenues and an increase in revised expenses. So our our revenues are now at 104.6 5 million and expenses at 109.8 9 million. Changes also in the electric and broadband fund a reduction of $2.54 million in purchase power. And that is really being driven by the proposed budget included wholesale purchase power increase from PRP a of 6.1%. But as Brian has mentioned to you previously, they’re now only looking at a 5% PRP a purchase power increase. So that results in the reduction of $2.4 million in the purchase power expense. And then additions to the electric and broadband fund some additional piping play plan corrections and for the electric utility, an increase in the expense for the franchise equivalency of 153,000. And this is really again being driven by the proposed Pay Plan. The franchise expense in the electric utility was based on no rate increase from PRP AE and this is including that 5% wholesale energy PRP a rate increase, because we want to make sure that we have the franchise equivalency budgeted at at the rate that they will actually be paying for 23. And so the these combined changes results only in an expense change in the electric and broadband fund, bringing the expenses up, down actually this is a decrease due to that $2.4 million purchase power. So overall, it’s about a $1.6 million dollar decrease. So our revised expenses are 112.37 4 million,
Unknown Speaker 19:34
a very minor change in the Downtown Development Authority debt service fund $8. So the debt service transfer from the from the debt service funding to the art and entertainment fund was under budgeted by $8. And then, as we have mentioned, I Uh, we will be bringing an ordinance to create a new fund to the attainable housing fund. And you will see that ordinance are next week, along with all the other budget ordinances. And so that we need to then add the revenue from the general fund of 950,000. And the expense of 950,000. In what will be the new attainable housing fund. And the final change is for the public safety fund, again, the take home vehicles in the public safety fund one time addition of 50,800 bringing that budget 18.4 5,000,001 More slide on our changes. So this is the total budget now, revised HRAS revenues in total all phones 380,000,875 706 and revised expenses of 413 90,816. So that is the the changes I want to highlight with you this evening. In your packet is attachment Q which also goes through these very same changes and shows you what was our proposed How did that change? And what is the now the the new revised budget.
Unknown Speaker 21:35
And to be clear for the community wanted to point out the ongoing revenue and the ongoing expenses are balanced, the difference you’re seeing is a utilization of one time funds to come to that 413 that we have when we talk about the capital funds in here. So I wanted to make sure everyone knew it’s balanced on ongoing operating revenues and expenditures, just you’re seeing the difference when the one time funds
Unknown Speaker 22:03
and and that is mostly for CIP. Okay, so do we
Unknown Speaker 22:14
have any questions at this point from counselors? You know, Harold, to the point that we made last week on that difference that the last slide? I think that an explanation of this would have been good on this slide. The difference the explanation about what ongoing in one time funds, because it does look like we’re at a deficit? And that’s hard to explain.
Unknown Speaker 22:46
Yeah, that’s why that’s why I wanted to come in and say this. And Theresa, I don’t know if you can add any more to this, to give some clarity.
Unknown Speaker 22:55
And I was just gonna say I will certainly add some additional information before we posted on the on the website with the rest of our budget information.
Unknown Speaker 23:06
Thank you. And Councillor waters.
Tim Waters 23:09
Thanks, Mayor back to we just spend another minute on this. When we in the earlier budget presentations, I’d made some I was going to ask you to go back to the first slide where we start to see the deficit or the difference, but that’s okay. No, I you can just leave it right there. Okay. Because they all roll up into this balance. Last slide. In one of the early presentations that Jim made, we were talking about one time expenditures of around 4.9 million, as I recall,
Unknown Speaker 23:39
in the general fund.
Tim Waters 23:40
So, so two questions then kind of roll up from the general fund to CIP to, you know, other other funds, how we get to a $33 million deficit or difference not deficit in ongoing in one time expenditures. So, because because that’s just gets real confusing. It’s hard to look at that and not think of a deficit, right? And then how does it get how does it get reconciled? In 2024, I mean, we ended we’re going to end up this is going to end up being a $700 million budget by the time we’re finished next year with the carryovers and whatnot, but in the as an accounting need or counting on an accounting basis? How do we get to a balanced budget in 2023, at the end of 2023, when we when it looks like we have this kind of deficit going in.
Unknown Speaker 24:44
There pack members accounts. I’m Jim golden Chief Financial Officer, you know, in short, we’re balanced because the difference between these two numbers is fund balance. So that is considered a revenue in our budgeting process. We don’t consider it a revenue as we shall, because it’s not a revenue coming in. But it’s a source of revenue that we use to balance our budget. And it is as early on in the process. It’s just, it’s been a long, four or five weeks, right. But I take you back to about four weeks ago, we did take you through fun by fun. Yeah. And we did show you that there were individual funds that had expenses that were exceeding their their revenues. And the difference was going to be covered by fund balance. And a lot in most cases, that was all related to one time type expense. In all cases, it was one time expenses.
Tim Waters 25:34
And I just let me go back to this will ended up approving appropriations during the year. That’s the it’s the it’s our charter, it’s a requirement under our charter, that we do this on, I guess, on an accrual basis on a on an accrual basis on a cash basis, cash basis. And then rolls year over year, right. So we’ve got money in the bank, or in an account that will show up when we make those appropriations in 2023. They begin to wreck and resolve this what appears to be
Unknown Speaker 26:06
right the differences sitting in our accounts. Currently, our wills can summit in some cases accumulate over the next three months, and they’ll be available.
Tim Waters 26:17
I just think that’s just that’s what people need to understand because of the way it appears in terms of going in with a deficit. So
Unknown Speaker 26:24
we’ve talked about this before that, you know, our budget outside of the public Improvement Fund, that’s the only thing where we can fund a project and it just stays with him. So when we have the capital funds, that’s why you see these big rollovers because as we’ve had to budget for him, CIS is a good example. We budgeted a lot to get to the point but then you’re always rolling it over until you have enough money to issue that.
Tim Waters 26:49
Is that not on? What is the accrual is not that that’s not the right term, because that we accrue over the years sufficient dollars didn’t to pull the trigger on, you know, a bunch of capital projects?
Unknown Speaker 27:01
Well, Mayor, Members of Council, I wouldn’t say that’s cruel in the sense of an accounting use of the term but they are building up in the sense of an accrual. Yeah, as a practical matter, right. But from a cash versus accrual basis, the budgets all on a cash basis. Thanks. So
Tim Waters 27:15
I’m good. Thank you.
Unknown Speaker 27:17
Okay, thank you. Um, let’s see, a counselor Hidalgo faring.
Unknown Speaker 27:22
Thank you, Mayor. You know, I just have a quick clarification question. So the rollover amounts, are they reflected on these revised revenues? So just money that was carried over from last year or
Unknown Speaker 27:38
may have picked members of council there, they’re in the revised? Well, these revised revenues or do not include those amounts, because we do not count those as revenue. They are fund balance. And so when we’re saying we have a balanced budget, it’s using revenues. And it’s using savings or leftover money from the previous year fund balance that we’re not showing here as a revenue, because that’s not a revenue in the next year. Yeah, yeah. So available funds. I mean, if you don’t spend them this way, then they just build up forever, right? And you can never touch them. So you got to be able to draw down from your reserves from your fund balance and use them for one time type expenses. So this, that’s what we’re doing in this budgeting process.
Unknown Speaker 28:25
Okay. And so that was more for clarification. So that that also helps explain that we’re not in a deficit there is there is other money there. Okay, thank you.
Unknown Speaker 28:39
Councillor mountain.
Unknown Speaker 28:41
Thank you, Mayor Peck, I think it is essentially the same question. But why would we not simply show expected fund balance withdrawals as a third bullet here, because then everybody could see that the money spent would equal the money available to spend.
Unknown Speaker 29:03
That’s how Teresa is going to change it.
Unknown Speaker 29:05
I see. We can
Unknown Speaker 29:06
do that. And we in the ordinance, we’re not going to show that as a as a source. But for for presentation like this. We will show revenues expenses and we can show fund balance. You will appropriate that though.
Unknown Speaker 29:21
Okay, great. Thank you.
Unknown Speaker 29:27
And so as I mentioned, we did advertise for a second public hearing, so I’ll let you hold your public hearing. Okay.
Unknown Speaker 29:36
We would like to open the public hearing on this 2023 budget on the capital improvement CIP. Is there anybody in the public that would like to address Council on the budget? Seeing none, I will close the public hearing.
Unknown Speaker 29:55
And then Mayor and council finally final thing we need from you this evening is on Just final direction on these four items, the budget, the CIP, the pay plan, and our financial policies, because each one of those, we will have to bring back in either an ordinance or a resolution format.
Unknown Speaker 30:22
Mayor Pro Tem.
Unknown Speaker 30:24
Thank you, Mayor pack. I was just wondering if we can move the package in one or do we need to take them one by one,
Unknown Speaker 30:29
you can move it in one and just direct us to bring it you all will have the ability to vote on it. each one separately in your reading. So yeah.
Unknown Speaker 30:37
All right. Thank you with that direction, I move that staff bring forward the 2023 budget, the 2023 2027 capital improvement program, the 2023 Pay Plan and 2023 financial policies.
Unknown Speaker 30:55
So that was moved by Mayor Pro Tem Rodriguez seconded by Councillor waters. Councillor Hidalgo, fairing we’re open for discussion, do you?
Unknown Speaker 31:07
I do, and this question might be more directed towards Harold or, you know, Jim. So, you know, we heard tonight from a a president on the from the library board sitting in the audience. You know, looking at what the impact would be to, you know, pull aside you know,
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