Minutes oft the The Liberty Town Council Budget Retreat Held on March 12, 2024 9:00AM  of Meeting  13  Present  Mayor: Council:  The Honorable Filmore York  Larry Coble, Don Herndon, Tyson Nixon and Greg  Carpenter Scott Kidd Jessica Brown Bill Flowe  Town Manager: Town Clerk: Town Attorney: Staff:  Police Chief; David Semrad, Library Director; Brenda Heindl, Finance Director/HR; Kathy Bond, Fire Chief; Matt Talbott, Safety Director; Bret Pedigo, Interim Parks and Recreation Director; Kolby McPherson, Assistant Town Manager; Janie Phelps, Public Works Director; Joseph Walsh Assistant Public Works Director; Kevin Coble, Assistant Public Works Director; Jake Smith and  Finance Specialist; Adrian Abbott  Call to Order and Welcome - Mayor Mayor York called the meeting to order at 9:00 AM. Agenda Review/Opening Remarks - Scott Kidd  The Town Manager Scott Kidd welcomed everyone. Janie Phelps willl bei in later due toa school activity and Terry Caviness will not be in because he was called into work. The Town Manager said things were good when Alliance Code Enforcement came on. After Chris Curry left Alliance they sporadically came to meetings to give reports. He has asked Assistant Town Manager Janie Phelps to be in charge of Code Enforcement. Alliance seemed to be getting less and less done. Ms. Phelps has zoning experience and emailed Alliance we are terminating the contract at the end oft this month. Dennis Pinnix with State Code Enforcement, Inc. introduced himself. They will be handling code enforcement once. Alliance's contract is up. They will give more detailed reports and they include time sheets and break down everything on invoices which they brought an example of. They include before and after pictures as well. Himself or his field operator Paul Fuller will be the contacts. They both live in Climax and he will: not be sending different people. He does not take on more than twenty towns because he does not want more than he can handle. He will follow our ordinances but will talk to the Town Manager ifhe feels an ordinance is unclear. He does not bother with high grass that  Code Enforcement - Update and) Expectations    is zoned agricultural. He will never do anything that is not in the ordinance. The Town Manager said they also have Planning Staff that can help with amendments.  Water and Sewer - Joe Walsh  Mr. Walsh said they are doing a lot more in house since last year and asked they please appreciate what they do. They are doing their own water/ /s sewer taps with al base rate of $30.00 per hour. The Town can recoup some ofthis money. Before they also outsourced leaks. Council Member Nixon asked what they would have paid out ifo outsourced and Mr, Walsh said about $160,000. The Town Manager said it also builds comradery. With Neptune they no longer have to read meters by hand. Notification is key for leak detection. They are looking at getting ipads that sync up and can take pictures. They cannot cut water offifsomeone is paying their bill unless it is a hardship on their system. Before it took two employees three days to do the initial meter readings and two per route to do rereads. Now it is just "drive by" readings a couple ofl hours for one person. He has had budget increases for uniforms, more staff, and dues and subscriptions. There are a lot of associations they are members of. Southern Corrosion went up on the water tower Water and Sewer Revenue discussion - Water Leak Adjustments Discussion Finance Director Kathy Bond said that we are gracious with our leak adjustments and look at adjusting just the sewer. People need to take action as soon as they are notified of aleak. A handout was given explaining how adjustments are calculated and a water/sewer revenue comparison. Trash rates have increased.  and the new logo will be going on soon.  Audit update  The Town Manager said the Audit Presentation will probably be next month. We have had a healthy fund balance the past few years. Last year it was at 52% and this year is at 13%.1 Iti is still 8% above what we are supposed to be. We expect $100,000 from the ASADRA grant. We have an unassigned fund balance of $657,000. Over a million  dollars is restricted. Debt Overview  There was a handout given listing Town debts: Police Station - Remaining balance $300,000 Track Loader- Remaining balance $50,886 LeafTruck - Remaining balance $98,867 for Wastewater Collection System Radios (FD & PD) $257,008 Tax Rate and Tax Evaluation Discussion  SWPCRL Remaining balance $30,322 (State Water Pollution Control Revolving Loan  Al handout was given to show how our tax revenue is calculated. Our number cannot be higher than the County's rate which is 99.4%. The general fund is the chief operating fund of the Town. There was a $27,470 decrease in the water/sewer part oft the proprietary fund due. Graphs show taxable values VS. tax collection revenues. The 5.00 vehicle tax goes to street repair and shows up when someone pays their vehicle's  registration.    Staff] Discussion, COLA, Merit Raises, Future Staff employees. There are no big CIP's this year.  The Town Manager said the retirement match went up to 1.5%. In 2021 we went up 6% for the Cost ofLiving Allowance and in 2024 3%. He applauds them for taking care of  hh Mayor Filmore York  Lu  ATTEST:  g. Bim  Town ai