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City Council <br />Special Meeting Minutes <br />June 9, 2015 <br />Page 4 of 12 <br />Council member Leh asked about the increase in FTE's from last year and health care <br />cost increases. Human Resources Director Hix said about 19 FTE's had been added, <br />with most of those at the Golf Course. <br />Council member Leh felt the increase in health care costs exceeded the proportionate <br />percentage of added staff. <br />City Manager Fleming stated there were some significant changes in purchased <br />services; professional services have provided a lot of design work for construction <br />projects. <br />Council member Loo asked if there was comfort in the percentage changes. She <br />thought they were large compared to actual and wondered if the way they are estimated <br />needed to change. <br />City Manager Fleming replied staff tries to be cautious and estimate high on <br />expenditures. It assumes percentage increases over time and does not reflect adding <br />staff in the future. Might be understated if staff is added and will always be constrained <br />by available revenue. <br />Council member Leh asked if adding no staff was realistic. City Manager Fleming <br />answered yes because the ability to add staff is constrained by revenues coming in. He <br />noted if large projects are done, operational costs would have to be considered and <br />perhaps the project can't be maintained without additional staff. <br />Council member Lipton asked about staffing during the last budget process and said <br />there seemed to be no department head seeing a need for adding additional staff. He <br />encouraged being conservative on both the expense and revenue side of budget. He <br />didn't want to run into problems in the middle of the year and liked what staff was doing <br />and preferred leftover money instead of not enough. <br />City Manager Fleming noted 2015 numbers reflected significant capital projects, the golf <br />course, and new staff in a number of areas. 2016 will not see the same increase as was <br />seen from 2014 to 2015. Council member Stolzmanri noted in 2014, 2015 and into <br />2016 there is intentional spending down of reserves for major projects. <br />Council member Lipton asked what the assumption was for vacancy savings. City <br />Manager Fleming noted there is an assumption of a 3% tum back overall and wanted <br />the best estimate for the future to neither be overly cautious or optimistic. <br />City Manager Fleming showed the General Fund history and projection. The fund is <br />above the 15% minimum in 2020, and he would like to see it above that minimum in the <br />next 5 years but it will take some fiscal restraint. <br />Council member Lipton wanted to see General Fund reserves as a percentage of <br />expenditures by year. <br />