HomeMy WebLinkAboutMinutes City Council - 04/19/2018 - Workshop PS. III
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I HEREBY CERTIFY that the foregoing is a true and correct copy of the minutes of the Workshop
Meeting of the Corpus Christi City Council of April 19, 2018 which were approved by the City
Council on April 24, 2018.
WITNESSETH MY HAND AND SEAL, on this the 24th day of April 2018.
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City Secretary
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Corpus Christi,TX 78401
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Meeting Minutes
City Council Workshop Session
Thursday,April 19,2018 9:00 AM City Council Chambers
THE USE OF CELLULAR PHONES AND SOUND ACTIVATED PAGERS ARE
PROHIBITED IN THE TRAINING ROOM DURING MEETINGS OF THE CITY
COUNCIL.
A. Mayor Joe McComb to call the meeting to order.
Mayor McComb called the meeting to order at 9:01 a.m.
B. City Secretary Rebecca L. Huerta to call the roll of the required Charter Officers.
City Secretary Rebecca L.Huerta called the roll and verified that a quorum of
the City Council and the required Charter Officers were present to conduct the
meeting.
Charter Officers:
City Manager Margie C.Rose,City Attorney Miles K.Risley and City Secretary
Rebecca L.Huerta.
Present B- Mayor Joe McComb,Council Member Rudy Garza,Council Member
Paulette Guajardo, Council Member Michael Hunter,Council Member
Debbie Lindsey-Opel, Council Member Ben Molina,Council Member Lucy
Rubio,and Council Member Greg Smith
C. BRIEFINGS TO CITY COUNCIL:
1. Budget Workshop 3-Overview of Fiscal 2018-2019 Operating
Budget
Mayor McComb referred to Item 1. City Manager Margie C.Rose provided an
overview of the budget presentation.
Director of the Office of Management and Budget Eddie Houlihan presented
Information on the City's current retirement costs and plan design.
Texas Municipal Retirement System Senior Regional Manager Anthony Mills
presented an update on the Texas Municipal Retirement System(TMRS)
consisting of the following topics: TMRS history and membership;TMRS
investments;TMRS funding basics;how one-time and yearly ad hoc adoptions
may affect the City's liability;how the system's soundness is related to the
City's choices;pension issues in the news;how TMRS's plan design addresses
potential problems;addressing benefits that are not sustainable;that state law
requires TMRS funding discipline;unrealistic assumptions may understate
pension costs and lead to long-term problems;state and local governance;
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City Council Workshop Session Meeting Minutes April19,2018
recognition of TMRS's practices;Corpus Christi's TMRS plan specifies;the
annual rate letter;plan change options;and peer cities and their TMRS plans.
Council members and Mr.Mills discussed the following topics related to the
City's TMRS retirement plan: the planned increase in the deposit rate In
January 2019;the Texas Comptrollers Star Program;the City's control over the
plan;plan sustainability from TMRS's perspective versus the City's perspective;
obligations to existing employees versus new employees;changing
contribution and vesting requirements for new employees via a tiered benefit
structure not being allowable per existing state statute;closing the plan to new
employees after a certain date and the resulting acceleration of the
amortization schedule and that the liability for existing employees Is statutorily
required to be funded;that the City's funding requirements for existing
employees would dramatically increase if the plan were to be closed to new
employees;that TMRS currently has no position on tiered plans;the drawbacks
of a tiered plan;the effect on the plan of contractual obligations relating to
Police collective bargaining contracts;advance-funding of future costs;the
fully funded plan rate;shod-versus long-term plan flexibility;a moral,ethical
and legal liability to fund existing employees and retiree retirement benefits;
public versus private retirement plans;that the City has approximately$662
million In TMRS plan assets on the books;and the approximately$281 million
to be funded in the plan over the next 25 years.
Director Houlihan presented information on the following topics related to the
City's budget: FY 2018 revenues;FY 2018 expense reductions currently under
way;FY 2019 General Fund projected obligations and considerations;in a
worst-case scenario,the Police and Fire health plan design will need to be
addressed to control expenses In those funds;that the civilian employees'
health insurance plan has already undergone substantial cost-saving changes,
like the current high deductible as well as significant decreases in plan
benefits;a health benefits update;potential Solid Waste fee increases;United
Corpus Christi Chamber of Commerce's residential street recommendations;
potential revenue sources and expenditure reductions in the Enterprise Fund;
possible transfer to the General Fund from Utilities;consideration to implement
a one-cent property tax increase,resulting in$1.7 million in additional revenue
that could be dedicated solely to Public Safety;and other fee increases.
Council members and City Manager Rose discussed the following topics
regarding the City's budget: working with the Nunes County Appraisal District
relating to industrial district agreement payments;the potential positive effect
on the budget from the health benefits procurement currently in progress;
including projected revenues from the Texas Ambulance Supplemental
• Payment Program(TASPP)in the budget;the fairness of acrosssthe-board cuts
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for all departments;the effect on departments of a larger-than-usual number of
retirements in January 2019,particularly in the Police Department;coming to a
decision regarding having a Pollee academy;unanticipated/unbudgeted sales
tax revenues;reasons for variances in projected versus actual revenues;not
actually being in a$20 million dollar budget deficit now;worst-ease deficit
projections;property tax revenue trends;Police and Fire collective bargaining
commitments being planned for in past and current budgets;financial
obligations created by past councils;the effect on property values and related
revenue resulting from damage from Hurricane Harvey;the negative financial
impact of the Affordable Care Act and rising healthcare costs;addressing the
predictability of industrial district revenues;not blaming previous city councils
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relating to budget challenges;council's role as a policy maker;that the
voter-approved two-cent property tax increase for residential streets is
included in the budget presented;and public safety.
D. ADJOURNMENT
The meeting was adjourned at 11:09 a.m.
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