HomeMy WebLinkAbout2013-09-12 - Council Agenda PacketAgenda
Corcoran City Council Workshop
September 12, 2013 - 6:00 PM
1. Call to Order / Roll Call
2. Unfinished Business
a. 2014 Budget*
3. Adjournment
*Includes Materials - Materials relating to these agenda items can be found in the House Agenda Packet by
Door.
STAFF REPORT
Document No. 2a.
Council Workshop:
September 12, 2013
Prepared By:
Brad Martens
Topic:
2014 Budget
Action Required:
Direction
Summary:
The City Council has requested that a Workshop be scheduled prior to the September
12, 2013 City Council meeting to discuss the 2014 budget. Please refer to the budget
attached to item 11 b in the City Council meeting packet.
Financial /Budget:
The 2014 budget document is used to set the Property Tax Levy. Any changes in the
budget will result in changes to the proposed Preliminary Property Tax Levy to be set on
September 12, 2013.
Options:
Make adjustments to the 2014 budget prior to setting the Preliminary Levy.
Make no adjustments to the 2014 budget prior to setting the Preliminary Levy.
Recommendation:
N/A
Council Action:
Direct staff to make adjustments to the 2014 budget prior to setting the Preliminary
Levy.
Attachments:
N /A, refer to item 11 b in City Council packet
How much should be assessed for collector road dust control?
Background:
The City is currently applying a chloride slurry to most of its collector roads in order to (1) reduce blowing neighborhood
dust and to (2) stabilize the road surface so that optimum drivability is maintained with minimum re- grading maintenance.
The cost of only the collector road application is very close to 80% of the total $110,000 dust control budget —or $88,000.
(The remaining $22,000 is spent on neighborhood roads. Neighborhoods are assessed 100% of the application cost.)
The question has always been how much of the collector road portion should be assessed back to the adjacent benefitting
properties.
Under the 429 process the City is allowed to assess costs of projects like our dust control program to benefitting
properties. Typically, the amount allowed is the smaller of: (1) the project cost, or (2) the value of the benefit received.
Undoubtedly, most people would agree that dust control improves the drivability of the road and would, indeed, provide a
benefit to the immediate users of that road. But, because the value of the benefit is different for every user, it is difficult to
establish equitably, and so will not be addressed here. A better approach might be to quantify the project cost.
Objective:
Let's assume that the City's objective is to maintain its collector roads to a level which permits free, unencumbered
passage for all its residents and service vehicles in a safe, predictable manner. The dust control program will accomplish
this objective —it costs $88,000 regardless of who pays for it. If that seems like too much to pay to accomplish the
objective, what's the next best alternative?
Discussion:
We could eliminate dust control entirely and employ traditional grading and watering practices to accomplish the objective.
Here's an estimate of what that would cost: (Remember we're trying to achieve a comparable level of drivability.)
1. Additional gradings —as dry as it's been in the months of July thru October the last 3 or 4 years, 15 -20 (one per week)
additional gradings will be needed. Each grading cycle takes approximately 2 -3 days using 5 PW employees to
operate a watering truck, 2 graders, and packers. Assume $50 /hour labor rate.
15 gradings x 2.5 days /grading x 8 hours /day x 5 men x $50 /man -hr = $75,000.
2. Additional gravel —this is a little tougher to estimate. We know that without chloride stabilization, fines will be lost at a
much accelerated rate. With a degraded matrix of fines the rock scatters easily and ends up in the ditch or in loose
piles on the shoulder. Rather than our current 6 -8 year gravel add cycle, we'd be having to add gravel more like every
4 -6 years (conservatively). That's a 7 +5 -40% increase in our gravel budget, or .40x$130,000 = $52,000. That
seems like a lot. Maybe it's more like adding 2 miles to our total road length covered in a year:
2.13 miles x 5280 ft /mile x 24 ft road width x .25 ft gravel depth + 27 ft3 /yd3 x 1.5 ton /yd3 x $8/ ton = $30,000.
3. Equipment costs —more grading means replacing cutting edges on grader blades more often. Two additional sets for
each grader will be needed at $2000 per set.
2 graders X 2 cutting edge sets /grader x $2000 /cutting edge set = $8000.
4. Fuel -150 gallons additional fuel required for graders, packers, water truck for each grading. Assume $3.50 /gal.
15 gradings x 150 gal diesel /grading x $3.50 /gal = $7875.
Conclusion:
If we start from the condition of "before dust control" or "without dust control ", it will cost the City $75,000 + $30,000 +
$8000 + $7875 = $120,875 to achieve its road quality objective.
If by instituting the dust control program, it now costs the City $88,000 to achieve the objective, what is the actual cost of
the program? It is important to determine the cost of the program, since that is what an assessment is based on.