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HomeMy WebLinkAbout08/25/2014 B A K E R S F I E L D Staff: Committee members: Chris Huot, Assistant to the City Manager Willie Rivera, Chair Ken Weir Terry Maxwell REGULAR MEETING OF THE BUDGET AND FINANCE COMMITTEE of the City Council - City of Bakersfield Monday, August 25, 2014 12:00 p.m. City Hall North 1600 Truxtun Avenue, Bakersfield, CA 93301 First Floor, Conference Room A AGENDA 1. ROLL CALL 2. ADOPT JULY 28, 2014 AGENDA SUMMARY REPORT 3. PUBLIC STATEMENTS 4. NEW BUSINESS A. Discussion and Committee Recommendation regarding the Local Vender Bid Policy – Smith 5. DEFERRED BUSINESS A. Continued Discussion regarding Funding for TRIP Projects – Tandy/Smith 6. COMMITTEE COMMENTS 7. ADJOURNMENT B A K E R S F I E L D         /s/ Steven Teglia Committee Members: Staff: Steven Teglia Willie Rivera, Chair Assistant to the City Manager Ken Weir Terry Maxwell AGENDA SUMMARY REPORT REGULAR MEETING OF THE BUDGET AND FINANCE COMMITTEE Monday, July 28, 2014 12:00 p.m. City Hall North – Conference Room A 1600 Truxtun Avenue, Bakersfield, CA 93301 The meeting was called to order at 12:02 p.m. 1. ROLL CALL Committee members: Councilmember Willie Rivera, Chair Vice Mayor Ken Weir Councilmember Terry Maxwell City Staff: Alan Tandy, City Manager Steven Teglia, Assistant to the City Manager Caleb Blaschke, Management Assistant-City Manager’s Office Virginia Gennaro, City Attorney Andy Heglund, Deputy City Attorney Nelson Smith, Finance Director Nick Fidler, Public Works Director Dave Hecht, Assistant Information Technology Director Jeff Shealey, Information Technology Network System Technician Others present: Theo Douglas, The Bakersfield Californian 2. ADOPT FEBRUARY 26, 2014 AGENDA SUMMARY REPORT The Report was unanimously adopted as submitted. 3. PUBLIC STATEMENTS None AGENDA SUMMARY REPORT Budget and Finance Committee Meeting Monday, July 28, 2014 Page 2 4. DEFERRED BUSINESS A. Continued Discussion and Committee Recommendation Regarding the Open Gov Budget Data Sharing Website 1) Presentation by Open Gov Nate Levine with Open Gov provided the committee a brief demonstration of the Open Gov Budget Data Sharing software. He stated it would be the city’s discretion regarding what and how much information is provided from the City’s financial system for the platform. The cost for maintaining the platform ranges between ten thousand and fifteen thousand dollars per year. Committee member Weir asked if Open Gov would utilize the City’s financial information to create their own analysis and expectations which could be reported and accessed by the public. Mr. Levine stated Open Gov would not use the data for those purposes. All the information displayed in the platform would be provided and approved by the City. Open Gov’s technical services team would work with the appropriate staff to verify all the information is accurately displayed in the platform. Committee member Weir asked if there were any clauses regarding retention of data. Mr. Levine stated that the majority of information is public information and would be published for the public’s use. There is language regarding retention of information included as part of an agreement which can be modified. Committee member Weir expressed concern on how information will be utilized and published in the future by Open Gov if a future agreement with the City is established and then dissolved. 2) Staff Comments Finance Director Smith asked Mr. Levine who would be responsible for reviewing and verifying that the information displayed in the platform accurately matches the information in the financial statements provided by the City. Mr. Levine stated that would be the responsibility of Open Gov’s technical services team building the platform. AGENDA SUMMARY REPORT Budget and Finance Committee Meeting Monday, July 28, 2014 Page 3 Assistant to the City Manager Teglia provided a practical overview of the current way the Budget information is posted on the City’s website, including how to use the navigational tools. The format is considered to be transparent and user friendly. Committee member Maxwell made a motion to have staff research what an agreement with Open Gov would entail and report back to the Committee. The motion was unanimously approved. B. Update Report and Committee Recommendation Regarding the Possibility of Participating in the PACE/HERO Program – Teglia Assistant to the City Manager Teglia provided a brief update regarding the status of residential Property Assessed Clean Energy (PACE) programs in California since the previous update provided to the Committee in February 2014. He stated the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) continues to oppose PACE programs which include a priority-lien component as part of their program. In an effort to address FHFA’s concerns, the State of California established a PACE Loss Reserve Program which is designed to reimburse residential PACE programs for costs associated with keeping mortgage interests whole in the event of a foreclosure or forced sale. With the establishment of the State’s Loss Reserve Program, the Home Energy Renovation Opportunity (HERO) program implemented the residential component as part of its programs and has seen a continued growth throughout the State. CaliforniaFIRST PACE program, another statewide PACE program, has also launched its residential component of the program and will provide an additional resource for City residents, as the City is already a member of that program. Committee member Weir asked what is would cost to join the HERO program and what, if any, disadvantages existed to joining the program. Assistant to the City Manager Teglia stated there is no cost to join the program. The HERO program, just like CaliforniaFIRST, is self-sufficient and requires no administrative work from the City. Deputy City Attorney Heglund stated the agreement with the Joint Powers Authority states that the City has no financial obligations as well. City Attorney Gennaro stated that with the large number of entities participating in PACE programs, it has significantly reduced the exposure for possible litigation. Mr. Teglia also stated that at this point in time there appear to be no disadvantages in providing City residents a residential PACE financing opportunity. Committee Chair Rivera stated the HERO program was a great program. AGENDA SUMMARY REPORT Budget and Finance Committee Meeting Monday, July 28, 2014 Page 4 Committee member Weir made a motion to present a resolution and agreement to join the HERO residential PACE program to the full City Council for approval. The motion was unanimously approved. Since the City is already a participant in the CaliforniaFIRST PACE program, staff will advise CaliforniaFIRST they may move forward with their residential PACE program following Council’s consideration of joining the HERO residential PACE program. 5. COMMITTEE COMMENTS Committee member Maxwell stated that due to the cancellation of the Committee’s June 30th meeting, the continued discussion of Funding for TRIP Projects was not heard. He requested staff bring back the item for discussion to the next Committee meeting. 6. ADJOURNMENT The meeting adjourned at 12:45 p.m. MEMORANDUM TO: Budget and Finance Committee FROM: Nelson K. Smith, Finance Director NS DATE: June 26, 2014 SUBJECT: Update to Budget Finance April 2014 Packet Information regarding the TRIP Revenues and Expenses The purpose of this memo is to provide supplemental information to the packet of information originally provided to the committee members in the April 28, 2014 committee packet. The item regarding TRIP revenues and expenses was deferred to the meeting of June 30, 2014. In the April 24, 2014 cover memo to the TRIP agenda item the third and fourth paragraphs discuss the amount of future borrowing and potential timing. In March 2014 staff informed the Council that the future borrowing estimate was being lowered from $270 million down to $240 million. Two things have changed since that time. First, KernCOG obtained additional State Transportation funds, increasing their future contribution to the TRIP program from $4 million to $33 million. Second, the County of Kern has recently authorized a $40 million contribution to the TRIP program this year where they had previously pledged an overall contribution of $57 million at some time in the future. The County supplied documentation to show that their expenditures to date were over $23 million prior to the $40 million payment, so their total payments toward the TRIP projects will now be over $63 million. The $40 million item was approved by Council on June 25, 2014. The net impact of the two actions combined could lower the future borrowing needs of the City by about $12 million (additional future cost of $17 million offset by additional contributions of $29 million). However, prior to officially changing the $240 million borrowing estimate we will be opening bids on several projects in the next few months and will re-calculate the estimated future borrowing needs of the City at that time. Additionally, the $40 million from the County will allow the City to cash flow our local needs for the next two to three years rather than have to borrow to cover short term cash flow needs of fronting federal program funds. Staff has been working for several months to establish a line of credit with a bank to address this issue, but with the $40 million cash on hand we will now be able to terminate those discussions. Having the $40 million cash on hand will also get us further along in providing local project funds needed for construction before we consider a long term borrowing to finish the TRIP projects. cc: Alan Tandy, City Manager Virginia Gennaro, City Attorney File name: nks:/p:/misc/memo-bud fin update june 2014 .doc