At the June 16 meeting on the Windsor Town Council, the seated council members passed three resolutions approving the budget for Fiscal Years (FY) 2021-22 and 2022-23, adopting the Capital Improvement Program (CIP) for Fiscal Years 2021-26 and adopting a resolution acknowledging receipt and use of the Coronavirus State and Local Fiscal Recovery Funds from the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) of 2021.
While that sounds straightforward, the discussion prior to the approval gave strong indicators as to the more challenging discussions ahead for the town.
At their June 2 meeting council members reviewed the proposals for the budget and the CIP, and at that time they informed city staff of items they would like to review and discuss further at the June 16 meeting. Those items, in no particular order, included the Windsor Road/Windsor River Road roundabout project; street resurfacing; building inspection services; zoning code and housing element updates; the town’s federal and state lobbyists; the town’s grant consultant; the upcoming redistricting and the possibility of becoming a “charter city” with the creation of a city charter; the Civic Center Project; the sustainability coordinator position; economic development projects; financial support of the Visitors Center and the Chamber of Commerce; landscape maintenance and irrigation; the Kaboom event; the Keiser Park Master Plan Update; and the Town Grant Funding Program, though ultimately they would not all be discussed as some of the questions or concerns had been dealt with prior to the June 16 meeting.
The budget overall
According to Jeneen Peterson, the town’s administrative services director, the town’s operating budget is for two years beginning July 1, 2021 and ending June 30, 2023 and it consists of two one-year fiscal budgets allowing for improved spending control. Overall, the FY 2021-23 budget includes $147 million in appropriations made up of a $108 million operating budget, a $3.5 million debt service budget and a $35 million capital expenditures budget.
The CIP for the five years beginning July 1, 2021 and ending June 30, 2026 was also included for the council’s approval. The proposed capital outlays in the first two years of the CIP are included in the 2021-23 budget.
Finally, on March 11, 2021, President Joe Biden signed into law ARPA, which provides financial assistance to individuals, businesses and state and local government agencies to assist in the economic recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic. The town of Windsor has been granted an allocation of $6,489,594, delivered in two payments of $3,244,797 in July 2021 and July 2022. The use of these funds is incorporated into the biennial budget in accordance with the Treasury Department’s requirements for the use of the ARPA funds: public safety, infrastructure and restoration of services to pre-pandemic levels.
Individual questions and concerns
In discussion, comments and questions relating to individual line items usually had to do with postponing the expenditure or project, though in most cases there were usually compelling reasons why that was not possible.
Windsor Road/Windsor River Road roundabout project
This item was questioned by Mayor Sam Salmon and vice mayor Rosa Reynoza. Both of them have past opposition to the project, both because a bond sale, and the long term debt it will incur, will be added to the town’s debt load and because some members of the town dislike the idea of a roundabout design.
However, Public Works Director Shannon Cotulla explained that the significant amount of grant funding received as well as the savings being realized by working in conjunction with the SMART train, made the notion of delaying the project essentially the same as canceling it. In addition, any changes to the design would trigger the project to have to be started from scratch from a regulatory perspective, and they would lose nearly all of the grant funding they had obtained to offset the cost of the majority of the project.
In addition, since the bid for the project had come in significantly lower than initially expected, the bond being taken out is really more of a stopgap measure to protect the town from overages or unknown circumstances. If the bond money ends up not being used, it can simply be used to prepay the loan and lower the cost to the town.
Street resurfacing
Salmon’s question about this item was less about concerns over the cost as much as a potential alternate funding source. “We know our street resurfacing plan is important in terms of long-range costs, but we’ve had a number of lectures and seminars about that we may get some PG&E fire money that was somewhat specific to street damage. When get that money, can we consider putting into that budget,” he asked.
City Manager Ken MacNab confirmed that any settlement goes directly into discretionary funding.
Building inspection services
Salmon questioned whether the town really needed three full-time employees in the community development department when the town also pays an outside organization for plan check services. Community Development Director Jessica Jones assured the council of the importance of the three staff members, and pointed out that at least of one the positions is required by state law.
“(These staff members) are extremely important in all aspects,” Jones said. “We have a building official who does plan checking inspection, provides ADA services and oversees code enforcement and is there to assist as needed in emergencies, recently they’ve been out inspecting buildings that caught fire. We also have a full time senior building inspector who stays extremely busy with inspection and enforcement, and a community development technician which takes care of overseeing files in the building division and the intake of all permit applications and handles all of that. The contract plan check services really to help back fill when town has large complex project that create a situation where existing staff do not have any additional capacity to do large projects.”
Zoning code and housing element updates
Jones was also called on to discuss expenditures related to updates to the zoning code and the housing element. The town has received grant money for of those projects but Salmon wanted to know if, and how much, staff time was included in those grants and what additional costs might be to the town.
For the zoning update, the town had originally budgeted $200,000, but only received $150,000 in grant funding, so the plan became to cut back on some of the community engagement meetings planned to meet the grant funding.
However, the housing element update is mandated by the state and is expected to run about $220,000, of which the town so far has only received $20,000 in grant money, meaning they will have to come up with the balance.
The town’s federal and state lobbyists and the grant consultant
While Salmon and Reynoza were clearly skeptical of the money budgeted to these items, the vociferous defense from staff changed their mind.
Reynoza wanted to know if their contracts could be shrunk or altered, and while they can, MacNab was clear that doing so will lower the return on investment. In the particular case of the grant consultant, which costs the town $310,000 but has brought in $3.9 million in funding.
The way contract works, he gets a flat fee for tracking and exploring grant opportunities watching for funding and knowing what projects were interested in,” MacNab said. “Part of their job is to prepare the grant applications, which is a pretty intensive process … and when the team decided this is a project we can be competitive on, we have money for that consultant to prepare that grant application and advocate for us. We could reduce the contract, it just means fewer applications to apply for and this consultant has brought in $3.9 million for us, which is a nice return on investment.”
The upcoming redistricting and the possibility of becoming a “charter city” with the creation of a city charter
While much of the redistricting conversation at present is about the town changing the current format of four districts and an at-large mayor to five districts with an annual appointed mayor, but redistricting would be happening regardless of current sentiments, because redistricting always occurs following a census.
Salmon wanted to enquire about just doing away with districting all together, but MacNab and the town attorney both made it clear that that is less a budget discussion than something to be looked into as a separate agenda item in the future, especially given that the districts were agreed upon under threat of lawsuit.
“I suggest the council and staff have a discussion where we’ll be able to share risks in eliminating the district scheme, and the council could consider them and give us direction,” said MacNab.
There is a $100,000 budget for exploring the town becoming a charter town, but it’s not clear there is interest in that or not, and would come back at another meeting. By budgeting the money, it makes it possible to look into it, and if that doesn’t happen the money will simple be reallocated.
The Civic Center Project
The civic center project is extremely controversial, and so the discussion surrounding any inclusion in the budget is whether or not it should be. Vice Mayor Reynoza is still awaiting a ruling on whether or not she has to recuse herself from any discussions on the project, due to potentially living within the conflict of interest boundaries, and so the town attorney stressed that discussions needed to remain on the budget questions, rather than anything to do with the project, or else Reynoza would have to recuse herself.
Staff emphasized that money is only set aside for the purpose of being able to accomplish necessary tasks should the project go forward, but wasn’t committed if the project did not go forward.
Though Salmon expressed concern about spending the money without additional community input and consideration, ultimately the fact the money was simply being made available, but not committed, he ultimately allowed it to move forward.
The sustainability coordinator position
The financing for this new job title continues to be uncertain, with agreement on the need for the position, but concern as to whether its affordable. Salmon wondered if the job roles could be absorbed by other staff members, and wondered if having quarterly reports from each department would be more useful.
Ultimately, the position stayed in.
Economic development projects
Specifically, the questions under this category related to the sponsorship dollars for bringing the Grand Fondo bicycle race to Windsor. This was originally meant to start in 2020, but the pandemic derailed initial plans, but the event wants to go forward.
Financial support of the Visitors Center and the Chamber of Commerce
As it turned out Salmon’s questions had actually been answered prior to the meeting, but councilmember Deborah Fudge brought up that the funds the town provides the Chamber of Commerce should potentially be withheld because the contract specifies that the Chamber and Visitor’s center be manned a certain number of hours, which has not been happening since the Chamber’s previous staff members were eliminated or resigned. MacNab agreed staff would monitor the situation before making the first payment.
Landscape maintenance and irrigation
The town is hoping to get a $350,000 grant to help with vegetations management but Salmon wanted to know if there was money in the budget for this if the grant funding does not come through. Cotulla stated that while they will be able to do more if they receive the grant, especially in the riparian corridors of the town, they will be still be able to do enough without it.
The Keiser Park Master Plan Update
The essential question is whether or not this is worth doing, now the community benefit money from the Lytton Tribe will no longer be available to the town, but Olivia Lehman said there are still significant reasons to go forward with updating the plan and pointed out that much of it is covered by grant funding.
“We are disappointed the community benefit money is off the table, but that’s not a lynchpin for looking to the future and evaluating what kind of expansion we can to at Keiser Park,” she said.
Reynoza asked about postponing the update, but again, the grant funding has a use-by date on it that would make postponing a bad financial decision.
The vote and the future
“My comments are yes, the budget is a living document and we can amend it, (but) I think it’s incumbent on us to realize that we have some work cut out for us in the coming months,” Salmon said. “I was told we have a $1.2 million a year deficit we need to take care of. This budget takes $6.2 million of ARPA funds and puts it in the budget and keeps our reserves at 25%, but we have a principle of not using one time monies for ongoing expenses.
“The reality for me is I was hoping use the recovery money to get more reach, like four to six years … we still have to come up with cuts or revenues increases. I think that’s what we plan to do, though we need to adopt the budget tonight. But, I want us to be aware may have to come back and face cuts and we don’t decide on revenue increases, they have to go before the voters. Need us to know dealing with budget that has two time funds,” he concluded.
While the discussion on the budget was lengthy, ultimately all the council members voted in favor of the budget, along with the CIP and the acknowledgment of the ARPA funds. The consensus is that the ARPA funds will give the town breathing room for two years to try to solve their ongoing deficit issues.
