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HomeMy WebLinkAbout02_07_04_brwCITY COUNCIL ROLL CALL - PRESENT: A Quorum was present. NOT PRESENT AT ROLL CALL: ABSENT: PRESIDING: Alderman Bernstein Alderman Moran Aldermen Kent, Rainey, Jean -Baptiste and Wynne None Mayor Lorraine H. Morton February 7, 2004 Alderman Tisdahl Alderman Feldman Alderman Newman A SPECIAL MEETING of the City Council was called to order by Mayor Morton Saturday, February 7, 2004 at 9:22 a.m. in the Council Chamber for the purpose of conducting a workshop on the 2004-05 City budget. Alderman Feldman moved that Council convene into Committee of the Whole. Seconded by Alderman Bernstein. Motion carried unanimouslv. City Manager Roger Crum announced there would be a short staff presentation, discussion of some questions asked in prior workshops and citizen comment. He asked for direction to get the budget ready for the February 23 meeting. General Fund Summary Management & Budget Director Patrick Casey stated the budget presented for 2004-05 is $78,076,900. Expenditures consist of $2,061,700 for wage increases and a 14% increase in health insurance of $708,900. They are showing grants differently in the budget, which added $804,600, and the growth in cost of goods/services of $747,900. To balance that out they project growth on existing revenues of $1,712,800; add back in grants of $804,600; propose an ambulance fee increase of $100,000; propose an increase in the natural gas tax for those who buy from brokers of $600,000; propose a property tax increase of 4% for the General Fund of $605,700 and propose to add $500,000 in excess reserve funds. He reviewed the property tax levy. The increase to the General Fund is 3.99%; Fire Pension increase of 13.10%, increase of Police Pension of 21.95% and debt service increase of 4%, which adds up to a 6.85% increase for the City's portion of the tax levy. Alderman Feldman asked that staff translate the 6.85% increase in the property tax, that is the City's share and it means a 1.2% increase in the property tax levy. Natural Gas Use Tax. Staff has proposed an increase from .0095 cents per therm to .025 cents per therm, an increase of .0155 cents per therm, a $600,000 revenue gain. The City would capture tax dollars from institutions that purchase from brokers. This does not affect customers who purchase gas from Nicor, which are mainly residential and small businesses. Staff has received no gas bills from condominium associations but they did get a breakdown of residential, commercial and industrial units here that buy from brokers and Nicor. Residential natural gas consumers would pay $13,913 more annually with this tax. They do not know the number of condominiums that would be affected. According to Nicor there are 21,505 units that buy natural gas. Alderman Bernstein asked the definitions of "commercial" and "industrial" users. Mr. Casey said if there are more than four dwelling units, they are considered commercial users. Other commercial users are classified by a standard industry code. Northwestern University and the hospitals are in this classification. He explained they could only get broad information on who is in and who is not. Commercial customers would pay the bulk of this tax increase. They know from the newspapers and Mr. Sunshine that NU will pay around $200,000 with this increase. Staff continues to try to obtain more information on this. Alderman Tisdahl stated that Evanston Hospital estimates they will pay an additional $60,000. Mr. Casey said if Evanston Hospital pays $60,000, they could assume that St. Francis Hospital would pay about the same. That would show about $300,000 of where that tax will impact. Alderman Bernstein asked how the City gets this tax. Nicor collects the tax for the City. Mr. Casey explained that Nicor is the provider of the delivery system because they own the pipes in the ground and are the billing unit for the most part. Mr. Casey explained that natural gas has a tax and the tax is being increased with this proposal. 2 February 7, 2004 Alderman Feldman understood the figures presented were not exact and asked if the City had trouble getting this information from Nicor? Mr. Casey said customer information from Nicor is confidential and the City cannot obtain it. Alderman Feldman said Nicor knows exactly how much each business uses and why can the City not get exact figures? Mr. Casey explained the best Nicor could do was give the number of gas customers in each category. They have the therms and gross receipts. Mr. Crum stated they had met with a large condominium association that will provide their billing. Alderman Wynne said if the natural gas tax is raised for those who use a broker, will it be even with what Nicor customers pay or have they left some incentive for large customers to use a broker? Mr. Casey said if the tax is raised, it will bring the tax almost up to the rate paid by residential customers. Mr. Crum explained that the gross billing will be lower. They were told the gross bill is about 15% lower than if they paid the retail rate. This tax does not put them anywhere near that 15%. She asked why the gross bill would be lower? Because they are buying through a broker. Mr. Casey said buying brokered gas is much lower than buying through Nicor. He explained the more gas one buys, the cheaper it gets. Alderman Bernstein clarified that commercial is four or more units, which include dormitories, condominiums and apartment buildings. Mr. Casey thought a four flat would be residential and a six flat would be commercial. The other difference is how they are metered. A four flat could be metered four ways. Mr. Crum said that condominiums are probably commercial because they have one meter. Alderman Rainey said most of the new units have individual heating systems. What is called commercial is a meter for the common areas. She thought it was skewed in what they think of as residential or commercial units. Condominiums owners who have metered heat are probably not buying brokered gas. Their heating cost is less because of the insulation of the units around them and if they have an individual meter pay a residential rate. Alderman Rainey explained the cost for heating the common areas for a large residential building would not be large. Alderman Bernstein was concerned that individually metered units would pay a double tax, paying the common area rate, so the association is paying a lump for both. Alderman Rainey asked when they were going to have a conversation about the non -brokered buyer of gas. She said they are so worried about the few cents on these large buyers and have completely overlooked the residential gas buyer who does not buy wholesale gas. Mr. Casey stated staff would clarify that by the next meeting. Alderman Rainey asked six condominiums to give her bills and has received none and no calls from Target. Mr. Casey said they would provide an explanation as to the impact on an average customer. Alderman Feldman recalled a task force was set up to ascertain how non-profit institutions could help the City's budget and nothing has come of that. This is an example of how a non-profit could contribute toward the budget and does not eliminate the motivation to go to a broker. Here is an opportunity for a legitimate application of that value. If this tax is not passed, it has to come from somewhere else. He did not see the immense controversy. There are people who don't want any increase in a tax. He thought this was justifiable and will come from the people they want it to come from. Alderman Bernstein wanted to know who was paying the tax other than NU and the hospitals. Ambulance Service fees. Alderman Newman asked what somebody would have to pay for ambulance service before they are reimbursed? Mr. Casey said the proposed fee is $300 for residents. The majority of residents will have that fee reimbursed by Medicare/Medicaid or their insurance. Rarely will this come out of pocket to a resident. Alderman Newman said to consider a Noyes Court resident for whom there is an ambulance call. Was he saying Medicare would pay $300 to the City? Mr. Casey said the City is reimbursed a portion. They have a formula that gives the City "x" dollars. The City does not pursue the rest on Medicare/Medicaid because that is not allowed. In response to Alderman Newman, Mr. Casey said a Noyes Court resident may get the bill in the mail, but Medicare/Medicaid pays their customary charge. The fee is sent to the City, which has a contract with a billing company that handles all Medicare/Medicaid clients. When the person is transported and is able to give their Medicare/Medicaid number, the City bills directly. Once a person receives a bill, they contact the billing company and give their Medicare/Medicaid information. Alderman Newman asked if people who have large deductibles are billed? Mr. Casey stated everybody is billed and they don't write-off a bill for someone with a high deductible. Mr. Casey said the policy has been that the City does not actively pursue this collection. Alderman Newman said someone with health insurance would be covered. Real Estate Transfer Tax. Mr. Casey said it is budgeted at $3 million this year and current revenue is expected to reach $4.1 million. A new analysis was done and staff believes the true base is $3 million due to higher housing costs and interest rates. They project $3.5 million for the next two years but reserve the right to re-evaluate the housing market, interest rates and development changes. Alderman Feldman suggested that $3.5 million be added for the real estate transfer tax. Property values have increased so even if sales decrease, revenues are higher. Mr. Casey explained that staff looked at the number of units transferred and their value. Alderman Moran did not understand "true base." Mr. Casey said staff believes the revenue will not go below $3 million unless the housing market or economy changes dramatically. February 7, 2004 Use of $500,000 Reserves. Alderman Newman suggested they eliminate the one-time revenue from reserves. Since they know reserves are at an adequate level, that money should go somewhere. Considering the meeting they had on potential liability nobody could argue that the $500,000 not be used to deal with some of the claims. Liability is not limited to the $11 million case and all know the City does not have $11 million if that verdict is not overturned. He amended the motion to put the $500,000 into the Insurance Fund. Parking Ticket Fines. Mr. Casey explained for fiscal year 2004-05, $3.5 million is budgeted for parking fines, an increase of $100,000 over the prior year. When the City expanded hours in October 2002 that increase was taken into account in this year's budget. They do not anticipate more than $3.5 million in fines. Alderman Newman asked the revenue on $50 tickets issued for parking within 8-ft. of a driveway? What would be the revenue reduction if that fine was reduced to $25? Alderman Jean -Baptiste asked how much revenue is generated through after hours parking enforcement in neighborhoods? He noted the rationale for enforcement downtown until 9:00 p.m. was reasonable but he was not sure about enforcement in neighborhoods and asked how much is generated in revenue? Alderman Newman said enforcement in neighborhoods is important at night. He noted enforcement for people who park too close to fire hydrants or block an entrance to an alley and thought enforcement of certain things at night was good. He noted there are some residential only parking areas that go until 8:00 p.m. in neighborhoods. Alderman Jean -Baptiste said if they are doing aggressive enforcement, what revenue are they getting from neighborhoods? Mayor Morton asked the increase in revenue since meter hours were extended to 9:00 p.m.? She gets many complaints about that; wondered if it was that profitable to the City. Alderman Newman said for years in downtown Evanston a person could not find a parking space because the employees of businesses were parked on the streets. So free parking is offered in the garages after 6:00 p.m. despite the fact that $40-50 million has been invested in parking garages. It does not do a business any good to have employees parking on the street. There is one restaurant manager who was issued 134 tickets for parking in front of his restaurant. For the first time they have turnover since they increased meter hours to 9:00 p.m. Now there is street parking at night that allows customers to park. People write letters complaining they got a parking ticket and threaten never to come back to Evanston. If they never come back that is a choice they make, however, the parking spaces continue to be used. When restaurants and shops are open in the evenings they want people to have the hope of getting a parking space, so turnover is important. He gets many comments about turnover from downtown businesses. It is a $10 ticket. At times staff has suggested raising that. He doesn't want people to get tickets, but for years they have tried to get businesses to monitor their employees and get cars off the streets. If people can find parking, they are more apt to return. People ask why not let them park free in downtown Evanston during the day? What would happen is that employees would take up all the street parking and there would be no place to park all day. Parking fines are a significant revenue source. Alderman Feldman also recalled getting calls and letters complaining that people could not find parking so they weren't coming back. He said it works both ways. They are trying to create an opportunity for people to share in the economic health of downtown and the only way to do that is to provide parking. Mayor Morton hears from people who go to a downtown restaurant at 8:00 p.m. and get a ticket Alderman Newman pointed out if someone goes to dinner at 7:01 p.m. and puts money in the meter for two hours, they will not get a parking ticket. If they go at 6:30 p.m. they get two hours at the meter; suggested people can eat dinner within two hours at 95% of the restaurants. People don't have to feed the meter after 6:00 p.m. if they park in a City garage where parking is free. Budget Memo #21, Economic Development Expenditures. Alderman Newman suggested they eliminate $100,000 from that fund. He suggested the Business District Improvement Program could be funded out of the fund balance. Mr. Stafford agreed. He asked if $30,000 for legal services could be eliminated? Yes. He asked that $20,000 for Inventure, which is closing, be eliminated from consulting services. Alderman Newman asked to add a Building Inspector for $60,800 since an inspector was eliminated last year from Property Standards. He said there have been many discussions about the 5th Ward area and residents believe the City is not properly inspecting those properties. There are changeovers there two or three times a year. They want single-family homeowners to feel they can live in that neighborhood. Staff has told them that neighborhood cannot be properly inspected without adding an inspector. He wanted that paid for with Economic Development Fund money. He pointed out the City pays $18,000 annually to belong to the Northwest Municipal Conference and $4,682 to belong to the U.S. Conference of Mayors. He did not know what they get for that. He said the City eliminated warming houses at four parks — Baker, Larimer, Ackerman and Dawes, which means when people go ice skating, warming houses are not open, even on the weekends. It did not make sense to fund memberships in these organizations when they shut down warming houses for parents and children in these parks. He asked what the City gets from the Northwest Municipal Conference? Mr. Crum stated in direct value, the City uses the purchasing 4 February 7, 2004 consortium regularly, which is valuable. He said that it is one of the costs of a city and that normally a city of this size would have these memberships. There is also some lobbying. Mr. Crum said if they wish to reinstate the warming houses, that was one issue, but there are certain obligations the City should continue. Alderman Newman asked why the NU-Cental agreement went down $57,000. Mr. Stafford explained that reduction was agreed to as part of the fiber optic deal when the City picked up about $2 million in fiber optics. Alderman Newman asked why business licenses that were projected at $150,000 went down to $90,000. Mr. Stafford explained with the new accounting system, it turned out that there are two kinds of business licenses. One is plain vanilla and the second is mixed with the Health Department for a combination health inspection/license. After going through the accounting, more was in Health Inspection so they did not lose there but it was reallocated to the Health Department. Alderman Newman asked to add $4,600 for warming houses. He noted there is an "at -risk program" in Mason park that they reduced by $2,700 during the summer months that should be added back. He said the summertime drop-off program was cut by two hours the past two years during June, July and August. Alderman Rainey asked why was this reduced? Parks, Forestry & Recreation Director Doug Gaynor said two years ago they had a certain number to meet with cuts to the budget, so warming houses, this program at Mason Park and a number of other cuts were made either eliminating something or cutting back. It was a financial decision. Alderman Rainey asked if adding the $2,700 back would cover the expenditures for that program? Mr. Gaynor stated the program would be reinstated and is a staff cost. Alderman Moran asked what remedy would they have if the business district improvements program is eliminated from the budget in Memo #21? Mr. Stafford said that was not budgeted last year and was put it in this year. The City has had requests from business districts for banners. He said that can be done as they come up and don't have to specifically budget for that due to the fund balance. Alderman Jean -Baptiste asked if they expect any revenue from a new housing inspector? Alderman Newman said he never knows the revenues the City gets from inspectors. In Administrative Adjudication the amount of fees collected is going down. He thought they should get some but not near $60,000. Community Development Director Jim Wolinski stated it would probably be several thousand dollars in fines. The position cannot pay for itself In response to Alderman Jean -Baptiste, Mr. Wolinski said that certain parts of town generate different fees. Mr. Crum pointed out that regulation is not for profit, but for compliance, so the first effort is to get a problem corrected. They only go to the fine level when they cannot get a problem corrected. The goal is to get the problem taken care of and that may take three trips. Alderman Rainey said that Budget Memo 410 appears to show that staff has agreed to increase the transfer from two TIF funds by $64,500. Mr. Stafford stated that was correct. After re-evaluating this, staff believes they could increase the transfer to the General Fund by $64,500. Alderman Rainey moved that be added to the General Fund. Economic Development Fund. Alderman Newman said that $151,000 is budgeted for consultant services. That number included $60,000 for the convention & visitors bureau. He suggested reducing $20,000 for Inventure, so there is $60,000 for the convention bureau. He asked where the other $90,000 goes; understood they want to do downtown visioning. Money used to establish a TIF district is reimbursable after it is established. Mr. Stafford said they could do that. Assistant City Manager Judith Aiello explained in the early years of the TIF, no reimbursements were done because of concern that there be enough reserves for debt service. As the TIFs have gone on they have begun to make some reimbursements to the General Fund and to the School Districts as it relates to job training. In addition, they added a weekend police patrol for the downtown area; also doing a transfer to take care of extra police calls for the Howard- Hartrey TIF. They have been conservative with transfers and there is enough in reserves. She noted if one of the big box retailers closes, that will eat into those reserves rather quickly. The big box retailers are not as easy to re -tenant as a smaller space. Alderman Newman asked what they were anticipating in feasibility and traffic studies? While he appreciated the value of the Economic Development Fund, they have a lot of economic development going on and wondered how this money would be used. Alderman Feldman said the new initiative of the Economic Development Committee that staff, Inventure, and Plan Commission are involved in is the visioning for downtown, which is important. The City, in a sense is traveling blind, because they are not sure what should be done downtown, how much traffic and density they can sustain. At what point does development downtown become antithetical to the values of this community? He thought the only way they would find out is to raise points of study. He looked upon the balance of the February 7, 2004 money to be used for the studies that Council will need to make decisions having to do with traffic, density and planning. Ms. Aiello said funds would be used for traffic studies of Chicago Ave. and Central St. It also will be used for the Howard Street TIF consulting before it is in place and funds are available. They still need to renegotiate a redevelopment agreement and will use U.S. Equities to negotiate the numbers for that TIF. In addition, they are bringing to Council a request for a planning consultant and after that will bring to the Economic Development Committee and Council a consultant for a traffic study and a retail/market analysis. She said another initiative is starting in some neighborhood business districts. They have $50,000 and money in the CIP and believe more is coming in from neighborhood planning. She will meet with the Chamber of Commerce and neighborhood people on Friday, which is the first time they are bringing people in to learn about their needs and issues. This could include enhanced maintenance issues. Alderman Newman said those were pretty good answers but none of this shows up in the budget. When they look at the Economic Development Fund they cannot tell what is going on. Ms. Aiello said when the budget was put together they did not know these things were coming up, so this is a good time to clarify. Alderman Newman suggested they have line items showing what would be spent on TIF districts, convention bureau, traffic studies, etc. Ms. Aiello said when the budget was put together they knew about the convention bureau, but not about the downtown visioning. Traffic studies for Central and Chicago had just been talked about by the Plan Commission and EDC and would be added to the budget. Alderman Feldman said the fund needed to be flexible so that creative ideas could be implemented. The ability to respond has made good things happen. Another initiative is an examination of the organization of the arts community here and how that might be improved to market culture and the arts. If this works, it promises great things for the City. Alderman Jean -Baptiste said the southwest business sector is organizing and looking at vacant manufacturing buildings in the 2nd Ward. Some are looking at Church/Dodge both east and west. He thought that budget should have more money. Mayor Morton asked if the Council could look at this budget again in September to see if there are some changes before December 3 1 ? Mr. Crum had recommended at their first budget briefing that they do that September 20. By then they will know what the state has done and how the economy is. He highly recommended Council do that. Cable Franchise Fee. Alderman Rainey referred to General Fund Revenues, page 34, account 52180. The City budgeted $475,000 last year and did the same this year. FY 2002-03 showed actual revenues of $587,945. She asked for justification of the projected revenue; thought it should be in direct proportion to the number of units added. Mr. Stafford said last year the cable franchise had taken part of the money back in an administrative fee. The projection is conservative. He estimated they were at $466,000 at the end of January and would get more than $475,000 this year. Mr. Crum said an additional concern among cable folks is there are inroads being made by the satellite dish Direct TV. At the moment they are above projections but there is uncertainty about where that curve will go. She confirmed that the projection is around $500,000 and asked for a budget memo. She asked if they have information from Comcast on number of customers. Mr. Stafford stated that Facilities Management Director Max Rubin receives a number of customers report monthly. Mr. Stafford thought there are around 15,000 customers with two aspects: number of customers and rate. The City gets a percentage of the rate and they know the rate has gone up a bit. There is a tradeoff in terms of penetration and in how many are going over to Direct TV. Alderman Feldman said he receives calls daily for satellite TV. Mr. Crum said this budget was recommended without adding new things. However, one position they may want to consider adding is another staff attorney dedicated entirely to land use and historic preservation because of the many issues in that area. It is a burden for the zoning and legal staff to resolve all the issues. He recommended an additional staff position if there was any interest. City Liabilities. Alderman Moran had not seen an analysis of how the City would respond financially to various liabilities; knew there were generic statements about the options such as bonding, judgment notes and other things. He suggested they develop scenarios for responding in a detailed way and a financial analysis. He acknowledged they have discussed this. They are looking at a budget in which the General Revenue Fund could be dwarfed by the judgments the City could be subject to this year. A potential liability of $22 million has been publicly discussed and the City has a General Revenue Fund of $15 million. He thought Council needed to consider this for the budget before February 23 February 7, 2004 when they vote. He saw this as a potentially serious problem for the City's operation. If the supposition is that it will have no impact on the operation of the City and all of this will be handled by bonds or judgment notes, they need to know potential ramifications to City operations. He requested a dollars and cents analysis, cost and potential impact on programs and services. Mr. Crum said, depending on the amount, staff does not know the answer. They presented a chart showing the $22 million liability in the first briefing. This year's bond issuance will cover $9 million plus what is in the Insurance Fund. They don't have a source for the remainder if the City was hit with amounts above $10 million. The City does not have cash in the bank and would have to come up with a long-term financing plan. Staff can run numbers to show the impact of debt service on $15, 20, 25 million, but that is as far as they can go. Another reason for the September 20 Special City Council meeting is the first round of significant judgments and appeals will have occurred by that point. They may have to change direction of where they are going when they see those. They prefer to go with a bond issue this spring that will allow a $9 million set -aside to get them started but that is not the answer if everything goes wrong. Alderman Newman said staff came to them with a debt service plan and were under some criticism for it. They are increasing debt service 4% and part of that is for the new bond issue. All $22 million could hit this year. The City has built up reserves with good planning by staff, so there has been an effort to deal with this problem. He thought there might have been a change in the law on police pursuits in the early 1990s and that law is not good for municipalities. The City has done the best it can to respond. This is an uncomfortable situation. They are not sure the $22 million will go in this fiscal year. He noted they will get $9 million this year and asked what the City would get in the second year? Mr. Stafford said they planned for a $12 million bond issue. Depending on the issues, if they take $6.5 million for capital improvements, they could have another $5.5 million for these cases. If they do well on the lawsuits, they could take $9 million for capital improvements and $3 million for insurance. Alderman Newman confirmed that there would additional funds above the $9 million this year. Alderman Newman said if they issue more bonds, they could increase the property tax 6.85%. The Police Department is under a lot of pressure due to these suits. They have a problem on liabilities due to the kind of City Evanston is and now have liability insurance for big lawsuits. Alderman Tisdahl agreed that staff had done a good job but appreciated Alderman Moran asking the question. The only strategy she was aware of is the City has to win the appeal. She wanted to see what the City would do if the appeal is not won. She thought they needed to discuss tort reform, which she discussed with Senator Durbin, Congresswoman Schakowsky and senate candidate Dan Hynes unsuccessfully. Those discussions need to continue as part of a strategy but she would like an answer beyond "they have to win the appeal," because they should win this egregious suit. Alderman Feldman agreed that a strategy should be put together and written up. They need to have all the initiatives, planning and what they don't know. Alderman Moran asked the amount of umbrella liability? Mr. Stafford said they have a deductible of $2 million and $10 million per occurrence. Alderman Moran suggested they have a higher liability occurrence level. He noted they are talking about six -seven cases, and one case alone is 30% over their liability limit with accrued interest. Mr. Stafford said staff would be before the A&PW Committee with the policies and they could price them at $10 and $20 million. Alderman Moran noted those upper levels of coverage are not as costly as the lower levels. Alderman Moran knew this was a difficult exercise and hoped his remarks were not interpreted to mean that nobody is thinking about this. His concern was next year's budget between March 1, 2004 and February 28, 2005, although they have a plan to issue further debt in the following year, what happens if before they get there, there is a big drop against the City. He agreed with Alderman Newman in looking at a 7% tax increase, how much higher can they go? He did not think they could raise property taxes to meet these obligations, so there may have to be cuts. They don't know these worse case scenarios would devolve to them and hoped they would not. He hoped that if they have a bad scenario, they think about their options. If it is a 30% increase in the property tax, all had better put their safety belts on. Mr. Stafford stated options would be put in a memo. Alderman Newman did not think the strategy was that the City had to win the appeal, although winning the appeal is an important aspect of reducing the liabilities. He asked how judgment bonds would work and affect the City? Mr. Stafford has run some preliminary numbers. They are prepared with a financing plan for everything except the case that is on appeal. They could issue judgment bonds or a combination of judgment bonds and/or other cash or if the Council chooses cuts. He stated that this is not solved financially. They have a plan for close to half of the liability, which is reasonable and within the confines relative to what is in the budget. February 7, 2004 Alderman Feldman said a big problem they have to face is whether this will be a constant issue before Council with monumental assaults on the resources of this community. He could not imagine living under this kind of constraint and demand. He did not know what they could do other than the initiatives Alderman Tisdahl mentioned with legislators and the insurance; asked how do they make sure they don't have $20 million in liabilities hanging over their heads constantly? Living with this as a way of life was intolerable to him. Alderman Newman moved to add a $75,000 expenditure for an attorney for the Zoning Division. Mr. Crum said they would not hire at entry-level, but someone with experience and expertise in land use and historic preservation. That person would be assigned to the Legal Department. Alderman Newman said there have been many problems and this would save money and make development smoother. When notices are incorrect it makes an impossible situation. Alderman Rainey recalled the City uses outside attorneys on real estate matters such as foreclosures; asked what those expenditures have been this past year and would those expenditures be eliminated by adding this position? Mr. Crum stated the largest outside attorney costs have been for litigation. Mr. Hill said the cost for the City's foreclosure expert is between $6-10,000 annually. He did not envision this position would include foreclosures. The focus would be someone who knows zoning law, will work with the Community Development Department and attend the appropriate meetings so they have coordination. He said this is a consequence of so many projects. Citizen Comment Junad Rizki, 2784 Sheridan Rd., said that NU has Willie the Wildcat as its symbol. The City needs a symbol, too. He suggested a pink pig as a symbol of the City's budget. The lighthouse was not appropriate at times. For years he has come to budget meetings and sees no change. Council has not been serious about keeping the budget under control; has encouraged some of these poor practices for years. Recently, he noticed the City sold some property in his neighborhood and the property was worth a considerable amount because it is on the lakefront. They are vacating a street and he thought the proceeds could possibly pay the real estate property tax increase for this year but with the liabilities, perhaps that money will go somewhere else. He said that for years the Evanston pig has blamed Willie the Wildcat for not enough taxes. The Evanston pig has mismanaged things and levied excessive taxes on citizens. From the (Parks/Forestry &) Recreation Department, Health & Human Services to Human Relations, they have funded programs such as the Community Defender where taxpayers provide support to those arrested for crimes. How much duplication, hidden items and misuse of funds should they put up with? He said some think a toy pig is silly but how serious is this Council in providing leadership and not playing politics with tax dollars. Telling citizens they will receive a 1.2% increase on the total real estate tax bill, when Evanston has one of the highest tax rates and fee collections of most suburbs, is not responsible. He thought the City Manager summed up something interesting when he said that fines are to enforce, not to collect revenue. Too many items are to collect revenues. He was not sure what the City does that it needs to tax his gas bill excessively, which is hard on many citizens. Recently he noted the Zion Park District closed its ice rink because it had a $50,000 overrun of expenses. The City has hundreds of thousands of dollars in the red in its Recreation Division and it could be more than a million a year of things that are not operating well. Nobody on this Council is looking at that. To say they are going to have problems with lawsuits may be a good thing because it could mean that things would be looked at closely as to what is really going on and may be fixed. Until they eliminate pork belly tax dollars they will continue to have poor services and tax increases. Mr. Crum asked all to read their Friday evening packets and confirmed they did not need a February 14 meeting. There being no further business to come before Council, Mayor Morton asked for a motion to adjourn. The Council so moved at 11:05 a.m. Mary P. Morris, City Clerk A videotape recording of this meeting has been made Dart of the permanent record and is available in the Citv Clerk's office