Report of the Montpelier City Council's Citizen Budget Review ...

Five City/Town Comparative Chart- Debt Service9/23/2012Measures of Debt Level Montpelier Brattleboro Middlebury St. Albans City WinooskiFY13 GF Annual debt service per capita $ 107.07 $ 62.50 $ 87.10 $ 49.94 $32.73GF Tot Long-term Debt per capita $ 3,148.62$ 2,073.45$ 244.912010 Census Population 7855 12046 8496 6918 7267Has CIP Yes Yes YesYes (only had threeyears)YesHas Debt Schedule Yes Yes Yes Yes YesWay Fund Capital needs/EquipmentGeneral Obligation Bonds Yes 50% Yes Yes Yes Yes (Firetruck)Long-term lease/lease to purchase Yes 2% Yes No Yes NoPay as You Go (Appropriation of GF, SFor EF)Yes 20%YesYes (includes 2 cent onproperty tax that isdedicated annually topay for Fire Equipment)Capital Reserve Fund No No NoSurplus No YesYes(rare but MiddleburyColl. Paid 1/2 cost ofbridge)YesYes( annuallyreserve $s towardfuture purchases)Grants/ Donations Yes 28% Yes (not often) YesState/FedAnnual Long-term Debt Service CostFuture Major Project NeedYes(included in 28%above)$841,000 GF;$1,659,000 otherfundsCar lot, Roads, BikePath, Heat Plant etc.YesYes Has capitalstrategy to fundsmall equipmentabout $50K a yearNosmall useYes (CommunityCtr, naturepreserve, rec areas)Yes Yes Yes Yes (Infrastructure)$752,935 GF;$1,376,196 OtherFundsPolice/Fire Building$740,000 GFup to date- even didsome work early to takeadvantage of low interestand low bid costs.$345,479 GF;$819,123 OtherFundssignificant deferredmaintenance ofstreets, sidewalks,wastewatertreatment, waterdistributionGO Bond(Wastewater) and$237,843 GF;$1,164,846 OtherFundstrying to lessenemergencysituations byreplacing itemsbefore they failWay they will be budgeted and paidBonds, etc. Use PublicWorking onGO Bonds, etcGO BondsforWorks Comm Recs.strategy nowTown schedule for replacement, repair,maintenance:update CIP annuallyEquipment/Fleet Yes Yes Yes Yes in CIP Yes in CIPRoads/Buildings/etc. Yes Yes Yes No Yes in CIPHow have handled capital relatedemergencies and cost overruns andfunded themHave they reduced,postponed, oreliminated budgeted items,examplesAdded grants, gotinsurance payouts,delayed projectsYesThey change CIP orderif something happens,use fund balance ifneededThe Public WorksComm./Town Councilmay change CIP and payas you go priorities todeal with problemsHave been able totap reserve fundsfor emergencies andcost overruns.Capital plan itemsreduced in budgetprimarilypoliceUsed combinationof bonds and budgetchanges to deal withthisIssue with StateAudit of TIF is stillto be resolved.Note : there is a bond issue of $1.67 mil that Montpelier has issued in FY13 for $800K Car lot and $870K Cap needs and fire truck. Also have $2 million approved HeatPlant bond authority but not using this bond authority at this point. The FY 13 $1.67 million VMBB bond issued in FY13 is not in the VMBB database yet and so is not inthe VMBB measures included in the text.Similarities and differences between these Towns/Cities:Like most of our sample communities Montpelier has a Capital Improvement Plan (CIP) and anEquipment Replacement Plan. But there are philosophical, budgetary and proceduraldifferences between the towns that became apparent in our interviews with them.• Montpelier: Montpelier has a 6 year CIP and a 5 year Equipment Replacement Plan.CIP calls for increased spending over the next few years over current levels primarily to“catch up” on the repair and maintenance of Montpelier’s roads. This state of affairsoccurred because of a combination, as Bill Fraser suggested in our interview, of yearsof deferred maintenance and a number of emergencies (which occurred mostly becausePage 41 of 88