STATE OF THE TOWN ADDRESS January 30, 2015

Transcription

1 STATE OF THE TOWN ADDRESS January 30, 2015 This is my sixth State of the Town Address covering five years, 29 days, 13 hours, and 30 minutes. I appreciate the opportunity the Amherst Chamber gives me yearly and appreciate the warm welcome that I always receive. Thank you. This is our fifth year of lowering the tax levy and lowering the tax rate. Our yearly spending remains below the budget we inherited in 2010, adjusted for changes in accounting in This was my easiest budget because it used a million dollars less in fund balance than I expected. This was because $700,000 in expenses from the aforementioned change in accounting was omitted. The error was corrected in a budget amendment using a reserve fund. I mention both the tax levy and the tax rate separately. The tax levy is the total amount that we raise in taxes, and it has been lower the last five years. The tax rate is derived from the total assessed value. When the tax base increases from new construction, Amherst s taxpayers get the full benefit as a tax reduction, which is what has happened again this year. Town taxes are 6.49% below the 2010 level on a $100,000 home. Amherst s increase in assessed value is a combination of value from new construction and revaluations of existing real estate. 75% is new construction or about $260 million. We have about 140 active assessment challenges, mainly commercial properties. We have allocated an additional $200,000 in the 2015 budget for professional services. 1

2 Quality Amherst continues to be a very desirable community to live, work, play, invest, learn, visit, or just pass through. We have won awards for being one of the safest towns in America. We have won awards for raising children and families, including 100 Best Communities for Young People for two consecutive years. Amherst is the topic of a newly-released book, America s Safest City: Delinquency and Modernity in Suburbia, written by former UB Professor and Amherst resident, Dr. Simon Singer. We offer recreation opportunities for youth and adults in baseball, softball, soccer, football, ice skating, ice hockey, field hockey, basketball, golf, swimming, and others. Amherst s Northtown Ice Center is now the home of the New York State Amateur Hockey Association Hall of Fame. The entire net increase in jobs in Erie County over the last generation is in Amherst. Real estate values in Amherst continue to appreciate, our schools are among the best in Erie County and New York State, and we have lots of activities and places to stay for visitors. And for those who just want to pass through, our streets are plowed. We are pleased to host the North Campus of SUNY at Buffalo, the North Campus of ECC, Daemen College, ITT, and Bryant & Stratton. We are pleased to be the largest town in upstate New York and slowly growing. With great schools, a safe community, stable town taxes, affordable but appreciating real estate, an expanding work force, easy commuting, awesome parks, entertainment, youth centers and senior centers, and a great Chamber of Commerce, it is no surprise that Amherst is so desirable. We have a lot to be proud of. 2

3 All New York State municipalities are faced with the same problem, which is staying within the 2% tax cap. All New York State municipalities have the same budget challenges to get there. They are the costs associated with health care, New York State Retirement, services, litigation, and the work force. This is how Amherst has dealt with these challenges the last five years. Health Insurance The cost of health insurance has historically increased 10 to 15% a year, and we budgeted and spent about $11,745,000 for health insurance in In the last five years, we created a competitive environment for our premium dollars, which slowed the increase. Then we went to self-insurance with individual and aggregate reinsurance, created competition for our Medicare and pharmacy components, and reduced administration cost by half with a third-party administrator. Our cost for 2014 adjusted for runoff is $13,924,000. Our budget for 2015 is $14,075,000. Our most recent initiative for pharmacy savings in 2015 is projected at $900,000 from budget. This represents a 2-3% a year increase since

4 NYS Retirement Amherst s contribution to the New York State Retirement Fund has been increasing for years. Last year (2014), the Police contribution averaged 32% and non-police 20%. There is a 10% reduction for 2015, which helps. A series of separation incentives and a retirement incentive have increased workforce turnover and taken advantage of New York State s Tier 5 and Tier 6 contribution levels. This is the only reform that I would give New York State credit for. The state retirement contribution in 2010 was $7,857,469 and 2015 is $10,354,939. Services It is a government s obligation to see that services are provided, not necessarily to provide the services. Where government chooses to provide services, it needs to be cost effective. Amherst provided trash pickup, landfilling, recyclable pickup, and yard waste pickup in 2012, 2013, and 2014 for $2.2 million a year less than in Our recycling is up substantially. The yard waste is taken to the same compost facility, but the facility is now owned by a private company, not the town. The result is that a few people are no longer able to purchase lowcost compost, and Amherst s taxpayers benefit from turning a $300,000 a year loss on compost into a $100,000 a year revenue stream. The town used to have a museum department. Now Amherst has a private not-for-profit museum and spends $330,000 a year less for it. We provide in-kind services for the museum as much as possible. After sustaining years of losses in golf, we are looking for professional management for our three golf courses and driving range and received two responses to our RFP. We believe that we have maintained services while responsibly cutting costs. 4

5 Litigation Litigation is everywhere in New York State. Amherst was a defendant in third-party workers compensation litigation, and Amherst lost $19 million. Amherst impleaded the New York State Insurance Fund as the workers compensation carrier for the roofing company that employed the injured worker. Amherst s impleading won in 2008, but the New York State Insurance Fund refused to pay in Amherst then invoked $10,000,000 from its excess insurer, Granite, and borrowed $13.4 million to pay off the judgment and interest. This was a good business decision. Amherst sued the New York State Insurance Fund again for $23.4 million plus the New York statutory interest of 9% a year since So, the settlement with the New York State Insurance Fund for $31 million included about $7.5 million in interest. A little over $3 million of the settlement was put into in escrow for litigation between Amherst and Granite. Two weeks ago we won the whole thing in New York State Supreme Court. They have already started the appeal process. Our New York State representatives, Assemblyman Ray Walter and Senator Michael Ranzenhofer, were very supportive in our dispute with the New York State Insurance Fund. Amherst settled a police officer rear ending a vehicle on Sheridan Drive for $1.2 million in the middle of the trial. We have an appeal before the Appellate Division of a $3.1 million dollar judgment in favor of Acquest. We continue to defend Microlink even though we thought we had won. We sued the owners of Brewster Mews and Peppertree Heights for back taxes by joining with the county and two school districts. Two weeks ago we were awarded property taxes for in New York State Supreme Court. We won an assessment challenge at the Court of Appeals in Albany following three adverse decisions locally and in Rochester. 5

6 We have done an RFP for legal services for assessment challenges, for lawsuits, and for workers compensation. We have added law firms willing to match our current cost structure. We have an agreement to split costs on some assessment challenges with Amherst Central and Sweet Home. 6

7 Work Force The cost of Amherst s work force is the largest component in the budget. We employ approximately 612 full-time employees and 151 part-time employees at a budgeted cost of $46 million in wages and $28 million in benefits. We have five bargaining units and an exempt group. Central Alarm s 11 employees provide EMS and fire dispatch services to Amherst, Clarence, and Newstead. AEA (Amherst Employees Association) employs about 56 employees, provides services at our Wastewater Treatment Plant and provides sanitary sewer maintenance. The plant services Amherst, including the Village of Williamsville, U.B., part of Clarence, and Erie County Sewer District No. 5. AHEA (Amherst Highway Employees Association), about 130 employees, provides snow plowing, paving, drainage, park maintenance, traffic lights, signs, electric lights, brush pickup, leaf pickup, and equipment repairs throughout the town, outside the village. The Police union has about 150 employees. The CSEA (Civil Service Employees Association) has about 210 employees who provide clerical, supervisory, and skilled services throughout the town. Exempt employees are department heads, assistant department heads, Human Resources, Law, elected officials, and confidential clerks. The next slide shows nine fewer department heads or assistant department heads than in These are real cuts of highly-paid positions through attrition and reorganization of responsibilities. All replacements have been internal promotions. Central Alarm is a stipend. The Court avoided backfilling an exempt deputy position. The Town Engineer is the Building Commissioner. Highway is headed by the deputy, Joe Speth, who oversees trash for a stipend. I.T. is a stipend. The museum was privatized. I do Purchasing with no stipend. Recreation was merged with Youth with one department head. 7

8 A series of separation incentives has been offered to employees. Each is voluntary, negotiated with their union, and flexible. We have had programs accepted by one employee, two, eight, fifteen, twenty, and thirty. We have reorganized responsibilities in many departments to avoid replacing all the positions. Where we have replaced, I will provide an example. We have contracts and two-tiered wage structures with CSEA, Central Alarm, and Amherst Employees Association. Amherst Highway Association has not had a contract since December 31, Police have binding arbitration, and for 2011 and 2012 the arbitrator awarded them 2% a year. The cost was 2.5 million dollars in We continue to negotiate for 2013, 2014, and New York State has offered a tax rebate to STAR homeowners in municipalities that stay within the tax cap, which Amherst has done for There is an additional 2016 rebate for again complying with the tax cap and offering an efficiency plan. Amherst will join with the county and other municipalities in creating a single county-wide government efficiency plan, estimated to show $7-8 million in savings. I ve attempted to explain how Amherst has dealt with Albany s challenges. While the tax cap has been applauded by taxpayers throughout New York, the reform that was anticipated and expected by taxing jurisdictions has not materialized. Many of these jurisdictions are finding that a tax cap without reform results in fiscal stress. We in Amherst will continue to do our best to hold down taxes while maintaining the level of services that we have come to expect. 8

9 Are there any questions? Okay. The first question is what are you going to do next? The answer is I m almost 71. I have 2 years, 11 months, 1 day, and 10-1/2 hours left as Supervisor. I would like to finish but cannot guarantee this. I have worked hard to create a streamlined and efficient government and would like to some day turn it over to someone who understands what we have done and who can keep it going. Second question. What issues do you see dominating 2015? The first is the rezoning of the Westwood Country Club. The developers are seeking single-family homes, patio homes, condo s, apartments, office buildings, two nursing homes, and a four-story hotel. The Draft Environmental Impact Statement was poorly done and lacked many required features. We are waiting for additional information before starting our review. Neighborhood input will be very important during this process. The developer has closed the golf course because of arsenic contamination from herbicides and pesticides applied before Second is zoning reform. We have a grant, and we hired a consultant to review the zoning code. What we will need is community input. Third is privatizing golf and reorganizing Highway. We have two responses to the golf RFP. Fourth is finance, especially union contracts and navigating the Taylor Law. Again, I thank the Amherst Chamber of Commerce for the opportunity to present the State of the Town. I thank you for your attention and hope that I was both informative and entertaining. I would like to introduce our Deputy Supervisor of the whole 5 years, 29 days, 13 hours, and 35 minutes for corrections. 9