2010-10-04 Regular City Council Session

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Edward McCarthy, 7101 Princeton Mr. McCarthy would like to bring up another point on the trash bills. He said do not collect the trash bills. He would like to see the City record a lien against the property and earn interest. He sees the City’s problem as it does not have the guts to turn around and put grandma out of the house and that is what needs to happen one or two times to get those bills to start coming in. P. COUNCIL COMMENTS Mr. Sharpe wanted to make sure everyone is aware that there is a senior citizen group that meets everyday except Friday from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. at 975 Pennsylvania. He said they have many activities and lunch is served. He also wanted to remind everyone who uses credit cards at such places as the service stations, to press “clear” after using a card. He says there is always the possibility that the next person could use your credit information. Mr. Price asked for clarification from Ms. Watson on delinquent trash collections. He asked what the procedure was when the City has a delinquent bill. Ms. Watson stated those in arrears were offered an amnesty program where if the resident paid in full some penalties and interest were waived. It took about two years to cover the entire City and shut-off notices were sent, they incorporated a low income program, and created a payment plan. There are about 350 properties presently shut off. Liens are recorded on properties with an eight percent accrual rate. She noted the State Auditor did a test on the top 100 listed and all had either a payment schedule, a lien or were shut off. Presently the new billing system still requires this data to be entered. As of this summer, the delinquencies were $1.6 million and the City had collected about $400,000. Ms. Ricci asked how delinquent bills were handled when payment came in. Ms. Watson stated that they always applied it to the oldest bill first. Periodically the resident would request it only to be applied to the current bill but now it is applied to only the oldest past due first. Ms. Ricci stated she would ask for a more detailed report rather than to take up the time now. Mr. Price produced a 2005 Solid Waste report and asked the City Clerk to make a copy for the rest of the Council for their next packet. The document compares University City to what nine other cities charges the residents. He asked how much a household would have to pay if the bond issue would have passed. Mr. Walker’s reply was on a $200,000 home it would have been $30 a year. Mr. Price said that if the City isn’t paid to do it then the provider will be paid to do it. Mr. Price said the books will look good because the cost has been transferred off the books. Mr. Price then talked about Capital Expenditures. There was $300,000 for a pumper allocated so that money has been spent. Then at the budget session we have these huge sums of money that is allocated for Capital Expenditures. He said that anybody knows that you don’t pay Capital Expenditures out of your General Fund because they are large sums of money that would destroy the General Fund. Mr. Priced stated if you look at the Balance Sheet that is what it is doing. He was told what the average salary of non-uniform employee was $45,000. Mr. Price said if you took this into the projected deficit, it would take 40 employees and would gut Public Works. He stated that Capital Expenditures needed to be removed from the report as it is not appropriate. Mr. Crow said he received a lot of email from Rosedale Heights and Ames Place due to resulting noise of COCA’s fund raiser. He was hopeful at some point in time that a respectful 6