J - Monroeville

}Also, the CSC had to appoint a Solicitor. Due to the delay, and considering the length oftime for the hiring process, four officers with benefits have been budgeted for hire in April2012 at a cost of $263,630.Building and Planning - Code Enforcement Officer. Currently, the Zoning Officer isassuming the duties of code enforcement. In the past, the Municipality had three (3) CodeEnforcement Officers that patrolled the Municipality and a Zoning Officer. During this time,the Municipality was pro-active with property maintenance and zoning enforcement, butwith the decrease in staff the Municipality is complaint driven with respect to propertymaintenance.The Municipality's code enforcement is lacking in all phases of property maintenance suchas sanitation conditions, weeds, high grass, rodent harborage and un-inspected/unregisteredmotor vehicles as well as miscellaneous complaints. The current and onlyCode/Zoning Officer performs at a very high level and takes great pride in his work, but hecannot keep up with the workload of the property maintenance issue in the Municipality.Included in the Budget is the replacement of one Code Enforcement Officer. ThebUdgeted cost with benefits for the Code Enforcement Officer is approximately $50,633with a hire date of April 1,2012.Planner . the Municipality is of such size with its business activity, traffic, buildingproposals, signage and parking requirements that a Planner is needed. The person in thisposition will implement the new zoning ordinance, attend Planning Commission meetings,meet with developers and regional planning entities, and keep the municipality on trackwith the Municipal Comprehensive Plan. Also, the new person will be required to developnew planning techniques like smart growth concepts, rehabilitation of blighted property andwork with an economic development authority (County and/or local). In addition, newcommercial development improvements to infrastructure should be memorialized andcodified though impact fee legislation. The new position would review the Viability ofimpact fee legislation coupled with land preservation techniques. This position has beenbudgeted at the cost of $70,971 with benefits with a hire date of April 1, 2012.ISSUES FOR COUNCIL'S CONSIDERATIONAs displayed from the estimated revenues and expenditures from above, the Municipality is thebeginning the 2012 Budget process with a $4,001,153 deficit. That is with an included fund balanceof $739,972. The following segment shows the breakdown of the fund balance. In addition, thedeficit was "reduced" to this amount by increasing the revenue from total gross cable receipts to 5percent (maximum) from 3 percent in the General Fund. The Cable TV Fund has a fund balance of$773,105 which can sustain operations in that department for the next two (2) to three (3) years.1. General Fund: Fund Balance AnalysisAs previously mentioned, the Municipality has been able to rely on unreserved fund balancesin past years that exceeded national norms to balance the budget when expendituresexceeded estimated revenues. This is not the case this year where a significantly reduced$739,972 fund balance has been used to balance the General Fund. This amount representsthe above 10 percent threshold. Yet a $4,001,153 deficit still exists.The following general fund balance information is presented for the purpose ofassisting Council in analyzing present and future fiscal position:·7·