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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2020-06-02 Finance Committee Minutes FINANCE COMMITTEE MINUTES June 2, 2020 Councilors in Attendance: Hawes, Okafor, Supica, Tremble, Sprague, Schaefer, Davitt, Fournier Staff in Attendance: Laurie, Conlow, Cromwell, Willett, Hathaway, Theriault, Little, Saucier 1. Bids/Purchasing a. Painting of Inside Shop – Fleet Maintenance – Limitless, Inc - $52,993 Motion made and seconded to award bid, motion passed unanimously. b. Request to Purchase Body Armor – Police Department – Admirals of ME - $25,680 Motion made and seconded to authorize purchase, motion passed unanimously. c. Request to Waive Bid Process – Broadway Pavement Project – Engineering - Northeast Paving - $432,530 Staff explained the details of the proposal from the contractor. Based on the proposed pricing when compared to recent competitive bid, staff recommendation was to waive the bid process. Motion made and seconded to recommend authorizing a contract to the City Council, motion passed unanimously. d. Request to Authorize Contract – Hillside Drive Ditch Rehab – Stormwater – Eastwood Contractors - $15,400 Motion made and seconded to authorize contract, motion passed unanimously. e. Willard Orr Bridge Replacement – Engineering – Devoe Construction - $1,275,000 Motion made and seconded to recommend contract award to the City Council, motion passed unanimously. 2. Proposed Timeframe for Tax Lien Process As a follow up to the discussion held at the prior Finance Committee meeting, staff proposed a timeline to begin the process of notifying tax payers of past due amounts, the 30-day demand mailings and overall lien process. In addition, staff provided a sample letter to be included with any mailings. There were no objections from Council members, staff will proceed as outlined. 3. Update on Vehicle Registrations Staff provided an update on recent Executive Orders related to vehicle registrations. The need for Bangor residents to catch up on registrations will be tied to the thirty day period following the expiration of the State of Emergency. Staff also shared that relocating the services to the Cross Center has been well received and to date staff has serviced in excess of 1,100 citizens. There still remains approximately 5,500 expired registrations from March – May, and an additional 2,500 are set to expire in June. 4. Review of General Fund Revenues – April 30, 2020 th Staff significant revenue variances for the General Fund through April 30. The primary areas where revenues are lagging include property taxes, excise taxes and charges for services (primarily related to the Community Connector). Real estate tax collections are down about 2.5% from prior year levels, but with the reopening, the issuance of past due notices, we anticipate that variance to significantly narrow. Excise taxes is the area which will have the greatest impact on year end results. It is anticipated receipts will be under budget by nearly $900k. Of that amount $300k is likely to be collected after year end (delay in the requirement to register or renewal registrations under the Governor’s Executive Order), but the balance of $600k is not likely to be realized. The $600k is the amount that the City would typically see from rental car agencies. However with the reduction in tourism, it is not likely that the agencies will be registering a significant number of vehicles with us for the balance of the fiscal year. The rear loading of passengers and honor system for fares on the Community Connector is likely to remain in place through year. So we expect a significant negative variance related to fares. However, the City did receive CARES Act funding which will allow us to paying Community Connector operating costs, therefore there should be no impact to the taxpayer due to the lack of fare collection.