Moved by Deputy Mayor Curtis, seconded by Councilor Broxterman to accept the proposed tax collection rate of 98.75% for the FY 2005 budget.

The reduction is for $165,000 in expected savings by ValueNet and $487,800 for one-time capital expenses.

Moved by Councilor Ellingwood, seconded by Councilor Mulligan to amend the main motion to further reduce the amount by $250,000.

Mayor Trinks is in support of the original motion.

Councilor Mulligan said that the $165,000 has been saved and it has nothing to do with reducing services.

Amendment Failed 4-5-0 (Councilors Broxterman, Simon, Walker, Deputy Mayor Curtis and Mayor Trinks opposed)

The reduction eliminates the police vehicle leasing take home program because it needs further discussion. It also adds an additional $10,000 for police training for mental health services.

Councilor Mulligan agrees that the police vehicle-leasing program needs further discussion.

The $5,000 reduction is for Northwest Park’s one-time purchase.

Moved by Councilor Ellingwood, seconded by Councilor Mulligan to amend the motion to further reduce the amount by $52,000.

Councilor Ellingwood suggested eliminating the proposed salary increase in the amount of $52,000.

Town Manager Churchill said that some of the wage increases are for lifeguards to bring them up to par with lifeguard wages in area towns. The additional increase is related to contracting out of pool opening and closing to comply with safety regulations.

Councilor Broxterman said summer programming is highly successful and they expect to double attendance this year. He does not accept the amendment.

The amendment Failed 4-5-0 (Councilors Walker, Simon, Broxterman, Deputy Mayor Curtis and Mayor Trinks opposed)

The reduction is for one-time purchases in Senior Services for $15,000 related to vehicle replacement.

Councilor Ellingwood would like the .5 FTE Information Technology position removed from the budget.

Councilor Broxterman said that the .5 FTE is due to demand for public access computers and staff is needed.

Councilor Walker agrees with Councilor Broxterman. The information technology area is expanding at the library.

Town Manager Churchill said that the position is proposed to be filled in January 2005. The expertise is needed. The position will require a complete year of funding in 2006. This proposal is an attempt to restore a reduction made in the FY 04 budget and prepare for the library’s future needs.

Moved by Councilor Ellingwood, seconded by Councilor Dean to amend the motion to reduce the Library Services budget by $25,000.

Motion Failed 4-5-0 (Councilors Walker, Simon, Broxterman, Deputy Mayor Curtis and Mayor Trinks opposed)

The reductions are as follows: Planning Department $1,000, Building Safety $14,000, and Engineering $47,000 for a total of $62,000. It also shifts $91,000 from stormwater management to Engineering. This motion would not pursue the storm water management fund as an enterprise fund but leave it in defined areas in the budget in Development Services and Public Works.

Moved by Councilor Ellingwood, seconded by Councilor Jepsen to amendment the main motion to further reduce the amount by $50,000.

Councilor Ellingwood would like to eliminate the .75 Business Development position. He recognizes the need for this, but there are people on town staff who do this with large businesses and feels that they can refocus to do economic development with small businesses.

Mayor Trinks feels strongly about economic development in town. He feels that it is far too much for one person to handle. The small businesses are the backbone of our town and give us our small town charm. He opposes the amendment to eliminate the position.

Councilor Walker says that small businesses feel that the town needs to do more to attract small businesses and give them a helping hand to increase their efficiencies and bring more people to the center of town. There is only so much that one person can do.

Councilor Broxterman is certain that the activity level of that department doesn’t change based on new companies coming into towns. We are constantly in competition with other towns in attracting large businesses.

Amendment failed 2-7-0 (Councilors Walker, Simon, Broxterman, Mulligan, Dean, Deputy Mayor Curtis and Mayor Trinks opposed)

The increase is for the reallocation of the storm water fund of $339,000 and a reduction of $40,000 annually in anticipated street light costs.

Moved by Councilor Ellingwood, seconded by Councilor Jepsen to further reduce the budget by $60,000.

Councilor Ellingwood proposed to drop the two seasonal employees in the Public Works Department.

Councilor Simon said that the seasonal positions are to get us back to where we were a year ago.

Mayor Trinks said that this budget is a restoration budget, not an enhancement budget. This budget gets us back to services we have had previously. Public Works is a very high visibility department. It is a quality of life issue for Windsor.

Amendment Failed 1-8-0 (Councilor Walker, Simon, Broxterman, Dean, Mulligan, Jepsen, Deputy Mayor Curtis and Mayor Trinks opposed)

The reduction is for one-time purchases in Administrative Services.

The motion is for an increase of $10,000 for the volunteer support program (moved from the unclassified section to Community Services) and an increase of $10,000 for Fire Explorers (new item). Reductions include removal of the electronic government initiative of $3,972 for laptops and $17,877 for Council technology. Also, a reduction of $40,000 out of the Town Manager’s budget in anticipated salary savings.

Councilor Broxterman made a motion, seconded by Councilor Ellingwood, to reduce the appropriation to WIN-TV by $6,300.

Councilor Broxterman would like to sustain the annual contribution to WIN-TV and not increase the contribution. He would like to see WIN-TV increase their fundraising before we contribute more to them.

Councilor Simon feels that the budget is a compromise and we should not engage in examining each and every community service agency.

Amended motion was withdrawn by Councilor Broxterman and Ellingwood.

Councilor Mulligan made a motion, seconded by Councilor Brosterman to remove electronic voting machine funding of $13,960 and revert back to last year’s community services funding of $44,490. The additional reduction equals $58,450.

Councilor Walker commented on funding for organizations, which are not just for the category of Arts. There is the Network for Domestic Abuse, Northwest Counseling Services, etc.

Councilor Broxterman said this is not the appropriate time to set policy in this category, specifically the Arts Policy.

Deputy Mayor Curtis is opposed to the amendment. He feels that a lot of work has gone into discussions with these groups and the level of funding. Instead of singling out certain groups, keep the proposal as motioned by Councilor Simon.

Mayor Trinks agrees wholeheartedly with Deputy Mayor Curtis. If we don’t appropriate funds for an Arts Policy, we will have no money to support it. As a town, we don’t put a lot of financial resources to the Arts. SummerWind is still a work in progress, whether it is under Archer AME or Celebrate Windsor. Start-up businesses take some time to set up and make a profit. With acceptance of the amendment, we eliminate two shows and the organization may be lost.

Councilor Dean said this discussion points to the fact that we need an Arts Policy. If an organization comes to us for funds, we need to know what they have done for fundraising before we appropriate these funds. An Arts Policy will determine how we are going to support this in the future.

Mayor Trinks said we do have a vested interest in SummerWind and perhaps we should have a Councilor on their board.

Councilor Mulligan commented that if we adopt this figure, the Arts Policy would still be unfunded because this money is dedicated to certain organizations. Perhaps at some point we can make some funds available to an Arts Commission.

Mayor Trinks suggested taking additional funds and dedicating it to a separate line item for the Arts Commission.

Town Manager Churchill said that the creation of an Arts Commission could occur in time for the FY 2006 budget process. He sees such a commission becoming part of budget deliberations.

Councilor Ellingwood said that we constantly get involved in things that we can’t fix. We need to wean ourselves out of the habit of donating to every cause that requests funds.

Councilor Simon agrees with the Mayor in keeping the proposed increase amounts as a separate, unclassified, unencumbered amount for the Arts Commission.

Councilor Walker asked what the State’s recommendation was for voting machines. Town Manager Churchill said that there is no specific information, Congress is debating the issue.

Councilor Ellingwood said a decision needs to be made tonight to fund these organizations.

Councilor Jepsen made a friendly amendment which was accepted to further reduce the proposed budget by $13,960 from the election’s portion and to encumber $27,500 from Celebrate Windsor, $7,890 from Archer Memorial AME and $6,300 from cable television.

Main motion as amended passed 7-2-0 (Councilor Ellingwood and Deputy Mayor Curtis opposed)

The reduction includes the storm water management fund, one-time capital expenses, $20,000 in insurance for savings in prescription drug costs, elimination of the unclassified account of $52,500 in general services and an increase of $10,000 for revaluation costs.