Moline City Council Meeting – Strategic Plan Update and 2024-2026 Budget Recommendation – October 20, 2023
Moline City Council Meeting – Strategic Plan Update and 2024-2026 Budget Recommendation (October 20, 2023)
This meeting of the Moline City Council (Committee of the Whole) took place on October 20, 2023. The council received an update on the city's strategic plan and heard the administration's recommendation for the 2024-2026 budgets. No public comments were offered. The discussions centered on refining strategic plan pillars and reviewing proposed revenue increases and capital projects.
Discussion Items
- Strategic Plan Update (Bob Vitas, City Administrator): Vitas reviewed accomplishments under the three strategic pillars (Infrastructure, Quality of Place, Economy) and noted that the community's top priorities have remained infrastructure, quality of place, and the economy. New initiative proposals included adding a sidewalk condition index (PCI) for roads, explicitly mentioning the pavement condition index in the infrastructure pillar, retaining the prairie parks item, and supporting community-wide efforts to increase social connectedness under holistic health awareness. Council members debated the feasibility of prairie parks due to maintenance constraints but agreed to keep it as a goal with partnership exploration. A diversity, equity, and inclusion program for employees was moved to the municipal services objective. The council reached consensus on these additions, with staff to bring the revised plan for adoption in early November.
- Administration's Recommendation on 2024-2026 Budgets (Carol Barnes, Finance Director): Barnes presented a balanced budget with total expenditures less than 2% higher than the current amended budget. Key revenue proposals included capturing $740,000 in new property tax growth (about 63% of total growth) to fund a new Special Capital Projects Fund, a 1.5% natural gas and electric franchise fee (estimated $2.47/month on average residential bill), and a 5% amusement tax (projected $500,000 in 2024). The impact on an average $138,000 home would be approximately $2.67/month in property tax increase and $2.47/month franchise fee, totaling $5.14/month, plus already-adopted utility fee increases of $5.52/month (water, wastewater, stormwater, sanitation). The budget also implements the first phase of the Evergreen Compensation and Classification Study ($800,000+), adds 11 new positions, and reduces overtime by $750,000 due to fire department staffing. The general fund ending balance is projected to remain above the 25% policy target through 2026.
- Council Concerns on Cumulative Cost Impact: Several council members expressed concern about the cumulative burden of the proposed new fees and taxes on low-income and fixed-income residents. Staff noted that CDBG and other assistance programs remain available to help with weatherization and energy efficiency.
Key Outcomes
- Strategic Plan Direction: Council directed staff to incorporate specific additions into the strategic plan pillars (sidewalk condition index, explicit road maintenance language, prairie parks, social connectedness, and DEI programming for employees). The revised plan will be presented for formal adoption at the November council meeting.
- Budget Next Steps: The council will continue budget deliberations at a work session scheduled for October 24, 2023. Formal approval of the budget, including the new Special Capital Projects Fund and revenue ordinances, is expected in November and December. No votes were taken at this meeting.
- No Public Comments or Consent Calendar Items: No members of the public spoke, and no consent calendar items were considered.
Meeting Transcript
Round people uh together to order excuse me at sixteen here and come in actually we're in the committee, the whole room. I know our agenda is coming to change. Um we do not have any remote electronic attendance, so do we just see the flags America and the Republic or Saxon? So in optional happening. Dear God, you come before you tonight with humble hearts here, asking you to grant us the wisdom and guidance to do what is best for all the citizens at Mobile as we work on the new strategic plan in the budget this week. Let's put aside our own personal agendas and focus on the good of all the residents for representing this evening. Yeah, grant us the patience to work together, bring us all together as a unit, let us work together with understanding and compassion. Let us be fair and equitable in our decisions. In Jesus' name we pray. Thank you. All right. Um next up is roll call, please. All the person markings, I'm yes, present. I'm sorry. Okay. Bench, present O'Brien, President, Castro, present. All right, is there any public comment this evening? No doubt, R. Thank you very much. Are there questions on the agenda? I do not have any rewrites or anything. So we move to item 8.1, our strategic plan update, Mr. Vitas. Good evening, Mayor, good evening, council, and you know, of course. Great staff is here as well. So we just want to kind of give a an overview of the strategic plan. I know we started this back in 21, and uh as time has marched on the list of accomplishments as well. So rather than go over all of them, look at the final page, you can see based on our three critical pillars, the amount of activity that's taken place in the work that has been accomplished by the city. Uh I wanted to step back for a moment and comment that without this type of program, without this kind of guidance, local governments tend to just kind of go around and around without a rudder. So this actually has helped to keep us on course on track and delivering social levels. I'll touch on it in the survey, but also it also helps us to plan you know this 800k budget to address uh provide everything that we talk about in the plan. So they're all linked. So with that, um, if you if you go in there, we're not making it for us. Any changes as I understand to the mission or vision, just to remind everybody our mission is to act in a financially responsible manner while providing quality and efficient city services and creating a sustainable city. Uh our vision is through effective ethical and transparent governance. Moline will continue to be a municipal leader in Illinois with a staff that delivers exceptional discipline responsible services, of which this diverse multicultural problem. Um looking back over the last two plus years, it's fine. That's where we're going, it's who we are, and uh not just the leader in Illinois, but I think we're a leader here in court. So add that. I think we're there. Um our core values of collaboration, service, engagement, innovation, adaptability, resiliency, excellence, welcome, inclusivity, and stewardship. You know, that's the that's basically our foundational core. That's that's what we do every day. That's exactly how everyone who works with this organization, whether it's the uh custodian who pushes the room or the custodian who swings the time, right? We're all custodians of the city, yeah. The reality is is that you know, this is really what drives who we are as an organization. Um we reached out back in 21 and reached out to the community. One was infrastructure, which was number one, number two with the quality of place, three was the economy. Uh, that has not changed. I mean, infrastructure and infrastructure structure is is what people are talking about, and you'll see that in the community survey.
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