SUBJECT:  PUBLIC HEARING ON POTENTIAL COUNCIL STUDY ISSUES & BUDGET ISSUES FOR CALENDAR YEAR 2000

REPORT IN BRIEF

The City Council conducts a workshop each December to set priorities for new budget items and issues requiring significant staff study in the next calendar year.  The City Council is conducting a public hearing for the purpose of getting input on proposed study issue items and budget issue items, as well as to get suggestions from the general public and community groups about any new issues that they propose for Council to consider in calendar year 2000. These issues may include potential policy studies, new ordinances or ordinance changes, and new programs and other budget matters.  Based upon public testimony, Councilmembers (individually or by motion) can direct staff to prepare study issue papers or budget issue papers regarding any issue they wish to be further considered.  All issues sponsored by a Councilmember will be reviewed and considered by Council at its upcoming Council Study Issues and Budget Issues Workshop, which will be held at 8 AM in the Council Chambers on December 9, 1999. The purpose of this report is to solicit public input on the proposed study issues and budget issues.  No action is required of Council this evening.

BACKGROUND

In December of each year, the City Council holds a workshop to review potential study issues and budget issues.  Council study issues are topics that require staff study and are eventually placed on the Council agenda for action. Study issues include items such as proposed ordinances or changes to ordinances, new programs, General Plan updates and policy studies. 

Budget issues are proposals for changed budget service levels or capital projects, and are considered in the context of adopting the annual budget in June.  Examples of change budget service levels include proposals to add new programs or, on the other hand, eliminate existing programs.  Capital projects include major one-time expenditures, such as signalizing an intersection or refurbishing a park.

Study issues and budget issues may be sponsored by individual Councilmembers or the Council as a whole, Board and Commission members as a body, or staff.  A General Plan action statement may also result in a study issue.  Once an issue is formally sponsored, staff prepares an “issue paper” that summarizes the issue.  These issue papers are placed in notebooks that are prepared for the workshop.

The workshop will be conducted on Thursday, December 9, 1999, at 8:00 a.m., in the City Council Chambers.  The workshop is open to the public and will be televised live and rebroadcast on KSUN, Channel 18.  However, no public testimony will be taken at the workshop.

The process for study issues and budget issues differs somewhat.  At the Council study issues portion of the workshop, the issue papers are organized by the department that would be responsible for conducting the study if it is approved. Council reviews the issues for each department and first determines whether any issues should be added or dropped from the department list. A vote is taken on a request to drop an issue.  Council then ranks the list of issues for each department in priority order, since it may not be possible for each department to complete all proposed study issues.  Based upon Council’s priorities for study issues, staff prepares an annual workplan, called the Council Study Calendar that Council adopts in January.  Some of the lower priority issues may not be included in the workplan due to limits on staff time and other resources.  Lower priority issues that are not placed on the calendar will be automatically reconsidered at the following year’s workshop.

DISCUSSION

At the December workshop, time limitations preclude public input.  Therefore, Council has opened the process for more public input by conducting a special public hearing prior to the workshop.  In preparation for the workshop, staff has prepared a draft of the study issues and budget issues that have been proposed to date.  Attachment A is a draft of the packet that will be presented to Council at the workshop.  The packet contains lists and issue papers for both study and budget issues.  Should new issues be added, they will be added to the workbook and be considered as outlined above.  The items in Attachment A have been proposed by Councilmembers, boards and commissions, and staff.  Studies that are identified in the General Plan have also been included.

This public hearing is the opportunity for the general public, community groups, and board or commission members to provide input on additional study issues or to comment upon any of those that have been proposed to date. 

Based upon the testimony taken at this hearing, the Council as a whole or an individual Councilmember should direct staff to prepare any additional issue papers that are desired. Preferably, this direction should be provided to staff at the conclusion of the public hearing. The new issue papers will be provided at the workshop.

It should be noted that boards and commissions have been advised that this is the appropriate time for them to testify to the Council on issues that have been recommended by their board or commission. This is optional and not required.  However, additional public testimony will not be taken at the workshops, since that is the time that Council will be reviewing the issues and deciding whether or not to study them in more detail.

FISCAL IMPACT

No fiscal impact to this report.  Each individual issue paper provides an estimate of both the study and estimated implementation cost of that item.

PUBLIC CONTACT

In addition to posting of the Council Agenda and Report on the City of Sunnyvale internet home page, this public hearing was noticed in the recently distributed Annual Report as well as through the normal agenda posting process.  Copies of this staff report and draft packets have been available since November 24, 1999 in the City Clerk’s Office.

RECOMMENDATION

No action is needed at this time.  Councilmembers may request issue papers on any additional topics they wish to review at the workshop; this may be done up to and including the day of the workshop.

Attachment:

A. Draft Packet of Council Study Issues and Budget Issues for calendar year 2000