220 Delaware Street
New Castle, Delaware 19720
(302) 322-9804

Others Present: City Treasurer Janet Carlin, City Administrator Cathryn Thomas,
Finance/HR Director Marian Delaney, City Accountant Greg Sarnecki

Council President Blest brought the meeting to order at 6:02 p.m.

1. Council members reviewed the budget requests for the “Recreation” segment of the City budget. Council members requested additional information concerning transportation costs, taking into account the current high cost of gasoline and the rate at which that cost has increased over the past year.

2. Council members and City staff at the meeting created the line-by-line items for the “Building Maintenance” segment of the City budget. More information will be requested from Public Services concerning maintenance specific to the Trolley Barn facility. A request was also made to have as a separate line item the expenses related to the cleaning and maintenance of the Battery Park public bathroom facilities.

3. Insurance for the City was discussed. The City Administrator reported she had not yet received a report from the City’s Insurance Agent, Mr. Robert Briggs, concerning the amounts projected for most of the lines of insurance coverage for 2008/09. Contact will be made with Mr. Briggs to obtain this information. The premium amount for workers’ compensation coverage has been received from the new DFIT/AmeriHealth provider and is about $109,000 for the period from July 1, 2008 through June 30, 2009. Mr. Sarnecki asked about the wages and classification of positions being audited, which could result in a slightly higher premium, to be paid separately to the carrier once the audit is complete. Ms. Thomas said that an audit is scheduled to occur in the next few months and it would be wise to budget some additional funds in this line item to cover payment of the audited payrolls. Therefore, it was decided $115,000 would be appropriate for the budgeted amount for this line item. It was noted, however, that this amount reflects a decrease from the current budget year of $30,000.

4. Dr. Jack Norsworthy, Chair of the Planning Commission, addressed the Council with the budget request for the Planning Commission. The total budgeted in the current year for the Planning Commission is $43,500 and the request from the Planning Commission for their budget for 2008/09 is $68,500. A $10,000 increase is requested for “General Expenses” to be expended toward general items which would come up during the year but are not known at this time. An additional $10,000 is being requested for the City Planning Consultant to develop a Capital Improvement Plan for the City. Further, another $10,000 is being requested for the City Planning Consultant to perform a review of the City zoning and subdivision laws, rules and regulations.

The meeting was adjourned.

Respectfully submitted,

Cathryn C. Thomas, City Administrator