October 29, 2012 Minutes
CITY OF DENTON CITY COUNCIL MINUTES
October 29, 2012
After determining that a quorum was present, the City Council convened in a Work Session on
Monday, October 29, 2012 at 9:00 a.m. in the City Council Work Session Room, 215 E. McKinney
Street.
PRESENT: Council Member Watts, Council Member Gregory, Council Member Engelbrecht,
Mayor Pro Tem Kamp, Mayor Burroughs
ABSENT: Council Member King; Council Member Roden
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1.Receive a report and hold a discussion regarding the 112 Congress, 2 Session
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and outlook for 113 Congress, 1 Session, to include Budget and Tax Issues,
Sequestration, Federal Deficit Reduction Strategies, Surface Transportation,
Aviation, Public Safety Grants and Communications Infrastructure, the Sales Tax
Fairness issue, Hotel Occupancy Tax, Rights-of-Way, CDBG and HOME,
Redistricting, and other topics impacting local government.
Ralph Garboushian, CapitalEdge, presented an update on federal legislative issues. He stated
that Congress appeared to be in a holding pattern with no major legislation passed since July.
Garboushian indicated that over the past year, the major federal issues for the City of Denton
included; funding for core local government programs, collection of sales taxes from out-of-state
retailers, public safety and prevention of unfunded mandates and preemption of local authority.
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The 112 Congress had enacted 196 laws with the bulk of them being short-term extensions of
stalled reauthorization bills or the naming of post offices and federal buildings. A few of the
laws that were passed included (1) the Budget Control Act of 2011 which raised the debt ceiling,
reduced growth in discretionary spending over 10 years and cut discretionary spending over 9
years starting in January 2013 (sequestration), (2) passed a two year reauthorization of federal
aviation programs and (3) passed a two year reauthorization of highway and transit programs.
The White House and Congressional leadership agreed to put off final work on FY 2013
spending until next year and enacted a six-month Continuing Resolution. This Resolution would
run through March using the discretionary spending cap set by the Debt Ceiling Agreement.
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The 113 Congress will have to deal with numerous big-ticket items such as the expiration of the
2001 and 2004 cuts to personal income tax rates; the expiration of numerous other tax
provisions; the expiration of the temporary cut in Social Security payroll taxes; and
sequestration. Sequestration was the largest issue that would have to be considered. It provided
for an automatic across-the-board spending cut scheduled to take effect January 2, 2013.
Council Member Roden arrived at the meeting.
Surface Transportation – Congress enacted a two-year reauthorization of federal highway and
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transit programs. This legislation, Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21 Century (Map 21)
provided funding for federal-aid highway programs close to the current funding levels. It
continued to sub-allocate Surface Transportation program funds to metropolitan planning
organizations which was one of Denton’s top priorities.
City of Denton City Council Minutes
October 29, 2012
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Garboushian noted that 34% less funding was provided for these activities under the new
program than was previously provided to the combined Transportation Enhancements, Safe
Routes to Schools and the Recreational Trails program. However, half of all Transportation
Alternatives funds would be sub-allocated to large metropolitan areas, giving local elected
officials a lead role in project selection.
Council discussed the funding that the DCTA received and what those funds could be used for.
Garboushian stated that most of the funding for DCTA would have to be used for capital
expenses but that the formula used for the grant allowed for some operational expenses. Council
discussed alternative transportation funding.
Garboushian noted that MAP-21 authorized $500 million in FY 2013 for competitive grants for
projects of national and regional significance; significantly expanded and modified the
Transportation Infrastructure Finance and Innovation program (TIFIA), changed the Bus and Bus
Facilities program from a competitive to a formula program and created national standards for
transit safety and transit agency asset management.
Council discussed the provisions of TIFIA and associated loans for the associated projects.
Positive Train Control mandates would have to be in place by 2015 for all passenger and freight
trains. It was expected that at some point Congress would have to extend the deadline as a
majority of the railroads did not have procedures in place. The Federal Railroad Association
would have oversight of these provisions.
Congress enacted legislation setting aside the “D Block” of the wireless communications
spectrum for public safety broadband. The D Block transmits wireless communications
exceptionally well, including through most physical barriers, making it a valuable and much
coveted portion of the spectrum. The wireless communication industry lobbied hard to move
forward with the previously scheduled auction of the D Block making the local government
victory on this issue all the more noteworthy. The legislation also provided money for D Block
network development grants to the states and created a new agency at the Department of
Commerce, FirstNet, to hold the license for, build, manage and operate the broadband public
safety broadband network that would use the D Block. States would need to determine whether
to opt in or opt out of the network. Denton and its regional partners continued to work to
preserve the Urban Area Security Initiative (UASI). Congress did not approve an Administration
proposal to fold UASI and most other Homeland Security grants into a state block grant.
In the area of local authority, Denton continued to successfully oppose efforts to preempt city
authority in a number of areas including city management of public rights-of-way and city
collection of fees for the use and management of public rights-of-way; city collection of hotel
occupancy taxes; and preemption of city zoning authority. The feeling was that legislation
would be passed to authorize the collection of sales taxes from out-of-state retailers which was a
top Denton priority.
City of Denton City Council Minutes
October 29, 2012
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Council discussed wind credits and whether or not those would be allowed to expire.
Garboushian felt that at the end of the day, Congress would continue approval of the tax credits
for the wind industry.
Garboushian reviewed some of the troubleshooting projects they had worked on with city staff
which included turning back an Administration proposal to cut or eliminate the Contract Tower
Program which was essential to the Denton Airport; kept city staff updated on EPA actions
regarding clean water and helped retain Justice Department funds allocated to the City.
Council discussed the City’s relationships with its representatives in Congress.
With no further business, the meeting was adjourned at 10:30 a.m.
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MARK A. BURROUGHS
MAYOR
CITY OF DENTON, TEXAS
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JENNIFER WALTERS
CITY SECRETARY
CITY OF DENTON, TEXAS