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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2.d. Budget OptionsROSEMOUNTEXECUTIVE SUMMARY CITY COUNCIL City Council Workshop Meeting: April 14, 2010 AGENDA ITEM: Budget Options GE A CT�ON: PREPARED BY: Dwight Johnson, City Administrator AGENDA NO. ATTACHMENTS: to be distributed at the meeting APPROVED BY: RECOMMENDED ACTION: Review and discuss budget options to be presented by staff. BACKGROUND One of the Council's adopted goals included the following desired outcome: "Define level of service (LOS) reductions potential." The Council has made clear that a review and possible change to our current level of services is not off the table. In response to this goal, the management team was asked to indicate what options they would recommend if they had 10% less tax money next year. The management team has subsequently met several times to discuss and refine the results. The intention of the exercise was to identify sustainable proposals that would affect our level of service rather than ideas that would only produce short -term results. Nor does our list include additional ideas for greater efficiencies in current programs. These and other ideas and proposals will be considered during the first draft of the budget to be prepared in May. The intent of this exercise is to focus specifically on our levels of services. Staff intends to hand out a list of options at the meeting for discussion. In addition, staff has been reviewing some short term options for adjusting and allocating our work force to the current economic conditions and continued slow growth in the community that could be implemented during the current fiscal year. We intend to review these short term options with the Council also. C N 4 2c List of Possible Service Reductions Grouped in Order (not in any order within the groups) A List: not necessarily recommended, but should be considered. 1. Begin charging athletic teams a maintenance fee. $25,000. A number of other cities are now doing this 2. Cut herbicide and fertilizer applications at athletic fields in half. $17,000. This will detract from the overall appearance of the fields, but may have some environmental benefit. 3. Reduce City newsletter frequency from five to three. $10,000. Other cities are doing this. This may go against the Council goals and priorities relating to Communication, but increasing use of electronic communication can help fill the gap. 4. Reduce temporary salary budget for coverage of front reception desk. $7,000. When the City was busier, it was more of a problem for other departments to fill in, but this is not a major concern now. 5. Eliminate web streaming of council meetings. $5,000- $10,000. This also may go against our adopted goals for Communication. However, from a business viewpoint, it costs about $15 for every user of this benefit and is not cost effective. Since this service is part of our Joint Powers Agreement with Apple Valley and Farmington, it is not clear if we can unilaterally change this. 6. Park Brochures. Reduce from four per year to three. $15,000. Other cities are also doing this. This makes marketing our recreation programs more difficult, but the impact may not be material. 7. Reduce travel/ conference budgets. $25,000? While we think it would be counterproductive to eliminate all travel and conferences, since some are necessary for continuing education or certificate requirements, there may be room to reduce the amount without causing significant problems. 8. Reduce overtime. $5000- 10,000? A few projects or activities would take longer, but careful management could reduce the negative effects. This item needs to be reviewed in context of other items selected, since some could actually increase overtime costs. Subtotal: $109,000 to $119,000 B List: Items that are not necessarily recommended, but can be considered. Generally more direct impact on the public or staff than the A list. 1. Reduce janitorial service at Fire Station 1 from twice a week to once per week (same as Station 2). $3,500. While this would have no direct impact on the public, it may require some degree of extra cleaning work from firefighters (who get $2 /call). Station 1 is also a remote office for Health East ambulance crews. 2. Fleet maintenance: cut outside contract budget in half $12,500. This will result in some delays in certain kinds of repairs, especially for large items such as snowplows and fire trucks. 3. Reduce dust control on gravel roads. $17,500. (1/2 of current funding). Calcium chloride is applied to all gravel roads once per year. This proposal would apply it only to the more densely populated rural areas west of Akron Avenue. May raise some questions about equality of service between east and west sections of the City. This will produce some complaints. 4. New sidewalk /trail budget. Cut funding for new sidewalks and trails in half. $57,500. This would reduce our ability to match grants for trails or take advantage of lower costs of installation with nearby road reconstruction projects. However, it is doubtful that very many cities are proceeding with new trail and sidewalk construction in this economy. 5. Planters and horticulture. Eliminate planters, brackets and all planting around park signs and gardens. $11,500. This would be a step back in our "marketing" of our downtown and park areas, but a number of cities are doing this. 6. Street equipment rental. $20,000. Eliminate the rental of a lift for downtown decorations, flowers, and Christmas lights. This would eliminate the installation of these items, since using a loader vehicle for installation is not approved by OSH A. Also eliminated: the rental of a water truck for maintenance of gravel roads. 7. Finance - reduce internal support for items such as insurance claims and fixed asset tracking. $16,800. May result in lesser ability to meet all recommendations of our auditors and /or burden other staff beyond 50 hours /week. 8. Cat licensing. Remove cat licensing requirements from City Code. $8,000. Most other cities do not license cats. We pay impound fees for stray cats picked up and not claimed. May result in about 50 unanswered cat complaints per year. 9. Two officer police squad. $3,500. If officers double up on one shift, one squad could be parked saving fuel. Mileage savings may result in one less car traded in every five years. There would be less officer visibility and slightly higher average response times. However, situations normally requiring a backup car could be handled by one two- officer squad. 10. Reduce reception support staff by 8 hours per week. $10,450. Requires other staff to fill in. In the current situation, it would not be a great hardship for other staff to fill in. This may not be readily sustainable if growth picks up. 11. Park and Recreation program reductions. $28,000. This would require reduced recreation staffing and would likely impact special projects such as work with Eagle Scouts, clean up days, art in the park, and support for Leprechaun Days and Haunted Trail. Other possibilities are fewer portable toilets in the parks, reduced cleaning schedules in the community center or eliminating the Arbor Day tree giveaway. 12. Reduce GIS support. $29,100 (1/2 position). This would reduce our ability to create our own maps and graphics for City documents such as the Comprehensive Plan, planning reports, etc. Our ongoing effort to get recent mapping documents in electronic form would also come to a halt. 13. Eliminate credit card payments for City services. $20,000. Credit card companies charge fees which are non- recoverable under our contract with them. A significant convenience for both residents and builders would be lost, and the City may have a higher incidence of collection problems as a result. Future on -line opportunities would also be curtailed. 14. Stretch replacement time for park facilities such as playgrounds and ice rink boards. $32,500 (1/2 of current funding). We would have to be careful not to allow any material safety problems to develop. Subtotal: $270,850 C List: Not recommended. Fairly substantial impacts on the public or staff with an increased risk of unintended consequences. 1. Eliminate janitorial service for both fire stations and public works. Reduce janitorial service for City Hall in half. $34,000. Would require substantial effort from a number of staff causing a misallocation of resources (e.g. $35 /hr employees doing $15 /hr work). More extensive version of B -1 above. 2. Fleet maintenance. Eliminate all outside contracting. $25,000. Major delays in repairing/ maintaining some items of equipment. Full version of item B -2. 3. Reduce parks /public works maintenance. $87,500 to $187,500. This would entail a reduction in force of both full time and seasonal employees. Impacts would be seen with increased snowplowing time, no flowers, no special projects, longer response time for patching and sweeping streets, reduced field maintenance (striping, dragging), less frequent mowing and trimming. 4. End Police Drug Task Force participation. $90,000. Impact would be to lose 50 investigations per year leading to 20 persons charged per year. 5. Reduce police patrol. $90,000 - $180,000. May result in higher response times, less officer initiated activity, and more overtime. Some of these impacts could be partially mitigated if we eliminate DARE, Citizen Police Academy, and Night to Unite activities. 6. No new firefighters hired. $6,700. Goal to reach 50 not reached to fully staff two stations. Current level of 42 firefighters may be hard to maintain due to retirements. 7. Fire training/ education activities eliminated. $4,900. This would eliminate all new training and education activities in the schools, etc. Only training needed to retain certifications would continue. 8. Completely eliminate one reception support staff. $52,700. Full version of item B -10. This would entail either a major impact on other departments to cover the front desk, or implementation of a phone tree /buzzer system to let staff know when a resident needs assistance. Staff has not yet worked out a reasonable scenario for how this would work. Subtotal: $390,800 - $580,800 Total: $744,200- $943,900 after duplication of B1, B2 and B10 removed. Budget Planning Factors for 2011 Updated April 14, 2010 Areas of real or possible expenditure increases Salary adjustments (city wide) Health Insurance Fuel costs Utility rate increases Loss of DARE funding Subtotal ( j�If�, CH, �qTt� 7J), +$50,000 (over current budget) +$50,000 (if increase is 10 %) +15,000 (if gas averages $3 next year) +25,000 (if gas and electric bills increase 5 %) +$5,000 +$145,000? Possible savings or non -tax revenue increases Pay down two debt certificates - $200,000 Pre -pay police software packages - $15,000 Gravel tax increase - 30,000 Budget salary to exact step - 30,000 Reduction in hours - $10,000? Review of level of service ? Subtotal - $285,000+ Estimated impact on median home taxpayer: $ -39