11-2009 Newsletter - Laserfiche WebLink

Home Browse Search

November 2009 Letter from the Mayor Necessity leads to efficiency Dear Friends and Neighbors, THIS MONTH... Mayor's Letter Green Tips Operation ReLeaf Map & Schedule Celebrate the Holidays Downtown In the last two newsletters, I've described the services that the South Bend has been able to preserve, thanks to increased local option income taxes. I've also detailed targeted budget cuts that have enabled us to live within our re- duced annual revenue as a result of the state's property tax caps. My report this month highlights the ways South Bend has saved millions of dollars through operational efficiencies. Long before the prospects of the property tax caps, South Bend has worked to streamline services through a combination of innovation, new technology and common sense. These efficiencies have enabled us to eliminate 206 positions since 2000 without substantially reducing the services those personnel provided. Here are some of the steps we have taken to improve government efficiency. • Over the next decade, we will save a projected $2 million in avoided electrical and operational costs by converting our traffic signals in 2007 -08 from incandescent bulbs to energy - saving LEDs. • Although our Legal Department is larger than similar sized cities like Fort Wayne, Evansville and Gary, we spend less in total legal fees. With our in -house legal team, we find other efficiencies as well. We save an estimated $4 million annually by managing the City's self - insurance liability program. We also collect Code Enforcement penalties as special tax assessments. • How we deploy our staff saves us money. We've equipped our code inspectors with handheld units, reducing time away from neighborhoods and improving communication. Plus, they save gas in warmer months by making inspections by bicycle. For City crews still using vehicles, we optimize routes with Automatic Vehicle Location software. For our City crews, tight • Our environmental practices improve quality of life and our bottom line. We save hundreds of thousands of dollars annually by collecting yard waste at our Organic budgets have produced the kind Resource Facility. (Free compost and mulch are available to City residents.) We burn methane gas produced as a by- product of the sewage treatment process to heat the of creative thinking that yields Anaerobic digestion process at the Wastewater Treatment Plant — saving more than $125,000 per year in avoided natural gas purchases. We're reducing heating costs at the new efficiencies. Potawatomi greenhouse by using heat exhaust from Notre Dame computers. I'm especially pleased about our newest effort. Our goal is to reduce citywide energy consumption costs by more than 25 percent through adding a new Director of Energy thanks to a federal stimulus grant. • We go the extra mile. Environmental Services crews, using a digital sewer camera during routine maintenance, can diagnose potential sewer backups for homeowners from root masses invading sewer laterals. We will send warning letters when cleaning is needed on the private laterals. • Sometimes our crews do their job so well that we sell their services to others. We provide traffic signal maintenance under contract to other units of government. • We seek out new materials and improved ways of achieving desired results. We use asphalt overlays to save costs on concrete repairs. The Street Department recently participated with other units of government in a cooperative purchase of road salt with the State of Indiana, enhancing availability and affordability by buying a large quantity at about $55 per ton. (Last winter, market rates had spiked to $97 per ton — and some local governments had to pay as much as $150 per ton, if they could find salt.) In addition, our crews installed liquid salt brine - making equipment to dramatically increase the salt's effectiveness. Where 1 ton of rock salt covers 4 miles of street, that same amount of salt, when converted to brine, accomplishes the same results for 19 miles of streets — a nearly fivefold increase. The savings is further compounded in the means of application — salt brine is applied proactively ahead of storms during " straight -time pay" periods. Road salt is applied on overtime pay during storms. Necessity has been called the mother of invention. For our City crews, tight budgets have produced the kind of creative thinking that yields new efficiencies. Sincerely, SI USTED NO ENTIENDE 1NGLES Y NECESITA AYUDA PARA TRADUCIR ESTE DOCUMENTO, O SI TIENE ALGUNA PREGUNTA, POR FAVOR LLAME AL TELEFONO (574) 235 -5858 X 1000.