09-13-17 Personnel and Finance (#6)

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Service Fund#313 is important for everyone to know about. The last payment on the Hall of Fame is scheduled for February 1, 2018. The Hall of Fame will be totally paid off by then. Fund #313 will then be used to pay the General Obligation Parks Bond. The Fund will be renamed but that is exciting. The Cumulative Capital Development Fund#406 is used for leasing police vehicles. The Cumulative Capital Improvement Fund is helping pay off a 1990 Century Center bond by February 1, 2018. The decrease in liability claims is credited to the outstanding work of the Legal Department. The Unemployment Compensation Fund was set up about seven(7) years ago. The claims have been a lot less than we thought so we suspended the contribution from Departments on that Fund. We used to charge point two-five percent(.25%) and we are going to earmark those for the Parental Leave Fund. Fund#222 is the Central Service Operating Fund. When they want to make a Capital payment they transfer it into Fund#224 as it gives more transparency with what is capital and what is not. The City has $10.3 million in a Rainy Day Fund. Last year we increased the Fund by about$1.2 million when we had that special LOIT distribution. We don't want to spend any of it but that is a great thing to have. That will give the Council flexibility if things are ever difficult. Committeemember Charnelle Maefield-Martin asked, What things justify spending money from the Rainy Day Fund? Mr. Murphy replied, As far as know, we have never spent any money out of the Rainy Day Fund. Councilmember Scott stated, Part of that is needing money in reserve if something catastrophic were to happen. It affects the bond rating of the City. A couple years ago a city decided to finance their own sewer system with their Rainy Day Fund, it was a catastrophe and the City went broke. Mr. Murphy stated, There have been cities that spend their Rainy Day Fund but fortunately, we never have had to. Ms. Hockenhull stated, Our Department vision hasn't changed a whole lot. We still continue striving to be the best department of our type in the State of Indiana. A lot of other finance departments look to us for reporting and other best practices. We achieve this goal by hiring and retaining highly qualified and innovative individuals. We focus heavily on training and really encourage our staff. We maintain high standards for service and reporting while providing regular opportunities for communication throughout the City. The only thing that is really different from this year to last year is our Chief Administration Officer which will be new in the salary ordinance in 2018. That is coming from the Central Services Director position. We are taking Central Services and it will be a much bigger department than it has been in the past. It will now house purchasing, facilities management, fleet management and radio services. Overall staffing changes in the finance group is just a request of an Administrative Assistant. We would like someone dedicated to sitting in the front that handles the day-to-day office functions. We are technically gaining thirty-nine (3 9) folks from Central Services but that is just a shift, no dollars will change. The salary request is that our Payroll Supervisor salary cap be increased to $50,000. After reviewing other folks that do payroll services in the City it was noted that there exist payroll Clerks that are making as much, if not more, than our current Payroll Supervisor. I wanted to make that change equitable. This position is responsible for the payroll for one 4