08-01-18 Personnel and Finance (Budget Overview)

Home Browse Search

®CITY OF SOUTH BEND I OFFICE OF THE CLERK given some of the limitations of our existing transit infrastructure. It is showing a lot of promise if it goes as well as we think and we think it will lead to a much bigger grant to really prove the model could be run City-wide. When it comes to being a great employer, you're going to see a proposal to fund TRANSPO bus passes. We want to practice what we preach in terms of our support for transit and we know there are some City employees who would benefit from that option. We work to continue supporting diverse and inclusive hiring. Employee recognition and parental leave will continue.Workplace harassment is an issue we want to address on the front end through training, not on the back end through litigation, and I know the Council has recently addressed that. In addition to making our City a better place to work,it is an investment that I think is going to pay off. South Bend Academy is creating all kinds of new training among our personnel and I want to mention our Health and Wellness Center has been a great success. We are going to maintain that and we think it has saved us a couple of critical care incidents. There is at least one (1) City employee who believes it saved their life by detecting something that could have been disastrous had it not been caught. He continued, Credit cards, we really want to get to where, in any part of the City, they can use a credit card. We are not there yet and it is time, so, you will see us investing in software and management that makes that possible. I also want to mention the issue of paid interns. The bulk of the City's internships are paid but not all so we are trying to harmonize that including funding to make sure Mayor's Office interns can be paid. Otherwise, it tends to reinforce inequality. Not everybody can work for free just so they can get access to the prestige and the educational benefits of working in a place like the Mayor's Office. As we work toward making sure that all of the City internships over time are funded, we want to make sure that in 2019 the Mayor's Office is practicing what I preach. There is one (1) exception which is sometimes individuals can't get course credit for college if you are being paid, and we don't want to deny people that opportunity and we also have some people who have outside funding through a University or a Foundation. But if you don't have one (1) of those benefits going for you, we want to make sure the City is funding you so that people from any income background have a shot at that wonderful career enhancing opportunity and internship with our office. He went on, I already mentioned the ERP system so I won't repeat that. We are making sure we stay on top of risk. It has been really encouraging to see the liabilities and pay-outs from our Legal Department inching down over the years. Of course that requires some pro-active work on the front end from our Legal Department but we are also really proud of our record on APRA. We are, on average,turning those around in less than forty-eight(48)hours. I can tell you there are a lot of cities in Indiana that say we will get to it when we get to it. It is routine to wait weeks for some of these cities. We are committed to making sure residents, journalists or anybody who needs information can get it quickly. We are working to keep that average. We are also continuing to use the 311 data we get. We have now received over half a million calls and we are using that data to drive better decisions. As always, we will not put a budget in front of you that does not balance. We have to balance the General Fund and then keep everything in a sustainable pattern when it comes to the General Plus Fund with Public Safety, LOIT, EDIT and COIT added in there. He continued, We are going to try and get an update on the fiscal curb because this is an estimate that may have changed a little bit recently, but, based on the most recent data we have, we are bracing for a $2.41 million property tax reduction. That hits the General Fund, Civil City and Parks. This (referencing the presentation) is what we are up against. As you can see, it is not as devastating as some of the reductions that happened after 2008 and 2009 but we have to keep EXCELLENCE I ACCOUNTABILITY I INNOVATION I INCLUSION I EMPOWERMENT 455 County-City Building 1227W.Jefferson Bvld 1 South Bend,Indiana 46601 j p 574.235.9221 If 574.235.9173 1 TTD 574.235.55671 www.southbendin.gov 9