07-31-19 #1 - Laserfiche WebLink

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CITY OF SOUTH BEND OFFICE OF THE CLERK I wanted to walk Council Members through the format of the 2020 presentations so that you all know what to expect as we get into not only the four(4)departments today but over the next eleven (11) weeks what department heads will be presenting. The first (1St) thing they will be presenting is their department goals and challenges and then we'll get directly into the proposed budget overview where they talk about the numbers similar to how I talked about changes in operating income or changes in expenditures. There will then be slides highlighting operational budget changes including personnel changes, so promotions, new positions, etcetera. Or highlighting some kind of significant increase or decrease on a particular initiative or particular item in the budget. There will be a slide on capital projects. Not every department will have capital projects that they will be presenting. And actually, I don't know that any of the four (4) presenting today have capital projects, but many departments, obviously, Public Works and VPA will have capital projects that they will be presenting.We're defining capital projects for the purpose of these budget presentations to be significant,one(1)time,non-operational requests. And I did also want to note, as it says on the slide there, per guidance from the DLGF, which is the Department of Local Government Finance downstate,the City will begin appropriating capital projects one(1)time and carrying the appropriation forward to future years as needed. You all have been around for a while and you probably have seen the issues, ever since I've been here we've seen issues, where we expected to spend a certain amount on a project in a given year, appropriated the amount, didn't end up spending the amount because the project took longer than expected or had change orders or whatever, and then have had to come back the next year and re-appropriate that amount. He went on, The DLGF has told us we can, per Indiana Law, appropriate that money for a capital projects one (1) time, approve that project, say Council approved Howard Park for example, and carry forth that appropriation to future years so that if Howard Park takes two(2)or three(3)years to fully spend that appropriation, it will carry forward because it has already been approved by Council. So, I just want to note that slight change in how we're going to be appropriating capital projects going forward. So, departments will go through special initiatives as applicable and then we will leave time for questions at the end. Each department will have a budget packet that is included in what we send out to Council Members as well as in the paper copies. That budget packet will be a copy of the PowerPoint presentation that each department head will be going through. A copy of the budget summary sheets by fund, that will not be presented by department heads but is there for Council Members' reference. So, you can see all the budget summary sheets by individual funds. It has cash levels in there and it gives a little bit different look at the overall budget. A staffing summary, so each department budget packet will include a staffing summary which will show changes from 2019. But I do want to point out that more information on staffing will be presented at the salary ordinance budget hearing on September 16th. And finally, the last thing in the budget packet is the line level budget detail. So, you will be able to get down to the individual line level what the proposed spending is. I did want to highlight the order of the budget presentations, this was sent out to Council Members and the public. Today we're on one (1), and we have ten(10). Committee Chair White opened the floor to questions from Committee and Council Members. Councilmember Dr. Oliver Davis asked, In terms of the appropriations being carried forward, is there a limit to how many years it can be carried forward? Mr. Parker replied, So, there is not a limit to how many years it can be carried forward. But what we want to do is when the project is first (1St) approved by Council, there's a definite timeline. So EXCELLENCE ACCOUNTABILITY INNOVATION INCLUSION EMPOWERMENT 455 County-City Building 227 W.Jefferson Bvld South Bend,Indiana 46601 p 574.235.9221 f 574.235.9173 TTD574.235.5567 www.southbendin.gov 7