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HomeMy WebLinkAbout08-16-17 Personnel and Finance (Overview) W' PEACE, Ia 1865 OFFICE OF THE CITY CLERK KAREEMAH FOWLER,CITY CLERK PERSONNEL &FINANCE AUGUST 16, 2017 5:00 P.M. Committee Members Present: Karen White, Regina Williams-Preston, John Voorde Committee Members Absent: Gavin Ferlic Other Council Present: Dr. David Varner, Tim Scott, Oliver Davis, Jo M. Broden Other Council Absent: Randy Kelly Others Present: Kareemah Fowler, Bob Palmer, Graham Sparks Presenters: Mayor Pete Buttigieg Agenda: Budget Overview Committee Chair Karen White called to order the Personnel and Finance Committee meeting at 5:00 p.m. She immediately recessed the committee to reconvene in the full Council Chambers, in order for all members of the public to have a place to comfortably sit and attend the budget hearing. The committee reconvened in the full Chambers at 5:02 p.m. She introduced members of the Committee and proceeded to give the floor to the presenters. Budizet Overview Mayor Pete Buttigieg,with offices on the 14th floor of the County-City Building, stated, I would first like to thank the Council for all their work in this process. Overall, the City is in a good fiscal position. We are on a roll and we want to keep it that way. Our economy and population are both growing. We have a sense of civic pride that, I think, all of us can feel. From a fiscal standpoint, we continue to have very healthy financial reserves compared to our peers in this region as well as other parts of the State. On the economic front, our unemployment rate is now at three point one percent(3.1%). This is the first time that I can find, in modern times, when the South Bend unemployment rate has fallen below the United States unemployment rate. So we are pleased not just with the level, but the fact we are doing better. There are a lot of other numbers behind that number as we are still concerned about income. We know not all jobs are equal. We are also concerned with labor force participation. By this measure,though, it brings a lot of good news. As we have been discussing for some years now, there is not quite a fiscal cliff, rather, there is a fiscal curb coming in 2020. As a City, we continue to work to position ourselves so that we do not trip over it. There are tax caps that go into effect and by the time we get to that 455 County-City Building•227 W.Jefferson Boulevard•South Bend,Indiana 46601 Phone 574-235-9221 •Fax 574-235-9173•TDD 574-235-5567•www.SouthBendfN.gov JENNIFER M.COFFMAN ALKEYNA M.ALDRIDGE JOSEPH MOLNAR CHIEF DEPUTY/DIRECTOR OF DEPUTY/DIRECTOR OF POLICY ORDINANCE VIOLATION CLERK OPERATIONS budget, we want to make sure our expenses and our revenue planning are in line to reflect that. That being said, the best way we can increase property tax revenues is to grow the value of the City. The assessed value continues to grow for 2016 as we saw over a two percent (2%) growth factor. We have a lot of initiatives and investments on track that are at stake in this proposed budget for your consideration. We have obviously gone through the bulk of the visible downtown work with Smart Streets but we continue to make streetscape improvements around the City. We are also in the process of announcing and launching the My SB Parks and Trails Plan. We continue to work to support inclusive economic growth, good planning in our neighborhoods, diversity, human capital and inclusion efforts, and a lot of internal reforms that are helping us continue delivering on our mission. Our mission, of course, is that we deliver the services that empower everyone to thrive, guided by the values of excellence, accountability, innovation, inclusion and empowerment. At every turn, whenever there is a tough decision to be made in the Administration, we ask our team members to make those decisions in terms of these values. I know the Council holds us accountable to that. He continued, Taking a look at 2017 accomplishments, we have been able to address the digital divide with downtown Wi-Fi access. We were also able to make good on our intention to offer municipal identification through a partnership. The Light Up South Bend Program continues to enhance not only public safety, but public health because more people are going to feel safe walking in their neighborhoods. The downtown phase of Smart Streets is complete. We know, and have heard, from residents and Councilmembers that it's not just about smart streets but we have to pay attention to smooth streets. I'm pleased to tell you our paving program is on track and this year there will be twenty-eight(28) lane-miles repaved by the end of 2017. We kept our promise to elevate the minimum wage of the least-paid City employee to ten dollars and ten cents per hour($10.10/hr). That is something we accelerated at the request of the Council in the 2017 budget. We have reorganized our Venues Parks &Arts Department to bring different parts of the City under one (1) roof for efficiency. We addressed an issue related to homelessness through another partnership that involved the City taking on a structure. We are continuing to work through the many things that have been funded and, in partnership with the Council, on issues affecting neighborhoods. We are making sure to have a housing study that can allow us to make the best possible informed decisions about the advancement in our neighborhoods. We are also stepping up our recruiting efforts. We are seeing more and more diverse applicants for City positions, especially those Public Safety positions, but we have a long way to go until we can honestly say that our Public Safety workforce fully reflects the community that we serve. We want to continue supporting community policing, city infrastructure, and the deliverance of clean and safe drinking water. We also are looking at ways to make sure our Department of Code Enforcement continues to keep up with the times. We are also always hearing about those curbs and sidewalks. We have put in 15,000 linear feet of curbs and sidewalks this year alone. There has also been discussion in Council Committee about body cameras on our police officers and we have included that in the budget for this upcoming year. He then reiterated the priorities listed on a slide of the presentation(available in the Office of the City Clerk). He went on, The last two (2) years we have been in an exercise to focus on Priority Based Budgeting. We have been able to get a crisper look at our expenses by doing that. There is always a lot going on in our$358 million budget. The most ambitious investment in our Parks and Recreation in our lifetime is anticipated in this next budget cycle. There are $24 million of 2 bond money committed in addition to the five million dollar($5 million) grant through the Regional Cities program. This investment will allow us to transform what it means to live in the City with great green spaces. I know the VPA team is excited to brief you in more detail on that. We have also made the trip to Chicago a lot quicker through partnerships across the region to address the South Shore Line. We are also addressing Public Health. Several issues have surfaced in the community. Some of them are nothing new but they are certainly getting the attention which is deserved. We want to make sure we are doing everything we can to help. This includes making sure we are taking measures to reduce the exposure of children to lead poisoning. Our water is fine but our children, in some cases, are not and that is largely the result of exposure that takes place in older homes. We think we can take $200,000 in Federal funds, some of which are the existing South Bend Home Improvement grants, and add up to $100,000 in City resources which are more flexible than the Federal funds and spend it on the mitigation of lead exposure. I don't want to pretend and think that is going to be everything required, but we think it is a step up from what we've got and we want to see if it makes the difference that we hope it will. He continued, We are also including funding for a rental safety inspection pilot program. We want to make sure we have the training and resources in our Code Enforcement Department to take a new look at rental inspections. This is specific to health. It is not just lead as there are other issues like black mold that children could be exposed to. We think the City needs more eyes, ears and teeth when it comes to being able to address these issues. That is why we are requesting funding for a Healthy Homes Inspection Program. A lot of substance abuse issues have also been in the news. The Council has dealt with Synthetic Marijuana with an ordinance that was passed on Monday. We have also had a lot of attention on the opioid crisis which, we now believe, has overtaken vehicle accidents as the leading cause of preventable death in our community. We believe that some City funding for expanding access to treatment for substance use and overdose issues is something that will pay off. He went on, We also think there is an opportunity around early childhood education. It is a bit of a chicken-and-egg problem. We currently have more demand than we can meet in terms of having more seats in quality educational programs and more teachers as well as more funding. We think there is an opportunity to intervene in a particular part of that which is investing in capacity building for the community. We are asking the Council to support us in doing that. If it is successful, we are likely to expand that in future years. Public Health also addresses the issue of gun violence. Many of the experts in the field are talking about it as an epidemic and saying we should use epidemiological tools to deal with it. This is in keeping with our Group Violence Intervention Initiative. We are asking for a shot in the arm for community policing by creating an outreach unit that would allow us to have individuals on the street helping to intervene in cycles of retribution and violence to prevent the violence from spreading and becoming more and more of a problem. Even though our violent crime index in our community is down dramatically from what it was like when I was a child growing up here,there is a distinct uptick in violent crime shootings here in South Bend and in most of the country, and we want to do everything we can to stop that from escalating. He continued, We found a site solution for Fire Station nine (9) that make sense from a fire suppression standpoint as well as a neighborhood standpoint. In economic development, our 3 I Department of Community Investment has spent much time in figuring out a major South Shore relocation project as well as continuing to fund the facade improvement initiative. Parks and Recreation is entering a new chapter with the investment of the My SB Parks and Trails Plan. We are also proud of the process. The Council asked us to make sure there is more public inclusion. There have been extensive public meetings, consultative and deliberative processes in order to put together the plan that you will hear about in detail when the time comes. We've also heard the Council's call for stronger residential development, affordability, lighting, and vacant/abandoned home improvements and we hope we see those reflected in our budget as it touches neighborhoods. Whether it is new housing construction, rehabilitation, traffic calming or infrastructure, we want to make sure we are supporting our neighborhoods as a whole through the NRC. We are also thinking the City can continue to provide resources that will enhance the safety of railroad crossings. We want them to be safe and we want them to be quiet. There are streetscape improvements coming to Lincoln Way and Charles Martin Streets and there is continued full funding for the curb and sidewalk program. In the past, there has been a bit of a last-minute rush to find the funding for this but we took a deep breath and figured out a way to include it right away in the first draft of the budget at full funding, knowing this continues to be a priority for the Council. The energy savings contracts and green storm water improvements are ways in which we are trying to find a less costly way of meeting our goals. The Fire Department has a dual-credit program that is self-funded, but it still has to pass through the budget. We are increasing our fiber access but there was some concern about the access for low-income youth which is why we wanted to enhance the youth scholarship fund to the tune of$75,000. We have a lot of internal goals as well. We are continuing to support diversity and inclusion efforts as well as employee engagement. The LEAD Program is making sure of this as we want to be the ones that lead by example. We are also consolidating how many City Purchasers we employ. We are preparing ourselves for the fiscal curb and year by year we have been positioning ourselves to be ready for it. Income tax revenue rose sharply in 2017 over 2016. I was really hoping that would happen this year too but it does not look like that will happen but we are certainly grateful it is moving in the right direction. Utilities and Public Safety accounts for the majority of what the City provides. The balance is expended on economic development,neighborhoods, internal funds and then salaries. We are projected to have one thousand one-hundred and fifteen(1,115) full-time employees. A few changes reflected in that number is in our taking on of the Historic Preservation Committee. That should be neutral as we will be getting the funds and the people so it is not a net increase in spending and we do think it is a good partnership with the County. We are also converting a part-time position to a full-time position at the 311 Call Center. In summary, we are trying to keep the City's finances in good order. We are proud of our strong bond rating and are working hard to keep it that way. We are operating at approximately$358 million of expenses which is down from last year. We are continuing to toe the line on spending in order to remain responsible for the road ahead while doing everything we can to meet the priorities that we share for the community. Committee Chair White thanked Mayor Pete for his presentation and asked the fellow Committee and Councilmembers to take some time to look at the overview presentations and identify questions. Council President Scott inquired to receive the next budgets three (3) days prior to their budget presentation. 4 Councilmember Jo M. Broden requested the entire budget as soon as possible. With no further business, Committee Chair White adjourned the Personnel and Finance Committee meeting at 5:30 p.m. Respectfully Submitted, Karen White, Committee Chair