08-25-75 Council Meeting Minutes

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REGULAR MEETING AUGUST 25, 1975 COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE MEETING (CONTINUED) Common Council 110 721 725 Police Department 540 Fire Pension 213 260 532 Police Pension 213 260 532 Art Association 500 Attorney, Temporary Furniture and Fixtures Office Equipment Clothing Allowance Travel Expense Other Contractuals Pensions Personnel Travel Expense Other Contractuals Pensions Personnel Current Charges Current Year Current Year $ 13,000.00 500.00 750.00 91,430.00 -0- -0- 282,727.40 -0- -0- 94,755.50 32,577.00 Councilman Nemeth seconded the motion to amend the ordinance further. The motion carried. Mr. Evans read the following statement of the Civic Planning Association into the record: South Bend Common Council County -City Building South Bend, Indiana Gentlemen: August 25, 1975 First, may we take this opportunity to thank you for the time you spend serving this community. We recognize the difficulty in reaching wise and fair decisions and for your study and deliberations we thank you. You may recall last year at this time we were dealing with the computerized budget for the first time and we stated that we would make a number of suggested changes in the format for 1976. We did make those suggestions, about 15 in all, and we are disappointed that so few of our ideas were incorporated by the city administration. We shall keep trying. We shall be asking specific questions on some of the budgets but we note that the cost of travel in this budget is $26,500 while the expenses thru July amount to about $9,000, or roughly $18,000 for the year. This would indicate a possible saving of about $8,000 if the travel accounts were collected into one account. We're not sure of the wisdom of such a step but raise the topic for consideration. Other such items that appear as small amounts in individual departmental budgets might also be considered for collection into one account, for example, dues and subscrip- tions, equipment repairs and those small items which are common to all departments. Finally, we believe that it is your intention to reduce the 1976 budget to an amount which can be supported by the frozen tax rate. We would urge you to examine the budgets with the intention of reducing them to the level which provides taxpayers with the lowest possible cost and still furnishes the needed level of service, and we emphasize needed. Your study to this point makes you the most qualified persons to do this. Sincerely, SOUTH BEND CIVIC PLANNING ASSOCIATION, INC. s/ Gene Evans Executive Secretary He asked for an explanation of Account 261, Promotional Expense, in the Mayor's Office, and Mr. Barcome explained that this account covered many things such as entertainment, payment of litera- ture coming into the office, keys to the city, etc. He indicated that many cities budget a great deal more in promotional accounts than South Bend had. Mr. Evans questioned Account 230, Instruction, in the Controller's Office. Mr. Barcome indicated that he had no particular use for that account in the 1976 budget. He stated that the account was used in 1972, 1973 and 1974. Mr. Evans asked for a detail of the figure in Account 260, Other Contractuals. Mr. Barcome was uncer= tain as to that figure; however, he indicated that he would check that account and furnish Mr. Evans the information at a later time. Councilmen Miller and Nemeth indicated that that amount wa for the emergency police number 911. Mr. Evans indicated that he questioned the amounts of travel in the various departments. He felt that a certain amount.of travel was needed. In the Human Resources and Economic Development Department, an amount of $1,000 was requested for travel. He indicated that, as of June 30th, over $900 had been spent. He wondered about the feasibility of collecting all the travel accounts into one. He indicated that the Common Council had not used car allowance and had used only a small amount of travel. He stated that, in the Attorney's Offic there was a large jump in equipment repairs. He wondered if this was to be expected as a normal amount for equipment repair. In the Board of Works budget, he questioned the need for a travel account as there had been no expenditures from that account through June 30th. In Account 214, Telephone and Telegraph, he wondered if enough money had been budgeted for 1976. Mr. Michael Vance, Fiscal Officer for the Department of Public Works, indicated that there had been an error in one of the bills this year in that one of the electric bills had been charged to the telephone