HomeMy WebLinkAbout2001-12-04 City Council (2)TO:HONORABLE CITY COUNCIL
ATTN:FINANCE COMMITTEE
FROM:CITY MANAGER DEPARTMENT:ADMINISTRATIVE
SERVICES
DATE:DECEMBER 4, 2001 CMR: 439:01
SUBJECT:STRENGTHENING THE BOTTOM LINE ACTION PLAN
RECOMMENDATION
Staff is requesting that the Finance Committee review and comment on the
"strengthening the bottom line" city-wide action plan. Recommendations from the
Committee will be incorporated into the mid-year budget adjustment to be submitted to
the full Council for consideration.
BACKGROUND
Late in the developmental stage of the 2001-03 Adopted Budget, it became clear that
local economic conditions were beginning to slow from the previous record-setting pace.
Revenues, as included in the budget, were conservatively estimated based upon a slowing
growth assumption utilizing actual data from the January to March 2001 period.
Departments were held to a strict standard of keeping expenditure budgets within the
consumer price index (CPI) level of growth. After budget adoption on June 11, 2001,
however, economic conditions continued to worsen and deteriorated further as a result of
the September 11,2001 terrorist attacks.
The following is a summary of some recent changes in local economic conditions:
¯ The local unemployment rate has increased from 3.3 to 6.4 in the May to
October 2001 period
¯Consumer spending has decreased, resulting in sales tax revenue declines of 12
percent during the April to June 2001 period as compared to the same period in
the previous year
¯There has been less business-related travel, reducing local hotel occupancy
rates from 78 percent to 58 percent--resulting in a 36 percent reduction
($927,000) in transient occupancy tax revenues--during the July to September
2001 period as compared to the same period last year
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¯Increasingly pessimistic financial projections from the State of California often
indicate reductions in local program funding
This changing economic climate was first presented to Council on September 20, 2001,
(CMR:355:01) as part of the update to the long range financial plan. At that point, it was
clear that a significant retooling of the 2001-02 Adopted Budget would be required, as
Staff had then estimated an approximate $4.0-$6.0 million revenue shortfall in the current
fiscal year. This shortfall was primarily due to lower than projected revenues in the sales
tax, transient occupancy tax, and document transfer tax categories. On November 26,
2001, the current recession was officially acknowledged to have begun in March 2001.
DISCUSSION
The City Manager began the "bottom line" strengthening exercise in late September, by
forming "Department Action Teams"--including both management and line staff, with
each Department Head serving as team leader. The relevant budget analyst also
participated with each group. Teams were given six weeks to review their work-plans,
processes, and priorities and then propose a department action plan to the City Manager.
The following assumptions guided the actions of these teams:
¯Review both revenue and expenditure budget
¯Review staffing requirements
¯Promote ways to maintain and enhance productivity
¯Look within and across departmental lines for opportunities
¯Maintain commitment to current levels of service delivery
¯Maintain commitment to CityWorks infrastructure management plan
Along with this teamwork, a parallel effort was made to involve all staff in the bottom
line process, especially focusing on frontline staff and those closest to customers. This
effort included an e-mail link on the City Managers’ Internet website and suggestion
boxes distributed citywide to allow all staff the opportunity to submit their suggestions
for review. Over one thousand suggestions were submitted and reviewed by staff over
the six-week period. These were eventually culled into a short list of immediate (tier 1)
and longer-term (tier 2) items.
As this process continued, economic data continued a downward trend. On November 2,
2001, the City Manager implemented an informal hiring freeze for all staff vacancies
with the exception of safety personnel and a limited number of positions approved for
hire by a special subcommittee of the Executive Staff. A hiring freeze has a potential of
saving the City up to $1.0 million on an annual basis. Department teams were also asked
to review pending retirements as part of their staff review exercise. Final submissions to
the City Manager were presented by each Department Head and discussed during a series
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of meetings in mid-November. These items were reviewed individually and modified
according to suggested changes in timing, duration or magnitude.
Staff will present the outcomes from the entire "strengthening the bottom line" process in
greater detail during the Finance Committee meeting on December 4, 2001. The "tier 1"
changes to the 2001-02 Adopted budget are able to cover the current projected shortfall in
revenues. The specific changes to the budget document will be incorporated into the
midyear report and presented to Council in early 2002. If continued deteriorating
economic conditions warrant the implementation of "tier 2" changes, staff will return to
Council .with specific details of those changes. It should be noted that ongoing changes
to the budget will be incorporated into the 2002-03 budget process and an additional
effort will be required during the interim year budget cycle to modify that budget to
reflect next year’s revenue shortfall.
PREPARED BY:
CHARLES PERL
Budget Manager
DEPARTMENT HEAD APPROVAL:
CARL YEATS
Director, Administrative Services
CITY MANAGER APPROVAL:
FRANK BENEST
City Manager
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