Overall Question: There is $1.2 million in CALPERS UAL. Is this new spending? I thought the 511 Trust addressed the problem of highly variable demands from CALPERS? Would be good to understand what is going on – this is a lot of money!
Overall comment: Litigation costs are being allocated to water and wastewater rate payers.
Historically litigation costs have been minimal there. We should not allocate the cost of litigating the parking ordinance to water and wastewater rate payers.
The following % changes are the difference between 24-25 budget and 23-24 estimated actual.
The changes on the budget worksheets are compared to last year’s budget. Comparisons to actual gives a different picture.
City Council – $199,625 -1.5%
• $199,625 is down substantially from $500,000 in 22-23; largely due to reduction in dollar payments to local special interests that could be considered patronage.
Hopefully that era is over
City Manager - $ 718,885 + 52%
• Largely due to full year cost of Salary and Benefits including a new line item of CALPERS UAL cost of $49,995
• Contracted Services are carryover of two contracts –
• Presumably 25-26 will see a reduction of $160K for these contracts as they are completed
• These contracts increase this budget significantly and don’t appear to have anything to do with water and wastewater – is the allocation begin adjusted? City Attorney - $647,900
• This category needs to come down to $300,000 or less. This allows for a $275,000 retainer contract with the best law firm being considered and assumes that they reduce or eliminate the legal risks the city has been taking. $25,000 - $30,000 would be consistent with historical costs for managing litigation • The principle to avoiding litigation costs is to actually follow the laws of the State of California.
• We are still allocating full litigation costs to water and wastewater rate payers – this needs to be adjusted. Water and Wastewater have nothing to do with litigating parking ordinances.
Assistant City Manager/City Clerk - $430,771 +6.7%
• Budgeted increase is entirely in Salary and Benefits with a note that it does not reflect voluntary reductions requested by Mary. City needs to resolve whatever the situation is and budget correctly.
• UAL is substantial here $48,750?
• In the spirit of making sure major expenses are assigned to an individual department that is accountable, suggest moving the remaining technology security contracts from non-departmental to Assistant City Manager.
Administration Services (Finance) Department $1,397,523 +5.2% • Increase is Salaries and Benefits increase vs 23-24 presumably assuming all vacancies are filled for the entire year. Are there still vacancies today? Has there ever been a year when all positions are filled without turnover? • CALPERS UAL cost $103,756
Planning Department - $666,426 +22.9%
• Salaries reduced by $67,366 but benefits increased $67,740. How do benefits increase as salaries decrease?
• CALPERS UAL $74,235? This is 30% of the total salary and benefits for Planning??
• Contracted Services increased $125,520 - $50,000 is due to carryover of EIFD contract which was paid for by the county. There is only 22,890 in intergovernmental revenues for 24-25. Where is the $50,000 in county money?
• Would like to understand spending $50,000 for a contract to monitor ownership of affordable housing contracts. How many affordable housing contracts does the city have? $50,000 would be better spent helping people instead of a consultant.
• What is the legal aid housing registry program – has it been discussed with Council?
• If this these programs are mandated by the State or County, are we asking for funding that is frequently allocated to small cities where these burdens are disproportionate to the budget?
Building Inspection Department - $302,220 +27.2%
• Salaries decreased from last year
• Contract Services most of increase to deal with Canopy project. Do we know when they will break ground? They didn’t have a date for access to PGE based on recent statements. This increase in contract services may not be needed
• CALPERS UAL $9,745. Health insurance doubles to 11,222? Engineering Department - $553,020 -5.8%
• On many issues GHD has been critical to properly analyzing issues and presenting them to the public. We are clearly using them for more than Engineering. Suggest breaking the contract up for better accountability.
Public Works - $1,772,079 +2.7%
• Overall budget increase only 2.7% but misleading as budget includes not replacing Dante. Some potential for confusion with combination with Engineering. This budget should be redone by mid-year for a combined operation.
• Moved 1 FTE to water and wastewater $45,725; $6900 decrease stated in related benefits in this budget.
• Are the benefit costs that have been transferred to Water and Wastewater rate payers actually fully deducted from public works budget? • Note see water where it says $89,667 in benefit increases associated with the transferred FTE? $56,900 in health care costs alone added to water and not removed from public works?
• Wastewater charged with another $63,000 in increased benefit costs.
Health insurance increased by $42,000. All associated with 1 new FTE with a modest salary. Reduction not identified in Public Works budget • Publics works expenses are allocated to water and wastewater already. It this FTE and benefits being paid for 2x by water and wastewater rate payers?
• Applaud bringing the WCCC contract out of the dark. Need to combine all expenses related to low-low income/homelessness in one place. • What is a corporate yard? Represents 27% of public works budget but not mentioned in the matrix nor in the objectives or even accomplishments • Parking Lots? $144,987? 40% of the money spent on all the streets in the city? Salary equal to 1FTE worker similar to the one transferred to water and wastewater? Do we sweep the parking lots every day?
• $12,000 for water in the parking lots? 300% increase exceeds the revenue increase goals for water. What is driving the increased costs? • Where is the revenue from the EV chargers?
Senior Center $40,038 -46%
• The Senior Center non-profit is in excellent financial condition • City should focus on budgeting for appropriate maintenance if that is the contractual agreement we have. If we don’t have an agreement, then someone needs and objective to negotiate one.
• It is unnecessary to get citizens upset about budget cuts that are not meaningful to the finances of the non-profit
Community Center - $168,726 -47%
• Community Center and city need to come up with a long-term plan for this function and the building. This needs to be done before spending substantial sums of money on the current building. Suggest scheduling a mid-year review of the plan and the budget based on that plan. Only required spending until after that plan is finalized. This is a public building with associated liability if someone is injured
IVES Pool - $ 296,306 +5.2%
• Good discussions have uncovered the fact that this is an asset to much of the West County community. Set an objective to gather data on who is using the pool and where they live. Build a case for county subsidy before the midyear budget review • Contracted Services includes HVAC costs? Do we air condition the pool? • A poorly maintained pool gets very expensive very quickly. Damage to the concrete deck allows water to get under the deck and expands soil that further damages the deck and in many cases the wall of the pool. • Maintenance issues can lead to health problems for swimmers which is a legal liability for the city
• I would make sure the pool is maintained in pristine condition and focus on getting revenue from the County to pay for it.
Police $5,477,732 +2.5%
• Recently the chief disclosed what we thought - 50% of patrol time is allocated to homeless issues
• Makes sense to put the WCCC outreach coordinator there but if this is where we are going to deal with homelessness then we need police to create a strategic plan for the city to deal with homelessness and to document the cost to the city and seek funding from Measure O money.
PD recently disclosed most of that Measure O money is not being allocated.
Fire $1,535,910 +19.3%
• I saw a mention that we plan to send strike teams to fight fires in the County and the State. We know this generates substantial income for the city. Where is the income budgeted?
• There has also been mention of a proposal from the volunteers to utilize stipends to provide 24/7 staffing. When will this proposal be presented to the public and the full council?
Non-departmental Expense - $191,645 -20%
• Applaud moving every expense from this to a department that is accountable for spending the money well.
• Concerning that IT investments, particularly related to security is in a department with no-one accountable.
• These expenses need to be moved to a competent department head.
Perhaps Assistant City Manager or City Manager to ensure security accountability is being competently supervised.