Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAboutItem R4�go4 oI AGENDA REPORT DATE: June 25, 2001 y TO: Honorable Mayor and City Council FROM: John B. Bahorsko City Manager SUBJECT: Request to Adopt FY 2001/02 Budget, Information Technology Strategic Plan, Budget and Fiscal Policies, and Five -Year Capital Improvement Plan SUMMARY OF REQUEST: !Staff is requesting City Council take the following actions: 1. Conduct the public hearing and take public input. 2. Adopt a resolution approving the FY 2001 -02 Budget, Five Year Capital Improvement Budget and Appropriations limit for Fiscal Year 2000 -2001. 3. Approve the Budget and Fiscal Policies. 4. Approve the Information Technology Strategic Plan. 5. Provide direction on the street sweeping and tree trimming fees. BACKGROUND: City Council received the proposed budget on May 21, 2001 in accordance with the City Charter. A workshop was held on June 11, 2001 to discuss the FY 2001/02 Budget and supporting documents. As required by the City Charter a public hearing to adopt the budget was noticed for June 25, 2001. City Council may now take public comment on the proposed budget, provide additional Council comments on the proposed budget and adopt the proposed budget along with any changes. DISCUSSION: Staff has proposed a FY 2001/02 Budget that includes revenues of $48,806,917 and expenditures of $46,285,693. General Fund revenues are projected to be $16,765,708 and General Fund expenditures of $16,678,651. As in past years the City's three largest revenue sources are utility user tax, property tax, and sales tax. These three sources of revenues account for 51 % of the total General Fund revenues. Agenda Item n i General Fund expenditures in FY 2001/02 we projected at $16,678,651. In FY 2001/02 police and fire expenditures consume 51% of the resources. In FY 2001/02 police and animal control expenditures are $5,676,941 and expenditures for fire are $2,877,769. Within Water Fund operations there is a projected deficit of $537,793 that will need to be addressed before the end of FY 2001/02. Staff is already preparing a water rate study to address the imbalance in the Water Fund. Sewer Fund improvements are continuing due to the revenues provided by Certificates of Participation issued in June 2000. Several key projects are planned such as replacement of the sewers in old town and the Boeing pump station. In FY 2001 /02 the General Fund will be transferring $793,254 to the Tidelands Beach Fond for beach related operations and projects. One of the most significant projects is the sand replenishment project at the cost of $150,000. FISCAL IMPACT: The proposed FY 2001/02 Budget will establish the fiscal plan for the City of Seal Beach over the next year. An undesignated fund balance of $1,686,620 or 10% of the General Fund expenditures is available for unanticipated expenditures. RECOMMENDATION: Adopt resolution number _ approving the FY 2001/02 budget, Five Year Capital Improvement Plan and FY 2001/02 Appropriations Limit. Approve the Budget and Fiscal policies. Approve the Information Technology Strategic Plan. Provide staff direction on the street sweeping and tree trimming fees. A. Resolution Number Adopting the FY 2001/02 Budget, Five -Year Capital Improvement Plan and _ FY 2001/02 Appropriation Limit. �t EAf 9F, t qC i� # �,� gyp,. DATE: TO: THRU: FROM: SUBJECT: Memo June 8, 2001 Honorable Mayor and City Council John B. Bahorski, City Manager Doug Danes, P.E., Interim Director of Public Works/City Engineer Street Sweeping Analysis STREET SWEEPING ANALYSIS How much does the department currently sweep? Currently, the Public Works Department maintains 43 miles of street (86 curb miles) within its network. Most residential areas are swept twice a month, arterials are swept four times a month, and Main Street and the Beach Parking Lots are swept 4 times per week. Alleys are swept on an as needed basis. Leisure World also contracts with the City at an hourly charge, for five hours a month, to sweep within its community. We also sweep Pacific Coast Highway and invoice Caltrans back per our maintenance agreement. What type of equipment does the department use? The Department has two street sweepers and one street sweeper operator. The primary street sweeper (75 %) is an old typel993 Mobil broom sweeper with 47,750 miles and 5,300 operating hours. The secondary sweeper (25 %) is a 1986 Tymco vacuum sweeper with 40,500 and 5,970 operating hours that can remove debris and standing water. This piece of equipment is used only for specific "hot spot" areas and College Park East to vacuum standing water and debris. Both sweepers will soon need replacement next fiscal year. The average life of a sweeper is seven to ten years. New AQMD are in effect that will require agencies to purchase PM -10 effident sweepers. These are vacuum sweepers that prevent the • Page 1 venting of particulate matter of a specific size. The purchase of a PM -10 sweeper would eliminate the need to maintain two sweepers. How is the street sweeping service paid for? The City currently collects $41,000 through the street sweeping fee. Council instituted an ordinance in 1987 to collect community service fees. These fees have never been raised. The fee was established, primarily, at an assessment of fifty cents per water meter with some language for exceptions. These included commercial, manufacturing, vacant properties, etc... were charge on cent per lineal foot served by a city street sweeper or the minimum assessment of fifty cents per water meter, whichever is greater. The City Attorney's office is reviewing the process necessary to raise the fees and whether or not there are "prop 218" issues. How much does the department currently spend on street sweeping? The Engineering Division performed a comprehensive analysis on the Department's street sweeping operation. In summary, the costs were broken down into the following categories: labor, overhead, capital, equipment, miscellaneous adjustments. Labor included payroll costs, shift differential, fringe benefits, uniform and training costs. Overhead included supervision and administration costs. Capital included the cost to purchase a new sweeper, interest payments, and return on salvage value based upon a seven -year life. Equipment included tires, fuel, oil and grease, brooms, in house parts and contract services. Miscellaneous adjustments included the credits back from Leisure World and Caltrans. LABOR COSTS I $ 53,287.20 OVERHEADCOSTS i $ 1,000.00 CAPITAL COSTS i $ 24,528.57 EQUIPMENTCOSTS I $ 18,842.25 EWIROM4ENTAL REGULATIONS is - MISCELLANEOUS ADJUSTMENTS I $ (10,560.00) Total City Costs! $ 87,098.02 How does this compare with contracting for outside services? To compare in -house vs outsourcing it is important to make an "apples" to "apples" comparison. This is done by adding all the costs it currently takes in -house to perform that operation then divide that by a production rate. In this case, the production rate is curb miles. The City crews sweep approximately 2,800 curb miles per year at a cost of approximately $87,100. This works out to $31 a curb mile. • Page 2 Staff spoke with several street sweeping contractors and outside services are charging between $13.00 and $15.00. The yearly cost for the service with additional inspection/monitoring costs would be $50,000 per year. From the analysis, it is more cost effective to contract out. Some of the reasons for this cost differential are the continued maintenance of the equipment, work schedules, the ability of a private company to purchase machines at lower rates, and the productivity gain from being specialized. Staff examined ways to improve our operation significantly but even if procedures and production rates were modified it still would not be sufficient to close the gap vs contracting out. There has been a trend for some time now for smaller agencies to contract out this service. Just some of the Cities that have successfully contracted out street sweeping include Dana Point, Signal Hill, Hermosa Beach, Manhattan Beach, and Laguna Niguel. Even Los Angeles County contracts out 75% of their street sweeping. The success of a maintenance contract depends on the quality of the contractor as well as the commitment for administration and inspection. It is recommended that the City put out a request for proposals if this option is selected so a quality contractor is chosen. How would a contract sweeper be evaluated? In a street sweeping contract, the evaluation of services is based on the level of cleanliness after sweeping, adherence to schedules, driver and equipment safety, courtesy of operators, and number of complaints received. Photographs are often used to establish various levels of cleanliness. There would also be performance monitoring and liquidated damages or payment deductions for poor performance. Also, if the City were unhappy with the performance of a contractor it go back out for proposals for new contractors or re-establish in -house street sweeping. It is recommended that every three years the Department re- evaluate its maintenance contracts for costs and overall performance. Are there any other factors to consider? It is also important to note that there is some debate statewide concerning the issue of prevailing wages. The Department of Industrial Relations has authored a letter stating that agencies must pay contract sweepers at the prevailing wage of a "Operating Engineer, Group 4." Although its effect has not been fully realized, it is expected to raise curb mile cost approximately 60 — 80 %. The City would remain unaffected since Seal Beach is a charter city and does not have pay prevailing wages. Second, if City were to contract out it would need to either transfer the street sweeper operator to a vacant position within the Department or lay off the employee. • Page 3 Currently, there is a vacancy in the Sewer Division for a Mtce 11 that is about to be filled and d is recommended that he be transferred. Also, there may be a secondary effect of morale concerning contracting out which could be mitigated through proper communication and education concerning the plans for the department. What is the gap between what the City collects and its operation? There is a $46,000 shortfall between what the City currently collects and what it spends on street sweeping in- house. What are Council's options? Council has several options. The average property owner pays $.50 per month for Street Sweeping. Option 1: Keep In -House Street Sweeping — Same Schedule $87,000 per year. The street sweeping fee would raise from $.50 to a $1.56 per month for a $1.06 increase. Option 2: Contract Out Street Sweeping — Same Schedule $50,000 per year The street sweeping fee would raise from $.50 to a $.59 per month for a $.09 increase. What if council wanted to increase service so that all streets were swept weekly? Option 3: Contract Out Street Sweeping — Sweep all Streets Weeldy $80,000 per year plus one time cost of $26,000 to $58,000 for signs. This option would provide greater ocean water quality as well as increased aesthetic benefits. The street sweeping fee would raise from $.50 to a $1.46 per month for a $.96 increase over the life of the program. There is a one time cost to change out for weekly sweeping. The Department would need to change out all the signs within the City. With over approximately 1400 signs at $40 per sign installed, it would amount to approximately $56,000 for the change out. Of this amount, approximately $30,000 could be saved if the in College Park West and College Park East sweeping restrictions were placed on both sides of the street for the same day. This would allow for the posting of signs on only entrance streets of the tract (CPW 1, CPE 5). The Department would then remove all the existing signs which would improve community aesthetics. This method has been instituted in other cities such as tracts in Brea. • Page 4 Council could fund the $56,000 or the $26,000 by raising the street sweeping fee accordingly over and by using the salvage value of the existing equipment if the service were contracted. • Page 5 CITY OF SEAL BEACH MEMO TO: City Council via J. Bahorski, City Manager FROM: Nancy Beard DATE: May 24, 2001 RE: Tree Maintenance Fees The City of Seal Beach maintains approximately 5,000 trees on public property with plans to install more trees over the next few years. The City is working creatively to enhance its Urban Forest with an aggressive planting program and by partnering with the Trees for Seal Beach non -profit organization dedicated to increasing the same cause. Maintaining the City's existing forest and caring for new trees that have been planted, requires appropriate funding highlighting the City's investment in healthy trees and ensuring high quality appearance. The Urban Forest in Seal Beach is on a two to three year grid trimming cycle maintaining approximately 1,200 trees annually. Palm trees in Old Town and the trees on Main Street are the exception to that plan as they are trimmed on an annual basis. Advantages to an appropriate trim cycle are apparent following any of the City's major storms. The City has experienced very little damage and few claims as a result of its diligence where tree care in involved. The City currently allocates $55,000 for tree trimming. The City's tree trimming fee provides only $36,000 creating an annual general fund impact of $19,000. Tree maintenance does not end with trimming. The City must also remove, replant and root prune trees as well as provide root barriers when appropriate, soil replacement, perform sidewalk grinding and repair or replace curb and gutter damaged by the city's trees increasing the cost of preserving trees. Staff estimates, based on existing tree inventory, that the city has approximately 300 Ficus, Black Locust and Brazilian Peppers trees which do or will require sidewalk and or curb and gutter removal and replacement. The City currently has a backlog of sidewalk repair, which can be attributed to its Urban Forest. The following is a table of the services and costs included in tree maintenance. Costs to Fix Damage to Public Improvements caused by City Trees Activity Avg Quantity per Location Mtce. Unit Price Amount Permanent Repairs Remove and Replace Damaged Curb and Gutter 15 LF $35/LF $350 Remove and Replace Sidewalk (Avg 5ft x l Oft panel) 50 SF $8 /SF $400 Interim Repairs Grind Raised Sidewalk 1 Location $50/Loc $50 Asphalt Patch 1 Location $25/Loc $25 Tree Removals Remove Tree (Assume 13 inch diameter) 13 inch $13 /in $169 Tree Plantings Plant 15 gallon Tree 1 each $100 $100 Plant 24 gallon Tree 1 each $200 $200 Soil Replacement 1 location 1 yard soil $24 $24 labor Root Pruning 1 location $95 $95 In modifying the services provided for tree maintenance, there may be four fiscal scenarios. The City may adjust the existing tree trimming fee to accurately reflect the direct cost of annual trimming. The annual cost of grinding sidewalk to prolong the life of both the concrete and tree (estimated to be 3 years) could be added to the annual fee. Another approach would be to add an annual cost for sidewalk and gutter R repairs related to parkway trees to the fee. An all- inclusive and aggressive approach would be to encompass all the related fees for tree maintenance including tree trimming, removal and replacement of the trees and gutter and sidewalks replacements. Option 1. To enhance the tree trimming assessment to cover the direct cost of trimming trees. This option raises the single - family resident's monthly fee from .50 to .92 per month for an annual fee totaling $55,200. Option 2. Encompass tree maintenance on a grinding or patching basis with an anticipated life span of 3 years together with recovering the direct cost of trimming. This option would raise the current single- family resident's monthly fee from .50 to $1.05 for an annual fee totaling $63,000. Option 3. Encompass tree maintenance in the fee, which would include tree trimming and sidewalk and gutter removal and replacement. This option would raise the current single - family resident's monthly fee from .50 to $2.08 for an annual fee totaling $124,800. Option 4. Encompass all tree maintenance in the fee including, trimming ($55,000), tree removal and replacements ($75,000) and sidewalk and gutter replacements ($70,400). This option would raise the current single - family resident's monthly fee from .50 to $3.34 for an annual fee totaling $200,400. Staff is recommending City Council consider implementing Option 3 for Adoption. At a minimum, staff believes Option 1 is necessary to reduce the general fund subsidy.