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HomeMy WebLinkAboutEmailed Comments from Robert Goldberg1 Gloria Harper From:Robert Goldberg <rgoldberg@live.com> Sent:Tuesday, June 01, 2021 10:55 AM To:budget Cc:Jill Ingram; Gloria Harper; Steve Myrter; Kelly Telford; Phil Gonshak; Les Johnson; Patrick Gallegos; Thomas Moore; Schelly Sustarsic; Mike Varipapa; Sandra Massa-Lavitt; Joe Kalmick Subject:Questions for Today's Townhall Attachments:Budget Questions.Townhall.doc Dear Council and Staff,    Please see my attached questions for today's Budget Town Hall. Regarding the budget, only two are new vs.  my previous submission: the first question on Salaries, and the last Budget question on parking Police Aides.  All of my CIP questions are new. Previously submitted calculation tables have been deleted.     I trust that City staff will honor their commitment published in the Sun on May 13th that "All questions  submitted in advance will be answered during the Town Hall meeting." I thank staff in advance for taking the  time to do so. I hope the Council finds these questions and answers informative and relevant to their decision‐ making process.    Sincerely,  Robert Goldberg    P.S. I do have additional questions regarding the 5‐Year Financial Forecast Model. However, I am presently  under the impression that this will not be presented tonight. I have asked Ms. Telford in an early email to  confirm this.   1 Questions from Robert Goldberg for Budget Townhall Proposed Budget (release date 5.24.21) Salaries: The pay range for each employee has five steps with 5% increases per step. Are the budgeted salaries based on each employee’s actual pay step placement, or are all salaries budgeted at the highest step? Pay Increases: Police: Our police officers have been working since 7/1/20 without new contracts, and therefore, did not receive a raise on 7/1/20. Do the estimated expenditures for FY 20-21 include base pay and secondary benefit raises for police officers? If so what percent increase was used as a temporary placeholders until contract approval? Does the Proposed Budget for FY 21-22 include base pay and secondary benefit raises for police officers? If so what percent increase was used as a temporary placeholders until contract approval? Will this be increased in the revised proposed budget to 3.6% to match civilian raises? Part-Time Employees: In January 2022, the minimum wage will rise from $14 to $15/hour. This will mandate increased pay for employees at the lower steps in pay grades 2 through 9 (such as Crossing Guards, Pool Lifeguards, and Police Aides). Moreover, while employees in pay grades 10-20 (including beach lifeguards) make more than $15/hour, they have not had a cost-of-living increase since July 2016. Inflation has been about 15% since then. Does the proposed budget include pay raises for part-time employees? If so, how much is budgeted for these raises? Will this amount cover 15% cost-of-living adjustments for part-time employees in pay grades 10-20? Proposed Staffing Changes: Police: Based in part on requests from parents who live on the Navy base, the Police Dept is requesting $15,000 per year to add a second crossing guard at the corner of Bolsa and SB Blvd. 2 Can we request that the Navy pay for the additional Crossing Guard at the entrance of their housing community? Building & Code Enforcement: This division is requesting staffing changes that will necessitate increasing consulting costs by $120,000. However, I could not find this increase in the proposed budget on page 90 which shows only $12,000 for Contract Professional. This is only enough to pay for the annual cost of permitting software from the Charles Abbott company. Is the necessary additional $120,000 in building services consulting added somewhere else in the budget? One of the staff changes that Building & Code Enforcement is proposing is to eliminate a currently vacant Building Official position for a reported savings of $220,0 00 per year. However, the maximum base salary for this position after a pay raise of 3.6% I n July 2021 is only $139,073. Adding benefits at say, 44% of salary, would come to $200,265 per year How did staff derive a cost-saving figure for the elimination of a vacant Building Official position that was 10% higher than my estimation? Projected Fund Balances (page 11): Vehicle Replacement Fund: My calculations indicate that this Fund will have about $327,000 in cash as of 7/1/21. What is staff’s estimate of cash in the Vehicle Replacement Fund as of 7/1/21? Information Technology Replacement Fund: The projected 7/1/21 fund balance is shown as $0. However, page 19 shows this Fund had an estimated revenue of $474,400 in FY 20-21, and page 42 shows estimated expenditures FY 20-21 of only $75,000. Why doesn’t the Info Tech Replacement Fund have a projected 7/1/21 fund balance of at least $399,400 (i.e., $474,400 minus $75,000)? Projected Revenues (page 16): Tidelands: No rental revenue is budgeted. However, we learned at the May 24th Council meeting, that City building permits will likely be issued for the Beach House Restaurant in June. This will trigger rent payments of at least $6700/month to be due 120 days thereafter. This week’s Sun reported that the restau rant will be open by December. Will six months of 1st Street restaurant rental income ($40,200) be added to the budget given imminent permitting by the City? 3 Transfers (Page 28): Per a previous City Engineers Report, the Street Lighting Fund will transfer $10,400 into the General Fund in FY 21-22 to cover administrative costs. Why is the $10,400 transfer from the Street Lighting Fund into the General not included in the listing of similar transfers? Personnel Summary (Pages 30-31): Police: The number of employees in the classification of Police Officer in FY 21 -22 is 25. Do the 25 Police Officers shown in the Personnel Summary include one “overhire” to accommodate a former Sr. CSO who the Council was told entered a police academy last September? If so, how soon do we expect a retirement to eliminate this overhire? How much was budgeted to pay for the overhire officer? Was a full 12 months of salary and benefits included in the Police budget? Community Services: Our current three “full-time equivalent” part-time Recreation Coordinators are proposed to be converted into three full-time employees. This change will potentially more than double total costs of salary and benefits, with expenditures rising by more than $160,000 per year. About half of this cost increase is due to a 67% increase in top step hourly wage from $19 to at least $32/hour (lowest top step wage for full-time employees). The other half of the increase in annual costs are due to the enhanced benefits of full-time positions- CalPERS pensions and medical insurance. Why is staff changing all of our part-time Recreation Coordinators to full time? Public Works: Street Maintenance (page 104) Street Sweeping: The proposed budget is $180,000. This is based on the full cost of a new contract approved by Council in 2019 for an amount not to exceed $174,416 a year. However, historically, 25% of street sweeping costs have been charged to the Waste Management Fund (saving General Fund money). Of note is that street sweeping is still listed as a contracting function paid for by the Waste Management Fund on page 41 Why isn’t the proposed expenditure for street sweeping by the Street Maintenance Division budgeted at $131,000 (i.e., 75% of $175,000) instead of $180,000? 4 Public Works: Air Quality Improvement Fund (page 113) This Fund has traditionally paid out all of its annual revenue to support the S enior Transit program, and more recently, to cover a small bike path fee to Southern California Edison. In FY 20-21, the full revenue amount of $31,000 was budgeted, but it appears that only $700 was spent (presumably for the bike path fee). As a result, the General Fund needed to chip in an additional $30,300 pay for Sr. Transit in FY 20-21. Why was $30,300 in Air Quality Improvement Fund money not used to pay for part of the Sr. Transit Program in FY 20-21? As a result of this non-payment, the Fund now has a beginning year FY 21-22 balance of $37,000 with a projected year-end balance of $36,100 (see page 11). Is there any reason to not use the anticipated FY 21-22 year-end balance of $36,100 in the Air Quality Improvement Fund to offset the General Fund expenditures for Sr. Transit in FY 21-22? Community Services: Sr. Bus Program (page 131) The proposed General Fund budget is for $260,000. However, this amount represents the total cost of the transportation and lunch program, and therefore, does not take into account that $30,300 of costs are paid directly out of the Air Quality Improvement Fund (page 113). Thus, the General Fund appropriation on page 131 is too high by this amount. Why is the General Fund appropriation of $260,000 for the Sr. Bus Program not reduced by the budgeted $30,300 expenditure for this program from the Air Quality Improvement Fund? Position Allocation Plan (Page 213): Police- Parking Enforcement: The Plan shows a proposed 4.45 part-time Police Aides. This is an increase from 3.32 in the adopted budget for FY 20-21. This will increase annual costs by about $34,000 (Step 1) to $41,000 (Step 5) including benefits. An increase in parking Police Aides was not included in the Police Departmental Reorganization Plan nor the Detention Reclassification Plan presented to Council on 9/14/20. To the contrary, the latter included reallocating four Detention Sr. CSO’s to parking enforcement for a sufficient portion of their time to produce $470,000 in increased parking revenue. Why is an additional 1.13 part-time Police Aides necessary for the parking program, given the availability of four Detention Sr. CSO’s to assist with parking enforcement? 5 Proposed CIP Annual Maintenance Programs The CIP proposes to move many annual maintenance programs (Main Street paver repairs, tree planting, tennis court rehab, and playground replacement) to the operating budget. As a consequence, the Council and public will no longer be able to look at the budget to see how much is budgeted for each of these programs. This loss of transparency now begs the following questions. Main Street Paver Repairs: In FY 20-21, this program was funded in the CIP by $20,000 of Gas Tax money. The proposed FY 21-22 budget now shows this program/contractor being funded with General Fund money in the Street Maintenance Division of Public Works. Why is Gas Tax money no longer being used to pay for repairs of Main Street pavers? How much is allocated for these repairs in the proposed budget for the Street Maintenance Division of Public Works? Playground Replacement: In FY 20-21, this program was funded in the CIP by $200,000 of state grant money. The proposed 5-Year CIP shows another $200,000 grant hoped for in FY 22-23. Is General Fund money now going to be used to annually supplement state grant money pay to for playground replacement costs? If so, how much is allocated for these repairs in the proposed FY 21 -22 budget and where is this allocation located in the budget? Tree Planting: In FY 20-21, this program was funded in the CIP by $20,000 of General Fund money. I cannot find any reference to tree planting in the proposed FY 21 -22 budget. Where is the annual tree planting program funded in the proposed FY 21-22 budget? How much money is budgeted for this program? Tennis Court Rehab: In FY 20-21, this program was funded in the CIP by $30,000 of General Fund money. I cannot find any reference to tennis court rehab in the proposed FY 21-22 budget. Where is the annual tennis court rehab program funded in the proposed FY 21- 22 budget? 6 How much money is budgeted for this program? Pier Restaurant Assessment At the May 25th CIP workshop, staff stated that the City would pay to rebuild the “structure” of the pier restaurant while the tenant would only be responsible for “improvements.” Having the City bear the cost of rebuilding the restaurant structure is a change in approach from my following of this issue. I have confirmed this with one of the potential tenants who engaged with the City prior to the fire. It was made very clear to this tenant that they would be responsible for both the structure and improvements. At that time, the City had appropriated funds to demolish the existing restaurant a nd upgrade all utilities to make the end of the pier “restaurant ready.” No money was set aside to rebuild the structure of the restaurant. Does staff have an estimate of how much it would cost for the City to rebuild the structure of the pier restaurant? If not, will this estimate be available in time for inclusion in the planned community outreach to gauge public sentiment as to whether we should have a pier restaurant?