Report of the Montpelier City Council's Citizen Budget Review ...

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voters of Montpelier, and it may be that the community is satisfied with theservices and tax bills we currently have.One other point is worth mentioning about property taxes. For those who deductproperty taxes on their income tax returns, the effect of high property taxes issomewhat reduced due to tax savings. But the future of these deductions is inquestion at both the state and federal levels. A 2011 report by Vermont’s BlueRibbon Tax Structure Committee recommended lowering state income tax ratesby eliminating deductions, including the property tax deduction, at the state level.Legislative leaders have said they want to consider such changes in theupcoming legislative session. At the federal level, there has also been talk ofeliminating or reducing tax deductions as part of federal tax reform. If either orboth of these changes came to pass, Montpelier residents who deduct propertytaxes would be more adversely affected than taxpayers in most of the rest of thestate and nation.While some of the subcommittee reports in the report show that certain levels ofstaffing in Montpelier are high compared to other cities and towns, we want toemphasize that we are not criticizing city employees or the job they do. City staffhas generally been very helpful to the committee’s work, and we want toparticularly thank City Manager Bill Fraser and Finance Director Sandy Gallup fortheir time and assistance.b. Subcommittee’s ReportsThe following Subcommittee reports are included, in alphabetical order.• Administration & Finance• Budget Process• Data• Debt/Capital Planning• Health Benefits• Matrix Report• Planning• Public Safety• Public Works• RecreationPage 20 of 88
Administration and Finance Subcommittee ReportDavid Beatty, Phil Dodd, Jean OlsonProcess:The Administration/Finance (F/A) subcommittee decided to review the City Manager’s Officeand the Finance Department in depth. Matrix issued four recommendations for the CityManager and 16 for the Finance Department. The most recent status of theserecommendations as of 2012 is in Appendix B. This review included consideration of theseMatrix recommendations, meetings in person with Bill Fraser and Sandy Gallup and compilingfocused data from comparable Vermont municipalities: Barre City, Bennington, Brattleboro,Middlebury and St. Albans.We also reviewed the offices of the City Clerk/City Treasurer, Assessor, InformationTechnology, Cemetery and Community Justice Center. While this process was less extensive,the data includes information from the same six municipalities gathered by telephone andemail. The following information is by individual department.We are grateful to the key contacts for each municipality who were:• Barre City: Carol Dawes, City Clerk and Treasurer and Elizabeth Somaini, Assistant tothe City Manager/Human Resources Administrator• Bennington: Stuart Hurd, Town Manager• Brattleboro: John O’Connor, Director of Finance• Middlebury: Kathleen Ramsay, Assistant Town Manager• Montpelier: Bill Fraser (City Manager) and Sandra Gallup (Finance Director)• St. Albans: Peg Strait, Director of Finance and AdministrationDescription of the Montpelier City Manager OfficeMatrix describes this office as generally responsible for the overall administration andmanagement of the City of Montpelier under the policy direction and guidance of the CityCouncil.Key Questions:• What is the FTE staff in the City Manager’s Office? (See Exhibit 1)• What are the roles of the staff in the City Manager’s Office? (See Exhibit 1)• What is the budget for the City Manager’s Office? (See Exhibit 1)• Do you have an Assistant City Manager? How much time? Is the position filled? Whatare the core responsibilities for this position? (See Exhibit 1)• How is right-size staffing determined and by whom? (See next page)Page 21 of 88
Page 2 and 3: Table of ContentsTRANSMITTAL LETTER
Page 4: 1. EXECUTIVE S UMMARYa. Charge from
Page 7 and 8: f. Summary of RecommendationsThe BR
Page 9 and 10: available through VLCT. This will s
Page 11 and 12: 2: View City and staff responses to
Page 13 and 14: Building Inspector, half the depart
Page 15 and 16: should undertake this analysis prio
Page 17 and 18: Equipment, Streets, and Wastewater
Page 19: 2. INTRODUCTIONa. History and Backg
Page 23 and 24: • Barre: City Clerk/Treasurer als
Page 25 and 26: Key Questions:• What is the FTE s
Page 27 and 28: Population 2010Total Admin/Fin Budg
Page 29 and 30: Budget Process Subcommittee ReportD
Page 31 and 32: CONCLUSIONS & RECOMMENDATIONS:The p
Page 33 and 34: Attachment 1Budget Process Subcommi
Page 35 and 36: Attachment 3NOTE: The following cha
Page 37 and 38: committee under a short deadline. T
Page 39 and 40: Total Long Term Debt per Capita:Lat
Page 41 and 42: Five City/Town Comparative Chart- D
Page 43 and 44: Department of Public Works over a p
Page 45 and 46: Health Benefits Subcommittee Report
Page 47 and 48: The following graph looks at change
Page 49 and 50: Matrix Subcommittee ReportJean Olso
Page 51 and 52: Planning Subcommittee ReportJane Ka
Page 53 and 54: Notes from Each Community:Much of t
Page 55 and 56: • Barre City: The Planning Depart
Page 57 and 58: Planning Departments by Town Exhibi
Page 59 and 60: and the City Manager should identif
Page 61 and 62: Public Safety Subcommittee ReportBo
Page 63 and 64: Recommendations:1. Time did not all
Page 65 and 66: nights, the shift coverage is only
Page 67 and 68: Significant Fall Hazards (SigHAZ):
Page 69 and 70: Further rationale for the above sug
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3. Roughly what is the percentage o
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Recommendations for DPW1. If Montpe
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[END PUBLIC WORKS SUBCOMMITTEE REPO
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According to the 2009 National Citi
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Table of Montpelier Recreation Depa
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during the school year. The Public
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Montpelier Barre Brattleboro Middle
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RECOMMENDATIONS• Other cities and
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Tax ComparisonsAppendix AMunicipal
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City/TownMedianMunicipalTax BillMun
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available for circuit breaker reduc
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2). PROPERTY TAX TARGET: Do you hav
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considering the adoption of a Capit
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, · 1deductible, combined with a H
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Appendix Budget - 41/1DATE:TO:FROM:
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Other Employee-related increasesHea
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City of Montpelier 2012-13 Goals an
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Date Subcommittee Montpelier Growth
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Data Subcommittee Nine (9) City Fin
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Data Subcommittee - Montpelier Five
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Montpelier 20.1 2/ Annual Report /
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Montpelier 2012 / Annual Report / 2
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DireCt Debt Service Ratios - Debt P
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• In order to make the assessment
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The Center Director conducts betwee
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The Department has initiated the co
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SECTIONRECOMMENDATIONENTITY /INDIVI
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SECTIONRECOMMENDATION8.1 (5) The Fi
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City of Montpelier - Department of
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City of MontpelierUSER: TPROVENCHER
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Asset Value & DepreciationAsset 10P
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REGULARLaboratory Preventative Payr
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City of MontpelierUSER: TPROVENCHER
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Work Order SummaryLabor Part Other
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Work Order SummaryWO#W/SMAINT24902
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Work Order SummaryWO#MHS24899 [COOL
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SCOPE OF WORK PERFORMEDDuring JUNE
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October 2012 Work, StreetsCulvert r
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RIDGE STREET RECONSTRUCTIONMONTPELI
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(0 C4.March 8, 2012I acknowledge th
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APPENDIX Rec 1FEBRUARY 2012 CITY CO
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those together.Mayor Hooper said th
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Council Member Timpone said they ha
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on, so they can perform their fiduc
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in terms of understanding the impli
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