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

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Recommendations1. Because there appears to be a constant flux of employees within city departments,we recommend the City Manager work with the City Council at the start of the budgetprocess to provide a clear organizational chart of current positions, showingfilled/vacant and salaries as well as the City Manager’s plans formoving/adding/deleting positions in the next budget period.2. City staff FTE has grown 9.8% from 106.85 in 1992 to 117.28 in 2013. In about thesame timeframe, the population of Montpelier has shrunk 4.8% from 8247 to 7855(US Census). We recommend that City Council and the City Manager work togetherto carefully review all new potential hires as well as potential projects that may behandled more efficiently and effectively by other local or regional organizations.3. When city employees retire and are then re-hired to return to work for MontpelierCity government, we recommend that it is with a contract for a specific time periodand with clearly stated compensation and benefits. This recommendation isintended to clarify staffing roles, succession planning, and budgeting.4. In our review of five other communities, we found three others are served byCommunity Justice Centers (CJCs). Like Montpelier, Brattleboro and St. Albanstreat CJC staff as city employees in addition to providing space and other in-kindbenefits. Barre City provides only in-kind resources to its nonprofit CJC. There isno formal CJC in Bennington, but the city allocates $3000 for related services. Thereis no CJC in Middlebury, nor does it contribute anything for such services. We didnot have the time or the resources to compare the effectiveness of these centers.We recommend that City Council regularly examine the relationship between theCommunity Justice Center and Montpelier City to see if expenses can be matchedwith outside revenues so that the city contribution, which has varied from year toyear, can be minimized or eliminated. It will be particularly important to keep an eyeon this if state funding is reduced.In the 2009 National Citizen Survey, Montpelier residents identified the CJC as thenumber one area to cut city costs, if cuts were necessary. It was named by 53% ofthe respondents. While we understand that the CJC is doing good work, thissuggests that some Montpelier residents have concerns about costs that couldbenefit from a broader discussion of the CJC.5. We recommend the City Council review how IT services are provided and the cost ofthose services. Comparison towns in this report all use contract services.[END ADMINISTRATION AND FINANCE SUBCOMMITTEE REPORT]Page 28 of 88
Budget Process Subcommittee ReportDavid Beatty and Susan ZellerBACKGROUND:The Budget Process Subcommittee (BPSC) was formed to review the process andmethodology employed by the City Manager and City Council in developing and managing theannual municipal budget, which is subsequently submitted to the voters for approval on theMarch City Meeting ballot. The Budget Process Subcommittee was formed at the main BudgetStudy Committee meeting of July 26, 2012 with two members, David Beatty and Susan Zeller.The BPSC members held their initial strategy meeting on August 2, 2012.SOURCE OF INFORMATION:The BPSC met with and interviewed City Manager Bill Fraser and Finance Director SandyGallup, and separately with City Councilor Tom Golonka. To the extent possible, the BudgetProcess, Debt Service/Capital, and Finance & Administration Subcommittees coordinated andattended these meetings jointly. In addition, BPSC received responses to questions (see BSPAttachment 1) asked of Councilor Golonka and emailed to Councilors Weiss, Hooper andGuerlain.The BPSC spoke several times with the Vermont League of Cities & Towns (VLCT). While theVLCT provides material and seminars to assist towns with how to do their budgets, it provideslittle guidance on how to control or contain budget growth. The BPSC also reviewed numerousarticles, publications and reports, on the budget process, available on the Web fromcolleges/universities, financial organizations, and other government entities, including:• Recommended Budget Practices; A Framework for Improved State and Local GovernmentBudgeting – National Advisory Council on State and Local Budgeting, Government FinanceOfficers Association (GFOA).“Of all the functional areas of finance, the one most in need of guidance is governmentbudgeting.”“Recommended budget practices encourage governments to consider the longer-termconsequences of such actions to ensure that the impacts of budget decisions areunderstood over a multi-year planning horizon and to assess whether programs andservice levels can be sustained.”• Handbook for Vermont Selectboards, A Comprehensive Guide for Vermont SelectboardMembers – Vermont League of Cities & Towns (VLCT)“Attention to the town budget is a major part of the selectboard’s job throughout the year, andshouldn’t be confined to the period when the board is drafting next year’s budget. A budget is aplan of what the town expects to do in the upcoming year and how much it will cost taxpayers todo it. But, as the saying goes, “the best laid plans are the first to go awry.” Property tax collectionscan plummet, a bad winter can wipe out the highway fund and prices for supplies can changewith little notice. For these reasons, the selectboard should regularly review revenues andexpenditures (most do it at least monthly) to make sure the town is staying within budgetedfigures as the fiscal year progresses. Spotting a trend of deficient revenues or unexpectedly highexpenditures (hopefully not both) earlier in the year rather than later gives a town more time tomake adjustments to the budget.”Page 29 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 and 20: 2. INTRODUCTIONa. History and Backg
Page 21 and 22: Administration and Finance Subcommi
Page 23 and 24: • Barre: City Clerk/Treasurer als
Page 25 and 26: Key Questions:• What is the FTE s
Page 27: Population 2010Total Admin/Fin Budg
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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Page 73 and 74: 3. Roughly what is the percentage o
Page 75 and 76: Recommendations for DPW1. If Montpe
Page 77 and 78: [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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