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

CONCLUSIONS & RECOMMENDATIONS:The previous budget presentation materials, supplied to the City Council by the City Manager,contain ample information, but most of it is inadequate in providing Council members with thecritical information they need to fully participate in budgetary decisions. These materials caneasily overwhelm the most seasoned budget analyst but lack an adequate and appropriatesummary level, or “big picture,” view of the entire City budget. Some of the comparisonsprovided are selective and incomplete or are meaningless. [Examples: 1) comparing CPI(consumer price index) to the municipal property tax increase and the City employee cost ofliving adjustment is valid and informative, but incomplete without comparing CPI to the %increase in total city expenses; 2) including the unemployment rate in that comparison ismeaningless.] The details included tend to overwhelm the Council and divert their attentionfrom the “big picture.” While the City Manager is responsible for preparing the budgetproposal, it should also be the City Manager’s responsibility to provide the Council with realisticoptions and achievable solutions to managing expenditures and controlling tax growth.The following recommendations support Goal 1 of the City Council’s Goals for 2012-2013 andthe Finance Recommendations [7.1 (1) through 7.2 (7)] of the Matrix Report:1. The BPSC recommends that the Council provide the City Manager with cleardirection and specific goals before the budget process begins.2. The BPSC recommends that the City Manager’s performance related to thespecific budget development goals and assignments should be included in theCity Manager’s annual performance review.3. The BPSC recommends that the City Council first understand and then focuson the “gap,” or difference, between the projected available budget yearrevenues - without any tax or fee increases - and the projected expenses,which should be adjusted for known increases or decreases (changes in unioncontracts, health plan, debt service, etc.).4. The BPSC recommends that the City Manager and Council should focus onrealistic efficiencies, cost savings and/or program changes that could mitigateor resolve any negative “gap” (deficit), as well as important uses for anypositive “gap” (surplus) to further the Council’s fiscal goals beforeconsidering tax increases.5. The BPSC recommends that the City Council should require the City Managerto provide a Budget Worksheet, or “gap” analysis (see Attachment 3), orsimilarly formatted document, for the total projected municipal budget,including revenue and expenses for all funds and capital improvements, forthe upcoming fiscal year, at the first City Council Meeting following Labor Day.This Worksheet is intended to be a summary level document (not line itemdetail or narrative) showing changes by major revenue and expensecategories.6. Budget related instruction memos from the City Manager’s Office todepartment heads, and to the Mayor and City Council, vary from year to year.Clear, concise and consistently formatted budget instructions improvereader/user understanding and timely decision making. The BPSCrecommends the adoption of standardized content and format. ImprovementsPage 31 of 88