Title
Staff Report for the City of San Leandro City Council to Receive the Final Recommendations from the Community Advisory Budget Task Force and to Provide Direction to Staff
Staffreport
SUMMARY AND RECOMMENDATION
Staff recommends that the City Council receive and comment on the Community Advisory Budget Task Force (Task Force) Final Recommendations and provide direction to staff in preparation for the development of the biennial budget for Fiscal Years 2021-22 and 2022-23.
BACKGROUND
On July 21, 2020, the City Council created the Community Advisory Budget Task Force (Task Force), to seek the input from residents and stakeholders and make recommendations to the City Council on community priorities and strategies to maintain a high quality of service delivery while taking tangible steps to reduce ongoing budget deficits. The City Council further directed the Task Force to focus on changes necessary to rebalance the City budget considering budget deficits, the COVID-19 pandemic, the accompanying shelter-in-place orders, and the reallocation of $1.7 million from the Police Department budget.
The following summarizes the mission for the Task Force:
• Develop an understanding of the City’s budget and fiscal issues;
• Provide input on community priorities and develop recommendations on fiscal strategies and program delivery that ensure a balanced budget and reflects those priorities;
• Make recommendations to enhance public understanding of the City budget and community input into the budget development process;
• Make recommendations for the most efficient and effective reallocation of funding that was recently deducted from the Police Department budget; and
• Make recommendations to help achieve a long-term, sustainable budget through reducing expenditures and/or increasing revenues.
DISCUSSION
The Community Advisory Budget Task Force met 2 times a month for 6 months (with some exceptions) for a total of 12 times since October 2020. Their schedule also included a Town Hall meeting which was held on Saturday, March 6th. The Task Force covered a wide range of topics during that time, becoming familiar with all aspects of the City’s budget, in particular the General Fund. As part of their work, the Task Force heard from each city Department including a description of their core service delivery, some of the challenges they face, and a high level summary of how they would respond given more or less resources.
In order to better accomplish their work in the time they had, the Task Force created several Ad Hoc committees that were able to delve into particular topics of interest. Those committees included: Shared Values, Participatory Budgeting, Revenue Enhancement, and Summarizing Final Recommendations for the City Council.
In the second half of their meeting schedule and after an in-depth review of the City’s budget and Departments’ service levels, the Task Force began discussing recommendations. Once draft recommendations were developed, the Task Force held a Town Hall meeting on March 6, 2021 to listen to community’s suggestions on how best to meet the City Council’s objectives and to receive input regarding the Task Force’s preliminary recommendations.
After the Town Hall meeting, the Task Force met again to refine their recommendations in preparation for their presentation to the City Council. As part of that process, a survey was distributed to the members to help identify the top ten recommendations. The results of the survey are attached.
NEXT STEPS
After the Task Force has presented their priority recommendations and staff has received feedback and direction from the City Council, staff will work internally to review the recommendations and asses if any are currently in progress, which ones may need funding, the timing of possible implementation, and finally the internal capacity necessary to accomplish the recommendation. It is likely that there will be some recommendations that can be accomplished in the near term and some that will require more time and effort to implement.
FISCAL IMPACTS
The Community Advisory Budget Task Force required significant staff time in the form of administrative and technical support to prepare and present meeting materials, to answer the many questions that were generated as a result of the content, to prepare agendas, minutes, and to staff the technical needs of zoom webinars. These efforts are estimated to have cost approximately $140,000, which includes the help of an executive part time employee that worked exclusively on this project.
Attachment(s) to Staff Report
1. Schedule of Meetings
2. Shared Values Guide
3. List of All 32 Recommendations
4. Survey Monkey Results
PREPARED BY:
Liz Warmerdam, Assistant City Manager, City Manager’s Office