Title
Staff Report for an Update on the Implementation of Budget Task Force Recommendations
Staffreport
SUMMARY AND RECOMMENDATION
This report provides an update regarding the Budget Task Force recommendation implementation status. Staff recommends that the Committee review the report and provide feedback.
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.
The Community Advisory Budget Task Force met between October 2020 and March 2021. Their schedule also included a Town Hall meeting which was held in early March 2021. 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.
On March 22, 2021, the Task Force presented their top eleven recommendations to the City Council. The recommendations range from a navigation center, police oversight, funding for building and street maintenance, a community engagement plan for budget development, to an ambassador program. The full list of recommendations that was presented to Council is attached to this staff report. Please refer to the list for details.
After receiving the presentation, the City Council provided feedback and gave staff direction to review the recommendations. Staff worked internally to review the recommendations and assessed those currently in progress, ones requiring funding, the timing of possible implementation, and the internal capacity to accomplish the recommendations.
DISCUSSION
On April 26, 2021, as part of the 2021-23 preliminary budget presentation, staff presented the recommendations with proposed funding allocations and received feedback from the City Council. Resource allocations for funded recommendations are included in the 2021-23 budget that was adopted by the City Council in June 2021. These programs are presented in the attachment/table labeled “Update Regarding Budget Task Force Recommendation Implementation Status.” The table presents the lead departments, the funded recommendations, allocation amounts by fiscal year, and the implementation status.
Please note that the implementation of certain recommendations would only require internal resources such as staff’s time. Therefore, budget allocations were not required. Due to resource constraints and limited staffing capacity, certain recommendations were not funded or partially funded in the current budget cycle including reallocating certain activities from sworn officers to other experts. More studies would be required to determine the appropriate structure or change. The recommendation regarding participatory budgeting is partially funded with funding for an enterprise resource planning (ERP) system, and a plan is in development to conduct robust community engagement and outreach during the budget development process.
FISCAL IMPACTS
None. This report is for information only.
ATTACHMENT(S)
• List of Budget Task Force Recommendations - March 22, 2021, Special Council Meeting
• Update Regarding Budget Task Force Recommendation Implementation Status
PREPARED BY
Susan Hsieh, Finance Director