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CITY OF SAN BERNARDINO
AD HOC BUDGET REDUCTION COMMITTEE
REPORT AND RECOMMENDATIONS
JUNE 1997
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The Ad Hoc Budget Reduction Committee was established by the Mayor
& Common Council on March 31, 1997 with the idea that the group
would be able to look at the City's expenditures from a new
perspective, and make innovative recommendations based on committee
members collective knowledge of the community. The committee had
its initial organizational meeting on April 28, 1997.
The committee met twice each week since then and four times in the
week of June 9-13, 1997. All meetings were public. The initial
meetings were concerned with developing an understanding of the
nature of the budget problems facing the City, identifying the
appropriate data necessary to make recommendations, soliciting
input from interested parties and encouraging participation in the
process. Subsequently, the committee heard presentations and
received letters from a number of individuals and organizations
offering suggestions to ameliorate various parts of the City's
budget problems or asking that specific programs not be subject to
draconian cuts.
The committee then proceeded to develop a "brainstorming list"
containing recommendations from committee members and incorporating
suggestions made by the public through letters or presentations.
That brainstorming list was then divided in two ways:
1. a set of long and short term revenue
enhancement and budget cuts;
2. recommendations in specific areas, e. g.
operations, personnel, organization structure,
etc.
Most recommendations were fully discussed and five lists generated
as part of this report. List A contains all of the brainstorming
recommendations. List B contains the set of recommendations to the
Council as approved by the committee. List C contains those items
which were, by majority vote, not recommended. List D contains
those items which were struck off the main list by majority
committee vote. List E contains the brainstorming recommendations
not acted upon due to time constraints.
In looking at these recommendations, we would like the Council to
understand some of the constraints facing the committee:
TIME
The committee was allowed six weeks to develop an understanding of
the City budget, figure out where possible cuts could be made, make
recommendations on possible enhancements and do this in ways that
would be politically acceptable. The time period was not
sufficient for us to develop a comprehensive understanding of the
operations of the City. Certainly, we understood the consequences
of major issues, e.g. the financial consequences of the elimination
of the special assessment district, the failure of Measure S, the
inability of the City to find a willing buyer for the Cemetery and,
thanks to staff, a keen awareness of the revenue raising
difficulties posed for municipalities by passage of Prop 218. In
addition, we quickly got up to speed on the structure of the City
budget, the dominant role played in that budget by public safety
services and the part played by the City Charter in influencing
personnel costs. However, time pressures did not allow us to
develop any real understanding of the consequences of possible
cuts to various City departments. This time pressure. and its
consequences was strongly influenced by a second constraint, the
committee composition.
COMMITTEE COMPOSITION
while no one questions the good intentions of individual committee
members in regard to this process, the fact remains that there were
three characteristics of the committee that made its operation
somewhat problematic. First, the committee did not have the kind
of knowledge necessary to identify and recommend changes that would
enhance administrative efficiency. Broad-based recommendations,
e.g., suggesting a 5 to 10% across the board cut, while possible
for us to make and was indeed suggested, would not have been based
on an understanding of the ability of certain programs to remain
viable in the face of such cuts. To the extent that we had
information to support cuts, e.g., the Fire Audit, the Harvey Rose
Audit, it was clear that political/legal/safety considerations
would override purely fiscal ones. This lack of expertise,
compounded by a lack of time influenced the nature of the
recommendations in ways that will be addressed later.
Secondly, the make up of the committee, containing a number of
major players from the Measure S campaign, a campaign on an issue
central to the budget problem, ensured polarization on a number of
recommendations. While Measure S was not fought out again, the
positions of the parties in that debate were reflected in the
difficulties in developing compromises on potential budget
solutions.
Thirdly, with one-third of the committee comprised of employee
organization representatives and senior management representatives
available for information but not able to vote, recommendations
that could negatively impact employee pay and benefits were not
subject to a full and thorough debate.
IMPACT OF CHARTER AMENDMENT 186
Compounding the difficulties created by the absence of senior
management personnel as voting members and the strength of employee
organization membership, is the City Charter and its detailed
structure concerning pay determination procedures for public safety
employees. Given that public safety represents 66% of the City'S
general fund budget [Fiscal Year 1997/98], and that 83% of that is
in personnel costs, it quickly became apparent that the Committee's
options in this area would be limited to:
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. recommending the modification or elimination
of Charter Section 186.
. recommending that non-salary compensation items for
public safety employees be severely curtailed.
. concentrating personnel cost reductions in
other programs either through elimination or
service reduction.
. development of al ternati ve funding mechanisms.
The committee voted not to recommend the modification/elimination
of Charter Section 186, thus precluding that option but did ask the
Council to delay approval of MOUs with benefit cost increases.
Since cuts in public safety personnel costs were effectively
precluded when the Council voted to approve the Firefighters' MOU,
the committee felt it would be unfair to concentrate personnel
savings on people in bargaining units not covered by the Charter.
COMMITTEE CORE VALUES
In going through the brainstorming exercise, it became clear that
there were some common assumptions regarding the preservation and
possible enhancement of government services. Of particular conce=
was the maintenance of quality safety services. This became
obvious when the Fire Chief indicated that the consequences of a 5%
cut to the Fire Department would be the closure of an identified
fire station and the committee's response was to not make that
recommendation. A more cynical person, however, may suggest that
the committee responded to an age-old budgetary ploy by accepting
that the threat was real. Here the lack of knowledge and the role
of the employee organizations on the committee were crucial.
Additional core values included the belief that the EDA is a major
engine of economic revitalization and job creation in the
community, and while we recommend that it be folded into the
regular City administrative structure, that recommendation was
designed to realize personnel cost savings and not to diminish its
entrepreneurial activities.
Thus, given the limited time frame available, the limited knowledge
of the consequences of across the board cuts, the absence from the
committee of senior management and the dominant role on the
committee of public employee organizations, as well as the belief
in the importance of maintenance of quality services, the thrust of
the committee' recommendations was on revenue enhancement.
While the list of recommendations is attached as part of this
report, it is important to highlight some of the most important
ones. The first of these is that the City proceed with the
"issuance of not to exceed $16,250,000 public facilities lease
revenue refunding bonds 1997 Series A" [otherwise known as "the
1997 Refunding Bonds"]. This recommendation is made with an
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important caveat. The committee, by majority vote, made this
recommendation with the clear understanding that it is a short term
solution and that it would require some, heretofore, unexercised
discipline on the part of the City. Unless the proposed revenue is
used to provide time to develop at least a mid-range strategic plan
for City finances, adoption of this recommendation will have
serious long-term negative financial consequences. A second point
in relation to City finances, while not of direct budgetary impact,
was, nevertheless, of concern to the committee. The committee
recommended that the City establish, as part of its grant
application process, where appropriate, a methodology to identify
funds that will be used to pick up the long term commitment costs
of short term grants. Failure to do so will result in the
continued distortion of the City budget and its effective
determination outside the normal political processes.
A second and equally important recommendation is that the Council
place on the ballot, an initiative establishing an assessment
district specifically for the Library. Recent votes in such
assessment districts have been approved overwhelmingly and the
creation of one for the City of San Bernardino would allow the
Library to plan its operations with much more security.
CONCLUSION
The committee has made revenue enhancement and cost cutting
recommendations in a number of areas including organizational
structure, personnel, etc. We do so with the clear understanding
that in the General Fund budget, there is, political statements to
the contrary, little "fat." Indeed, the demand for services
continues to expand and the CPI increases are higher than the
increases in the General Fund. We believe that the City is at a
turning point and that these recommendations will allow a two-year
window of opportunity as the Council debates what range of services
should be provided by public funds. Should the City be one that
accepts responsibility for the overall quality of life of its
residents and the consequent costs associated with that or should
it provide first class public safety and utility services and allow
the private or non-profit sector to provide the remainder. As
Oliver wendell Holmes said, "Taxes are the price we pay for
civilization." How civilized does the Council and citizenry of San
Bernardino want to be?
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APPENDIX
A. COMPLETE BRAINSTORMING LIST
B. ITEMS RECOMMENDED FOR APPROVAL.
C. ITEMS NOT RECOMMENDED FOR APPROVAL.
D. ITEMS STRICKEN FROM CONSIDERATION.
E. ITEMS NOT ACTED UPON BY COMMITTEE.
A. COMPLETE BRAINSTORMING LIST
KEY: SHORT TERM -- IMPACT ON FY 97/98 BUDGET
LONG TERM -- IMPACT BEYOND FY 97/98 BUDGET.
PrODOSed Revenues-Short Term
1. Projection of estimated new funds from the State into 97/98 Budget'.
2. Increase by 1.75% local bed tax.
3. Implement photo-radar enforcement for traffic violations.
4. Enhance parking citation enforcement/collection program.
5. Enhance business license collection services.
6. Create a five year plan in which to mortgage City-owned property to stop
immediate deficit (caveat - restructuring of current City operations).
7. Market KCSB services enabling self-sufficiency and potential profit making
operation if EDA is absorbed by the City.
8. Market Fiscalini Field for summer concerts and additional events for optimum
utilization.
9. Create franchise fee for private ambulance services.
10. Cat licensing/breeding ordinance.
11. Establish user fees for library and park services.
12. Suggest that the Council put out Request for Proposal for a non-profit agency that
can also sell gravesite markers to operate cemetery.
13. Active marketing on emergency medical services subscription plan.
14. Evaluate current fee schedule in comparison to other municipalities.
15. Review allocation of General Fund personnel to other funds.
16. Increase Code Enforcement and collections for billing violators pertaining to solid
waste nuisances and illegal dumping.
-1-
17. Utility peak cost agreement.
18. Revisit the concept of Parks & Recreation partnering with YMCA for the
Hernandez Center and other non-profit organizations capable of similar services.
18a. Recommend that the City aggressively pursue partnering with private,non-profit
groups to operate recreation, parks and community service programs at City
facilities to maximize use of facilities and reduce operating costs.
19. Contract with county for land-locked unincorporated parts of the city.
20. Liquidate any equipment associated with failed ambulance service.
21. At a minimum, require safety recruits to repay their academy training costs if
they leave the departments within three years.
22. Negotiate with cable company to sell off local access air time to other cable network.
Suggest to Council to direct the City Administrator to negotiate with the local cable
company to sell half of Channel 3's air time to another cable network. This can be
done to generate revenue to either support any cuts in Channel 3 or used as revenue for
the City's General Fund. (same as #7; contingent upon EDA absorbing by City).
23. Transfer all or part of 20% admini~tration of CDBG from EDA to City.
24. Explore marketing of police and fire dispatch service or other services to other
agencies or communities.
25. Establish mandatory painting of street numbers on curbs for a $10 fee billed on
water bill; This enhances public safety response time and preserves positions.
26. Fund 20% of Director of Public Works salary from Refuse Fund, contingent upon
reorganization proposal.
27. Sell portion of City Yard to Refuse Fund.
28. That the Mayor and Council refrain from approving new MOUs that would
increase the budget deficit until the budget crisis is addressed as the Council has
the legal discretion to do so.)
29. Establish City Towing Service.
30. Contract with the County to provide services to unincorporated, landlocked parts
of the City.
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31. Raise fees for Police Records Unit. (See hand-out from public.)
32. Sell Convention Center to EDA.
33. Mayor and Council should approve Joint Powers financing and lease revenue
refunding bonds of 1997 (AS-1I5-29-97)
Prooosed Revenues-Lonl! Term
la. Suggest Council support the placement of a library initiative on upcoming ballot.
lb. Suggest Council place special assessment district for street sweeping on ballot.
lc. Suggest Council place special assessment district for street lighting on ballot.
2. Explore regionalization of fire with neighboring jurisdictions to provide the best
fire protection at lowest possible cost.
3. Market City planning, design, engineering/development services.
4. Regionalized planning, design, engineering/development services.
5. Preserve current utility tax revenue by assessing tax on usage not cost of energy.
6. Sell branch library property (in event of branch closures).
7. Reorganize Economic Development Agency. (See #3, pg. 3)
8. Privatize City refuse services.
9. Support the city's participation in the development of a downtown water project
if found to be fiscally sound. City should position itself to participate in
restructuring of electric industry to maximize savings on January I, 1998.
10. Explore AB1890 for increased revenue possibilities.
lOa. City should explore the purchase of electricity as an aggregater and supply direct
to the marketplace earmarking savings to be split between the customer and
general fund.
11. Ensure full cost recovery for all City services.
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12. Develop 5% incentive for employees that live in city.
13. Maximize use of City jail.
14. Area assessment districts to provide specific, identifiable services.
15. Sell Fiscalini Field.
16. Bring Channel 3 back to City once it reaches break even point.
Prooosed Reductions-Short Term
1. Eliminate Affmnative Action Office from Mayor's Office and move functions to
Personnel.
2. Eliminate Human Relations Commission funding.
3. Operate EDA as a City under Civil Service Board control.
4. Investigate collaborative effort between libraries and city schools.
5. Negotiate better utility deals, especially telephone.
6. No more unfunded mandates (do not take short term money with long term cost
implications. )
7. Eliminate Fine Arts funding ($180,000).
8. Eliminate (from non-department budget) $40,000 league membership/sister cities,
etc. (P.lIO)
Sa. New management and general unit employees pay own share of PERS retirement
for 3 years.
9. Modify Little League scheduling in order to minimize nighttime usage and
lighting fees. (See 9a).
9a. City Parks and Recreation to develop formula to minimize abuse of ballfield
lighting ($440,000) by Youth Sports Leagues.)
10. Deny waiver of fees for groups/organizations using City personnel/resources.
lOa. Establish "non-profit" rate equal to 25 % of normal fees for public events held by
non-profit groups and organizations. Council shall not waive these fees. Waivers
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to all other groups and organizations shall be denied.
11. Implement Fire audit recommendations.
12. No General Fund revenue to be used for Stampede Stadium expenditures.
13. Close branch libraries.
14. Utilize paralegal services in lieu of attorneys in City Attorney's office.
15. Reduce City Attorney's litigation budget.
16. Request employees to forego pay increases.
17. Research use of and develop utility peak cost agreement.
18. Eliminate hours available in employee MOUs for union activities.
19. Eliminate fire ladder truck (if feasible).
20. Reduce street sweeping services.
20b. Eliminate street sweeping services.
21. Two tier retirement system for new employees.
22. Privatize Print Shop functions.
23. Rotate used vehicles within City departments to reduce of new purchases.
24. Furloughs -- Examine the possibility of implementing a furlough program that is
the equivalent of a 5 % personnel reduction. Most common practice is to give
employees the Friday before holidays off as furlough days. Furloughs would
effect all employees and managers except safety employees.
25. Holiday closure of City Hall -- Close City Hall from December 24 through
January 1, 1998. Employers experience low productivity during this period and
customer demands are at their lowest. Employees annual pay should be reduced
to compensate for closure of City Hall during holiday season.
26. Layoffs -- Implement layoffs to gain a 5 to 10% savings in personnel cost.
26a. Police and Fire Chiefs to present specific 5% cuts from 96/97 $45 million
budgets for Council decision.
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27. Examine need for Neighborhood Police Centers open only in daytime.
28. City attorney budget. Examine Harvey Rose audit., etc.
29. Reduce City Attorney investigators from 2 to 1.
30. Fire audit: Eliminate 3 battalion chiefs and close one fire station.
31. Police audit: Eliminate Captain position.
32. Get inventory of reserve equipment in Fire Departtnent. Eliminate any excess
that might exist.
33. Privatize street sweeping services.
34. Privatize City park and cemetery landscape maintenance.
35. Incorporate savings of golden handshake reduction.
36. Consolidate safety personnel background checks with surrounding jurisdictions.
37. Recruit and train volunteer code enforcement officers.
38. Place 22 currently hired police officers in the 22 COPS positions for 3 years and
plan for the general fund to reassume the cost of these positions at the expiration
of the grant.
39. Change in benefits for new hires. Require new employees to pay their own share
of retirement for the three years of employment with the City. The City would
still pay the employers portion of retirement. This would apply to management
and general employees. Applying this method to safety employees could free up
money and allow the City to hire additional police.
40. Removal of 994 "perks". As 994 has expired, all "perks" gained from 994
should be removed and Police and Fire personnel benefits should return to pre
1990 benefits, if those benefits can be tied to the revenue gained from 994 (one
example would be survivor benefits). However, employees should have the
ability to pay into the survivor benefit package on their own or through employer
matching contributions.
41. Removal of constant manning. Request City Council take appropriate action to
remove constant manning as a requirement of the city's Fire Departtnent.
42. Modification of constant manning. Based on customer service demands, relax
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constant IJ1anning during the low fire season. Example, if during the months of
January through April, historical data showed that the number of calls for fire
safety demands were consistently lower during this period, then constant manning
should be relaxed during this period. The department should be requested to
provide fire call data to the committee and the administrative office should
develop several scenarios.
43. Direct administrative staff to review fire personnel alternatives. As the City of
Colton and the County of San Bernardino are examining alternatives to fire
agency services, the administrative staff should be directed to contact the City of
Colton and review their staffs information on paid on call fire employees and the
County of San Bernardino utilizing trainees as the third or fourth man on an
engine. These concepts could result in dramatic savings for the city's Fire
Department.
44. Review of 186. Direct staff to provide an analysis of the cities used to compare
cost of living increases under charter amendment 186. Request Council to direct
staff to incorporate cost of living as the base to determine raises under 186. Cost
of living includes housing within the City of San Bernardino, Department of
Finance Sales Tax information and unemployment information. If staffs formula
for determining salary comparisons do not include the information above, the
committee should make recommendation to Council to make that part of future
stipulations .
45. Review of allocation to committees from General Fund employees. Request
Budget Director appear before committee to provide an overview of cost
allocation for Mayor and Executive staff s time and their allocations to projects
like Redevelopment and Inland Valley Development Agency. In addition, staff
time, such as police and fire's time, should be allocated for time on committees,
such as Development/Environmental Review Committee. Fees should be adjusted
to cover cost of staff time or number of employees attending such meeting should
be reduced. (See #15 - Page 1)
46. Remove maintenance of redevelopment projects from General Fund. Request RDA
Director advise the City Council about the removal of the maintenance of redevelopment
project's form the General Fund. Example, up keep and care of Stampede Stadium is
estimated to cost $300,000 per year. Since proceeds from project go to payoff
redevelopment bonds,.. the upkeep and maintenance should be allocated to the
Redevelopment Agency. (See #12, Page 4)
47. Examine the purchase of previously owned vehicles. For non-safety personnel,
the City should examine the purchase of used vehicles from rental car companies.
Most vehicles are covered under full warranty and still have a substantial life
period. (See #23, Page 5).
7
48. Cooperative purchasing with surrounding agencies. Though cooperative
purchasing power of the County and surrounding Cities, the City could purchase
vehicles and receive volume discounts. This requires advanced planing and
communication with other agencies. Committee request that Council request staff
look into volume savings. Another option is to buy vehicles off the State's
purchasing list.
49. Eliminate 4/10 plan in the Police Department. Especially eliminate Dispatch and Patrol
to 2-hour overlaps. More efficient to have three 8-hour shifts in a 24 hour operation.
50. Eliminate or reduce Traffic Division (motorcycles) and use CSR's exclusively on traffic
accidents .
51. Eliminate City paid time off for union activities in voter issues and campaigns.
52. Eliminate DARE program which has been shown ineffective and replace with peer
counseling and one-on-one program which is the only technique proven to reduce drug
usage in young people. Move DARE officers back to regular duty and eliminate 3
positions .
53. Develop fire safety response standards in order to assess work force, equipment
and fire station reductions.
54. Expand mutual response fire agreements in order to reduce workforce costs at fire
stations closest to city borders.
55. Place Charter Section 186 on ballot for repeal.
56. Replacement 994 Assessment District for:
a. Street Lighting
b. Graffiti Removal
c. Street Sweeping
d. Traffic signals
(See la, b, c on Page 3)
57. Allow libraries to contract for landscaping.
58. Regionalize library services with County or other cities.
59. Establish a Director of Administrative Services, eliminate Assistant City
Administrator and Assistant to City Admini~trator. Reduce salary level of
positions reporting to Director. Change Purchasing Manager to Buyer.
($197,817) Adjust span of control accordingly for all managers and mid-
8
managers.
60. Eliminate Facilities Management Project Coordinator.
61. Eliminate Director of Animal Control and move function to existing Captain in
Police Department.
62. Do not f1ll Assistant Police Chief position when it becomes vacant. (Elimination
prohibited by 186).
63. Eliminate overtime and Administrative Leave for Battalion Chiefs.
64. Charge Youth Sports Leagues for ballfield lighting (See 9a on Page 4).
65. Focus volunteer coordinator on recruiting volunteers for graffiti removal.
66. Identify other city services that volunteer coordinator can have volunteers
complete. Establish paid call fire persons to serve as 300 or 4th person on fire
equipment to reduce constant manning overtime.
67. Require volunteer coordinator position costs to be offset by reduction in other city
costs .
68. Look at efficiency of City business and streamline. Eliminate duplicate services
particularly within City or between City and anything funded by EDA..
69. Establish Director of Public Works, eliminate Director of Public Services and
Assistant City Engineer as well as Director of Public Works/City Engineer.
Create City Engineer position.
70. Consolidate Code Enforcement with Fire Marshall to eliminate Supervisor of
Code Enforcement.
Prooosed Reductions-Lonl! Term
1. Pre-pay health insurance premiums through bonds or other funds.
2. Leveling of retirement benefits. Require Public Safety Employees to pay the
difference between their employee contribution toward their retirement and the
miscellaneous employee contribution. The net result may be offset by tax breaks
as the deduction occurs before taxes.
3. Remove 186 from Charter. Replace 186 with a pay-for-performance program.
(See #55, Page 8)
9
4. Examine how city pays retirement and benefit fees. Based on the information
obtained from the County of San Bernardino, a substantial savings was gained by
restructuring how the County paid retirement and benefit fees. More information
can be obtained through conversation with the County Administrative Staff.
5. Maximize usage of City vehicles where cost savings can be realized by placing
non-assigned vehicles in a central pool where they can e used by any City
department where appropriate.
6. Review incidence of disability versus regular retirement in safety.
7. Traffic Division/Police Department -- elimination of motorcycle enforcement --
revenue vs. expenses.
8. Modify general unit employee retirement system to 2% at 55.
9. Two tier retirement system for new employees.
10. Offer management staff health insurance through a medical savings account
program. City will save money because it costs less to purchase catastrophic
coverage and fund employees' medical savings accounts, which are paid to
employees as taxable income at year end if they are not spent. Expand each year
to other employees. Study Jersey City results.
11. Order comprehensive report in regionalizing Fire Services. Look at El Monte
study which shows dramatic savings and enhanced protection. See current
location of ten stations within two miles of each other. (See #2, Page 3)
12. Increases in Safety Employee salaries and benefits resulting from Charter
Amendment 186 shall be tied to the annual growth of the City's General Fund.
The percentage of the Safety Bargaining units personnel appropriations to the total
budget of the General Fund shall determine the maximum allowable increase in
salaries and benefits for the following fiscal year.
If the growth in the General Fund is less than the new average salary derived
from the formula within Charter Amendment 186, the safety employees shall
receive the percentage of growth in the General Fund.
13. Recommend benefit cuts to 5 employee bargaining units to enhance City Budget.
14. Engage the Rose Institute to do a comprehensive review of the city's revenue and
expenses.
15. Implement a BEST Program (See handout provided by member of Public).
10
B. :ITEMS RECOMMENDED FOR APPROVAL
Proposed Revenues Short Term
3. Request staff analysis of feasibility of affordable
photo-radar enforcement for traffic violations.
4 . Enhance parking
program. ($36,000).
citation
enforcement/collection
5. Enhance business license collection services. ($162,000 -
25% cost)
B. Market Fiscalini Field for summer concerts and additional
events for optimum utilization.
9. Create franchise fee for private ambulance services.
10. Cat licensing/breeding ordinance.
12. Suggest that the Council put out a Request for Proposal
for a non-profit agency that can also sell gravesite
markers to operate Cemetery.
13. Active marketing
subscription plan.
on
emergency
medical
services
15. Review allocation of General Fund personnel to other
funds. ($195,000 in 1997/9B).
16. Increase Code Enforcement and collections for solid waste
nuisances and illegal dumping.
1Ba. Recommend that the City aggressively pursue partnering
with private, non-profit groups to operate recreation,
parks and community service programs at City facilities
to maximize use of facilities and reduce operating costs.
19. Contract with County for land-locked unincorporated parts
of city.
20. Dispose of excess equipment associated with emergency
medical service.
21. As a minimum, require safety recruits to repay their
academy training costs if they leave the department
within three years.
24. Explore marketing of police and fire Dispatch service or
other services to other agencies or communities.
-1-
27. Sell portion of City Yard to Refuse Fund.
2B. That the Mayor and Council refrain from approving new
MOUs that would increase the budget deficit until the
budget crisis is addressed as the Council has the legal
discretion to do so.
29. Establish City Towing Service. ($600,000)
30. Contract with the County to provide services to
unincorporated, landlocked parts of the City.
31. Raise fees for Police Records unit. ($129,600)
33. Mayor and Council should approve Joint Powers financing
and lease revenue refunding bonds of 1997. (AS-1/5-29-
97). ($3.155 million).
Proposed Revenues - Lona TeDn
1a. Suggest Council support the placement of a Library Tax
Initiative on upcoming ballot.
lb. Suggest Council place a special assessment district for
street sweeping on ballot.
1c. Suggest Council place a special assessment district for
street lighting on ballot.
2.
Explore regionalization
jurisdictions to provide
lowest possible cost.
of fire with neighboring
the best fire protection at
9. Support City's participation in the development of a
downtown water project if found to be fiscally sound.
10. City should position itself to participate in
restructuring of electric industry to maximize savings on
January 1, 199B.
lOa. City should explore purchase of electricity as an
aggregater and supply directly to the marketplace
earmarking savings to be split between the customer and
general fund.
11. Ensure cost recovery for all City services.
13. Maximize use of City jail. ($325,000).
14.
Area assessment districts
identifiable services. (See 1a.
- Lona Term. A List)
to provide specific,
lb. 1c. Proposed Revenues
-2-
Prooosed Reductions - Short Term
3. Operate EDA as a City department under Civil Service
Board control.
4. Investigate collaborative effort between libraries and
City schools.
5. Negotiate better utility deals, especially telephone.
8. Transfer $40,000 league membership/sister cities, etc. to
EDA.
8a. New management and general unit employees pay own share
of PERS retirement for three years.
9a. City Parks and Recreation to develop formula to minimize
abuse of ballfield lighting ($440,000) by Youth Sports
Leagues.
lOa. Establish "non-profit" rate equal to 25% of normal fees
for public events held by non-profit groups and
organizations. Council shall not waive these fees.
waivers to all other groups and organizations shall be
denied.
12 . No General Fund revenue to be used for the Stampede
Stadium expenditures.
14. Analyze potential of enhanced paralegal services in lieu
of attorneys in City Attorney's Office.
17. Research use of and develop utility peak cost agreement.
20a. Reduce street sweeping services.
21. Two-tiered retirement system for new employees.
23. Rotate used vehicles within City departments to reduce
purchases.
38. Place 22 currently hired police officers in the 22 COPS
grant positions for three years to plan for the general
fund to reassume the cost of these positions at the
expiration of the grant. ($1,500,000).
42. Modification of constant manning. Based on customer
service demands, relax constant manning during the low
fire season. Example: if, during the months of January
through April, historical data showed that the number of
calls for fire safety demands were consistently lower
during this period, then constant manning should be
relaxed during this period. The department should be
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requested to provide
the Administrative
scenarios.
fire call data to the Committee and
Office should develop several
43. Direct administrative staff to review fire personnel
alternatives. As the City of Colton and the County of
San Bernardino are examining alternatives to fire agency
services, the administrative staff should be directed to
contact the City of Colton and review their staff's
information on paid on-call fire employees as well as the
County of San Bernardino.
45. Review of allocation to committees from General Fund
employees. Request Budget Director to appear before
committee to provide an overview of cost allocation for
Mayor and Executive staff's time and their allocations to
projects like Redevelopment and Inland Valley Development
Agency. In addition, staff time such as police and fire
time, should be allocated for time on committees, such as
Development/Environmental Review Committee. Fees should
be adjusted to cover cost of staff time or number of
employees attending such meetings should be reduced. (See
#15. prooosed Revenues-Short Term - A List)
46. Remove maintenance of redevelopment proj ects from General
Fund. Request RDA Director to advise the City Council
about the removal of the maintenance of redevelopment
projects from the General Fund. Example: Upkeep and care
of Stampede Stadium is estimated to cost $300,000 per
year. Since proceeds from proj ect go to payoff
redevelopment bonds, the upkeep and maintenance should be
allocated to the Redevelopment Agency. (See #12. Prooosed
Reductions-Short Term. A List)
47. Examine the purchase of previously owned vehicles. For
non-safety personnel, the City should examine the
purchase of used vehicles from rental car companies.
Most vehicles are covered under full warranty and still
have substantial life. (See #23. Prooosed Reductions-
Short Term. A List)
52. Eliminate DARE program and eliminate three positions
associated with it. ($230,000)
53. Develop fire safety response standards in order to assess
work force, equipment and fire stations reductions.
68. Look at efficiency of City business and. streamline.
Eliminate duplicate services particularly within City or
between City and anything funded by EDA.
70. Consolidate Code Enforcement with Fire Marshall to
eliminate Supervisor of Code Enforcement.
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Proposed Reductions-Lonq Term
2. Leveling of retirement benefits. Require Public Safety
Employees to pay the 2% difference between their employee
contribution toward their retirement and the
miscellaneous employee contribution.
5. Maximize usage of City vehicles where cost savings can be
realized by placing non-assigned vehicles in a central
pool where they can be used by any city department where
appropriate.
9. Two tier retirement system for new employees.
10. Offer management staff health insurance through a medical
savings account program.
11. Order comprehensive. report in regionalizing Fire
Services. Look at EI Monte study which shows dramatic
savings and enhanced protection. See current location of
ten stations within two miles of each other. (See #2.
Proposed Revenues-Lona Term.)
13. Recommend benefit cuts to 5 employee bargaining units to
enhance City budget.
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C. ITEMS NOT RECOMMENDED FOR APPROVAL
ProDosed Revenues Short Term
2. Increase by 1.75% local bed tax.
25. Establish mandatory painting of street numbers on curbs
for a $10 fee billed on water bill. This enhances public
safety response time and preserves positions.
ProDosed Reductions - Short Term
1. Eliminate Affirmative Action Office from Mayor's Office
and move functions to Personnel.
2. Eliminate Human Relations Commission funding.
7. Eliminate Fine Arts funding ($180,000).
26a. Police and Fire Chiefs to present specific 5% cuts from
96/97 $45 million budgets for Council decision.
30. Fire audit: eliminate three Batallion Chiefs.
34. Privatize City park and cemetery landscape maintenance.
41. Removal of constant manning. Request City Council take
appropriate action to remove constant manning as a
requirement of the City's Fire Department.
49. Eliminate 4/10 plan in Police Department. Especially
eliminate Dispatch and Patrol to 2-hour overlaps. More
efficient to have three 8-hour shifts in a 24 hour
operation.
55. Place Charter Section 186 on ballot for repeal.
62. Do not fill Assistant Police Chief position when it
becomes vacant. (Elimination prohibited by 186) .
63. Eliminate overtime and Administrative Leave for Battalion
Chiefs.
65. Focus volunteer coordinator on recruiting volunteers for
graffiti removal.
66. Identify other city services that volunteer coordinator
can have volunteers complete. Establish paid call fire
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I
,
persons to serve as 3rd or 4th person on fire equipment
to reduce constant manning overtime.
Proposed Reductions-Lona Term
12. Increases in Safety employee salaries and benefits
resulting from Charter Amendment 186 shall be tied to the
annual growth of the City's General Fund. The percentage
of the Safety Bargaining Units personnel appropriations
to the total budget of the General Fund shall determine
the maximum allowable increase in salaries and benefits
for the following fiscal year.
If the growth in the General Fund is less than the new
average salary derived from the formula within Charter
Amendment 186 ,the safety employees shall receive the
percentage of growth in the General Fund.
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D. ITEMS STRICKEN FROM CONSIDERATION
Proposed Revenues Short Ter.m
7.
Market KCSB services
potential profit making
City.
enabling self-sufficiency and
operation if EDA is absorbed by
14. Evaluate current fee schedule in comparison to other
municipalities.
18. Revisit the concept of Parks and Recreation partnering
with YMCA for the Hernandez Center and other non-profit
organizations capable of similar services.
22. Negotiate with cable company to sell off local access air
time to other cable networks. Suggest to Council to
direct the City Administrator to negotiate with the local
cable company to sell half of Channel 3's air time to
another cable network. This can be done to generate
revenue to either support any cuts in Channel 3 or used
as revenue for the General Fund. (same as #7; contingent
upon EDA absorbing by City) .
26. Fund 20% of Director of Public Works salary from Refuse
Fund, contingent upon reorganization proposal.
32. Sell Convention Center to EDA.
Proposed Revenues - Lona Ter.m
3. Market City planning, design, engineering/development
services.
4. Regionalized planning, design, engineering/development
services.
5. Review feasibility of current utility tax revenue by
assessing tax on usage not cost of energy.
6. Sell branch library property (in event of branch
closure) .
15. Sell Fiscalini Field
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Pro~osed Reductions - Short Term
10. Deny waiver of fees for groups/organizations using City
personnel/resources
11. Implement Fire Audit recommendations.
18. Eliminate hours available in employee MOUs for union
activities.
20b. Eliminate street sweeping services.
22. Privatize Print Shop functions.
24. Furloughs -- Examine the possibility of implementing a
furlough program that is the equivalent of a 5% personnel
reduction. Most common practice is to give employees the
Friday before holidays off as furlough days. Furloughs
would affect all employees and managers except safety
employees.
25. Holiday closure of City Hall - - Close City Hall from
December 24 through January 1, 1998. Employers
experience low productivity during this period and
customer demands are at their lowest. Employees' annual
pay should be reduced to compensate for closure of City
Hall during holiday season.
27. Examine need for Neighborhood Police Centers open only in
daytime.
31. Police Audit: Eliminate Captain position.
33. Privatize street sweeping services.
35. Incorporate savings of golden handshake reduction.
37. Recruit and train volunteer code enforcement officers.
39. Change in benefits for new hires. Require new employees
to pay their own share of retirement for three years of
employment with the City. The City would still pay the
employer's portion of retirement. This would apply to
management and general employees. Applying this method
to safety employees could free up money and allow the
City to hire additional police.
48. Cooperative purchasing with surrounding agencies.
Through cooperative purchasing power of the County and
surrounding cities, the City could purchase vehicles and
receive volume discounts. This requires advanced
planning and communications with other agencies.
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Committee requests that Council request staff look into
volume savings. Another option is to buy vehicles off
the State's purchasing list.
51. Eliminate City-paid time off for union activities in
voter issues and campaigns.
54. Expand mutual response fire agreements in order to reduce
workforce costs at fire stations closest to city borders.
57. Allow libraries to contract for landscaping.
58. Regionalize library services with County or other cities.
59. Establish a Director of Administrative Services,
eliminate Assistant City Administrator and Assistant to
City Administrator. Reduce salary level of positions
reporting to Director. Change Purchasing Manager to
Buyer ($197.817). Adjust span of control accordingly for
all managers and mid-managers.
60. Eliminate Facilities Management Project Coordinator.
61. Eliminate Director of Animal Control and move function to
existing Captain in Police Department.
Proposed Reductions - Lona Term
10. Offer management staff health insurance through a medical
savings account program. City will save money because it
costs less to purchase catastrophic coverage and fund
employees' medical savings accounts which are paid to
employees as taxable income at year end if they are not
spent. Expand each year to other employees. Study
Jersey City results.
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E. ITEMS NOT ACTED UPON BY COMMITTEE
Proposed Revenues-Short Term
1. Incorporate projection of estimated new funds from State
into FY97/98 Budget.
6.
Create a five
property to
restructuring
year plan in which to mortgage City-owned
stop immediate deficit (caveat
of current City operations.)
11. Establish user fees for library and park services.
23. Transfer all or part of 20% administration of CDBG from
EDA to City.
Proposed Revenues-Lona Term
8. Privatize City refuse service.
12. Develop 5% incentive for employees the live in city.
16. Bring Channel 3 back to City once it reaches break even
point.
Proposed Reductions-Short Term
6. No more unfunded mandates (do not take short term money
with long term cost implications.)
13. Close branch libraries.
15. Reduce City Attorney's litigation budget.
16. Request employees to forego pay increases.
19. Eliminate fire ladder truck (if feasible).
26. Layoffs -- implement layoffs to gain a 5% to 10% savings
in personnel costs.
27. City Attorney's Budget. Examine Harvey Rose audit, etc.
29. Reduce City Attorney Investigators from 2 to 1.
32. Get inventory of reserve equipment in Fire Department.
Eliminate any excess that might exist.
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.
40. Removal of 994 "perks." As 994 has expired, all "perks"
gained from 994 should be removed and Police and Fire
personnel benefits should be removed and Police and Fire
personnel benefits should return to pre-1990 benefits, if
those benefits van be tied to the revenue gained from 994
(one example would be survivor benefits.) However,
employees should have the ability to pay into the
survivor benefit package on their own or through employer
matching contributions.
44. Review of 186. Direct staff to provide an analysis of
the cities used to compare cost of living increases under
Charter amendment 186. Request Council to direct staff
to incorporate cost of living as the base to determine
raises under 186. Cost of living includes housing within
the city of San Bernardino, Department of Finance Sales
Tax information and unemployment information. If staff's
formula for determining salary comparisons does not
include the information above, the committee should make
recommendation to Council to make that part of future
stipulations.
50. Eliminate or reduce Traffic Division (motorcycles) and
use CSRs exclusively on traffic accidents.
56. Replacement 994 Assessment District for:
a. Street lighting.
b. Graffiti removal.
c. Street sweeping.
d. Traffic signals.
(See 1a,b,c Proposed Revenues-Long Term, A List.)
64. Charge Youth Sports Leagues for ballfield lighting. (See
9a, Proposed Reductions-Short Term.)
67. Require volunteer coordinator position costs to be offset
by reduction in other City costs.
69. Establish Director of Public Works, eliminate Director of
Public Services and Assistant City Engineer as well as
Director of Public Works/City Engineer. Create City
Engineer position.
Proposed Reductions-Lona Te~
3. Remove 186 from Charter. Replace 186 with pay-for-
performance program. (See #55, Proposed Reductions-Short
Term - N List.)
4. Examine how City pays retirement and benefit fees. Based
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on information obtained from County of San Bernardino, a
substantial savings was gained by restructuring how the
County paid retirement and benefit fees. More
information can be obtained through conversation with
County Administrative staff.
6. Review incidence of disability versus regular retirement
in safety.
7. Traffic Division/Police Department elimination of
motorcycle enforcement -- revenue vs. expenses.
8. Modify general unit employee retirement system to 2% at
55.
14. Engage the Rose Institute to do a comprehensive review of
the City's revenue and expenses.
15. Implement a BEST Program. (See handout provided by member
of public) .
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