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HomeMy WebLinkAbout1992 01-22 FTFA• MEETING NOTICE FINANCIAL TASK FORCE WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 22, 1992 7 P.M. CITY COUNCIL CHAMBERS BROOKLYN CENTER CITY HALL 1. Assessing Department Presentation 2. Finance Department/Liquor Operations Presentation 3. Financial Management Policy ENCLOSURES: Minutes of January 6, 1992, meeting • 0 SNOW REMOVAL • Use wings to reduce plowing passes per residential street from two/side to one/side. • Delay clearing of park parking lots to normal hours rather than overtime. • Review priority of sidewalk plowing routes. Do non-priority routes during normal hours. • Has sanding of streets (low volume residential) effectively- reduced the number of accidents - Also involves additional street sweeping in the spring. • Clear or plow per policy - sometimes streets are plowed when less than 2" of snow has fallen. PARK MAINTENANCE • Evaluate areas where grass could be left natural. • Reduce fertilizer - mow less. • Other than that if you are going to have parks - they will require maintenance. =LITIES • Watermain, sanitary sewer, storm sewer - no comment. STREET MAINTENANCE • Sealcoat - CIP indicates 8 year cycle - on low volume residential streets - may be too often - I've sen some streets go 15 to 20 years without needing a new sealcoat. STREET RECONSTRUCTION • Public Works Director is proposing a total reconstruction program. Curb and gutter looks nice - but is not as important as some engineers contend. • An overlay is a reasonably priced maintenance technique which extends pavement life at least 10 years - perhaps more. • APPROVED 1-13-92 • CITY OF BROOKLYN CENTER FINANCIAL AND SERVICE PRIORITIZATION PROCESS The Brooklyn Center City Council has appointed a Financial Task Force to review the city's financial planning, budget and service provision and report to the City Council. The Financial Task Force has presented to the City Council the interim report which was received by the City Council on November 25, 1991. As a part of that report the Task Force recommended the establishment of a financial and service prioritizing process to commence in January or February of 1992, the purpose of which is to establish budgetary priorities to suggest to the City Council should further budget reductions be necessary. While the Task Force is focusing on the financial problems of the city we may also have opportunities come available to us. Present and past City Councils, management and employees should be proud of their track record and look forward to improving upon it. If the City Council is to make informed and intelligent decisions regarding the future of the city's finances and its services they will need a citizen involved priority process which is being suggested in the following document. BACKGROUND The opportunity of challenge facing us is to set a tone and direction for Brooklyn Center city • services in the 1990s. As we think about our future we need to keep in mind our past, and understand it thoroughly. Brooklyn Center has always had a positive attitude and we believe we should continue our "can do attitude" as it relates to city services and finances. Whatever problems we encounter the City Council and staff, working with citizens, should be able to figure a way to solve those problems. Over the years Brooklyn Center has enjoyed the availability of necessary resources to take care of citizen's needs. These resources were provided through small tax increases and sustained property tax base growth which created additional revenues for the city. In addition to these sources we have received local government aids from the State of Minnesota. The city's rate of growth peaked in the mid 1980s and has slowly declined since. The decline is not necessarily a result of anything negative but rather was controlled primarily by the fact that the city was beginning to reach full development, both commercially and residentially. The newest comprehensive plan figures indicate Brooklyn Center is 98% developed. Brooklyn Center has basically changed in the 1980s from a "growth" to a "maintenance" mode. Redevelopment rather than development will be our future focus. We are and will be facing issues such as redevelopment, an increased emphasis on maintenance, and changing demands for services. As we enter into the 90s we have trends and issues which will be impacting upon us which may well be beyond our influence and control. However we can choose to react to these trends and issues in a positive and proactive manner. Some of these issues and trends include the following: • -1- APPROVED 1-13-92 • 1. A leveling of development activity. 2. Continuing inflation. 3. A slowing of the economy on a local, state and national level. 4. Credit restrictions and changes in the banking industry have contributed in a slowed development and redevelopment market. 5. There have been changes in tax incentives for commercial and apartment property owners. 6. State property tax levy limits. 7. Private developers have "overbuilt" office and commercial property in the metro area. 8. Rental apartment market is depressed. 9. Unfunded state and federal mandates. 10. Changing demographics involving population, age and culture. The options facing local government policy makers seem to be to raise taxes, reduce services, create new revenue sources, and provide service at reduced cost. In an effort to bring together the thinking of the City Council, city staff and our citizens it is necessary to develop a financial and service prioritization process. The goal of this process is to provide a plan which allows systematic and phased cost reductions and/or revenue enhancements which result in permanent budget impacts of approximately $1,00,000 for 1993. While it may not be necessary to implement all of the proposed reductions it is prudent to develop a plan given our current • financial environment. One of the most difficult aspects of developing cost reduction strategies is the realization there are not always ways to reduce cost and yet maintain the same level of service. The City Councils and staff have traditionally worked very hard over the past years to keep tax increases to a minimum. We now find ourselves at a point where insignificant reduction in the future will impact service levels. PURPOSE AND OBJECTIVE The purpose of this process is to provide options for the City Council to consider as a means to reduce and/or contain costs in 1992 and subsequent budgets. It is further intended to set the direction for service levels throughout the 1990s. The objectives identified for this process are as follows: 1. Opportunity for City Council, staff and community to examine municipal services for the 1990s. 2. Provide information to staff, citizens and Council on why we are facing these challenges and opportunities. • -2- APPROVED 1-13-92 • 3. Opportunity to involve employees in the organization to create innovative ideas for service delivery and cost reductions. 4. Evaluate everything we do and how we do it. 5. Prioritize work functions and services. 6. Provide a variety of options for costs reductions. 7. Review all fees, and determine ranking and market. 8. Position the organization to provide services for the 90s given Brooklyn Center's and the State of Minnesota's financial environment. As a part of this process the City Manager will meet with all department heads and discuss this process. The following will be the directions given to each department head: 1. Develop employee involvement process to generate ideas on cost reductions and revenue enhancements. 2. Review all areas of the budget to reduce total tax dollars and costs. 3. Review how we operate and look at our processes and operation creatively in light of the need to cut costs. 4. Reduce overtime whenever and wherever possible. 5. Review training, schools, and conference costs for possible savings. 6. Charge fees wherever possible and Brooklyn Center fees should be in the third quartile of the market. • 7. Recover all costs whenever and wherever possible. 8. Service reductions: a. Only if it results in cost reduction. b. Only if it creates staff time saved to be spent on higher priorities. 9. Departmental strategies will be submitted with prioritized cost reductions and/or revenue enhancements which reduce each department budget by at least 10 % (all cost reductions will be accompanied by a service impact statement). METHODOLOGY An important element in this process is that department heads make every effort to involve as many employees as possible in developing strategies to deal with the necessary cost reductions. Once staff ideas are generated, clarified and reviewed they are to be identified in department strategies. Strategies developed will be received from each of the city departments and are to be reviewed by the department heads, City Manager and Finance Director. In some instances additional strategies will be identified and added as appropriate. The information will then be placed in a report format. The Financial Task Force will review, comment, make recommendations and monitor the process. The City Manager will, at periodic intervals during the development of departmental strategies, report to the Financial Task Force and City Council. The final report to the City Council shall • -3- APPROVED 1-13-92 0 document departmental strategies, City Manager's recommendations and Financial Task Force Recommendations. The timing of this process is as follows: 1. Development of Departmental Strategies January 15 - March 15, 1992 2. City Manager Recommendations March 15 - April 15, 1992 3. Advisory Commission Recommendations April 15 - May 15, 1992 4. Financial Task Force Recommendations April 15 - May 15, 1992 5. City Council Consideration June 15 - July 15, 1992 6. Preliminary Budget & Levy Deadline August 31, 1992 7. City Manager's Proposed 1993 Budget to City Council September 15, 1992 8. City Council Budget Work Session October - November 1992 9. Public Hearings on 1993 Proposed Budget December, 1992 Because during the period of January 15 through June 15, 1992, the City staff, Commissions and Financial Task Force should be concentrating as much as possible on this process, the City Council should as much as possible minimize the number of special projects assigned to these groups. • • -4-