The new city council decided to take a different approach to the annual budget review process this year. In the past, the process was quite simply a rubber stamp for whatever the city administration asked for. To call it a review process was something of a misnomer.

With income tight and property values falling, many councilpersons, including myself, believed that a tax cut was necessary. After carefull deliberation, four days of budget meetings and hours of discussion, I am happy to report that we completed the budget process on Monday, March 21st.

City Income Will Fall in 2008

Income expectations are expected to fall this year, largely due to falling property values within the city. As a result of these falling values, the city expects to take in approximately .3 mills less in property taxes this year compared to 2007.

Eliminate the “Assistant City Manger” Position

We reviewed and completed the various department level budgets, and I am pleased to report there were no reductions made to city services. There was one change in staffing levels, however.

The council opted to eliminate the “Assistant City Manager” position, which was left vacant after the retirement of Carl Renius in February of this year. Replacing that position will be a new “Assistant to the City Manager” position.

This change in status will likely result in the employment of a younger Assistant who has expectations of future employment in the capacity of an Assistant City Manager or a City Manger.

The expectation is that this change in position will save the city approximately $30,000.00 per year without any reduction in city services.

Core City Services

I am pleased to report that there will be absolutely no reduction in core city services in 2008-2009. In fact, several significant changes were added to various department level budgets that are likely to increase the effectiveness of city services. But at the very least, no cuts were made.

Discretionary Spending

The biggest difference that took place in this years budget review was how the council addressed dispensing the discretionary income. This is the portion of the income that remains after budgeting for all core city services. This year that amount approximately $832,000.00.

The council took a very deliberate and cautious approach to studying all items that were discretionary in nature. When the final budget was complete, I am delighted to report that we had a remaining balance of .9 mills after all spending was complete. The council decided to return this .9 mills to the taxpayers in the form of a tax cut for 2009. This equates to approximately $690,000.00 that will be returned to your pockets.

The Final Result

There were no cuts to core city services. Several enhancement were made to department level budgets. Spending was critically reviewed and the fat was cut out of the budget. Money was returned to the taxpayers. It’s a win-win situation. And best of all, not a single dime was taken from any of the city fund balances. Not one penny.

Some people said that it couldn’t be done. Guess what? They were wrong and I am delighted to say so!

This city council is in the process of reviewing the various professional contracts that the city maintains. These include the city attorney, the city planner, the county assessor and the city auditor, to name a few.

The current contract that is under review is that of the city auditor. This contract is a three year commitment, and the firm chosen will be responsible for a yearly audit of the city’s financial records and financial position. The council solicited bids for this assignment, and four firms submitted proposals for the audit work.

Disparity in Pricing

Suprisingly, there was a nearly $60,000.00 difference in price between the lowest and highest bidder. This amounted to roughly a 50% difference in price, with the low bidder being in the $100,000.00 range and the high bidder in the $160,000.00 range.

Needless to say, this disparity caught the eye of several council persons at our meeting two weeks ago. At that meeting, there had been an initial motion to approve the interim city manager’s recommendation. His recommendation was to award the project to Plante Moran, the highest bidder. While I am not disputing the ability of this widely respected firm, I thought it was best to study the other proposal more closely so that a more informed decision could be made.

Apparently others agreed, because the matter was tabled two weeks ago. Each of the four firms was asked to come to the meeting of February 11 to discuss the matter and to answer questions regarding their proposal.

On Monday and Tuesday of this week the city council met for about seven hours as part of the yearly goals and objectives process. Although this was my first goals meeting as a sitting councilperson, I have attended several of these meetings in the past few years and have a fairly good understanding about how the process has played out in the past.

In reality, the meeting is a pre-budget discussion in which department heads present their requests for funding for the new fiscal year, as well as an overview of some of their 2-5 year goals. Based on the input from the city council, this series of meetings should help the city manager and finance director (at the moment, one and the same person) develop a budget for the 2008-2009 fiscal year.

In past years, this meeting was generally dominated by the city manager, with brief input from the department heads themselves. As a matter of routine, these meetings were essentially rubber stamp sessions in which the city council moved quickly through the process and approved whatever was being asked for.