City of Racine
2008 Adopted Budget Address
Mayor Gary Becker
Dave, thank you for giving us the background and the assumptions we
used in putting together the 2008 City of Racine budget.
It is again
an honor to stand before you and present my fifth budget. I
want to thank all of the administrative managers, division managers,
and the staff in the finance department for working together to help
put this together. This is almost a 3-month process starting in
July.
The goal of making Racine a great Midwest City is always kept in our
decision-making process.
The budget
is the document that implements the policies to reach our goals. As you are all aware, the presentation of the budget is
a little later than last year. The reason for this is we were
hoping the state would fulfill their responsibility of passing a state
budget. What they do can dramatically impact those of us at the
local levels of government.
I finished the city budget on Thursday and had to have a meeting on
Saturday afternoon to redo sections that were impacted by the budget
agreement that was struck by Madison on Thursday night.
There is
both good news and bad news for Racine in the state budget.
- The proposed increase in shared revenues was scrapped.
- Levy limits were extended for another 2 years.
- It is
interesting to note that Madison increased the state budget by 8%
but feel local government should only be entitled to a 2% increase. They
demand we do what they could not.
The positives
in the budget are that the proposed decrease of 12% in Racine’s shared revenues was scrapped. $400,000 is in the
budget for 6th Street enhancements as that street is rebuilt. And
$250,000 per year for work to reduce the high infant mortality rate in
the Racine area was included, thanks to our local delegation.
I want to
say “thank you” to those that represent the city
in Madison, Senator John Lehman and Assemblymen Bob Turner and Cory Mason. I
know they fought hard for their constituents here in the city of Racine.
The budget
that is presented tonight proposes the elimination of 10 positions. Once again these are spread out among all areas of city
government. The budget as presented eliminates 1 police position,
3 fire, and the other 6 from various departments.
Public safety
remains my number one concern. There is no elected official that ever
looks to cut public safety employees. However, I have
pledged to keep a balance of the services we deliver. Last year
no positions were cut in the Fire Department and only one sworn officer
position was reduced in the Police Department. In a perfect world
we would not have to make any reductions, but with the current state
of local finances it is obviously not a perfect world we live in.
Another
goal in the Police Department this year is to bring much of the parking
ticket operation back in house. We are currently working
on a unique arrangement with our vendor which should save money and greatly
improve our customer service levels. To accomplish this there is
proposed $50,000 for hand held ticket machines for the squad cars.
For the
first time in a number of years I am proposing the addition of 2 new
positions. The first position is in City planning and
Development. I feel this position is needed for a number of reasons.
- The amount
of time to administer our federal grants has dramatically increased.
- The amount of Brownfield redevelopment continues to grow.
- The number of developers interested in Racine keeps increasing.
- Our emphasis of redeveloping our neighborhoods and business districts
continues.
To expect current staff to handle the added workload has become unrealistic
and therefore a generalist position to help on a variety of issues is
proposed.
The second
position which is initially funded starting in May of 2008 is the position
of “grant administrator”. This is a
position a number of aldermen have asked about over the years. This position
is proposed to be in city administration in the mayor’s office. This
person will work with our federal and state grants which take considerable
time. While this is proposed as a new position, we currently have
a person doing this work. Unfortunately, she has plans to retire
mid-year 2008.
In addition
to administering state and federal grants I envision this person working
to develop ties with private foundations and working in the community
with the NGO’s to help facilitate collaborations
and working partnerships. I am convinced this position can pay
for itself many times over.
A major
item we are removing from the regular budget is sanitary sewers. This
is an issue that virtually every alderman deals with at some time. We
all know when these fail they become a burden to our residents and can
create financial hardships. The cost of sanitary sewer will be
covered by a $50 per residence fee once per year. This will generate
enough revenue to maintain an aging infrastructure and cover the cost
of all lateral failures beyond the property line of the property owner.
There are
two departments that I am proposing to run differently than in the
past. The first is Human Resources. In talking with
other mayors I learned a number of cities have merged HR with the legal
department. Much of the work is done jointly; mediations and arbitrations,
grievances, contract negotiations, affirmative action and equal rights
matters, family medical leave act issues, workers compensation
claims, HIPPA questions and fair labor standards act issues to name but
a few. To be able to run more effectively and efficiently I am
proposing the elimination of the director of Human Resources and the
merging with the Attorney’s office.
The other
major change proposed is in Management Information Systems – MIS. We
currently have about 1/3 of this department’s work done by outside
contractors. This budget proposes that all but the director and
one position that we are contractually obligated to keep are contracted
out to a professional IT staffing contractor. We have had preliminary
discussions with the vendor the county uses to do this. All current
city employees with be offered jobs with whatever vendor we choose to
work with.
I believe
this is the right way to go because of the nature of the IT business. As we all know it is ever changing at a speed that is
hard to fathom at times. By having an outside contractor they will
be able to supply the skill sets that are needed to implement specific
projects. The director will remain an administrative manager, and
will be in charge of executing the contract and ultimately for the delivery
of all IT services.
There is
a proposal to eliminate one community center director. Humble
Park would be overseen by the director at Tyler-Domer. Half of
the savings from this position will be put into additional programming
at the centers. In addition, the center directors and recreation
staff are aggressively looking for partners to help strengthen the programming
we have at the centers. After discussing this with staff I could
not justify a full-time position which costs tax payers nearly $90,000
at Humble Park. I am confident with a fresh approach at partnering
that our centers will be the best neighborhood resource that is possible.
The main
reason we are eliminating only 10 positions is the ability to control
healthcare costs. We are still self insured but MEI,
which is our group of local businesses and governments, has negotiated
with United Health Care to bring rates down. While the plan and
benefits will not change, our plan administrator will switch to UHC on
January 1st. We anticipate that health care costs in 2008 will
be the same as this year. We will continue to look for ways to
save dollars and to strengthen our wellness program to help our employees
stay healthy.
Each year
the budget contains changes. Over the past 4 years there
have been many changes. We have reduced our city payroll by over
100 saving millions of dollars. With the consolidation of the
Attorneys office and Human Resources we will be at 12 administrative
managers versus 16 four years ago making coordination of work easier. We
have reorganized neighborhood inspections and the result has been neighborhoods
that are constantly being improved.
The lab
in the Health Department was closed and all residents still have access
to the services we provided through other providers and saving the
city thousands. The list goes on but virtually every change
we have made has provided cost savings to our taxpayers and efficiency
to our operations. And when a change does not work out we admit
and fix the situation as we did with the bulky waste site.
The other
piece of this budget being presented tonight is the Capital Improvement
Plan. The first step in this process is to determine
the amount of debt the city can comfortably handle. We look at
current year and then all the way out to year twenty. We then determine
the amount of borrowed money we can sustain. Currently staff and
I feel that bonding of between $7.5 and $8 million is the proper amount. At
this point we start the process of prioritizing departmental requests.
You will
notice that we are at our target for the five year plan. Only the 2008
year becomes part of the city budget, the remaining 4 years are just
a plan and no appropriations are included in this year’s
budget.
Approximately
$4 million in requests have been cut from each year of the CIP. As
you will see we have a relatively level 5-year plan that stays under
the targeted amounts.
The majority
of CIP dollars are used to maintain what we already have. Keep
our buildings in good condition, repair infrastructure; i.e.: streets,
sewers, street lighting, pathways, etc.
In continuing
to provide improved service to our customers we are proceeding with
the City Hall renovations. The next phase will bring
the Department of Planning and Development into one office and in the
same building. They will take over the Clerk’s office old
space. This will give them a better location for the many loan
program participants who they see on a regular basis. They will
consolidate from two different offices to one where it will be easier
to serve the public and to share resources and personnel.
In addition the old Finance space will be redone so Human Resources
can move into there and 2 offices in the legal department can be moved
to make room for a permanent office for the city administrator.
An area
of increased spending is in our parks and community centers. Each
of the last two years I have proposed and this council approved additional
dollars to Parks to upgrade our facilities. This year I have again
included nearly $200,000 above the requested amount to improve our parks,
playgrounds, beaches, ball fields and community centers. These
areas should be great as they are what people see when they are out in
our city, and they are a resource for all to use and enjoy.
Community
Development continues to be a top priority. Facade grants continue
to be eligible in all areas throughout our city. Brownfield
cleanup and redevelopment continues as we finish up the former Jacobson
site, work to move West Racine ahead, and negotiate with the owners of
the former Racine Steel location. Our commitment to our commercial
corridors continues to grow. We will continue to work on Douglas
Avenue, West Racine, State Street and of course Uptown as we get ready
to kick off the artist relocation program.
The rest
of the CIP budget is just not very exciting. It repaves
parking lots, puts roofs on buildings, rebuilds streets and the rest
of the mundane work of maintaining our infrastructure. However,
I do want to point out that while it may not be exciting new projects,
it is absolutely critical to the long term health of our city that we
do not neglect our building and infrastructure.
Before closing
I want to mention what a tremendous job the staff here at the city
does. I receive compliments on city workers many more
times than complaints. When people come to visit, almost all comment
on the cleanliness of our city. People often comment on the friendliness
and cooperation they feel when dealing with our front line service people. Developers
tell me what a pleasure it is to work with a city focused on getting
things done. I could go on and on about the great service I hear
about from every department in this city. To every city employee
I say “thank-you” for your public service and to making
Racine great. I personally feel it is a noble cause.
So, ladies and gentlemen I lay before you the 2008 Mayor’s proposed
budget. I look forward to working with you over the next 4 weeks
to answer all questions and to use the wisdom and experience of this
council to improve on what you now have before you.
Thank you and good night. |
