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<br />March 21. 2005 <br /> <br />The budget also includes a 1.5 percent cost of living adjustment for all retirees in the <br />City of Portsmouth retirement systems. To increase the competitiveness of our pay <br />system within our defined market of Norfolk, Chesapeake, Virginia Beach, Suffolk, <br />Newport News and Hampton, we have made a structure adjustment of 5.25 percent to <br />our pay ranges to enhance employee growth and retention. The movement at the end <br />of the ranges will provide the opportunity for pay increases to employees whose <br />salaries have approached the end of the range. In addition, City positions have been <br />evaluated in comparison to similar positions within our defined market. From those <br />evaluations, we have identified City positions that required immediate adjustments, <br />which resulted in reclassification of those positions. Overall, we are recommending <br />City Council set 90 percent of market value as our ongoing compensation goal. This <br />will allow the City to have a specific benchmark for continuing measurement and <br />community discussion. <br /> <br />For FY06, the City is increasing its employee health insurance funding by 10 percent, <br />effective January 1,2006. Overall, this budget recommends more than $3 million be <br />added to City employee wages and benefits. <br /> <br />There is still much to do for City employees in the future. <br /> <br />Our investment will foster a learning organization, where continuous learning is not <br />only encouraged but also supported through the Tuition Assistance Program and <br />training opportunities funded in individual departments. The City continues to <br />encourage employees to take advantage of opportunities to improve their knowledge <br />and skills, resulting in job enrichment and improved customer service. <br /> <br />During the coming fiscal year, the Department of Human Resource Management will <br />revise, enhance and reintroduce the Employee Incentive Program, which provides <br />cash awards for cost-saving suggestions. The program will encourage cost-saving <br />responsibility, creativity and innovation, and continue to promote a positive image of <br />the City. In addition, the City recognizes our extraordinary employees through the <br />Employee of the Month Program and Employee of the Year Program, as well as our <br />annual Service Award Recognition Program. For FY06, the City will also introduce a <br />new team award program that supports the City's value of teamwork. <br /> <br />LEVERAGING TECHNOLOGY TO IMPROVE SERVICES <br /> <br />The budget includes a number of projects which will advance Portsmouth in the area <br />of technology, resulting in improved customer services. The first of these is the <br />relocation and upgrading of our Emergency Communications Center/E911 and the <br />Emergency Operations Center (EOC). This is being funded over a five-year period <br />using lease purchase at a total cost of $1.3 million, with $320,000 in lease payments <br />included in the FY06 operating budget. The current fiscal year is the first year of that <br />five-year process. The upgrade will include the replacement of obsolete call taking <br />and radio dispatching equipment with modern, state-of-the-art technology. The plan <br />for FY06 is to have the new ECC and EOC completely staged and ready for <br />operations. <br /> <br />The CIP includes $2 million toward funding of the City and School collaborative <br />systems project to replace internal finance software with a modern comprehensive <br />financial and human resource management system. This project already has received <br />a contribution of $936,486 from a prior year's fund balance of the School system. The <br />new system will provide business process improvements within financial operations <br />and automate current manual record keeping and reporting. A new comprehensive <br />financial system is needed to integrate and improve workflow, re-engineer processes, <br />reduce paper record keeping and provide better access to financial data within City <br />departments and the Schools. The purchase and implementation of a financial <br />system to meet the needs and requirements of both organizations is most cost <br />effectively performed as a partnership between the City and the Schools. <br />