Minutes 03/30/2015 - Laserfiche WebLink

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March 30, 2015 This Budget continues the efforts that Council initiated two budget years ago to improve the competitiveness of our employees’ salaries. In this regard, this Budget proposes a two percent increase for general wage employees, to include permanent part-time employees and the Registrar’s Office, effective July 1, 2015. The State Budget includes a two percent raise for Constitutional Offices, effective September 1, 2015, with the State Compensation Board paying for the State portion of that cost. However, in order to be consistent with the date that our general employees will receive their increase, I am proposing that all of the Constitutional Officers and their employees receive the two percent increase on July 1. The Constitutional Officers and their employees provide a valuable service to our citizens, and we should compensate them for their outstanding service. The budget also continues step increases for Sworn Police and Fire employees. Just as important as taking care of our current employees, we must recognize the financial needs of our retirees – those persons who devoted a good part of their lives to the betterment of our City. In this regard, this budget includes a 1.0% Cost of Living increase for retirees of the Portsmouth Supplemental Retirement System (PSRS) and Fire and Police Retirement System (F&P). As for our pay plan structure for our general employees, in addition to not giving our general employees a pay increase for a four-year period, we also did not adjust the structure of our pay plan as it relates to the marketplace. Consequently, our pay structure is still approximately three percent below that of the average in the marketplace. The general wage increase that I am recommending with this budget does not adjust the structure of the pay plan for our general employees as it relates to the marketplace. We will continue to study the relationship of the competitiveness of our pay plan during the next fiscal year. Investments in Capital Infrastructure The proposed CIP continues maintenance and improvement of vital City infrastructure, and it includes those projects whose products have a long life as opposed to maintenance-type projects. Prior to Fiscal Year 2013-2014, the City paid for a number of ongoing capital maintenance costs by issuing debt instead of cash funding the projects. Prudent financial practices recommends that the City should cash fund those maintenance costs that occur each year and only debt fund projects that have a useful life that is at least equal to the amortization period of the bonds. We will continue to follow this recommendation with the proposed CIP. Instead of debt funding maintenance-type items, we will cash fund these items. In this regard, this budget proposes to use $3.9 million of available General Fund balance to cash fund capital projects. In addition, this budget proposes to dedicate $836,000 of ongoing revenue to support annual CIP maintenance projects and ongoing School bus replacements, which total almost $2.1 million annually. Section 14 of this document provides a complete listing of these projects. Here are some highlights of this listing:  $1 million for an ongoing School Bus replacement program  $929,132 to replace the roof at Westhaven Elementary School  $800,000 to fund recreational activities delineated in the Parks and Recreation Master Plan  $4 million to complete the upgrade of the City’s public safety radio system  $4.5 million to reinforce the Seawall  $150,000 for parking garage repairs As noted earlier in this message, the proposed CIP includes $4.5 million to build a new Fire Station in the Truxtun area of the City.