Minutes 03/28/2000 - Laserfiche WebLink

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March 28, 2000 The current level of the fund balance is within our target range [Figure 8], but has declined slightly due to planned uses for one-time expenditures. Even though we are within the desired range, I would have preferred to budget an increase to our reserve, but am foregoing such an increase to meet some of our most pressing needs in the 2001 budget such as the backlog of equipment. This backlog hampers our ability to deliver efficient and effective services. It is my commitment to prudently manage the current fiscal year to yield a surplus and increase the fund balance through this means. EXPENDITURES Expenditures Objective: Align expenditures with priorities and within overall financial capacity while providing high quality and citizen-valued services. The themes covered in this section of the message should sound familiar, as the initiatives of the past two fiscal years continue to be our focus today. Many details have changed and much progress has been made since last year, but our priorities remain the same. I believe the progress we are experiencing is a direct result of the clear understanding of these priorities throughout the organization. As departments developed their budgets, they focused on improving service quality and delivery. The departments also understand that they must provide these services within a framework that supports our financial goals and that balances the objectives to spend responsibly, save prudently and invest wisely. As we began preparing for the operating budget for fiscal year 2000-2001, I reaffirmed our existing priorities of: continuing efforts to reduce backlog in equipment, technology, infrastructure and facilities; providing additional funding for the school system; and fairly compensating our employees. Additions to our priority list for 2001 include increased funding for neighborhood quality initiatives and our marketing program. The neighborhood quality initiatives are woven throughout this message, from equipment needs to funding for education. This budget recommendation carefully balances each of the needs without sacrificing one for another. Equipment and Technology Of the five priority areas, the backlog of equipment and technology continues to be our most challenging. Our backlog has not occurred overnight. It is an accumulation of unmet needs over multiple years that has direct impacts on service delivery, repair costs, equipment down-time and employee morale. These unmet needs include the condition of our vehicles, the limitations of our current technology and the aging of our infrastructure and facilities. The City's Capital Improvement Plan continues to address the unmet needs in facilities, but it is the responsibility of this operating budget to address the backlog with respect to equipment. I am pleased that, for the first time in my tenure with the City, we are able to recommend a budget that makes major progress in addressing our equipment backlog in several different areas. Fleet - Probably the most visible asset of local government is our fleet of vehicles - from police cars to refuse trucks to ambulances to pothole patching crews. On a daily basis, there are approximately 770 city vehicles on the streets of Portsmouth. For many departments, the reliability and condition of their vehicles impacts on the employees' ability to perform their basic job duties. Due to years of budget constraints, replacement of our fleet has been neglected. The average age of the fleet is currently 12 years. Depending on the type and use of equipment, an acceptable industry benchmark for average age is 7 to 10 years. Operating costs for the fleet have risen over the past several years primarily due to older equipment requiring a higher level of maintenance and repair to keep the equipment in running condition. I challenged the staff to develop a vehicle replacement plan that would address the significant amount of backlog in this area. We now have a 10-year plan that in the first year will replace 16% of our equipment and reduce the average vehicles age from 12 to 9 years. The total cost of the 10-year plan is approximately $30 million. Through a plan of lease purchases every three years, we can accomplish the plan's implementation with a relatively constant funding level. In addition, maintenance costs should decline, safety should increase, and service delivery should improve. To implement the first phase of the plan, I am recommending funding of $1 million in lease purchase payments to fund replacement of approximately 200 vehicles in FY2001.