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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMemo - Mail Packet - 09/23/2025 - Memorandum from Lawrence Pollack re CFC and other Councilmember Follow-up Questions/Requests regarding the 2026 Budget Revisions 1 Work Session Memorandum Date: September 18, 2025 To: Mayor and City Councilmembers Through: Kelly DiMartino, City Manager Caleb Weitz, Chief Financial Officer From: Lawrence Pollack, Budget Director Subject: CFC and other Councilmember follow up questions/requests regarding the 2026 Budget Revisions The Council Finance Committee reviewed the preliminary 2026 Budget Revisions. The responses to those questions appear below. The next step for the Revision process is for the full Council review scheduled for the 23 September work session. 1) What % of the City’s budget is for personnel expenses? Response: The following table provide the requested data with the Personnel Costs as a % of each Service Area’s budget. Note that the Benefits Fund is managed within Information & Employee Services but has been excluded due to the size of that fund with nearly no personnel costs. Docusign Envelope ID: 166AC2BA-D775-4CD7-A99A-99B554A36F1D 2 2) Please provide a list of the vacant positions that are part of the City’s Hiring Freeze Response: Please refer to Attachment #1 for the requested list of vacant positions as of September 1. This list will change monthly due to new positions being vacated, along with the month exception request whereby executive decisions could allow specific positions to move forward with recruitment 3) Please provide a summary of proposed 2026 Revisions to reduce the budget Response: That information is included as Attachment #1 in the AIS for the September 23 work session item on the 2026 Budget Revisions 4) Which proposed positions for elimination are directly related to Council Priorities? Response: Although most position eliminations will not have a direct impact on the adopted Council Priorities, they may have a ripple effect on staff who are working in similar areas, as work rebalancing adjustments are made. At the same time, it is important to note that as new positions are vacated throughout the rest of 2025 and 2026, management will have the flexibility to propose swapping an eliminated position with a newly vacated position. This is intended to help minimize the impacts on Council Priorities and overall service delivery to the community. Any such proposals would need approval of the City Manager. Of the proposed position eliminations, there are three areas with more direct impact on the Council Priorities. The first is in Traffic where a new Coordinator and Network Engineer for Vision Zero implementation were to be funded by camera radar revenues. Workloads are being shifted to still ensure focus on this program. The second area is Sustainability Services where the position eliminations may have more of an indirect impact on economic and environmental priorities through decreased capacity, especially for data assessment and reporting, in the near term. However, ongoing evaluation of staffing and work prioritization will enable progress in the medium to long term. The last area is within Police Services, where the elimination of two dedicated Homeless Outreach and Proactive Engagement (HOPE) officers in the 2026 Budget will require the unit to reduce the days and times it is available to this portion of our population. The responsibility for calls to these community members will necessarily be handled by Patrol officers who have limited time to manage lengthy issues and referrals, and who have less knowledge of available services. 5) What is the estimated impact on employees from the 1) Benefits Holiday and 2) the lower increases to benefits costs for 2026? Response: Both of these separate actions help balance the 2026 Budget, while also having a positive impact on staff, as follows: Docusign Envelope ID: 166AC2BA-D775-4CD7-A99A-99B554A36F1D 3 1) The Benefit Holiday would create a one-time savings of $49 - $325 to employees who are currently paying for Medical and Dental 2) Reducing the planned increase to 2026 benefits rate by 2.5% would create a 2026 annual Medical premium savings between $32 - $197 depending on which Medical plan they are paying for 6) What reserves have been used in the 2025-26 to fund adopted Council Priorities? Response: Reserves were used to fully/partially fund various offers in both the 2025-26 adopted budget, as well as 2025 supplemental appropriations via ordinance Council Priority: Improve human and social health for vulnerable populations: - Offer 18.8 – Eviction Legal Fund ($220k per year  $440k total General Fund reserves) - Offer 18.9 – Immigration Legal Fund ($220k per year  $440k total General Fund reserves) - Offer 26.16 – Access Funds for Low-Income Community Residents for Cultural Services programming ($75k per year  $150k total Cultural Services Fund reserves) Council Priority: Protect surface water in an integrated way and ensure resilient water resources - Offer 5.24 – Stormwater: Fossil Creek Stream Rehab from Trilby to Lemay ($5.0M in 2026 from Stormwater Fund reserves) Council Priority: 15-Minute City: Accelerate our shift to active modes - Offer 21.9 PDT Active Modes Facility Maintenance ($257k in 2025 and $194k in 2026  $451k total Transportation Fund reserves) - Ordinance 006, 2025 - West Elizabeth Corridor Final Design ($1.5M) Council Priority: Reduce climate change and air pollution through electrification - Ordinance 049, 2025 – Electric Vehicle Infrastructure Offset Fee Credits for Affordable Housing Developments ($200k) Council Priority: Make government more accessible, approachable, and fun - Ordinance 069, 2025 – Election costs, including Ranked Choice Voting ($357k) 7) What amount is budgeted for Council food and meals? Response: Annually, the cost of food and meals for City Council is about $30k per year. There is no proposed reduction in those expenses for 2026. 8) Please provide additional detail on the overall Camera Radar Red Light revenue shortfall, including a breakdown of the separate components of that program Docusign Envelope ID: 166AC2BA-D775-4CD7-A99A-99B554A36F1D 4 Response: The Camera Radar Red Light (CRRL) program includes four components: Mobile Camera Units, Red Light cameras at intersections, Speed cameras at intersections, and new Transportable units. The first two—Mobile Camera Units and Red-Light cameras— have been in operation for many years and have served as the primary revenue sources so far. Speed cameras at intersections were introduced in late 2024, and the transportable units became operational in June 2025, with citations starting to be issued in July. For 2025, the total revenue from the CRRL program was projected to be $5,180,547, broken down as follows:  Mobile Camera Units and Red-Light cameras (base revenue): $1,887,583  Speed at intersection cameras: $1,292,964  Transportable units: $2,000,000 The charts below show the year-to-date citation counts compared to revenue expectations. Number of Citations issued YTD: ** Calculations are based on $40 per citation Performance Summary (YTD 2025 vs. 2024 YTD):  Mobile Camera Citations: Down 11%  Red Light Citations: Down 40%  Speed-at-Intersection Citations: These were introduced in November 2024, so no YTD comparison is available. However, they have generated the highest volume of citations among all categories so far in 2025 and are ahead of budget expectations. Operational Delays:  Transportable Units: Initially scheduled for deployment in January, they were not operational until June, with actual citations starting in July. This delay has had the greatest negative impact on YTD revenue. Docusign Envelope ID: 166AC2BA-D775-4CD7-A99A-99B554A36F1D 5  Revenue Shortfall Update (as of August 31, 2025): We are currently $1.6 million short of the expected citation revenue YTD. While we understand that other departments are behind in processing citations, this backlog will only offset a small portion of the 2025 shortfall. If citation issuance and payment trends continue at the current pace observed over the last few months, the revenue shortfall is expected to grow further. Docusign Envelope ID: 166AC2BA-D775-4CD7-A99A-99B554A36F1D Attachment #1 Department Job Title Accounting and Treasury Sr Analyst, Bus Intelligence Broadband Rep II, Customer Support Budget Analyst II, Budget City Attorney's Office Assistant City Attorney II Legal Assistant Supervisor, Office Management City Manager's Office Sr Specialist, Digital Inclsn Supervisor, Administration Comm Dev & Neighborhood Svcs Business Support III Inspector, Code Compliance Planner, City Technician I, Bldg Dev Review Cultural Services Coordinator, Cultural Services Sr Coordinator, Public Engage Sr Manager, Cultural Services Economic Health Office Lead Spc, Econ Sustainability Engineering Civil Engineer I Civil Engineer II Supervisor, Land Surveying Environmental Services Data Analyst, Enviro Sustain Dir, Environ Sustainability Lead Spc, Env Sustainability Sr Specialist, Enviro Sustain Finance Administration Director, Fin Special Projects Human Resources Sr Specialist, Recruiter Information Technology Administrator I, Systems Analyst I, Apps Software Analyst II, IT Assets Engineer I, Systems Sr Administrator, Database Sr Technician, Client Services L&P Electric Field Services Electric Lineworker L&P Electrical Engineering Assoc Elec Project Engineer The positions on this list are currently vacant and administratively 'frozen' from being hired as of Sept 1. There is a monthly exception processs whereby the list of frozen positions and any new positions that are vacated over the month are reviewed for possible approval to hire. Docusign Envelope ID: 166AC2BA-D775-4CD7-A99A-99B554A36F1D Department Job Title Municipal Court Court Clerk Court Security Officer Natural Areas Business Support III Planner, Environmental Worker I, Natural Areas Operation Services Business Support III Fleet Maintenance Technician Sr Specialist, Real Estate Technician II, Facilities Parks Manager, Forestry Park Ranger Sr Manager, Parks Worker I, Parks PDT Administration Sr Analyst, Finance Police Criminal Investigations Criminalist Tech II, Processing Support Police Information Services Emergency Commun Dispatcher Rep II, Police Records Police Patrol Police Sergeant Purchasing Sr Buyer Recreation Sr Coordinator, Recreation Sr Supervisor, Recreation Safety, Risk, and Preparedness Sr Specialist, Security Social Sustainability Dir Housing & Comm. Vitality Streets Operator I, Transportation Ops Operator II, Transportation Op Rep II, Customer Support Sr Inspector, Construction Sr Operator, Transport Ops Technician I, Traffic Control Technician II, Traffic Control Worker I, Traffic Control Worker I, Transportation Ops Traffic City Traffic Engineer Operator I, Traffic Ops Operator I, Transportation Ops Transfort Officer III, Enforcement Operator I, Transit Planner, Transit Service Docusign Envelope ID: 166AC2BA-D775-4CD7-A99A-99B554A36F1D Department Job Title Ut Water Systems Engr Div Civil Engineer III Director, Civil Engineering Ut Wtr Reclama & Biosolids Div Plant Operator Sr Specialist, Sciences Technician II, Maintenance Utilities Customer Connections Rep II, Customer Support Sr Project Manager Sr Project Mgr, Customer Exp Sr Supervisor, Public Engage Sr Technician, Sciences Utilities Management Utilities Executive Director Utility Financial Operations Sr Coordinator, AR/Billing Docusign Envelope ID: 166AC2BA-D775-4CD7-A99A-99B554A36F1D