Try This for Drastic Government Reform

September 11, 2010 Leave a comment

This epitomizes the extremes reforms that cities might have to go to fix a long festering problem–basically, out source the government!

One Orange County city has already taken bold steps to correct its $10 million deficit. It may be a model for other cities and states across the country. Internally, it has decided it will not replace any city worker that dies, retires, moves or quits. The city will simply out source the employment to an outside service company and eliminate healthcare requirements and unsustainable pensions. Building inspectors will be out sourced as will city plan checkers, librarians and meter maids. Only essential services like top executives and cops will remain on the city payroll. The city staff will eventually decrease from 220 to approximately 35 personnel. This is the essence of deconstruction.

via A Tsunami Approaches: The Beginning of the Great Deconstruction | Newgeography.com.

Filed under Finance, Pensions

Some Random Thoughts on the Budget (re: the Commission’s Budget Meeting on Tuesday, September 14)

September 11, 2010 Leave a comment

  • City authorities should accept that the City of Coral Gables is in a real long-term budget crisis that will only get worse unless significant cost cutting and a deep reorganization is performed by city management.
  • The budget should be based on a realistic and educated awareness of the economic, financial, community and business future of Coral Gables–city authorities may be way too optimistic about an early economic recovery.
  • The biggest danger to the financial future of the city is the huge unresolved pension and health care benefit liabilities–a recent step in reducing benefits for general employees needs to be followed with similar agreements with police and firefighters (the “golden employees” of Coral Gables).
  • Public security costs, which are more than 50% of the city’s budget, seem to be untouchable–these costs have to be reduced to solve the budget crisis.
  • The city has been too slow to make the internal organizational reforms to streamline services and reduce the number of middle and upper management staff that certainly would make it more efficient and help prioritize critical services to the citizens, businesses and visitors.  Someone (commissions or management) appears to resisting significant staff reductions at the middle and higher management levels.
  • The city authorities are greatly underestimating the negative impact of the economic recession and tax increases on individual taxpayers who have suffered huge losses in both their assets and incomes.  Many taxpayers are not able to sustain further property tax increases.
  • As far as the citizens know, the problem of Biltmore Hotel operator’s failure to pay its lease has been postponed until after the budget and taxes are approved.  This is concerning because we do not know if the future negotiation will lead to another favorable agreement with the Biltmore operator that in turn forgives significant debts to the city and loads the losses on taxpayers.

Filed under Budget, Finance, Organization, Taxes and Fees

Community Budget Committee

September 9, 2010 Leave a comment

What the city of Coral Gables needs is a new community organization that keeps an eye on city spending, taxing, fee decisions and organization, constituting a community forum to deliberate about the annual budget and undertake little studies and evaluations of the budget  (say) with  help from UM or other sources.

Community, nongovernmental committees exist in other cities to great success in raising citizen awareness, engagement and participation in the governing process, especially when the city is only slightly interested in consulting with the community on the budget, government spending and organization.

Filed under Budget, Community, Finance

Letter about Police Communications: Just Wondering?

September 9, 2010 Leave a comment

I take note of the letter currently in the Coral Gables Gazette about the staffing, overtime costs and overtime demands in the Communications Department.  The full letter can be found in the Coral Gables Gazette.   The following are some relevant extracts from the letter.

In January of 1999 the City built a beautiful communications center on the 4th floor of the police department.  At the time of the move there were 21 communication operators.  The staffing requirement at that time was 30 operators 10 per shift. The move to the new center was done with 9 operators less than what we needed. The operators were informed that 12 hour shifts were necessary for about a month due to the transitional period from going from a card system to completely being computerized.

In January of 2000, a few operators were hired and the mandatory 12 hour days were reduced to a mandatory 8 hours a week in overtime.  As the trainees came out of training the mandatory overtime went down to 4 hours a week and eventually the mandatory overtime was no longer required to run the center. Presently overtime is still necessary for staffing purposes as we are still not completely staffed due to some of the new hires quitting or not successfully completing the training process….

…At this time the department is still not fully staffed and we are still working overtime on a volunteer basis…

Regardless of what the City Manager has said, there have been measures put in place to decrease the overtime cost in the communications section. This includes a reduction in minimum staffing, reducing the amount of compensatory leave you can earn a month and revamping the training program. Based on the move and upgrade, to the new Communications Center, this situation was imposed in order to fully staff the center and provide the residents with the exceptional service they have always been use to…
I don’t completely understand the arguments (nor do I know what information was presented at the referenced Impasse Hearing).  But I have looked at the current and recent past budgets.
  • Exclusive of overtime pay, the average operator costs the city about $79,000 annually, including an average salary of $47,974 and benefits of $31,183.
  • The number of communications operators positions has remained steady at 32 from 2006 and then 33 to the present.
  • The city manager’s budget has cut overtime to total of $330,000 compared to a budgeted amount of $560,000 in 2007.
  • This looks like good management to me given the city’s financial situation.  Also, it would seem that the city is doing its best to keep the communications unit fully staffed although one always has people coming and going for different reasons.



Filed under Finance, Government, Organization

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