by Mike Sharkey
Staff Writer
A little over two weeks ago, Mayor John Peyton delivered his annual budget address to City Council. For an hour, Peyton hit the high points of a budget that’s just a couple of crepe myrtles shy of $900 million.
That one-hour presentation may be the highlight of the budget process and segued into a Peyton vacation to Montana, but it’s literally the tip of the iceberg in relation to the amount of work that goes into the City’s single-biggest — and arguably most important — annual project.
“The process really began in January,” said Susie Wiles, Peyton’s chief of special initiatives and communications.
Wiles explained that several City Hall staffers, mostly from the budget office, start looking at the next year’s fiscal budget in an attempt to forecast areas of growth and discover possible fiscal gaps. Every week for a few months, the City’s budget staff works on the project, giving a little here, taking a little there — all in an attempt to produce a balanced budget that provides as many City services as possible and cuts the least number of programs.
Every other week, the Mayor’s Budget Review Committee looks at the proposed budget.
In previous years, said Wiles, the budget process hasn’t been that difficult. Lately, however, it’s been tough to tell people “no” and make partial funding cuts or eliminate needed programs altogether.
“It’s easy to be lighthearted when there’s money,” she said. “But, when there isn’t money, like the last couple of years, it’s tough. Every program has people attached to it.”
According to Wiles, dozens and dozens of City staffers worked on the budget in some capacity. However, there was a core group that oversaw the process from start to finish and that group includes Chief Financial Officer Mickey Miller, Deputy Director of Administration and Finance Cal Ray, Budget Officer Frank Castriota and Assistant Management Improvement Officer in Administration and Finance Heath Beach.
“Mickey Miller took the 50,000-foot view and focused on earnings and investments,” said Wiles. “Frank was more day-to-day and Cal Ray was the go-to guy. He has 30 years invested with the City. He never forgets anything. The whole process was overseen by (Chief Administrative Officer) Dan Kleman.
“The mayor is personally involved for about 20-30 hours over the entire process. He’s in the night meetings where we order pizza.”
But, what other numbers are involved in a $900 million budget? According to Wiles, 12 people worked on the budget for eight 40-hour weeks. Another 20 people spent about 10 hours a week for eight weeks on the process. That’s a grand total of 5,440 man-hours and Wiles said that doesn’t include the hours spent by City Council or the Council Auditor’s Office.
“It’s a herculean task, it really is,” she said.
It also took about 12 hours to write Peyton’s one-hour speech, which Wiles said he was still massaging shortly before the 10 a.m. address.
More numbers regarding the budget: it’s 998 pages, weighs about 5.5 pounds and the City printed 125 copies.
If you think Jacksonville’s budget process sounds complicated, try New York City. Today, Manhattan has a population of 8.2 million and, according to Raymond Orlando, the press secretary for the New York City budget office, the recently-approved budget is $52.9 billion. That’s worth repeating — $52.9 billion.
So, how many pages is that?
“Our adopted budget is actually very small,” said Orlando, who has been with the City of New York for six years. “We print five to six executive pages. The budget itself is thousands of pages and it’s on-line. You can print yourself and count them.”
New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg is given a 60-page budget summary that he uses to address the 51-member City Council. Unlike Jacksonville, the New York budget is updated quarterly.
“Our budget office has 300 employees and the budget is all we do,” explained Orlando. “It’s a full-time job and it’s an ongoing process.”
Charlotte is comparable to Jacksonville in several ways but its form of city government and budget (based on population) aren’t two of those similarities. Unlike Jacksonville, Charlotte is run by a city manager and its mayor is an at-large elected official whose vote carries the same weight as any of the 11 City Council members. Also, there are no term limits on elected officials in Charlotte.
The Charlotte budget is two volumes and contains both an operating budget and a capital improvement budget. Together, they total 741 pages and $1.37 billion. The operating budget is $903.4 million while the capital budget is $464 million.
“Transportation is a huge part,” said Julie Hill, the director of corporate communications for the City of Charlotte. “Our big capital drivers are our big ticket items.”
In Charlotte, the budget process begins in November. The City Council looks over the early draft during a late January or early February retreat. Over the next several months, Charlotte’s budget staff addresses Council issues and a monthly budget workshop is held for Council.
“That way, at the end, there aren’t any surprises. They understand the issues,” said Hill, adding that a “cast of thousands” has a role in the process. “Our budget officer drives the process.”