by Mike Sharkey
Staff Writer
When former City Council Finance Chair Art Shad formed the ad hoc budget committee and charged the group with examining the City’s $937 million 2007-08 budget line-by-line, no one involved really knew what they were getting into.
Council had earlier approved the budget, but placed 2 percent of the entire budget “under the line.” The ad hoc committee was charged by Shad with the task of dissecting that 2 percent department-by-department in an effort to determine how much, if any, would be restored.
Council members Jack Webb, Stephen Joost and Mia Jones along with former TRUE Commission Chair John Palombi comprised the committee while Council Auditor Kirk Sherman and his staff were responsible for doing the leg work. Over the course of a few months and seven meetings, one-by-one, the City’s department heads pled the cases, often defending vacant positions and funded programs they viewed as vital.
In the end, the committee restored about $770,000 of the $4.9 million left under the line, which meant $4.82 million was saved. But, given the man hours the process encompassed, was the process worth it?
According to Webb, Joost and Sherman it was. While the savings are small in the grand scheme of a $937 million budget — a figure that doesn’t include the budgets of the police or fire departments — all three believe the process was beneficial this year and will really pay dividends as department heads prepare future budgets.
“I think this is an ongoing experiment that needs to occur,” said Webb. “At a minimum, this could be a subcommittee of the Finance Committee.”
During the process, Joost was outspoken over what he viewed was an attempt by department heads to fluff their budgets by funding vacant positions that may or may not get filled. During the seven meetings, Joost questioned virtually every department head about the practice. In the end, Joost believes the ad hoc committee, and his line of questioning about funded vacant positions, will force department heads to submit more accurate, tighter budgets. He also thinks many departments will more closely scrutinize their true personnel needs.
“They’ll have to. If they fill all of their lapse positions, they won’t have any operating money,” he said. “They have been using payroll for operating dollars.”
Joost think the ad hoc committee should be formed annually. He also said because the City’s actual budget (with police and fire included) is much closer to $2 billion, the ad hoc committee could look at individual departments a year a time.
Webb said the committee’s role should be expanded next year to include close examinations of the budgets of the police and fire departments.
“I don’t want to cut them, personally. I just want to push for more efficiency,” said Webb, adding he’s looking to have a better understanding of all the budgets within the City.
Joost said the ad hoc committee was a learning experience.
“Before, I felt like I was sitting on a wild bull,” he said. “Now, I feel like I have some control.”
Palombi praised the process, but was also critical of some aspects. The process generally involved Sherman’s office auditing the budgets and coming up with recommendations as to what left below the line should be restored.
“This should be more effective next time,” said Palombi. “Every meeting, everyone wanted their money back. There was not a lot of authentic justification. One of the ongoing issues is once a program starts, it’s almost impossible to stop. We know five of 10 aren’t working.”
According to Sherman, the ad hoc meetings cost his office about $80,000 in man-hours, time he said would have been spent doing similar work and other audits, but not for budgetary purposes.
“There was a considerable amount of information to be reviewed and acted on within a few months,” said Sherman. “We focused on a manageable level of information via questionnaires sent in advance to the departments.
“I thought we met our mission because the task was well defined in advance of the hearings and we have a committee that is engaged in the process.
“It was definitely worthwhile. I feel it prepared Council members, departments, the administration and two junior auditors who had not been exposed to this level of review valuable insight into operations and opportunities for improvement.”
In the end several departments had the entire 2 percent lapse restored: Council, the Courts, the Human Rights Commission, the mayor’s office, the mayor’s boards and commissions, the medical examiner, the Public Defender, the State Attorney and the Supervisor of Elections. The two departments with the least restored were Finance (21 percent) and Public Libraries (52 percent).
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