by Max Marbut
Staff Writer
In business, it’s often advantageous to have more than one set of eyes take a look at a challenge, a situation or even a process. That’s especially true if the additional set of eyes has a different mind-set or skills set compared to the incumbent system.
That’s the concept behind the Taxation, Revenue & Utilization of Expenditures (TRUE) Commission. It was created by action of the City Council in 1994 and consists of 18 citizens with backgrounds and experience in business. Six members are appointed by the mayor, six by the Council president and the other members each represent the six Duval County Citizens Planning Advisory Committees (CPAC).
The volunteer commissioners bring a wide range of business experience and skills to the table. Over the years, business owners, upper-level managers, CPAs, attorneys and military veterans including service academy graduates have served.
The commission is an advisory body concerning fiscal policy and has possibly the most wide-ranging powers of any City commission. It is charged with improving the City’s long-range financial soundness, planning, budgeting and management. The commissioners may choose to review any aspect of fiscal policy including the budgetary process including taxation, use of permit fees and user fees, franchise fees, bonding capacity and privatization.
“The TRUE Commission was created in the image of the federal Grace Commission. They study an issue then file a report that goes to the mayor and Council,” said City Council Chief of Research Jeff Clements, who has been the City staff liaison since the inception of the TRUE Commission.
“Our job is to look at things with the eye of a business person as opposed to that of a government employee,” said commissioner Marcela Lowe, a CPAC representative.
At the monthly meeting of the full TRUE Commission last week, the Performance Committee presented its review of the Council Auditor’s report on overtime within the City and Constitutional Officers’ organizations. The review noted a three-year history of excessive overtime spending. It also identified five main areas that if addressed, the committee concluded, could result in reducing the City’s expenses by “several million dollars annually.”
The review cited a “continued inability to reconcile overtime in the accounting system” and also noted overtime documents are not always authorized and/or paid at the correct rates.
“This has been going on for years. We’re just not minding the store,” said Commissioner John Palombi, who chairs the performance Committee. “There have been laws on the books (regulating overtime) for more than 50 years. It’s time to start complying.”
When TRUE Commission chair Ron Mallett asked if the City could provide a copy of the official policy on overtime, Palombi replied, “There’s nothing clear. That’s part of the problem.”
When the committee studied overtime paid in 2005, the year with the lowest level of overtime expended, the review showed that $3,300,000 (13.7 percent) was overspent including “pay shift favoritism” – paying exempt employees overtime while they should be receiving compensatory time off.
The audit report review also pointed out 80 percent of the City’s overtime cost is for public safety (Sheriff’s Office and Fire & Rescue Department) and noted “over-reliance on overtime” that demonstrates “questionable economics as well as a disregard for safety.” One corrections officer was allowed to put in more than 2,000 hours of overtime for two consecutive years.
It was also noted the City uses nearly 1 million hours of overtime annually paid at one and a half times salary or higher, but continually has 5-10 percent of authorized job billets unfilled (currently 716 of 8,564 slots or 8.3 percent).
The review also pointed out the City management has agreed to contracts defining overtime payments and conditions, “so there is no legitimate excuse for not enforcing their own agreements.”
The committee recommended a request be issued to the administration and the Council to require City managers to “fix this lingering issue now” by increasing their attention to overtime, salary contracts and implementing improvement procedures and software “instead of delaying this relatively easy fix.”
The TRUE Commission’s next meeting is April 3 at 4 p.m. in the Council Chambers at City Hall. The meeting is open to the public and “all interested persons are encouraged to attend,” said Mallett.