by Mike Sharkey
Staff Writer
Very early in the 2009-10 budget process, Mayor John Peyton asked all of the City’s department heads to lop 5 percent off their proposed budgets.
Kevin Holzendorf, director of the City’s Information Technology Department and Chief Information Officer, did just that.
During the first budget session last month, City Council President Richard Clark asked the departments to all look for another 3 percent. Begrudgingly, they have done so. The morning of Aug. 29, it was Holzendorf’s turn to present his proposed budget. However, due to the number of unanswerable questions and the complexity of the City’s IT Department and its budget, Clark and Council members Bill Bishop and John Crescimbeni met with Holzendorf, his upper management staff and the Council Auditor’s Office Tuesday in a special meeting to finalize the details of a 3 percent cut to the nearly $50 million budget.
While Clark vowed to take up the issue again starting Oct. 2, he’s OK for now with the cuts Holzendorf proposed Tuesday. The City’s IT chief is OK, too.
“We can live with that,” said Holzendorf after the nearly two-hour meeting that resulted in an additional $3 million in cuts (there are some fixed costs in his budget that can’t be touched). “We believe that doing it (cutting) at $3 million, which is another 8.15 percent, will let us keep the infrastructure sound and on a good technological path. It’s minimal, but it’s not detrimental.”
The first round of budget hearings wraps up this morning when ITD and a handful of other departments go before the full Council Finance Committee. The full Council is expected to adopt the 2009-10 budget budget at its Sept. 29 meeting.
Over the past few weeks, the Finance Committee has been slicing and dicing its way to the 3 percent across-the-board cut Clark recommended and it passed. While there have been tough decisions — last week Sheriff John Rutherford said the mandated cuts will force him to lay off about 130 people as of Oct. 1 — the hearings have been a learning process. That process has shown Clark that waiting until July to start looking at the next fiscal budget won’t work. A budget as complicated as IT’s only serves as proof of that.
“We need to figure out what we are looking for next year and get an idea by January where we are headed,” said Clark. “We will have a much better conversation this time next year.”
Holzendorf presented those present Tuesday with a slate of consequences that will happen as a result of the additional 3 percent cut. Some of those big-ticket items include:
• A 3 percent decrease in salaries ($425,563 savings)
• No raises for appointed employees ($129,532)
• Not spending money to stabilize the City’s FAMIS, or accounting system ($532,505)
• The elimination of radios for 40 new police officers and 44 new correctional officers ($527,628)
• Reduction of AT&T voice and data services ($160,000)
Overall, Holzendorf’s list includes 24 items that will get his department to the 3 percent. Holzendorf admits his proposed budget is up 4 percent from last year and 23 percent from 2005. However, he contends that’s a result of IT taking on a larger role and assuming the IT duties of departments such as Public Works. Bishop says he doesn’t understand how it’s not becoming less expensive for Holzendorf’s department to function.
“In my world, capacity has gone through the roof and the costs have come down,” said Bishop, who is an architect. “That’s the nature of the computer business. What I observe at City Hall is that I am working on old stuff. My computer is old, my software is old.”
According to Holzendorf, his department has maintained relatively flat operating costs over the past few years. He also cleared up the misconception that the City’s IT Department is wholly self-contained and is 9-5 like much of City Hall.
“We work 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year,” said Holzendorf, explaining that his department assures police radios work, the Jacksonville Fire and Rescue Department’s communications system is functioning and many others. “We keep the citizens interfacing through coj.net.”
Mike Marino, assistant CIO, said one of the reasons for the increase in the IT budget is the libraries built and renovated as a result of the Better Jacksonville Plan.
“BJP added hundreds of new PCs with new bandwidth,” he said. “Over the past four years, the library’s computer needs have exploded.”
Holzendorf said he will continue to look for ways to hold down his costs while making sure the IT Department functions at a high level.
“This gives us a year where it will hurt, but we will not take a step back,” he said.
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