2019-08-26 Finance Minutes - Laserfiche WebLink

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City of Tukwila City Council Finance Committee FINANCE COMMITTEE Meeting Minutes August 26, 2019 - 5:30 p.m. - Hazelnut Conference Room, City Hall Councilmembers: Thomas McLeod, Chair; De'Sean Quinn, Kathy Hougardy Staff: David Cline, Vicky Carlsen, Jay Wittwer, Chris Flores, Bruce Linton, Tony Cullerton, Jeff Friend, Laurel Humphrey, Jeremy Brecher-Haimson CALL TO ORDER: Chair McLeod called the meeting to order at 5:30 p.m. I. PRESENTATIONS II. BUSINESS AGENDA A. Fire Department Budget Committee members and staff continued discussion of the Fire Department budget. If the Council chooses to fund the existing service levels, it will need to authorize a budget amendment totaling $522,900 for 2019 and $496,650 for 2020. These amendments would increase overtime ($213K), funding the Fire Academy ($160K), funding service separations (100K), a COLA adjustment for these items in 2020, and unbudgeted significant events: the propane tank incident (reimbursable), snowstorms (non -reimbursable), and a structural code compliance issue (reimbursable). In addition to increasing the expenditure budget, staff recommends that the Fire Department begin billing for false alarms and recovery of hazardous incident response costs as previously authorized by Council. Another source of revenue is an ambulance transport fee similar to what other Zone 3 cities collect. These revenues will lessen the impact to the general fund. Councilmembers asked clarifying questions about minimum staffing, which is 13.0 FTE per current policy. Currently 18 personnel are funded per shift, which includes vacation and Kelly days. Chair McLeod asked if those on leave due to injuries can do administrative/light duty work. Staff replied that is occurring more frequently this year. Chair McLeod pointed out the policy question of determining what can be done to reduce overtime usage going forward. The bookends provided to Committee in May were to either fund the Department as it currently operates, or consider dropping minimum staffing down to 12 on days when only 12 report to shift. Chair McLeod referenced the potential impact to other departments if budget is added to Fire. He asked where budget would come from to cover the cost of fundingthe academy, and staff replied either reducing other departments or identifying a new revenue source. Councilmember Seal asked what it means to fund the academy and staff replied that it is the salary and benefits of those in the academy as well as overtime costs associated with being shorthanded. Councilmember Quinn asked about how Police covers academy costs and staff replied that it is