HomeMy WebLinkAboutFIN 2021-04-26 Item 1C - Discussion - Prioritizing Service Level IncreasesDoi
of Tukwila
Allan Ekberg, Mayor
INFORMATIONAL MEMORANDUM
TO: Finance and Governance Committee
FROM: Vicky Carlsen, Finance Director
CC: Mayor Ekberg
DATE: March 16, 2021
SUBJECT: Prioritizing service restoration when ongoing revenues exceed
adopted budget
Updated for April 26, 2021 meeting
ISSUE
Staff is seeking Committee input into a process for how to prioritize service level
restoration if and when ongoing revenues exceed revenues adopted in the 2021-2022
biennial budget.
DISCUSSION
Recap of Budget and Service Level Reductions
The City has been impacted by the global COVID-19 health crisis since February 2020.
The pandemic negatively affected revenue streams with reductions in sales and other
taxes as well as user fees for recreation programs. Revenues continue to be impacted
and it is unknown when, or if, revenue streams will return to pre -pandemic levels.
Early on in the crisis, City Council and Administration took action to reduce expenditures
in anticipation of the expected decline in revenue. In decreasing expenditures, service
levels were necessarily reduced across all departments, but many of the reductions
focused on lower priority programs. Reductions included the following:
- Reducing labor costs by freezing vacant positions, layoffs, furloughs, and temporary
pay reductions
- Reducing overtime
- Elimination of extra labor
- Elimination of travel and non-essential training
- Reduced transfers to Fleet
- Reduced or eliminated low priority programs
- Line -item budget scrub
The 2021-2022 budget process began in the early summer of 2020 and continuation of
the expected impacts of the pandemic were included throughout the proposed budget.
High priority programs, such as human services, public safety, public works, and the court
were funded to the extent possible. The proposed budget included support for key
initiatives including:
- Funding for human services
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- Continued implementation of the City's Equity Policy
- Reimaging police services by starting a Mental Health Professional pilot program
- Maintaining current level of fire services
- No additional service or employee reductions above reductions in 2020
- Continued investment in infrastructure
- Investment in technology
- Teen/Senior Center feasibility and programming
While the proposed budget did include funding for the priorities listed above, several
service reductions had to be maintained due to a continued reduction in revenue
projections. During budget deliberations, the City Council directed the restoration of some
services using the proposed budget surplus, including parks and street maintenance and
additional funding for human services. While some service levels were restored through
the budget and budget review process, several programs continue at a reduced level or
were eliminated in the adopted budget, including:
- Frozen positions in the Municipal Court, Parks, DCD, Police, Public Works, Admin
Services
- Elimination of SeeClickFix program
- Reduction of extra labor in certain departments, eliminated in other departments
- Reduction in supplies, services, non-essential training, and travel across all
departments
- Elimination of commute trip reduction incentives
- Elimination of funding for the Community Connectors program
- Programming at the Tukwila Community Center
In addition to the program reductions listed above, all departments have experienced
general line -item budget reductions for 2021, which leaves no room for
unplanned/unexpected expenditures that do occur each year.
If revenues return at a higher level than adopted in the budget, the City Council will need
to make decisions regarding the return of these services and service levels.
2021 Budget Issues
Before service levels can be restored, it is important to understand pressures on the
budget that will need to be addressed prior to restoring the service levels mentioned
above. Some of the areas include:
• Implementation of a previously agreed upon Teamsters' wage and compensation
study. Total impact for 2021 is as follows:
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2021 Budget Impact
Admin Svcs $ 29,175
Finance 18,757
Recreation 15,168
DCD 54,944
Court 5,568
Police 6,926
Public Works 9,552
Total General Fund $ 140,090
Golf Course $ 15,136
• Permit processing concerns due to impact of vacant and previously frozen
positions to process workload which has remained steady during the pandemic.
Currently, one associate planner position is frozen for a total budget of $147,600
annual salary and benefits and a planning intern was laid off due to reductions in
the extra labor budget. Total extra labor budget reduction was $4,000.
Permit volumes have remained high through the pandemic but the Planning
Division now has fewer staff to process reviews due to frozen positions and
vacancies. In addition, the 10% furloughs and the need to develop procedures for
electronic plan review and train staff on new processes contributed to development
of a backlog of reviews that we are not able to work through at current staffing
levels.
Restoring the associate planner and planning intern would address the permit review
response times and eventually allow staff to address long-range code and policy updates.
• Increase in Fire Department overtime costs due to a minimum staffing settlement
agreement with the Local IAFF #2088.
Costs per overtime shift to maintain minimum staffing depends on which position is
backfilled. A firefighter will cost $1,500 per shift, a captain $1,700 per shift and a battalion
chief will cost $2,000 per shift. Estimated increase to overtime budget for 2021 will be
$200, 000.
Ongoing vs One-time Revenues
As Council and Administration consider how and when to restore service levels it will be
important to keep in mind adopted financial policies that state one-time revenue will be
used for one-time expenditures and ongoing revenue will be used for ongoing
expenditures. This will also be an opportune time to re -envision how services are
provided. Staff will be providing updated projections on ongoing revenues, such as sales
tax and gambling tax, to gauge how these revenues are matching or exceeding original
2021-2022 Budget expectations. There are also one-time revenues that staff will be
tracking, such as possible Streamlined Sales Tax funds which may be allocated during
the current state legislative session.
State Funding - Streamlined Sales Tax (SST) Mitigation Funds
HB 1521 would restore the SST funding program until 2026, which was approved by the
legislature in 2020 but vetoed by the Governor due to the pandemic and associated
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revenue losses. There is an effort to add funding to the supplemental budget to replace
funding lost during the current state fiscal year, which would result in Tukwila receiving
just under $900,000 on May 1, 2021 if the effort is successful. While previously the SST
funds were dedicated to the Public Safety Plan, staff removed that funding source from
the plan when the Governor vetoed SST in 2020.
HB 1521 passed and was signed by the Governor and will go into effect July 1, 2021.
The initial amount for the City would be just over $880k and would be decreased by 20%
each year on July 1. The funding expires on July 1, 2026. Payments would be quarterly
and we could expect, to receive the first payment on July 1 of this year. What is unclear
at this writing is whether the supplemental budget will include funding for the lost SST
mitigation payments in FYI 21, though staff and our state lobbyist remain hopeful this will
happen. With the session expected to end on April 25, staff will bring updates to this
information at the Committee meeting.
Federal Funding - American Rescue Plan
On March 10, 2021, a $1.9 trillion relief package, known as the American Rescue Plan,
was approved and provides funding in several areas including state and local aid,
education, rental assistance, and transit. At this time, it appears that the City of Tukwila
will receive $4.43 million in one-time funds. It appears that half of the funds would be
distributed 60 days after enactment and the remaining balance one year later. Because
we are considered a nonentitlement city, we will receive the funds from the State rather
than the federal government. It is unclear how quickly the State will release the funds to
the City. Funds must be spent by December 31, 2024. These funds are not
reimbursement for COVID-related costs, and therefore can be used in a variety of ways.
From what we know today, the funds can be used in the following ways:
- To respond to the public health emergency with respect to COVID-19 or its
negative economic impacts, including assistance to households, small businesses,
and non -profits, or to aid impacted industries such as tourism, travel, and
hospitality.
- Provide premium pay to eligible workers that are preforming essential work.
- Provision of government services to the extent of the reduction in revenue due to
the pandemic relative to revenues collected in the most recent full fiscal year.
- Make necessary investments in water, sewer, or broadband infrastructure.
The funds cannot be used to directly or indirectly offset tax reductions or delay a tax/tax
increase. Nor can funds be deposited into any pension fund.
As new information becomes available, updated information will be provided.
Other Funding for the Tukwila Community
On February 19, 2021 Governor Inslee signed the state COVID relief bill that provides
$2.2 billion in funding that has the opportunity to assist the Tukwila community, including:
• $714 million in assistance for K-12 schools
• $618 million for public health's response to COVID, including testing, investigation
and contact tracing; and funding for vaccination efforts
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• $365 million for emergency eviction, rental, and utility assistance
• $240 million for business assistance grants
• $50 million for childcare
• $26 million for food banks and other food programs
• $91 million for income assistance, including $65 million for relief for the state's
immigrant population
The American Rescue Plan includes a variety of opportunities that can assist the Tukwila
community, including:
• Direct stimulus payments to qualifying households of $1,400 per person to single
households making $75,000 or less and couples earning $150,000 or less.
Individuals with dependents will also receive a $1,400 tax credit per dependent on
their 2020 tax returns.
• Enhanced unemployment payments of $300 per week.
• Temporary child tax credit and monthly payments to qualifying households.
• $7.25 billion in additional Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loans for small
businesses.
• $128 billion in support for educational institutions.
• Additional support for the most vulnerable, including more funds for Low Income
Home Energy Assistance Program (LIEHEAP) for utility assistance, temporary
increase to WIC funds and more.
• $25 billion for emergency rental assistance.
• $65.1 billion for cities.
This memo and discussion are intended to begin the conversation so that committee
members have a shared understanding of the service level decisions made in the 2021-
2022 budget process and begin to plan for future decision making as revenues return.
At the March 22, 2021 Committee meeting, departments were asked to summarize
service level reductions, impacts of these reductions, and cost to restore the services.
The chart below summarizes budget reductions by department and have been adjusted
to remove budget for large, one-time capital projects. Total departmental budget
reductions is in excess of $3.9 million. With the restoration of SST funding, certain high
priority services could be funded almost immediately. If the missed FY 2021 SST
mitigation payment makes it into the supplemental budget, the City could bring back
$1.2M in services immediately. (This is because the missed FY 21 SST payment would
be a one-time payment of $880k, then the City will receive two quarterly payments of
$220,000 each in the remainder of 2021.) Details by department are included as an
appendix to this memo.
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GENERAL FUND
CITY OF TUKWILA
GENERAL FUND EXPENDITURES
1 Finance budget for 2021 reduced by $500k to remove one-time budget for ERP system
2 Budget for permit staffing moved from PW and Fire to DCD for one-stop permitting
2,3 Fire budget for 2019 & 2020 reduced by $200k each year to remove one-time budget for Knox box project
4 A total of 4 posiitons were moved from Public Works and 1 from Fire to DCD for one-stop permitting
Committee members also asked for a list of frozen positions. The list includes frozen
positions only and does not include a list of currently budgeted but unfilled positions.
Department
Frozen Positions
Position
Salary
/Benefits
Admin Svcs
Parks
DCD
Municipal Court
Police
Public Works
TIS Director
Maint & Ops Superintendent
Code enforcement Officer
Associate Planner
Admin Support Tech
0.75 Admin Tech
0.75 Jail Alternative Specialist
Community Liaison Officer
Anti -Crime (TAC)
Anti -Crime (TAC)
Sergeant (Investigations)
Detective (Investigations)
School Resource Officer
School Resource Officer
Maint Tech (Street)
Maint Tech (Street)
Facilities Maint Tech
200,000
160,000
120,000
120,000
105,000
105,000
130,000
170,000
176,000
176,000
196,000
175,000
175,000
175,000
110,000
110,000
110,000
2,513,000
" Includes cost of supplies to outfit personnel
Total number of frozen positions - 17
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EXPENDITURES BY
DEPARTMENT
BUDGET
COMPARISON OF BUDGETS
2019
2020
2021
2020 BUDGET VS 2021 BUDGET
$ change % change
01
City Council
432,111
445,312
363,618
(81,694)
-18.3%
03
Mayor's Office
2,464,080
2,550,951
2,104,126
(446,825)
-17.5%
04
Administrative Services
4,983,869
5,233,173
4,984,464
(248,709)
-4.8%
05
Finance 1
2,671,192
2,802,249
2,549,858
(252,391)
-9.0%
07
Recreation
5,069,562
5,177,441
4,260,543
(916,898)
-17.7%
08
Comm unity Development 2'
4
3,784,889
3,861,831
4,069,943
208,112
5.4%
09
Municipal Court
1,298,228
1,345,060
1,272,888
(72,172)
-5.4%
10
Police
19,431,073
19,390,720
18,286,665
(1,104,055)
-5.7%
11
Fire 3'4
12,796,287
13,061,272
12,706,860
(354,412)
-2.7%
13
Public Works 2' 4
7,741,440
7,264,801
6,584,325
(680,476)
-9.4%
Subtotal
60,672,731
61,132,810
57,183,290
(3,949,520)
-6.5%
20
Dept 20
6,139,961
8,269,140
5,462,760
(2,806,380)
-33.9%
Total Expenditures
66,812,692
69,401,950
62,646,050
(6,755,900)
-9.7%
1 Finance budget for 2021 reduced by $500k to remove one-time budget for ERP system
2 Budget for permit staffing moved from PW and Fire to DCD for one-stop permitting
2,3 Fire budget for 2019 & 2020 reduced by $200k each year to remove one-time budget for Knox box project
4 A total of 4 posiitons were moved from Public Works and 1 from Fire to DCD for one-stop permitting
Committee members also asked for a list of frozen positions. The list includes frozen
positions only and does not include a list of currently budgeted but unfilled positions.
Department
Frozen Positions
Position
Salary
/Benefits
Admin Svcs
Parks
DCD
Municipal Court
Police
Public Works
TIS Director
Maint & Ops Superintendent
Code enforcement Officer
Associate Planner
Admin Support Tech
0.75 Admin Tech
0.75 Jail Alternative Specialist
Community Liaison Officer
Anti -Crime (TAC)
Anti -Crime (TAC)
Sergeant (Investigations)
Detective (Investigations)
School Resource Officer
School Resource Officer
Maint Tech (Street)
Maint Tech (Street)
Facilities Maint Tech
200,000
160,000
120,000
120,000
105,000
105,000
130,000
170,000
176,000
176,000
196,000
175,000
175,000
175,000
110,000
110,000
110,000
2,513,000
" Includes cost of supplies to outfit personnel
Total number of frozen positions - 17
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Recommended Path Forward
Staff is recommending that Council consider addressing restoration of service levels in
three phases.
Phase one would utilize sales tax mitigation payments expected to be received beginning
July 1, 2021 and targeted to those items that would:
1. Provide the most direct impact to improving the quality of life for our community
- Streets and Parks Maintenance to keep parks clean and respond to concerns about
garbage, litter, and graffiti.
2. Revenue backed services — The Consolidated Permit Center is handling an increased
demand for permits which are supported by fees.
3. Services which have been contractually required Including agreements with the
Teamsters and IAFF Local #2088 for Fire Overtime.
4. Critical services which should be restored —This includes restoring some necessary
services, such as cybersecurity contracts in Technology Information Services.
- These funds would be used as a bridge until operating revenues return to pre -pandemic
levels and fund the following priorities:
Priority
Fire Overtime*
Permit Activity
Street/Bus Stop Maint.
Parks Maint.
Rec Program Assistance
DarkTrace - Cyber Security
Teamster's Contract
Total
*Estimate
Funding Needed
200,000
125,000
167,500
80,000
50,000
25,000
140,000
787,500
Phase two would utilize American Rescue Plan funds for one-time projects including
capital projects. Since funding will be received in two tranches and can be spent through
December 31, 2024, there is time to be thoughtful about which projects to fund. Some
one-time budget priorities have already been identified and are as follows:
• Upgrading equipment in the Council chambers to allow for both in-person as well
as virtual participation in city Council meetings and workshops.
• Adding internet access to neighborhoods underserved by existing internet options.
• Funding additional human services and/or small business programs and outreach.
• Funding to design and possibly purchase property for a youth/senior center.
• Economic Development Plan
• Other one-time services such as studies, plans or designs.
Phase three would address increasing ongoing service levels once revenues exceed
budget and have stabilized at predictable levels.
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RECOMMENDATION
Forward to the May 10, 2021 Committee of the Whole for full Council discussion and
consensus on Phase I proposal.
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Appendix — Departmental Service Reduction Details
City Council:
The City Council reduced travel, conferences, and training support and other supplies.
Mayor:
The Mayor's department reduced service levels in several ways. One of the significant
cuts was to the Commute Trip Reduction Program, an employee incentive program that
provided employees an ORCA card for use of transit or monetary incentives for use of
alternate modes of transportation (carpooling, walking, biking etc.) This program cut was
in addition to the furloughs and pay reductions employees took in 2020.
The SeeClickFix program was also eliminated, which provided the general public with a
convenient tool to notify City staff of concerns in and around the City. Reinstatement of
SeeClickFix would cost considerably more than what the City had previously paid. The
City is looking at the possibility of utilizing TRAKiT as a community response tool.
Training registrations and travel budgets were also significantly reduced limiting the ability
to attend conferences and other relevant training opportunities. Funding was also
removed for employee recognition, survey initiatives and sponsorship of chamber events.
In the Economic Development Division, part time staffing was eliminated and other
services were reduced which limits research and attracting development. Currently, there
is no budget to create an economic development plan. Funding for an economic
development plan would enable the City to hire outside expertise, increase the Plan's
scope, and significantly expand community outreach in the development of the Plan.
Administrative Services:
All extra labor has been eliminated from this department. The direct impact is on the
turnaround time for public records requests. Additionally, staff has taken on additional
work that was performed by extra labor staff, resulting in slower turnround time on
contracts and other documents and services in the City Clerk's office and continued
degraded services in TIS.
Funding for the Community Connectors program has also been removed. The program
has been on hiatus since 2019 due the partner agency's lack of capacity. Staff would
bring the program back but it would look a bit different. Once change is that no outside
resources would be utilized.
Funding was also removed for training which inhibits staff the ability to access new best
practices. Professional services was reduced which results in less funds for city-wide
trainings and other human resources related programs such as investigations and labor-
management support.
TIS has one position frozen. In addition, reductions in capital expenses, professional
services, training, travel, and supplies were taken. Some of these, such as reduction in
Seamless Docs and Sharegate services will have impacts on all departments.
Finance:
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The Finance department budget was reduced in several ways. Extra labor assisted with
front desk coverage for lunch breaks and vacations as well as filing, scanning, and other
office support tasks. Staff has had to absorb additional duties and further impact will be
felt by the community when City Hall reopens to the public in longer wait times to process
utility and other payments during lunches and vacations.
Training has also been significantly reduced. Only essential training will be allowed and
the limited budget must be shared between 12 staff. Additional training budget would
allow staff to keep current on accounting and payroll law changes as well as best
practices.
Claims & judgements as well as professional services were reduced. All non-essential
contracts were cancelled and there is no plan to ask for them to be reinstated at this time.
Claims & judgements budget was reduced to reflect prior year actuals. This is one area
that the City has no control over. If total claims for the year exceed expectations then a
budget amendment could be necessary.
Recreation and Parks:
For Recreation, Camp Tukwilly and Teen Venture Camp are currently high on needed
programs list for our community, before & after school programing will become a high
need this fall. Extra Labor staff are needed to provide the programs and services in order
to maintain appropriate staff to participant ratios.
Other programming costs were removed from the budget due to COVID-19 limiting in-
person gatherings. Once restrictions are removed, a number of other programming
events should be considered for funding.
Parks Maintenance and Operations Superintendent position is currently frozen.
Community Development:
One of the two general Code Enforcement Officer positions and one Administrative
Support Technician have been frozen. There are currently 174 active enforcement cases,
6 pending appeals, and 4-8 cases pending abatement review. Some of these cases
involve life safety issues such as unauthorized fill destabilizing steep slopes and
unpermitted construction including electrical wiring, gas piping, and structural additions
to occupied houses.
The rental housing program has 1,700 units due for rental inspection with the backlog
due to COVID related concerns about entering occupied spaces during the
pandemic. With current staffing we will have to require that property owners hire
private inspectors or we will need to waive most of these inspections as a single officer
cannot work through the backlog while keeping up with the inspections required in the
current year. If we had the third officer that person could be temporarily assigned to rental
inspections.
Other impacts of the staffing reductions include longer response times, longer violation
resolution times, limited scope of enforcement, and overall fewer site
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visits/inspections. The abatement fund has been cut in half so there is less capacity to
pursue abatements through 2022.
Without a full-time dedicated Administrative Support Technician, Officers will also be
taking on additional support functions which will further impact the performance
bandwidth of the team and reduce the overall time available to Officers for active
enforcement activities such as field work.
Municipal Court:
The Court currently has two frozen positions; one full-time and one 3/ time. While the
Court has been closed to the general public due to the pandemic, service levels have
been maintained. However, service levels will be impacted when the Court reopens to
the public. At this time there is a projected slow reopening scheduled to begin the first
week of May 2021. When the Court welcomes the public back into the facility, security
will need to be restored. It will be difficult to maintain the current level of service once the
Court fully reopens to the public without filling the frozen positions. The Court also
anticipates an increase in filings once the school zone photo enforcement is implemented.
It is our intent to hire staff to support this new program. We will need to hire new staff in
August to allow efficient time for training and preparation for this increased service.
Police:
The Police Department's budget reductions come primarily from five areas/programs:
1. Refugee/Homeless outreach: the freezing of one Community Liaison Officer position
cuts that team in half. The primary function of this two -person unit is to engage with the
City's refugee and homeless community members and to provide them with necessary
services. This includes building relationships with Houses of Worship, the Refugee
Center, Homeless Camp Leaders, and disadvantaged community members requiring
assistance.
2. Human and Drug Trafficking Investigations: our budget reduction includes the freezing
of two Tukwila Anti -Crime (TAC) team FTEs. This will result in drug and human trafficking
investigations progressing more slowly and cases being filed at a reduced rate. For
undercover operations, the TAC team will need to rely on the CPT units to back -fill for
security and observational duties.
3. Felony and Juvenile Case Investigations: the budget reduction plan includes the
freezing of one Sergeant and one Detective FTEs within our Major Crimes Division. This
will result in decreased oversight/leadership (Sergeant) as well as a higher threshold for
case filings and investigations into property crimes. We will not allow this to impact any
investigation involving physical force or crimes against persons but felony crimes against
property may take longer to investigate/file and will not receive as much attention as they
would if the team were fully staffed.
4. Tracking K9 Program: the elimination/freezing of this program means that we will have
to continue to rely on other jurisdictions to provide a K9 to track felony/Domestic Violence
suspects. This also means that our units will have to wait while the OSA unit responds,
giving the suspect more time to flee or gain access to a vehicle or other victims.
5. School Resource Officer Program: while budget reduction requires the temporary re-
assignment of our School Resource Officers, the Tukwila Police Department will continue
work cooperatively with our schools to provide security to Tukwila's students, faculty, and
administrators while also maintaining relationships with students and their organizations.
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Fire:
A staffing adjustment has been made for 2021 to staff one shift at 17. The other two shifts
will continue to staff at 18. Demand for services from the Fire Department were reduced
because of pandemic affects. This caused a reduction in minimum staffing from April 1,
2020 to April 1, 2021, from 13 to 12 firefighters on duty each shift. Pre -pandemic service
demands are returning to Tukwila. Travel budget line for education has been reduced and
other supply services line items were reduced. Training budget was reduced. Specialty
services have been adjusted. Overtime budget for the Fire Marshal's Office was reduced.
There will be a delay in projects and requests for records from the community.
Public Works:
There are currently 2 frozen positions in the Street division, both are maintenance
technicians. Additionally, there is no budget for seasonal labor. The impacts to the
community include less frequent cleaning of bus stops and graffiti cleanup, large item
trash pick-up, homeless encampment cleanup, and mowing and upkeeping of medians
and grass in rights-of-way. In order to hire seasonal staff, which would increase these
service levels during the mowing season, the full-time positions should be unfrozen.
In addition to the frozen positions in the Street division, the budget for snow & ice removal
is only $10k. The snow even that occurred earlier this year cost $33k to maintain the
streets. Given that the budget for snow events is inadequate, a budget amendment will
most likely be required.
One facilities maintenance technician is also frozen. Regular maintenance of existing
facilities is now done on a delayed scheduled. Responding to the TCC and other facilities
occupied by City staff and visited by the general public is a priority and needs attention.
Additionally, new facilities are now online and require additional staff time to maintain.
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