The URL can be used to link to this page

Home My WebLink AboutFSC 2024-03-05 MinutesTukwila Financial Sustainability Committee Meeting #5 Summary Notes March 5, 2024 1 6:00-8:00pm I Tukwila Community Center Attendees Committee Members ■ Arta Baharmast, General Manager, Westfield Southcenter ■ Phillip Combs, COO, Segale Properties ■ Jacob Halverson, Resident ■ Kathy Hougardy, Resident ■ Annie McGrath, CEO, Seattle Southside Chamber ■ Krysteena Mann, Resident ■ Karin Masters, Resident City Staff ■ Vicky Carlsen, Finance Director ■ Laurel Humphrey, Council Legislative Analyst ■ Pete Mayer, Parks and Recreation Director ■ Derek Speck, Economic Development Administrator ■ Marty Wine, Acting City Administrator Consulting Team ■ Katherine Goetz, BERK Consulting ■ Brian Murphy, BERK Consulting • • • • • • • Peggy McCarthy, Resident Amber Meza, Resident Abdiwali Mohamed, Owner, Abdiwali Mohamed CPA Diane Myers, Resident David Puki, Resident Verna Seal, Resident Greg Sherlock, Resident 1 Meeting Recap Welcome and Meeting 4 Recap Brian Murphy welcomed Committee members and provided an overview of the agenda. Katherine Goetz provided a brief recap of the material covered and discussions in meeting 4. Background and Context Katherine shared information about the City's service level adjustments and staffing over the past several years, as well as staff compensation. This information was presented in response to questions or items of discussions at prior Committee meetings. ■ There was a question about the chart showing the cumulative growth in the City's population and FTE count. ▪ The population data is from the WA Office of Financial Management. The FTE data is from the City's 2023-2024 Biennial Budget document. ▪ While the information presented was correct, the chart was difficult to read. An email was sent to all Committee members in follow-up to the meeting with the following data table showing the ratio of City FTEs per 1,000 residents. Tukwila Total City FTEs FTEs per 1,000 Year Population without Fire residents 2016 19,803 281 14.2 2017 19,961 280 14.0 2018 20,159 280 13.9 2019 21,292 280 13.2 2020 21,798 280 12.9 2021 22,000 276 12.6 2022 22,620 276 12.2 2023 22,780 294 12.9 Financial rorecasts Overview Katherine shared an overview of the City's General Fund financial plan and a draft financial plan incorporating some funding for strategic investments based on prior Committee discussions. This version of the financial plan will be updated to incorporate the Committee's final recommendations. • There was a question about the planed use of property tax capacity in the financial plan and interest in looking at a model where this is not used. Ei BERK and City staff will prepare this information for the next meeting. City staff will estimate the changes in service level needed to accommodate this difference in revenue. • There was a question about how long positions will be funded with ARPA money. ▪ ARPA funding runs through the end of 2024. • ill City of Tukwila Financial Sustainability Plan I Committee Meeting #5 Summary Notes 2 Draft Committee Guidance Discussion Brian introduced the draft Committee guidance, which incorporates ideas raised in prior Committee discussions, email input received from individual members, and staff and consultant recommendations. Committee members reviewed the structure and individual recommendations and provided suggestions. These suggestions were generally agreed upon by all Committee members and the consultant team will revise the document to incorporate these suggestions. The final meeting will focus on reviewing this revised document. Meeting Close Each Committee member shared closing thoughts at the end of the meeting. ■ It is good to stay at a high level and out of the weeds. Everyone cares a lot, but we need to keep recommendations at a high level. The Committee needs to do a good job presenting information to the Council so the Council understands the Committee's perspective. ■ Appreciation for the draft report and the comments during the meeting. • The Committee should consider providing more specifics for the recommendations or including some broad ideas of policies to consider. • It is great that the Committee has ended up with this document. It is important to stick to guiding principles and produce something timeless to guide future councils, rather than something too specific and timebound. There could be an implementation section for some next steps. The Committee members should participate in ongoing policy discussions. • The draft recommendations represent a lot of great ideas. Hopefully the final report gets recognized for the value it brings. • The quality of the process has been good — members' voices are being heard and the document accurately represents Committee input. Recommend talking about access to Council next time. • Appreciation for everyone's ideas. Having detail will be helpful because individuals can interpret broad ideas in different ways. • The document is great and easy to read. The overall process was confusing at first but has gotten clearer over time. Appreciation for the discussions. • Recommend using more impactful language. It would be great to see topline messages from the plan in the news. • Recommend using more directional language. The report may say "look at something," but should also recommend a direction forward. The report should emphasize proactive, long-sighted growth planning. At the next meeting, the consulting team will share the revised recommendations, present the revised financial forecast model, and lead a discussion of the estimated tax impact on residences and businesses. The last meeting will be held on Tuesday, April 2, from 6:00-8:00 pm at the Tukwila Community Center. • ill City of Tukwila Financial Sustainability Plan I Committee Meeting #5 Summary Notes 3