MINUTES OF THE METRO COUNCIL BUDGET & FINANCE COMMITTEE

Tuesday, March 12, 2002

Council Chamber

Members Present:  Rex Burkholder (Chair), Bill Atherton, Susan McLain

Members Absent:  David Bragdon, Rod Monroe

Chair Burkholder called the meeting to order at 4:25 p.m.

1.  Consideration of the Minutes

Motion:  Councilor McLain moved to adopt the minutes of the Budget and Finance Committee meeting of February 13, 2002.

Vote:  Councilors Atherton, Burkholder, and McLain voted to adopt the minutes as presented. The vote was 3 aye/0 no/ 0 abstain, and the motion passed. Councilors Bragdon and Monroe were absent from the vote.

2.  Ordinance No. 02-940, For the Purpose of Adopting the Annual Budget for Fiscal Year  2002-03, Making Appropriations, and Levying Ad Valorem Taxes, and Declaring an  Emergency

Summary of Budget Process

John Houser, Council Budget Analyst, summarized the FY 2002-03 budget process to date, which he said had been a collaborative effort between the Council and Executive Offices and the Financial Planning Division. Staff met weekly beginning in November to develop and raise issues with departments such as individual line item questions and the need for greater clarity in narrative discussions in order to resolve these questions early in the process. This will allow the Budget and Finance Committee to work at a more global level.

Mr. Houser reviewed a memo sent by Chair Burkholder to each department, a copy of which is attached to this record, outlining the specific budget elements that the committee wanted to see addressed. These include:

•  Significant changes in departmental resources

•  Program additions, deletions or significant modifications

•  Program changes that may affect other departments or funds

•  Changes requiring additional current or future excise tax resources

•  Changes that have a long-range impact

•  Changes that will affect support service needs

•  Changes that affect existing Metro policies or require the Council to set new policy

•  Extraordinary one-time expenditures

•  Unresolved factors that may affect the final budget

•  Whether current program levels are sustainable within current or projected resources

Mr. Houser said that departments were also asked to respond to issues that spanned departmental lines and required responses from more than one department to provide the full scope of the issue. These issues are listed on the matrix attached to Chair Burkholder’s memo to department heads.

Chair Burkholder laid out the budget process for the next few weeks:

•  Department presentations occur on March 12 and 13

•  A list of committee questions that arise during department presentations compiled following the March 13 committee meeting

•  Council staff and departments develop answers to committee questions between March 13 and March 27

•  Committee meets on March 27 for a work session

•  Committee members submit budget amendments by March 29

•  Committee meets on April 1, 9 and 10 to consider amendments

•  Budget presented to full Council on April 18

•  Council approves budget on April 25

Councilor McLain said that she would not be able to attend the March 27 committee meeting, so she will submit her amendments prior to that time and will also provide written questions/comments for the meeting.

Budget Overview

Casey Short, Financial Planning Manager, presented an overview of the 2002-03 budget, covering the following areas:

•  Changes from 2001-02

•  Budget assumptions

•  Overview of resources

•  Overview of requirements

•  FTE summary

•  General Fund summary

•  Fund overview

•  Decision packages

Copies of his outline and Power Point presentation are attached to this record. Mr. Short reviewed each of the Metro funds.

Councilor McLain asked for a clarification as to what types of notices would be covered by the proposed $75,000 special appropriation. She also asked if the Planning Department has other funds available for funding various types of public notices.

Chair Burkholder asked what portion of the insurance and claims in the Risk Management Fund would be covered by employee contributions and if this would change in FY 2002-03. Mr. Short said that this would be a matter of collective bargaining, but that the issue would be resolved by June 2002.

Mr. Short mentioned that the Smith and Bybee Lakes Trust Fund and Regional Parks Trust Fund had been renamed, removing “trust” from the name, because they are not technically trust funds. Councilor McLain requested a clarification of the need for the name change, which was provided by Mr. Short after the meeting.

Department Presentations

Information Technology

David Biedermann, Director of Information Technology, presented his department’s budget as outlined in the handout attached to this record. He said that the Information Technology Department is beginning a strategic planning effort, which will involve polling Metro departments about what they see as their future IT needs. From that assessment, IT will formulate a plan which will be presented to the Council in the next Capital Improvement Plan and which will be based on what the departments see as their needs, not on what IT believes is appropriate for the agency.

Mr. Biedermann said that when the strategic plan is completed, issues such as disaster recovery (the ability of Metro to resume operations after a business interruption such as a disaster) will be addressed. Currently there is no disaster recovery plan.

With respect to Status of Audit and Management Letter Recommendations, Mr. Biedermann noted that while certain areas remain to be addressed, there have been no adverse effects on the Metro IT system from the points raised in the management letter.

John Houser asked if IT anticipates that the software update implementation would be an on-going activity. Mr. Biedermann replied that to some degree Metro is at the mercy of the market as to how often they choose to upgrade their products. However, as a major customer, Metro has some influence on how long PeopleSoft will support the older versions. He anticipates that there will be breathers between upgrades, which will allow Metro to incorporate new modules.

Chair Burkholder asked if the current economy and high unemployment rate in the region had made filling technical positions easier. Mr. Biedermann said that he doesn’t anticipate having any trouble filling current vacant positions.

Councilor McLain asked how the work that IT had done over the past year to determine department needs and maximize what is already in place would affect the decision on which modules Metro would go forward with. Mr. Biedermann responded that his personal opinion is that only one of the four modules not yet in place needs to be implemented. He believes that all seven of the modules currently in place are serving a good purpose. He noted the potential for one of the current modules (Payroll) to be extended beyond its current use into a computerized time-keeping system. If departments indicate that this is a priority item, the issue will be addressed in the Capital Improvement Plan process.

Administrative Services

Jennifer Sims, Director of Administrative Services, presented the ASD budget as outlined in the handout attached to this record.

Councilor Atherton asked if ASD has a plan to make an asset condition assessment for the building. Ms. Sims responded that this has been done.

Councilor McLain questioned the inclusion of the MWDBE Program in ASD’s cut package and pointed out that this program was mandated by Metro code and its elimination would require an amendment to the code. Ms. Sims responded that this is an effective program and it is not desirable to eliminate it. However, it was included as part of the effort to show how ASD can operate within current resources. Councilor McLain requested that all add and cut package be scrutinized by this committee.

Human Resources

Lilly Aguilar, Director of Human Resources, presented the Human Resources budget as outlined in the handout attached to this record.

Ms. Aguilar mentioned that the one program area that the Human Resources Department is not able to fulfill is training for the agency. She said that training is a critical need for Metro, particularly in relation to compliance issues. In response to a question from Chair Burkholder, she said that one additional FTE would allow Human Resources to begin looking at training needs. The department would conduct a needs assessment first and then determine what resources were required to carry out the program.

Councilor McLain added that training in health care issues is also very important and should be a priority for Metro.

3.  Councilor Communications

There were no councilor communications.

There being no further business before the committee, Chair Burkholder recessed the meeting at 5:45p.m.

Respectfully submitted,

Claudia Wilton

Council Assistant

ATTACHMENTS TO THE PUBLIC RECORD FOR THE MEETING OF MARCH 12, 2002

3/12/02    Departmental Budget Presentation Memo from Chair Burkholder to  031202bdg-01

   Department Heads              

3/12/02    Metro Council Budget Committee Outline        031202bdg-02  

3/12/02    Budget Overview FY 2002-03 Power Point Presentation Handout  031202bdg-03

3/12/02    IT Budget Presentation Handout            031202bdg-04

3/12/02    ASD Budget Presentation Handout          031202bdg-05

3/12/02    Human Resources Budget Presentation Handout        031202bdg-06