City Council

October 17, 2012 CITY OF SARATOGA SPRINGS Budget Workshop City Council Room 1:00 PM PRESENT: Scott Johnson, Mayor Michele Madigan, Commissioner of Finance Anthony Scirocco, Commissioner of DPW Christian Mathiesen, Commissioner of DPS STAFF PRESENT: Shauna Sutton, Deputy Mayor Lynn Bachner, Deputy Commissioner, Finance Sharon Kellner-Chille, Deputy Commissioner, Accounts Eileen Finneran, Deputy Commissioner, DPS EXCUSED: John Franck, Commissioner of Accounts Tim Cogan, Deputy Commissioner, DPW RECORDING OF PROCEEDING The proceedings of this meeting were taped for the benefit of the secretary. Because the minutes are not a verbatim record of the proceedings, the minutes are not a word-for-word transcript. BUDGET WORKSHOP Mayor Johnson opened the workshop at 1:08 p.m. Commissioner Madigan announced this is the second budget workshop. Today they will be discussing the Department of Public Safety budget and the Finance Department budget. To date she has not received and requests for changes to the budget. She has provided all departments with the change forms to request budget changes. Department of Public Safety Commissioner Mathiesen stated this budget includes additional staffing in the Police Department, Fire Department, and dispatch. They are trying to bring the numbers in the Police Department back to where they were in 2009/2010. He has no changes to the budget at this time nor does he have any concerns. Mayor Johnson stated he noticed there are some increases and some decreases to the Public Safety Department budget. He was wondering if these changes were done in conjunction with the Department of Public Safety or done by the Finance Department alone. Commissioner Madigan advised she had numerous discussions with public safety. She also met with each department on their budgets. Mayor Johnson confirmed the budget includes 2 additional firefighters, 2 additional police officers, and 1 dispatcher. That totals a projected increase of $640,000. He asked if this figure includes benefits, etc. Commissioner Madigan advised it does include all. Budget Workshop 10/17/12 Chief Cole advised they are continuously behind the 8 ball since 2010 due to lay offs and retirements. The positions are 2 patrolmen positions. Not having the staff level back to where they were drives the amount of overtime. Mayor Johnson confirmed the 2 patrolmen are not going to be available for use in the City for 18 months are so as they will have to complete training, etc. Chief Cole stated there is a valid civil service list with candidates that are currently police officers at other agencies. If we had to hire off the list they would go to the academy for 6 months. If they can have these 2 positions for the 2013 budget, he anticipates being able to get them into the January academy. They would graduate in June and then do a 15 week field training program and then be available for patrol. Mayor Johnson asked for the amount being allocated for each position. Chief Cole stated the beginning pay for a patrol officer is approximately $36,000 and the benefits are handled in the office. Mayor Johnson asked if this is done, what is the effect on overtime and comp time. Chief Cole advised it can only help. Mayor Johnson asked for an update on the current overtime and comp time for the fiscal year. Chief Cole advised according to projections from the finance office, they are to come in $200,000 less than 2011. This is for overtime and comp time combined. Mayor Johnson asked if comp time is recorded or tracked somewhere so they know how much was earned in 2006 versus now and when the comp time from 2006 is cashed in. Commissioner Mathiesen advised this information is retained in his offices. Chief Cole advised the projected comp time is $400,000 and the projected overtime is $310,000 for 2012. The 2011 actual paid for comp time was $493,000 and $417,000 for overtime. Commissioner Madigan stated she has been working with the chief since this summer regarding overtime and comp time. The Police Department seems to be on top of overtime. Mayor Johnson asked if they are aware of the number of employees that have submitted or mentioned retiring. Chief Cole stated there are potentially 2 at this time. The 2 additional people are on top of the potential retirees. They are working with an average of 57/58 officers; down from 72 due to injuries, retirements, and lay offs. Commissioner Mathiesen asked if we have any personnel are also military. Chief Cole advised there are 4 or 5 officers every month that are given military time. There are also 1 or 2 that may get called to active duty within the next year or so. Mayor Johnson confirmed the 57/58 officers are active, healthy officers. Chief Cole stated that is correct and there are 4 on long-term disability (6 months or more). The more we can bring the number up the less we have to fill with overtime. They have been known for years as a very pro-active department. Now they are a re-active department and have had to cut programs. Commissioner Madigan asked Chief Cole to explain what they are doing to control overtime. Page 2 of 5 Budget Workshop 10/17/12 Chief Cole advised overtime is driven by uniform patrol, contracts, etc. They have to make sure they have people on the streets and are not going to put a number on the streets that is not safe for the officers or the people. Commissioner Mathiesen credited the chief for the way he has been able to staff the late night demands and keeping overtime under control. Chief Cole advised they were funded several years ago for 12 dispatchers including a dispatch supervisor; they are running with 9 dispatchers. They are running into issues because of the number of dispatchers they have. They are not able to backfill shifts to send dispatchers to training. They need the dispatchers to be trained as emergency medical dispatchers; which is 4–5 day training. Chief Williams stated the emergency medical dispatch is a priority dispatch where they are trained to take calls and place them into specified categories. They need to get the dispatchers up to a point where they can do that. We should at least bring our professional standards to the national standards. The 2 additional firefighters isn’t new. Since 2002, different numbers of additional positions have been requested every year since then. The reason is similar to Chief Coles’; when they bring a new firefighter in; they are on 18 months probation with 75% of that time being at school. They do not count towards their staffing and are not utilized. They have 2 vacancies in the department right now which makes up 38% of their shiftshort overtime. That percentage can be reduced by having people ready to go. Mayor Johnson asked what shift short overtime means. Chief Williams explained it is when they are staffing to meet the daily minimum. Mayor Johnson asked what the number of shift short overtime was for 2011 and what it is for this year. Chief Williams advised the shift short overtime for 2011 was approximately 1,700 hours and is at 3,100 hours for this year. Mayor Johnson confirmed that the 2 vacancies they have now is due to changing the minimum staffing levels when we took over the EMS transport. Chief Williams stated that is not correct; 1 existed at the beginning of the year and 1 is due to a personnel issue at the beginning of the year that was resolved in July. Mayor Johnson asked if the minimum staffing requirement changed since the EMS transport has been taken over. Chief Williams stated they went from 9 to10. Mayor Johnson confirmed the overtime was increased during the course of this year in the budget and asked why this occurred. Chief Williams advised that occurred because of the number of people that have been out sick and injured. None of those were job related. Mayor Johnson asked Chief Williams if he is comfortable with the projected revenue of $710,000 for 2013 the EMS service. Chief Williams advised he is, however, a follow up with Multi-Med indicates it will actually be higher. Mayor Johnson asked if the department is able to track the expenses for the EMS service. Chief Williams stated they track everything and sends a monthly report. Page 3 of 5 Budget Workshop 10/17/12 Mayor Johnson asked if the chief tracks an average reimbursement rate. Chief Williams advised Multi-Med does that for us by carrier. Mayor Johnson asked how many transports involve us having to leave the City to go to Albany Med, etc. Chief Williams stated approximately 7% leave the City. Mayor Johnson asked if we have to call in additional staff when the back up ambulance is used. Chief Williams advised they do which is overtime. Mayor Johnson asked what the average response time is for the City and the eastern plateau. Chief Williams advised the average time in the City is 4 – 5 minutes and 8 – 9 minutes on the eastern plateau. Finance Department Commissioner Madigan advised the most significant change to the Finance Department’s budget is the amount set aside in the contingency expense line for unexpected events or contract settlements. Mayor Johnson asked for the actual amount in the contingency line as he is seeing 2 different amounts. Commissioner Madigan advised the line is ‘inter fund transfer’. Mayor Johnson confirmed that the line item for contingency on page 24 is for the increase being proposed for next year. Commissioner Madigan advised that is correct. Mayor Johnson asked if Commissioner Madigan is aware of any retirements coming in her department. Commissioner Madigan stated there is possibly one but hasn’t heard anything specific. Mayor Johnson also noticed a change in the IT budget; a raise for an individual for about $16,000. Commissioner Madigan advised that should have been taken out. Deputy Commissioner Bachner stated that request was for the help desk technician but has been removed from the proposed budget. Mayor Johnson asked how overtime in the IT Department develops. The 2011 actual figure was zero and for the beginning of 2012 there was $20,000 budgeted. Deputy Commissioner Bachner advised the director of the IT Department is paid out of 2 lines to accommodate the 40 hour work week. Mayor Johnson asked if this person is a 40 hour employee. Deputy Commissioner Bachner advised the position is 33 hours because of the length of time he has been here but the City can’t be serviced with those hours. The additional 7 hours is straight time and paid from this ‘overtime’ line. Mayor Johnson asked if they had considered re-classifying the position. Page 4 of 5 Budget Workshop 10/17/12 Deputy Commissioner Bachner stated they have been discussing it but there are other issues that come with it. Commissioner Madigan advised the next budget workshop is October 23rd. They will be discussing the Accounts Department budget and the Department of Public Works budget including the recreation portion. The workshop concluded at 2:13 p.m. Respectfully submitted, Lisa Ribis Clerk Approved: 11/20/12 Vote: 5 - 0 Page 5 of 5