Budget Hearings

MINUTES Budget Hearings Wednesday, August 2, 2023, at 3:00 PM Carnegie Town Hall, 235 West 10th St., Sioux Falls, SD 57104 1. Call to Order Council Members Present: David Barranco, Alex Jensen (arr. 3:02 p.m.), Rich Merkouris, Greg Neitzert, Marshall Selberg, Curt Soehl, Pat Starr Council Members Absent: Sarah Cole Council Chair Marshall Selberg called the meeting to order at 3 p.m. He noted that there was a quorum present and introduced City Clerk Jermery Washington. 2. Budget Hearings A. City-wide Finance Overview Shawn Pritchett, Director of Finance, spoke briefly on the 2024 budget process and explained team works to deliver budget that is easy to understand and is accessible to everyone. He then spoke on community priorities: (1) commitment to public safety, (2) safe and reliable infrastructure, (3) transformational investments, (4) solving challenges, and (5) entertainment and experiences. Pritchett gave a breakdown of the proposed $790.1M budget and presented supporting information. The proposed budget includes $452.2M reflecting appropriated funds; $225M reflecting enterprise utility funds; $113M reflecting internal service and trust funds. He gave an overview and presented a bar chart explaining the different funds, and discussed that 86% (or about $677M) of the budget is committed to providing services. Pritchett then provided detailed information on how the budget is supported through different areas and followed up by explaining the primary revenue areas of: sales tax, property tax, and charges for goods and services. He continued the presentation with an overview of the $234.1M General Fund and the major changes, the budgeted use of reserves, balance of infrastructure and quality of life investments, and future steps. There was some discussion on the percentages of the budget and revenue. B. City-wide Human Resources Overview Bill O'Toole, Director of Human Resources, began his presentation with a pie chart showing that 23% percent ($180.9M) of the total budget are personnel costs; commented on additional costs: part-time adjustments $400K, new positions $2.2M,  and COLA and benefit adjustments $11.5M. O'Toole discussed: part-time/seasonal employee positions, and full-time employee positions and successful negotiations of union contracts through year 2025 (a resolution for each contract will be brought to the August 15, 2023 meeting), employment application and turnover statistics, updates on employment team and Employer of Choice initiative, employee-to- population ratio (64 employees per 10K population), 24 recommended new fulltime positions, and the 2024 fulltime employee positions broken down by department. There was discussion on: a vehicle technologist position, efforts working the city employee-to-population ratio, successful negotiations of union contracts, and the employee turnover rate down over last year. C. City Council David Bixler, Budget Analysis for the City Council, gave overview of the $1.9M Council Budget and commented on election costs in even years. He also spoke on employee positions and major budget impacts. There was no further discussion. D. Mayor's Office Erica Beck, Mayor's Office Chief of Staff, presented the $0.9M Mayor's Office department budget and introduced employees Jenna Harris (Policy Advisor) and Vanessa Gomez (Public Relations and Communications Officer), and spoke briefly on Mayor's Youth Council and Sioux 52 Initiative. There was no further discussion. E. Police Jon Thum, Police Chief, spoke on the support that the Sioux Falls Police Department receives from City Council and Mayor's Office. He presented the 2024 Police Department budget and spoke on the fulltime positions and noted that with the 7 new police officers this will bring the total number of officers to 295. He also discussed the major budget impacts, spoke more in detail on technology and equipment, and followed up with discussion on employees. There was discussion on: Metro Communications, special technologies to help reduce auto theft numbers, stolen vehicle statistics, body camera technology, and new patrol vehicles. F. Fire Matt McAreavey, Fire Chief, briefly spoke on support from Council and Administration for Fire Rescue. He gave a breakdown of the Fire Rescue budget and discussed major budget impacts. There was discussion on: the ladder truck and the Urban Search and Rescue (USAR) vehicle and usage, and discussion on ladder length on the replacement  ladder trucks. There was additional discussion on challenges regarding hiring Fire Rescue employees, and if any additional staffing needs based on response times. 3. Public Comment There was none. 4. Adjournment Council Chair Marshall Selberg adjourned the meeting at 4:17 p.m. Jermery J. Washington, City Clerk