City View: Budget balancing act: saving money, sustaining services and planning

Adapted from the “State of the City” address

It’s no secret that the current economy makes it difficult for businesses to forecast revenues and budget accordingly. Planning the city’s 2010 budget is no different. For the first time since the 1980s, we must prepare a budget based on no real growth in revenue.

I believe “sustainability” is about more than climate control and energy. It’s about using all of our resources more wisely and making choices that support our future while scaling back on those that reflect our past.

I propose we sustain resources by:

• Crafting an “S.O.S.” strategy – one that “Seeks Opportunities to Save” city resources and use them more efficiently. Our challenge is to find a way to afford a new position, set efficiency benchmarks, be accountable for savings and get a return on our investment.
• Creating an advisory task force to revise our stormwater utility funding structure. The current stormwater revenue system, set by voters almost 20 years ago, is not adequate for what we must do today and tomorrow.
• Modifying our land disturbance ordinances, based on the City Council’s specific guidance. The Council has been discussing policy options for about four months. For better or worse, I think that the unintended consequences associated with the Crosscreek Center development at Stadium and U.S. Highway 63 will dictate our planning and development future for many years. We’ve talked with the Council about ways to avoid scenarios like Crosscreek and have prepared several options. Each option has its own set of “pros” and “cons.”
• Continuing to update Columbia’s comprehensive development plans. The Council has directed staff and the Planning and Zoning Commission to make this planning very thorough and inclusive, and has decided by resolution to appoint an advisory task force.
• Implementing the demand-side management measures described in the city’s energy integrated resources plan, or “IRP.” On its face, this is a reasonable step. If customers use less energy, there is less demand that our utility has to supply. This requires up-front spending, however, and the key is making sure that citizens and ratepayers get a return on their investment. In my book, we should not be spending electric utility funds without expecting a return on investment for the utility.

We are fortunate to have secured a little more than $1 million in start-up funds available through the federal Energy Efficiency and Conservation Block Grant. I believe we should target four areas, including: an Energy Star assessment of all city buildings; energy-efficiency retrofits for city buildings, places where I think we should lead by example; a pilot project to create codes and incentives for energy-efficient building design; and partial funding for an “S.O.S.” coordinator, the position that will seek opportunities for savings in city government

As we seek to maximize and conserve our resources a little further, we need to remember our human resources. While across-the-board raises probably are not in the cards this year, one of my most important goals has been to recruit, hire and retain the best possible employees with the funds available. With each retirement, however, we lose experience and knowledge.

With that in mind, I propose the following ideas:

• Fund a three-year talent strategy to identify up-and-coming supervisors and assure they have the skills and attitudes needed to make the transition;
• ask an employee committee to identify core skills needed in our organization, and when appropriate, help teach the next generation;
• invest, to the best of our ability, in a wide range of training; and
• pull as much knowledge as possible from our current workforce and preserve it as a reference for those coming up.

This is my workforce capital improvement plan, or “talent strategy,” the guide for building a human infrastructure for years to come. Every year we spend considerable resources looking at long-term capital needs. We should do likewise for our “Human Capital.”

The Council and staff must develop stronger and more effective connections with the community and provide new opportunities for citizen engagement. Here are a few of my recommendations:

• Merge functions associated with neighborhood relations and property code compliance into a single, more efficient unit. These neighborhood-focused employees now are housed in six departments. They do their work well but need a stronger, continuous unity of purpose. I’d like to provide some new organizational and enforcement tools for them to work more effectively with citizens and property owners.
• Support Police Chief Ken Burton in his efforts to improve communication with citizens, strengthen neighborhood connections, provide greater accountability and form community partnerships.
• Appoint, as outlined in the community vision plan and discussed by the Council, a Transit Advisory Committee, modeled after our Airport Advisory Board, to focus on bus transportation.

By September 30, the end of our current fiscal year, we will have over $100 million in local infrastructure projects under ongoing internal management. This represents a commitment to voters who approved ballot issue financing for roads, sewers, local streets and sidewalks, fire and police stations, water system and fire flow upgrades, electric system improvements and wastewater projects.

It is one of our biggest challenges to keep these assets current and in working order. They must be maintained if we’re going to continue to provide safe, reliable and reasonably priced services to citizens. Council members have consistently supported and exerted their leadership to maintain public infrastructure, and I can’t remember a time in my 22 years of service when infrastructure was not on the retreat agenda.

I recently announced the appointment of Mike Brooks as our new Economic Development Director and President of REDI, our regional economic development partnership. I want to thank Bernie Andrews, who managed REDI throughout the organization’s restructuring. I am pleased that Bernie will continue working to bring projects to Columbia and Boone County as REDI’s Executive Vice President. The REDI team is a tremendous asset to our community, and I appreciate all they do.

Like other communities, Columbia is well into the shift toward a technology- and knowledge-based economy. With our local and regional partners, we will continue to make long-term investments that sustain this area for years to come. By the same token, we can’t afford to leave behind those who are not yet technologically prepared. Our children and grandchildren should have the same career opportunities here as they might find in other places. For that to happen, we need a diverse economic base.

While the city’s fiscal condition is sound, but not comfortable, it is fair to ask why we Columbians still prefer progress to retrenching, as many other communities are discussing. On this point, I refer to former President Harry S Truman, who said, “I don’t believe in little plans. I believe in plans big enough to meet a situation which we can’t possibly foresee now.”

We are very fortunate to have the community vision guiding our future, and that is a very big plan. We’re already implementing many of the strategies in that plan, and the actions I have proposed to the Council take us even further.

Why think “small” if it puts Columbia at risk of missing opportunities? As City Manager, it is my duty to look at the horizon, and beyond, to advise Council members and then implement their decisions. I will continue to work with Council and City staff to keep you informed as our budget process develops over the coming months.