Fiscal Year 2013-2015 Special Budget Meeting

HONORABLE MAYOR AND CITY COUNCIL Subject: Proposed FY 13-15 Proposed Policy Budget Date: May 13,2013 Page 12 It should be noted that the City Attorney's Office can review the master list of boards/commissions and identify the Boards/Commissions that the Council could abolish, consolidate or adjust the focus if the Council so desires. 22) Which departments have at least 1 FTE that is solely or primarily dedicated to raising needed funds through researching and writing grants? Can we increase the number of grant writers in a manner that would more than pay for itself? Does the Administration's proposed budget eliminate or freeze any grant-writing positions that are currently budgeted for? If so, might that result in a net loss rather than savings? What is the rational for freezing the 1 FTE Grants Coordinator in OPD? As a part of the Proposed Budget, there is a recommendation included to add 1 FTE City Administrator Analyst in the Administrative Services Department, Controller's Office to assist in a Citywide coordination of grants. This position is funded by the General Purpose Fund. With respect to departments allocating FTE resources that solely work on grants, it has been the City's practice to either use existing internal resources to write grants, or for larger grants, to hire grant writers on a temporary basis that hold a specific expertise in a certain area to complete the grant application effectively. OPD currently has a Grants Coordinator Position, which is fully funded by a Department of Justice grant. It is now become known that the grant will continue for next two years and as such, will continue to fund the position. Therefore, the position is no longer frozen. As background, this position in OPD handles both the administration of grants - filing periodic reports, reviewing the grant accounting, drawing down grant funds, etc. in addition to grant research and grant writing. In previous years, the role of grants administration and grant writing were performed by two different positions. This allowed the Grants Coordinator to spend more time on grant identification and development. However, these functions were consolidated due to budget reductions. When grant funding is awarded (which is not aligned with the fiscal cycle—^July 1—June 30), this position will be funded accordingly. 23) For the Self-Insurance Fund (1100) and the Equipment Fund (4100) as outlined on page D-101 of the Proposed Budget, if the repayment schedules were adjusted to achieve a ZERO dollar balance in the final years of their respective schedules, how much additional monies would the city have available to spend in the 2013-15 budget cycle? The Self-Insurance Fund (Fund 1100) is used for self-insurance liability claims and settlements, outside legal services and courts costs. Fund 1100 is funded through a cost allocation plan developed by the City's actuary, Aon Risk Consultants, Inc., in which departments are charged to support the fund based on five years of claim and exposure data. If the self-insurance liability repayment schedule is not implemented accordingly the accumulated deficit in the fund will continue to grow, in FY 2012-13 the deficit is projected to be $21.2 million.