Fiscal Year 2013-2015 Special Budget Meeting

FILED OFFICE OF THE C(7 Y CI ER> OAKLAND CITY OF OAKLAND 2013JUNIO PHl<:t»6 MEMORANDUM TO: HONORABLE MAYOR & FROM: Jay Ashford CITY COUNCIL Chair, Budget Advisory Cmte. SUBJECT: Budget Advisory Committee's Response DATE: June 10, 2013 To the Mayor's proposed 2013-15 Budget And the Suggested Councilmember Amendments INFORMATION At the BAC special meeting which took place June 6'^, 2013, the committee reached either unanimous (or near-unanimous) consensus on the following items, regarding the proposed 2013- 15 budget. Ten of fifteen committee members were in attendance at this meeting. BUDGETING PROCESS: 1. IMPROVED TRANSPARENCY AND INPUT: The BAC agreed that the budgeting process during this cycle is to be commended for its openness, transparency, and for its avenues for soliciting citizen input into the process. BAC members agreed that the documentation and collateral distributed are improvements over prior years, and that the town hall meetings were useful avenues for collecting citizen input. 2. PROFESSIONAL SURVEY: The BAC agrees that in future budgeting cycles, the City should look to undertake a professional, scientific survey to collect greater citizen input from those who are less likely to attend council meetings and budget workshops. 3 SEPARATE THE BUDGETING AND BARGAINING PROCESSES: The BAC . agrees that the collective bargaining process and the budgeting process should take place at different times during the year, to improve openness, stability and transparency. One recommendation would be to engage in labor negotiations on a calendar year schedule, while keeping budget negotiations on a fiscal year schedule. REVENUES: . 4. ONE-TIME VS ONGOING REVENUES: The BAC agrees that the city should adhere to its existing policy that expected one-time revenues be used only for one-time expenditures, such as capital improvements, negative fund paydown, debt retirement, etc.