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2007-12-10_Supplemental Agenda Packet--Dossier de l'ordre du jour supplémentaire City of Saint John Common Council Meeting Monday, December 10,2007 Supplemental Agenda Re: 1.1 Questions from Councillor Tait with Responses Regarding Proposed 2008 Budget City of Saint John Seance du conseil communal Le lundi 10 decembre 2007 Ordre du jour supplementaire Alinea 1.1 Questions de Conseillier Tait avec des Responses Yeomans,Greg From: Sent: To: Cc: Subject: Tait, Glen Friday, December 07, 2007 6:48 PM Yeomans,Greg Totten, Terry 2008 proposed budget Greg just a few questions 1 how many new positions and what are they? 2 Is there funding being identified and provided for the 7 new positions the Police Force identified last year? 3. What is the total increase cost for funding all new proposed positions including the 24 percent benefit cost? 4. Are monies being provided to Transit to conduct a service standard review? 5. If we were to provide the same level of service in 2008 that was provided in2007 with all inflationary costs included as well as salary increases only and to meet the Pension Fund liability matter, what would the increase in budget be. In other words how much could the tax rate be reduced by if Council were to decide to take this approach , the same approach that was used in establishing this years budget? 6. Does the 3 percent increase for Management salaries include all Management positions including the City Manager and Commissioners ? What is the total cost increase including those costs with positions moving to other steps and levels? Could you please separate the two. Thanks Greg, just had a quick read, sure I will have other questions Sent using BlackBerry 1 12/10/2007 Question 1 and Question 3 There are six new positions although two are already in the establishment which means a request to add 4 new positioins to the establishment. Two positions in the Common Clerk's Office to support the Committee System should Council decide to proceed with its implementation as well as the secretarial support requirement of the Pension Board. Two positions in Finance. One of these will be 100% dediacated to the Pension Plan and will be funded by the Pension Plan. You may recall that the Governance review indicated that the admin support being provided to the Pension Plan was light. This position is being proposed in order to implement the various recommendations of the Governance Review and address the ongoing needs of the Plan. This position is currently in the establishment but vacant. There is currently no administrative support in the Finance Department. The second position is intended rectify this situation. Three positions for the Communications Unit. My understanding is that the Communications Unit was envisioned to be a 3 person operation. One of these is the position previously held by Susan Harris. This position is in the establishment and the funding was in the Common Clerk's budget. As a result there would be two new positions added to the establishment. I do not have the specific details as to the level of these two positions. The funding for this unit has been estimated at $250,000 for 2008 which would include Wages & Benefits as well as Goods and Services. A total of $87,000 has been transferred from the Common Clerk's budget plus another $100,000 from Vision 2015 budget for a total of $187,000. As a result the new funding requirement for this unit is $63,000. Total required funding (dependant on ultimate evaluation of positions) Estimated Cost 116,865 49,250 118,275 284,390 Page 1 of 6 12/10/2007 Question 2 I do not have sufficient information on the Police biudget to answer your question but I sent an email to the Chief and marven Corscadden on Saturday morning asking them to provide this information. Page 2 of 6 12/10/2007 Question 4 I do not have the details of the changes in the Transit Commission 2008 budget request. I believe that the original 2008 submission of $3,609,925 included $100,000 for the Service Standard Review. However the other details of the $529,925 increase (17.21 %) are not highlighted in the budget submission. . I am also of the understanding as a result of attendance at a Transit/Parking meeting that some staffing additions are included in the budget submission but the details did not accompany the submission although I can probably track down a copy of the report submitted to the Commission if you still do not have yours. I attempted to call Frank McCarey on Friday to discuss the proposed change to the Transit budget with him but he was not in. I then sent him an email and will follow up with him on Monday. 2007 Approved Budget 2008 Budget Submission Increase over 2007 budget 2008 Proposed Funding Increase over 2007 budget 3,080,000 3,609,925 529,925 3,519,925 439,925 17.21% 14.28% Page 3 of 6 12/1 0/2007 Question 5 Budgeted wages in 2007 Additional wage costs at Additional Fringe Benefit costs: At 21 % on increased wage costs Plus additional 3.5% from Pension current service cost Total increased costs wages & benefits Less: reduction in pension past service costs Net increase in wages & benefits Goods & services increase at 2.5% Correction of calculation errors in 2007 Additional personel in fire Reinstatement of fleet funding Total increased costs 2007 Budgeted expenses Projected 2008 expenses with status quo 2008 Proposed budget Difference to be reduced (in theory) Tax denominator Impact on tax rate 3.60% 21.00% 3.50% 47,993,000 1,727,748 49,720,748 362,827 1,740,226 3,830,801 (772,114) 3,058,687 715,860 200,000 149,400 1,318,810 2,384,070 5,442,757 ~ 12,041 ,669 ~17,484,426 n 19,166,653 I 1 ,682,227 ~p48, 716,432 I 2.6989 Page 4 of 6 12/1 0/2007 Total costs of new initiatives 1 ,645,115 284,390 439,925 150,000 192,800 265,000 30,000 40,000 63,000 30,000 50,000 50,000 50,000 New positions Increased Transit funding Neighbourhood Development Increased funding Industrial Parks Capital from operating Arts & Culture Unspecified Grants Communication funding Hosting Cities meeting Council review of Pension Plan Sustainability Plan Additional professional services Page 5 of 6 12/1 0/2007 - Question 6 The 3 percent increase for management salaries is intended to be applied tol the Management Salary Grid. This does include the Commissioners but not the City Manager~ It is my understanding that he has a contract with Common Council that sets his compensation in r~lation to some benchmark of which I am not aware. : Adjustment of the Salary Grid is ordinarily the case with all employee groups~1 The economic adjustment is applied to all of the steps in the grid. There are individuals wh are at various steps on the grid within a Salary Grouping. In the case of Local 486 people move hrough the steps of a Salary Grouping based on time. With respect to management employees thh are entitled to move to the next step in a Salary Grouping based on a recommendation from theif supervisor. I I I An employee only moves to a new salary grouping if they change positions air if the responsibilities of the position they hold change substantially and the position gets re-evalu~ted. I For budget purposes we have set the economic adjustment for the organization at 3.6% and applied this to all wages. This was done due to the fact that the contracts for Local 71 and Local 61 expired on June 30, 2007 and it is anticipated, based on wage settlements f r Police and Fire in other relevant communities in the region, the increase will exceed the 3.25% that the Local 18 contract calls for to the Salary Grid in 2008 and the 3.0% being suggested for the Management Salary Grid. I The Local 486 contract expires on December 31,2007. They are currently i~ negotiations. At this time the economic adjustment for this employee group in not known. I I The second part of question 6 asks me to provide you with the total cost incr~ase for all management positions separated by step increase and the 3% economic a~d stment. In order to do this I would need to look at the actual salaries for each management emplo e. This could certainly be done but would take some time. Based on a 3% increase and assuming hat most are not at the top of their scale, so would be moved one step, the overall increase might b in the range of 5% and at the Commissioner level could total as much as $45,000 to $50,000. Page 6 of 6