Budget Process and Defects
Each year the City Council adopts a budget and then sits back while the Staff ignores the priorities, allocations and restrictions. This has been the past practice for the last four years. The Council and Staff have been reviewing departmental requests in a string of Power Point presentations for the last few months. I am hoping that the Council will do an about face and establish some budgetary and oversight controls this year.
For example, the Council approved in theory the number of employees authorized for 2006. Earlier this year the Manager created and staffed 14 additional full-time positions without Council approval. The Manager was able to hire the additional people because the Council approved the various levels of staffing in informal Study Sessions but did not tie them to their budgetary approval.
Another example is the failure of staff to carry through with the capital improvements prioritized and formally approved in the budget. The Council approved almost five million dollars in CIP projects for 2006. Since then the Council has added another $2.5 million in projects to the capital improvement list for a current total of $7.3 million. One of the problems is that the priority projects in the CIP and other Funds have and been trimmed back or eliminated to make room for the supplemental additions. Meanwhile, the original list in the CIP has been left on the shelf. Below are the original CIP projects from the General Fund only as approved in the 2006 budget:
Street Overlay $400,000, Huron-104th-112th $450,000, 112th Widening $600,000, 104th/Huron Intersection $300,000, C. Center Dr. Improvements $400,000, School Flashers/Seed Radar $20,000, Jacobucci Land Purchase $186,700, FISS System $164,000 TOTAL $2,520,700
The street seals, not overlays, are now under contract. The Jacobucci land purchase at 112th and the railroad tracks has just been cancelled; fortunately. What else has been done as budgeted? Broken promises. You can check all the Council minutes and you will only find formal supplemental small projects that are funded from the operation budgets and the use of the Cash Reserve. The staff decided to not follow through on most of the CIP projects. They have passed along their reasons on some of them to the Council but only informally. Our Council has not taken the required formal action and has no intention of doing so; as normal. The approved 2006 budget is a sham.
I will be discussing the budget process and results in greater detail very soon. I will include some specific suggestions that will help the Council to reassume its long ignored duties in fiscal management. Hopefully, some of you will also provide the current majority of the Council with some backbone. We elected and expect the Council to be in charge and not the Staff’s puppet.
For example, the Council approved in theory the number of employees authorized for 2006. Earlier this year the Manager created and staffed 14 additional full-time positions without Council approval. The Manager was able to hire the additional people because the Council approved the various levels of staffing in informal Study Sessions but did not tie them to their budgetary approval.
Another example is the failure of staff to carry through with the capital improvements prioritized and formally approved in the budget. The Council approved almost five million dollars in CIP projects for 2006. Since then the Council has added another $2.5 million in projects to the capital improvement list for a current total of $7.3 million. One of the problems is that the priority projects in the CIP and other Funds have and been trimmed back or eliminated to make room for the supplemental additions. Meanwhile, the original list in the CIP has been left on the shelf. Below are the original CIP projects from the General Fund only as approved in the 2006 budget:
Street Overlay $400,000, Huron-104th-112th $450,000, 112th Widening $600,000, 104th/Huron Intersection $300,000, C. Center Dr. Improvements $400,000, School Flashers/Seed Radar $20,000, Jacobucci Land Purchase $186,700, FISS System $164,000 TOTAL $2,520,700
The street seals, not overlays, are now under contract. The Jacobucci land purchase at 112th and the railroad tracks has just been cancelled; fortunately. What else has been done as budgeted? Broken promises. You can check all the Council minutes and you will only find formal supplemental small projects that are funded from the operation budgets and the use of the Cash Reserve. The staff decided to not follow through on most of the CIP projects. They have passed along their reasons on some of them to the Council but only informally. Our Council has not taken the required formal action and has no intention of doing so; as normal. The approved 2006 budget is a sham.
I will be discussing the budget process and results in greater detail very soon. I will include some specific suggestions that will help the Council to reassume its long ignored duties in fiscal management. Hopefully, some of you will also provide the current majority of the Council with some backbone. We elected and expect the Council to be in charge and not the Staff’s puppet.
posted by Gene Wieneke at
11:38 AM
4 Comments:
As a concerned citizen, I marvel at the lack of budgetary controls that the city employes. Someone must be accountable and I would like to understand just who this is. The City of Northglenn appears to have many issues ranging from personel to fiscal responsibility. The appearance to the residents of Northglenn is that the city is merley concerned with who barks the loudest and can raise the "issue" of the moment. Budgetary controls are not only abused by council but by the managerial staff as well. In Corporate America, there are checks and balances in place to ensure fiscal responsibility and I dare not leave out "accountability". The question is a simple one--Who in the city is responsible for budgetary issues within the city? The answer is not well its The Police Department for their house, Parks and Rec for their house, Public Works for their house, and so on and so on. Someone must guide these departments and make the tough decisions---Possibly this has been the issue all along. A good City Manager is hard to find---Let's not make the same mistake by hiring a contract consultant as an interim city manager as we just learned may not have the experience nor the wisdom to lead such a great city---Ha!!
By
Anonymous, at 9:19 PM
Actually, the only qualification a city manager needs in Northglenn is that he or she obey and bow down to Whine-ecke and the Gang of Four. Otherwise Gene and friends will drive them out of office with insults and harassment - no matter how good they are.
Incidentally, merely is spelled m-e-r-e-l-y.
By
Anonymous, at 9:15 AM
While we're on the subject of budgets, let's discuss revenue. The largest revenue source for Colorado municipalities is the revenue sales tax, and there's not a single city in Colorado that derives less than 50% of its revenue from sales taxes. When Northglenn was first founded as a planned community, its revenue driver was the Northglenn Mall, which drew shoppers from as far away as Nebraska and Wyoming.
While the Northglenn Marketplace is a great place to shop, it has never fully replaced the revenues that the city lost when the Mall closed its doors, particularly since there is so much competition from the regional retail centers in the other northern suburbs.
If Northglenn is to remain a viable community, it must move into the 21st Century. We need to embrace FasTracks, transit oriented development, and economic development projects that will attract shoppers from the entire Metro area.
We can't remain insular, we can't remain in the 1950's, and we can't continue to let those who stand in the way of progress hold sway. If you want an example of what can happen to a landlocked city with limited revenue sources -- look at Federal Heights. If you want an example of a struggling community that has turned itself around -- look at Commerce City.
By
Anonymous, at 2:56 PM
It all comes down to the price tag doesn't it? Who can do the most with the least? The City can't operate, as we have seen, on a business model the way private enterprise can.
Conversely, the City has to not only keep what residents expect to have operating (needs), but meet the things that make a great community thrive. Finding that balance is a constant struggle for any city. Case in point, for years the Northglenn Council dug its heels in and steadfastly opposed the I-25 bridge on 112th for two main reasons, the noise and the cost. The benefits in having it now far outway any validity the other arguments made.
You're right about us keeping ahead of the game. Council, the City Manager and all the employees have to keep that in mind. True the Mall was a draw for many years. What needs to replace that revenue base has to be that kind of draw. Unfortunately, there are those who just cannot embrace any major expense strictly on price tag alone.
By
Anonymous, at 7:38 AM
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