[BoulderCouncilHotline] 2021 Budget

[Wallach, Mark]

In connection with tomorrow’s study session on the 2021 Budget, I first want to thank all those who have participated in this difficult task. It is clearly very painful to attempt to prioritize spending when financial resources are so diminished due to Covid-19, and none of the Budget decisions made by staff could have been easy. I greatly appreciate the work that has been done to create the proposed Budget.

I want to provide advance notice of a few questions regarding the Budget. Given the lateness of my submission of these inquiries, combined with the fact that this is a holiday weekend, I want to make it clear that I do not expect a written response to any of them; perhaps we can discuss a few of these questions during the presentation on Tuesday. They are as follows (and, unfortunately, in no particular order; sorry about that):

Questions Relating to Staff Presentation:

   1) On page 42 of the presentation for Tuesday there is a chart showing the contemplated reductions in personnel. Would it be possible to also show the number of remaining personnel by department, to provide a greater sense of the impact these staff reductions will have on a departmental basis?

   2) The percentage reduction by department varies widely. Other than running such cuts through our equity instrument, and prioritizing programs by level of priority (essential, important, helpful or amenity), what other factors came into play in determining what is to be cut or postponed? How were departments instructed to execute their mission to reduce expenditures? For instance, almost the entirety of the Fire Department’s reductions come from an 80% reduction in facilities expenditures. All of OSMP’s reductions come from one-time reductions, primarily in delaying CIP projects, and that department actually increases its head count. And our IT budget has grown due to increased capital expenditures. How were these determined? How did we strike a balance between program reductions, staff reductions and CIP reductions?

    3)  The City’s reserves are projected to grow from 15% to 17% in 2021 (page 22).  That increase represents several million dollars that could lessen the impact of some of the projected cuts. While I entirely support the concept of bringing our reserves back up, and ultimately achieving a 20% level, is there an argument to be made that 2021 is not the best time to do so?

Questions Relating to Full Budget:

   1) The full Budget, on a department by department basis, shows Capital Improvement Projects (CIP) that are being postponed or cancelled. Could we see a summary of such projects, so that readers do not have to go through the 350 pages of the document to understand the totality of the projects being delayed? Given the potential difficulty of assembling this data, it would be fine if it came later in the week.

   2) It has been my impression (and it is an impression only, subject to correction), that Boulder spends a great deal of money on outside consultants in various departments. If my impression is correct, what controls are we putting on the use of outside consulting services? Do we know what we are currently spending on consultants?

   3) The vast majority of the CIP expenses for the Parks and Recreation Department are allocated to the golf course ($6.5MM), while there are many unfunded capital projects in that department. Why is the full brunt of cost reductions in this Department coming from every project except golf course reconstruction? Are the funds utilized for this project dedicated and not utilizable for any other purpose? If they are not so dedicated, can a portion of the required expenditures be strung out over a couple of years to permit other CIP projects in Parks to move forward? Can any portion of these funds be used towards the programmatic reductions in Parks, which seems to have been hit particularly hard?

   4)What is the status of the construction of the North Boulder Library? It is not listed as a Capital Improvement Project (CIP) in the section of the Budget dealing with our libraries (page 209 of the Budget), but the narrative section  states that construction will begin in 2021, and that a $700,000 contribution from the General Fund will be required. What year will that occur, and what is our protection against cost overruns for this project? For instance, if the project runs $2,000,000 over anticipated cost (and overruns are a natural feature of construction projects) where is the additional capital supposed to come from?

   5) Under Utilities (page 25) there is a one-time adjustment for the Water Fund Reserve in the amount of $3.98MM. What is this, what are its implications, and how will this Reserve be restored?

   6) On page 49 of the Budget (Fire Department) there is a $150,000 reduction in Wildland Fire and Administration Capacity. What does this represent? Does it impact our ability to respond to fires in our Open Space or forests?

   7) Under Housing and Human Services (page 54 of the Budget) there is a $100,000 reduction in grants for the Homelessness Program, a $120,000 reduction in Human Services Fund Grants, a $220,000 reduction in the Youth Opportunity Program and Youth Opportunity Program Coordinator, and a $456,000 reduction in Human services Fund Grants. Can we receive further detail as to what these cuts represent? How did we evaluate the equity impacts of these cuts?

  8) One of our few new expenditures is $500,000 for a new Human Resources Information System. What will this system do, and what will be the benefits for our staff?

   9) In 2022 the CIP budget more than doubles, and reaches that level again in 2024. Is most of that increase attributable to the construction expenses of CU South?

Many thanks to all who worked so hard to produce a Budget to meet the needs of our current financial crisis. Hopefully, this will be the last year that we will be under such constraints, and that 2022 will permit us greater latitude to fully fund the programs that are so important to our community.

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