CORRESPONDENCE - 65B - Laserfiche WebLink

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1. Has the city put together an overall strategy for improving safety, prevent homelessness, improve city streets, improve essential city services from the funds provided by Measure X? a. If so, where is this plan? b. If not, when should we expect it? c. If not, would it seem prudent to incorporate into that plan police officer raises at that time instead of now? 2. What other items is the city looking to utilize Measure X funds for? 3. Is it wise to spend/commit future Measure X sales tax which we will not have come into the city until April before we even know what the true financial impact will be? 4. Can we wait to approve this MOU until after a strategy for improving safety, prevent homelessness, and provide for enhancements to essential city services are fully evaluated and a strategy is developed? Fiscal Impacts Comments: Again, I want our police officers to make more. They are a critical factor to the safety of our communities. I want faster response times. I want more officers hired and helping our community. I want a safe community for our officers to work in. I want experienced officers who know the community that they keep safe. I want them to receive more money each year. I want the best for them and their families. I also want to make sure that we have a city that can honor its commitments into the future. I feel that we need to analyze data and make good decisions. I feel that if a city is insolvent and on its way to bankruptcy, which our city may be on that trajectory, this is bad for officers- now and in the future. A broken promise is worse than a realistic promise. We need to analyze and project the fiscal impact of decisions. We all know that our city is in a structural deficit before Measure X but I am concerned we do not know what the financial picture looks like into the future, and not just in the next 2 and a half years but beyond that into 4 and 5 and 10 years. I am also concerned that there may be additional needs that there may not be the necessary funding for in the future. I am concerned that by analyzing only short term data through fiscal 20/21, that we may not have the information to make good long term decisions especially considering the dire trajectory that has been discussed further into the future. Being a CPA, the financial side of things may be more important to me than most, but regardless of someone's background, it likely is an evaluating component for everyone. Questions: There seem to be a number of financial questions which need to be answered including: 1. What is the impact of these raises if we actually fill all of the vacancies we need to actually improve safety for our community instead of just those on the police force on March 31, 2018? 2. Why are we using hiring data as of March 31, 2018 (almost a year ago) for determining the financial impact of these increases? a. How does the data change if we utilize current data? 3. Is it wise to provide a retroactive raise when the last SAPOA raise was in January 2018, which is 6 -months before the retroactive period? Is this standard for other cities to provide raises in 6 -month increments? With a January 2019 raise, that will be double 6 -month raises. 4. What is the impact of these raises beyond the 3 year period illustrated in the staff report? 5. What is the impact of these raises on our long term pension liabilities- especially beyond the 20/21 period? 6. What is the impact of these increases on the city's overall structural deficit? 7. What does the city's long term deficit look like when incorporating the additional Measure X revenue, the additional compensation to the police officers proposed, filling vacant police officer positions, and funding other safety needs of the city mentioned in the Measure X ballot proposal along with normal budgetary items into the future? Not just fiscal 20/21 but into the future beyond that. a. If this analysis has not been done, when can it be done? b. Can we wait to vote on the MOU until after the analysis is completed and discussed? 8. What is the impact of these increases once the Measure X sales tax decreases and expires? 9. Will overtime decrease with the hiring of more officers? Has that been incorporated into the analysis? 10. Is it wise to approve retroactive pay raises when our payroll system is so antiquated that it is a manual process to calculate backpay and pension obligations instead of implementing move forward pay increases? 11. What are the other financial needs of the city to hit the goals of Measure X? 12. Should the Measure X citizens advisory committee be up and running prior to allocating Measure X funds? 12. Can we wait to approve this MOU until we have full and transparent financial information? Conclusion