The General Government budget accounts for the city’s expenses not specific to any department such as city council, the city manager’s office, finance and administration, etc. The Greenbelt City Council reviewed this budget at a March 30 worksession.
Overview
City Manager Michael McLaughlin’s proposed Fiscal Year 2017 budget calls for spending $2.9 million on General Government. This is up 1.3 percent from FY16’s adopted budget and accounts for 10.7 percent of the total proposed budget.
The largest expenditures are on finance and administrative services (31.1 percent), Administration (28 percent) and Information Technology (IT, 20.5 percent). The remaining expenditures are for city council (4.6 percent), legal counsel (3.4 percent), municipal building (2.6 percent) public information and community promotion (8.1 percent) and membership dues to organizations such as the Maryland Municipal League, National League of Cities and the Council of Governments, (1.7 percent).
Staffing is unchanged from the prior budget although one position authorized during the past two fiscal years, a deputy city manager/management analyst, has never been classified or filled.
The main challenge facing the city, as in most recent years according to McLaughlin, is to continue to deal with a tight budget while maintaining quality city services. Although there is a small increase in total assessed valuation (2.9 percent) and some growth is anticipated as Greenbelt Station continues to develop, the decline in the assessments on apartments and commercial properties will keep the budget tight. Meanwhile, other revenue sources remain flat.
Economic Development
Economic development has been a major focus of council during the past two fiscal years. In FY15, the Sage Policy Group developed an economic development strategy for the city. During the current fiscal year (FY16) the city hired the Hyattsville Community Development Corporation to conduct a “next steps” study including development of an economic development “tool kit.” In FY 17, the city will consider both sets of recommendations. The budget provides $102,000 toward implementation of any recommendations approved by council.
McLaughlin’s budget comments also provide a hint of possible future costs as he notes that “becoming more active in economic development will have an impact on staff workload, so resources should be provided.”
At the worksession, Mayor Emmett Jordan expressed displeasure that more new money was not set aside for economic development but there was little further discussion of this point.
Other priorities under Administration (the city manager’s and city clerk’s offices) include expanding use of performance measures, as recommended by the organization assessment, and continuing to work on issues related to the possible relocation of the Federal Bureau of Investigation headquarters to Greenbelt.
The total proposed budget for Administration is $816,000, an increase of 4.7 percent (or roughly 3.7 percent after accounting for transfer of business outreach activities from the council budget to the Administration budget).
Finance and Administrative Services
Total expenditures of $905,100 are proposed, an increase of 1.9 percent from the current year’s adopted budget. Roughly a third of the increase is for computer expenses to support the upgraded financial system that was implemented in September 2015. Priorities for FY17 include reviewing the city’s personnel structure, and reviewing the city’s purchasing/bidding limits.
Information Technology (IT)
Expenditures for IT are proposed to increase five percent to $597,900. Priorities for FY17 include implementing Next Gen 911 for the police department, participating in the cable television negotiations and working on the county-wide Institutional Network and the COG and MML IT groups. The Next Gen 911 will allow residents to text messages to 911. The city is currently waiting for the county to implement this system prior to installing its own, which must communicate with the county’s.
In addition, the department will explore document management systems with an emphasis on improving workflow in areas such as human resources and procurement.
This section of the budget was the focus of much of council’s discussion at the worksession. Mayor Jordan noted the increased incidence of hacking and ransomware reported in the news while Councilmember Judith Davis noted the many warnings about use of public networks and questioned whether the city should expand its wi-fi services beyond the council chambers and the multipurpose rooms in the community center and police station. Michael Hartmann called on council to provide wi-fi to all meeting rooms in the community center.
Another objective for this staff is to look into outsourcing the recording and storage of the city’s security camera footage. When concerns about the city not controlling access to this information were voiced, McLaughlin noted that confidence in this type of cloud approach is growing and it will be used for the city’s body camera footage. Cloud approaches allow the city to have a continuously updated system for roughly the same cost over time of owning a system that will not be updated until the end of its useful life.
IT Director Dale Worley reported that the staff is in the process of replacing some of the aging infrastructure (both hardware and software), and that the city has “just about gotten all of the XP out of the system.” The next step will be to begin the transition to Windows 10.
He reported that his multi-year technology plan looks 12 to 36 months out to identify big items to be kept on the radar. When asked if he has sufficient staff, he replied that his staff is sufficient for what they do. If the city wants to do more, however, he will need more staff.
Jordan pointed out that the budget does not provide for the IT staff to report to a deputy city manager as recommended in the organizational assessment. There was little further discussion of this point.
Legal Counsel
The proposed budget for legal counsel increases 6.5 percent to $98,000, in part reflecting the upcoming negotiation of a collective bargaining agreement with the Fraternal Order of Police Lodge 32.
Public Information
The budget for this area is proposed to increase by 3.3 percent to $235,900 although this cost is offset by an anticipated $420,000 in cable television franchise fees. Public Information and Communication Coordinator Beverly Palau is responsible for communications to the public using the city’s municipal access channels Comcast 71 and Verizon 21, news articles, press releases, the city’s website and quarterly newsletter and social media.
Objectives for FY17 include increasing the use of the Greenbelt Alert system to include different types of alerts, overseeing the upgrade to the cablecasting capabilities in the council room and the Greenbelt Municipal Access studio and highlighting city activities and events with short videos for use on social media and the city’s electronic bulletin board.