LOUISVILLE VS SAN DIEGO: A LOOK AT SPECIFICS IN BUDGETS

Earlier I challenged folks to call the Mayor and demand transparency and compared our Metro Council size to San Diego a similar size City with a larger population. The more I delve into their budget adjustments I see many things Abramson has not addressed in his comments.

You can read more about what Abramson had to say this morning here: http://thevillevoice.com

Out of all the comments Abramson made the most striking is just how many people he has on his leadership staff. He said 33 or 34 of his leadership staff have taken pay cuts. Why does he need a staff that big to begin with? This certainly brings to question just how bloated is his office and what is it costing US the taxpayers to keep them on.

We have read about the take home cars with the police officers, an issue designed to divide the community by using organized union labor as the divisive factor, allowing him to gain yet more control over the City employees.

With this in mind I went back to the San Diego budget I used for comparison to see if they detailed any plans on how to save money. Needless to say I was shocked that yes they indded do something we surely will not see in our budget report.

Below is a list of their proposals and you will note that not one place is it mentioned to cut back on ANY public safety personnel. It is designed to streamline efficency and eliminate the bloated heads of departments within their City structure.

From the Managerial Reorganization part of their summary:

The Mayor targeted administrative overhead and layers of management as an area for reduction.With the goal of preserving services delivered to the community by line-level workers, we evaluated supervisory and managerial roles and span of control. As a result, we are able to reduce the Fiscal Year 2009 and 2010 budget through the following reorganizations:5

1. Establish a reorganized Human Resources Department. The Labor Relations Director will provide oversight to a newly reorganized Human Resources Department

2. Reorganize the Community Services business unit as follows:

a. Eliminate the Deputy Chief Operating Officer and Executive Secretary for Community Services

b. Eliminate the Customer Services Department including the Director and ExecutiveSecretary positions. Some positions in this department will continue to provide training and public information services functions through incorporation into the reorganized Human Resources Department and the Administration Department.

c. The Library and Park and Recreation Departments will report directly to the Chief Operating Officer

d. The Environmental Services Department will report to Public Works.

3. Reorganize the Office of Ethics and Integrity as follows:

a. Eliminate the Deputy Chief Operating Officer, Assistant Deputy Chief Operating Officer, and Executive Secretary for the Office of Ethics and Integrity.

b. The Executive Director of the Citizens Review Board will report to theAdministration Department and the Executive Secretary position for the CitizensReview Board will be eliminated.

c. The Executive Director of the Human Relations Commission will report to the Human Resources Department and the Executive Secretary position for the Human Relations Commission will be eliminated.

d. Disability Services will also become part of the Human Resources Department, and the Estimator position in Disability Services will be eliminated.

4. Eliminate the Deputy Chief Operating Officer and the Assistant to the Deputy Chief Operating Officer positions from City Planning and Development. The current Deputy Chief has also been functioning as the Director of the City Planning and Community InvestmentDepartment and will continue as the Director.

a. The City Planning & Community Investment Department and the DevelopmentServices Department will report directly to the Chief Operating Officer.

b. The Real Estate Assets Department will report to Public Works.

c. The Business Expansion and Retention and Government Incentives Programs are being moved out of the Economic Development Division of the City Planning &Community Investment Department into a separate program, Economic GrowthServices, under the Community & Legislative Services business area.

5. Reorganize the Public Safety and Homeland Security business unit as follows:

a. Eliminate the Deputy Chief Operating Officer and the Executive Secretary for PublicSafety and Homeland Security. Office of Homeland Security personnel will report to the Fire-Rescue Department.

b. Eliminate the Family Justice Center Director and Clerical Assistant and transfer the functions to the Police Department.

c. The Police Department and the Fire-Rescue Department will report directly to the Chief Operating Officer.

d. Emergency Medical Services (EMS) will report to the Administration Department. Add an Assistant Chief Operating Officer to assist with management of day-to-day City operations and provide direct oversight of the Business Office, Citywide Administration, Human Resources, and Office of the CIO. An updated organizational chart reflecting the City’s new organizational structure is included asAttachment I. These reductions will maintain the City’s progress toward fiscal recovery. In keeping with the City’s goal of reducing structural budget gaps in coming years, the Mayor has recommended reduction of 210.04 FTE positions in the General Fund, creating structural budget savings that will have a positive impact on future budgets. However, in rebalancing the Fiscal Year 2009 budget, impacts to service levels could not be avoided.Please refer to the Corrective Actions section later in this report for further information on the recommended reductions.

According to the summary they include the following:

As a result of the first quarter analysis of department spending, expenditures are
expected to be under budget at year-end for the General Fund. These projected expenditure savings of $17.0 million...

Note that by restructuring and becoming more efficent San Diego is able to save $17 million in their budget. All without breaking labor contracts or affecting public safety personnel. Not to mention the line service workers. These cuts are at the top not the bottom.

Seems San Diego is way ahead of our "progressive" Mayor in dealing with budget problems.

Demand accountability NOW. We pay for it, we deserve it, and this blogger believes we should demand it.