Comments on: Skepticism on 415 W. Washington Measure

By: mr dairy

mr dairy — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 16:04:35 +0000

So IIRC, if a department, say PDS, needs IT services, IT charges PDS for it’s services. If PDS needs an attorney to prosecute an enforcement or offer some sort of legal service ranging from advice to prosecution, City Attorney charges PDS.

Are the rates charged for those services competitive with those same services if they were privatized?

If those services are paid from Fund 26 (the “construction fund” IIRC) does all of that charge (money?) or any money over and above the cost of the service go to the General Fund?

How much of those internal charges actually result in transference of money/charges from a restricted fund (like Fund 26) to the General Fund or a department that operates in the GF? How often is this done? Is the process transparent on how these funds are managed or the money shifted around ends up in the General Fund instead of actually supporting the department from whence it came?

And I’m referring specifically to Fund 26. One of the reasons for the debacle in PDS was that Mark Lloyd “managed” Fund 26 until it could not support those services.

By: Sabra Briere

Sabra Briere — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 04:59:37 +0000

Council members ask for clarification on issues raised at Caucus. Last night’s discussion prompted Council member Anglin to ask for clarification about the Municipal Service Charge.

SUBJECT: Council Caucus Question – Municipal Service Charge (MSC)

Question: Please explain the municipal service charge as it applies to both enterprise funds and non-enterprise funds? (Anglin)

Answer: The municipal service charge represents the City’s overhead costs. The City aggregates its overhead costs and utilizes an outside firm (Maximus) to determine how these costs should be allocated by Fund. The charge or expense each fund incurs is called the Municipal Service Charge.

Maximus uses the City’s audited financial information to establish the costs of administrative activities and overhead. The costs are allocated based on total expenditures, square footage usage, number of personnel and/or transaction counts.

Examples of costs distributed are City Administrator, City Council, City Attorney, City Clerk, Human Resources, Financial Services, Community Services Administration and Public Services Administration.

The City periodically updates the allocation to capture changes in activities and organizational structure.

Since the overhead costs are incurred in the General Fund, the General Fund does not charge itself. Most other funds are charged for their utilization of the overhead services, which is revenue into the General Fund to offset their costs.

Prepared by: Tom Crawford, Chief Financial Officer
Approved by: Roger W. Fraser, City Administrator

I don’t know if this helps anyone understand.

Sabra

By: Vivienne Armentrout

Vivienne Armentrout — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 22:20:07 +0000

At RFP advisory committee meetings that I have been attending, an odd phrase started popping up. The committee was told by staff that the city couldn’t afford a park on the Library Lot because the money would be needed for the “greenway park”. I wondered, since I had not heard of a greenway park.

By: Karen Sidney

Karen Sidney — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 21:50:56 +0000

Council member Briere’s comment that council is assured that the municipal service charges are not real charges is an example of the sick state of city government. Council members do not get straight answers from staff. A review of the city’s audited financial statements shows that every fund except the general fund is assessed a municipal service charge. The revenue from the municipal service charge goes to the general fund and is shown on the audited financial statements as an expense reduction. The municipal service charges increase the general fund balance and reduce the fund balance of all the other funds. The municipal service charge is as real as the charges for things like salary and benefits.

Council members Anglin, Briere and Kunselman are all working to get better answers but it’s an uphill struggle. My thanks to all of them for their efforts.

By: Glenn Thompson

Glenn Thompson — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 19:23:53 +0000

The Public Market enterprise fund pays a total of about $30,000 annually for IT and municipal service charges. The primary source of revenue for the enterprise fund is the stall fees charged the vendors at the Farmers Market.

Does Ms. Briere believe the vendor stall fees are mythical? She voted to increase them by approximately 20%. Does she believe this increase is mythical? Can the vendors simply deduct the “mythical” IT and municipal service portion from their stall fees?

By: mr dairy

mr dairy — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 15:54:50 +0000

Hieftje may disavow any intent on his part to pit the Allen Creek Greenway as downtown open space against the chance of open space on the Library Lot, but he and others on council purposely, at this politically opportune point in time, planted that very same seed in the minds of voters who will either:

1) View it as an either/or choice based on his subliminal suggestion that it’s a question of parks vs more parks.

2) A chance to feed on the emotions of voters who are fed up with the erroneously painted picture of the pro parks and anti development crowd by making it appear that they will be getting their cake and eating it too.

Cynical politics, eh?