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030734
| 0 | 1) | Budget | Communication from the Mayor transmitting the 2004 City Budget.
Minutes note: Also appeared: Joseph Czarnezki, Director (DOA-Budget), Wally Morics (Comptroller), Marianne Walsh, Manager (Fiscal Review), Cassandra Patterson (Special Assistant to the Finance & Personnel Committee)
MUNICIPAL COURT
Kristine M. Hinrichs, Judge Gramling, Thomas Bell and Emma Stamps appeared.
The Municipal Court reorganization proposes eliminating and creating positions to lower salaries costs by $18,944. The Court reorganized in 2003, eliminating authority and funding for several vacant positions. The 2004 Proposed Budget provides for 45 authorized positions, compared to 46 in 2003 by eliminating 1 Administrative Specialist - Senior, 2 Office Assistant II, and 1 Administrative Assistant III position, and creating 1 Court Assistant III and 2 Administrative Specialist positions, to recognize a savings of $18,944. However, total salaries increase $30,431 in 2004. The 2004 Proposed Budget provides $1,858,709 in net salaries and wages to support 45 positions (40.8 FTE) compared to $1,889,709 in net salaries and wages to support 45 positions compared to $1,889,140 for 46 positions as provided in 2003. The 2004 Proposed Budget provides $564,523 for Operating Expenditures compared to $714,234 in 2003, a $149,711 or 26.52% decrease. The 2004 Proposed budget provides $15,000 for minor projects and $45,000 for Court Hardware Replacement Project. It also provides $250,000 to update the Court Case Management System and provides $430,000 to fund the Clerk of Court Witness Fees Special Purpose Account ($15,000) and the Municipal Court Intervention Program Special Purpose Account ($415,000), which pays the Justice 2000 contract. The 2004 Proposed Budget estimates revenues from Charges for Services will increase $102,300 or 8.89% to $1,253,100 compared to $1,150,800 in the 2003 Budget. According to the Budget Office, forfeiture revenue will total $4,784,400 in 2004, an increase of $671,700 or 14.71% from 2003. In January of 2000, the Court initiated a “motion to reopen fee”. A $15 fee is charged upon granting motions to reopen judgments that are not based on a good cause. If the defendant requests to have the case reopened, and does not have a good cause for not appearing when the judgment was issued by default, a $15 fee charge is added to the original judgment. The court expects to hear 185,000 cases in 2003 and 2004. They have community court sessions at Journey House which have turned out well. Judge Gramling stated they were so pleased that their janitorial staff remains in place. Their friends at Circuit Court were threatening to come back. Professional Placement Services was selected as the revenue collector. The new case management system has the potential to do even more, access court data and make changes. They have been asked to participated in the South Side and hold court there. Staff and judges will spend a great deal of time implementing the new case management system. This will be a stable system that they can rely on, on a day to day basis. Their cases have been driven by contested parking citations (3,500 cases handled thus far this year). There is a very high attendance rate at evening court. They are looking for a way to staff it with non-overtime status and also looking at early morning court. Court commissioners are paid an hourly rate no matter what hours they work. Ald. Murphy asked how much it would cost to hold night court on Monday, Wednesday and Friday. The budget office will do an estimate. Subpoenas issued by the City are sent by first class mail. Officers are trying to serve subpoenas on citizen witnesses to see if it will be necessary for the policeman to actually be there. They will try it for six month to see how it goes. The Tax Intercept program is very labor intensive. The real problem is trying to obtain a social security number. When they get the money, it is still a very manual process. They update the dept. of revenue on any changes that are made. The collection company now does this. 2 million dollars that are owed in judgments was collected thus far this year. Outstanding judgments are approximately in the 30 million range. Ald. Murphy asked if they could increase the penalty for people parking in handicap parking places, who are not handicapped. Judge Gramling stated the police department is working on that. Ald. Murphy replied the police department asked if Municipal Court could increase the penalties. The workload of traffic cases in Municipal Court is between 60 and 70%. A small percentage of the cases are generated by the Department of Neighborhood Services (DNS). Each of the judges has a half day a week, when they are on intake, to handle DNS cases. There is a penalty range which is first put in place by the Common Council. Fines can range: If it's owner occupied $150, if it's an absentee landlord its about $220. The judges usually recommend the amount of the fine that is recommended, as the inspectors know the cases and knows what the problem is doing to neighborhood. Ald. D'Amato complimented the court on the great job they are doing. Judge Gramling stated we are sending them good judges.
EMPLOYEE RELATIONS (all)
Florence Dukes, Mark Ramion appeared.
The 2004 proposed budget includes $5,077,262. This is an 8% decrease from the 2003 budget. DER has reorganized within their existing divisions in 2004, Administration, Operations and Employee Benefits. DER has utilized information technology in order to enhance its services and provide ready information to city employees and others needing information on city employment and training operations. DER has utilized information technology in order to enhance its services and provide ready information to city employees and others needing information on city employment and training operations. The number of authorized positions decreases from 105 in 2003 to 99 in 2004. Various reclassifications related to the reorganization of DER, the merger with the Fire and Police Commission in 2003 and increased duties and cross training for staff are components of personnel changes in the proposed budget. In, 2003, DER developed an Employee Placement Program for current city employees deemed to be at-risk for layoff in light of staff reductions throughout the city. The creation of the Office of Diversity & Outreach is a direct result of the merger of the Fire and Police Commission with DER. The Fire and Police Commission is composed of five citizen members who are appointed by the Mayor and approved by the Common Council to overlapping five-year terms. State law and City Charter set its authority and responsibilities. The Commission sets rules and regulations governing the selection and appointment of police and fire department personnel. The Executive Director or designee conducts examinations for entry and promotional positions for both departments. The Commission approves or denies appointments made by the fire and police departments, reviews personnel policies, conducts appeal hearings on personnel disciplinary matters, and reviews citizen complaints. The Commission has statutory responsibility for conducting annual reviews of the operations of the police and fire departments, and may issue directives to the departments' chiefs based upon such reviews. One of the 2004 goals for DER is to merge the staffing functions of the Fire and Police Commission with the staffing functions existing in DER into one area. This new section will be included in the operations division. It will provide staffing and recruitment services for General City, Fire and Police Departments and the Milwaukee Public School System. The number of formal written complaints filed with the Fire and Police Commission has held relatively steady over the last several years, averaging approximately 70 per year. A similar number of formal complaints are resolved each year. In 2004, DER is prepared to provide the Milwaukee Police Department with candidates for two training classes and the Milwaukee Fire Department with candidates for one training class. The Milwaukee Police Department has begun counseling and providing extended training to police recruits who are having difficulty in recruit training in order to retain newly hired police officers. This practice is in recognition of the cost of recruiting, testing and training new officers. Police Officer candidates are now undergoing psychological examinations prior to appointment to identify and eliminate those candidates who are psychologically unfit for police work and who would tend to leave law enforcement work early in their careers. The decision as to whether or not formal disciplinary action is warranted, and the level of discipline imposed, is within the discretion of the Chiefs of the Fire and Police departments. State law gives fire department and police department members the right to appeal formal discipline imposed by the Chief to the Fire and Police Commission if the discipline exceeds more than 5 days for the police department and 2 working days for the fire department. The creation of the Office of Diversity & Outreach is a direct result of the merger of the Fire and Police Commission with DER. Three, once separate and distinct complaint processes (general city, Equal Rights and Fire and Police Commission) have been combined into one function within the Office of Diversity. Staff has been cross-trained to increase efficiency while providing management greater flexibility in assigning work. The increase in efficiency has enabled the Diversity Outreach Officer to take on the new function of ADA Coordinator for the City and responsibility for the development of Citywide Diversity/Equal Employment Opportunity/Affirmative Action. In addition, forms and procedures have been combined or created to eliminate duplication and to increase productivity. Special Purpose Accounts under the responsibility of DER are budgeted at $90,798,100 for the 2004 proposed budget, an increase of less than 1% from 2003. Employee Health Care Benefits, budgeted for $80,401,100 for 2004, represent a less than 1% increase from 2003. The Worker's Compensation SPA is increased by 10% for 2004. Most of the Contract negotiations in progress in 2003 are for successor agreements to contracts that expired at the end of 2002 or mid 2003. DER is in negotiation with District Council 48. Contracts with the Milwaukee Police Association and the Milwaukee Professional Fire Fighters Association will expire at the end of 2003. In coordination with Leadership Development Institute, DER will provide employment law update training for key managers and supervisors on such topics as ADA, FMLA, IRCA (Immigration Reform and Control Act), legal interviewing, anti-harassment/anti-discrimination, Wisconsin Public Record Law, etc.
DER-EMPLOYEE BENEFITS ACCOUNTS
Florence Dukes, Michael Brady, Jennifer Gonda, David Heard, Edwin Reyes, Mohammad Abdallah, Andrea Knickerbocker, Michael Brady and Mark Ramion appeared.
Between 1998 and 2002, the average increases for employee health benefits for the City of Milwaukee was 9.6%. A 0.6% decrease (overall) for employee health benefits is projected for 2003 to 2004. The 2004 proposed budget includes the increase in monthly premiums, adopted by the Common Council in July 2003, for management employees enrolled in the Basic Plan, from $136.40 to $184.86 for single coverage and from $249.22 to $326.14 for family coverage. The proposed budget decreases the Basic Plan Claims account by $2.9 million from the 2003 budget and increases the HMO funding account by $2.4 million from the 2003 budget. The city's contribution for HMOs remains at 100% of the lowest HMO for each category of coverage. For 2003, the city's monthly contribution will be $336.43 for single coverage and $918.45 for family coverage. The 2004 proposed budget for the dental insurance sub-account remains the same as in 2003, $2.475 million. The City's contribution for dental insurance has not changed since 1992. $13 is contributed monthly for single coverage and $37.50 for family coverage. The proposed budget for Administrative Expense increases from $1,200,000 to $1,226,100. Health care cost containment and rising health care premiums for employers are issues of local and national concern in both the public and private sectors. The Mayor's Task Force on health care issues has formally concluded and will issue a report by the end of 2003. This task force examined the various forces impacting the local health care marketplace. Monthly rates for Fire and Police (MPA Only) Basic Plan enrollees are $60 for single coverage and $120 for family coverage as specified in the 2003 contract. In 2004, city employees will have the choice to two HMO plans: CompcareBlue Aurora Family Network and CompcareBlue Traditional Network. Current City of Milwaukee General City eligible retirees can select any health insurance plan the city offers at no cost until they reach 65 years of age. City of Milwaukee management employees, less than 65 years of age, who retire after December 31, 2003, however will contribute the same amount to their health care as active employees in their respective employee/bargaining group or have no cost for the Aurora Family Network HMO. Fire and Police retirees pay for health insurance based on a formula related to their sick leave. The department is very pleased with all of the progress they have made with the Mint System. They have training bulletins on the mint and are utilizing all of the technologies that are out there. The dept. let out an RFP ($150,000) and are working with the City Attorney for the 79 positions cited for layoff, 8 positions that have been sited for layoff have been hired by other departments. The first meeting will be held at the end of this month for all of the employees that will be laid off. Ald. D'Amato asked them to wait on the contract till after the budget process, because what happens if we have $150,000 contract and no one gets laid off. If there are no layoffs, no one will be referred to the vendor. They have decided to schedule more City Service Commission meetings, as they had several meetings that lasted past midnight. They need to look to the departments. Last year some of the departments were able to re-deploy employees, who were sited for layoff to other sections of the office. Some of the functions of the Human Resources Manager have been transferred to the Labor Relations Section. Ald. D'Amato stated we are at a near or all time high on Police overtime and discipline and wanted to be certain they put some new policies into place before the selection of a new police chief. We have asked the taxpayers to pay about $20 million dollars on each of those issues combined. He also asked about the COMPASS program and each of the candidates has agreed to release information as far as use of force and the COMPASS program. Ald. Gordon asked considering the 100 year plus history of the Fire and Police Commission what substantive changes have been made relative to the Commission's ability to dictate policy and policy concerns. Ald. Murphy stated the Fire and Police Commission has a lot of authority, but they have not exercised it. There will be a long time impact on lawsuits filed against the police department. This is the largest budget (police) of the City. Ald. Donovan asked if it was the responsibility of the Fire and Police Commission to hire relative to diversity. Mr. Heard said it was, but will now become the job of the new office of Diversity. The police department has two officers assigned to recruiting. Mr. Heard said they are constantly recruiting. Worker's compensation costs are about even with what they had last year ($6.9 million). There are training efforts scheduled for January. Safety training is constantly going on. Our workers are getting older and perhaps that counts for some of the injuries. We are involved with a PPO with five other taxing units to help reduce expenses. Standard Insurance handles long time disability benefits. Each individual on disability receives an annual review. Even if they go on SS disability, SS requires an annual review. In discipline by the police department, most of the disciplines are for courtesy and civility and failure to show up in court. Ald. Gordon complimented Mr. Brady on the great job he is doing with health care costs. The task force realized there is a clear realization that these health care costs go beyond the City of Milwaukee. A number of employers are looking at managed competition. They are looking at drug controlled tools and cooperating with other taxing districts and other municipalities.
PORT OF MILWAUKEE
Kevin Szallai, Hattie Billingsley, Larry Sullivan, David Schroeder and Angelyn Ward appeared.
The operations of the Port include: leasing of harbor lands, equipment , and facilities; establishing rates for use of the Port and its facilities; planning, designing, and constructing harbor improvement; and day-to-day operations and promotion of the Port. The Port is a city department included in the tax levy supported budget; however it is accounted for as an enterprise fund. In the 2004 Proposed Budget, the Port has 33 authorized positions, a decrease of 1 position. Operating Expenditures are $778,831, an increase of $25,026 and the Capital Improvements Budget provides $650,000. In the 2004 Proposed Budget, the Harbor Assistance Grant funding from the State of Wisconsin provides a supplement to the City Capital Project titled Pier, Berth and Channel Improvements of $200,000. The grant is expected to cover 80% of the total costs. The Proposed Budget provides $1,220,101 for Special Funds, an increase of $137,501, 12.7% from the 2003 Budget. Two projects, formerly providing capital funding, are now part of Special Funds. They include Major Maintenance of Terminal and Piers for $72,600 and Major Rehabilitation and upgrades for Equipment for $50,000. The Proposed Budget also provides $3,422,909 in revenues. Due to vacancies, critical duties are being performed by the other personnel; non-critical duties have been delayed or have ceased to be performed by the staff. The Port will demolish a dock office (formerly used by the Port) that is no longer needed. All Port operations are contained in the new Port Administration Building. With the demolition of the office, more space will become available for cargo operations and in turn increase Port revenues. The Port of Milwaukee has worked closely with the U.S. Coast Guard and the barge industry to eliminate certain restrictions that the American Bureau of Shipping inspection requirements. The U.S. Coast guard ruled in June, 2002, that hopper barges transporting cargo on the country's inland waterways could be used to ship goods via Lake Michigan. The regulatory change has increased the port's overall tonnage. The Port is working with various cruise ships to make Milwaukee a destination in the tour itinerary. Many of the projects for upgrades, rehabilitation and improvements are mandated by the department's lease agreements with the tenants. The buildings must be maintained in a safe and useable condition to meet code regulations. The port is working with MMSD and DNR to increase fishing opportunities. They are trying to re-connect the citizens with the lake. The ship will carry 250 passengers and 46 automobiles in a trip of 2 and ½ hours dock to dock. This service will start on June 1, 2004. They expect a very large influx of visitors from western Michigan. What it shows is that port business is solid and healthy. They want to even out their revenue flow and employment, so folks can count on a good job in the business. Ald. Murphy complimented Mr. Szallai and Mr. Sullivan on a great job being done, as 10 years ago, they were thinking about closing the port. Ald. Gordon stated he was really impressed with the Pier Wisconsin project and its educational impact. They are getting ready to have a design competition. They are excited about the future of the organization. The lease calls for Pier Wisconsin to have all the financing in place and construction by December, 2004. They provide cost effective transportation packages to continuously reach out and touch someone. $1 million fee that is in place for a 20 year agreement (sales taxes) with Summerfest. Ald. Murphy asked about all the species of fish that have invaded the great lakes and asked what could be done to eliminate this. It's a international problem and is being very closely looked at. They are looking at ways to chemically treat invasive species. It's anything from a kid dumping his aquarium to a fisherman who wants. | HELD TO CALL OF THE CHAIR | Pass | 5:0 |
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