City budget – Seacoast Sunday February 25, 2018.
(How I would look at city budgets if a councilor…)
Portsmouth city budget this year will go down as “the year of the big ask.” Already at $109 million in spending, the 2018-2019 budget will easily weigh in at $113 million, with police and fire asking for 10 new full time positions on top of that.
City taxpayers have had a magical combination of cost-conscious councils, low inflation and lots of development downtown. Budgets have gone up an average of 3.7% in spending over the last decade, but tax burden for an average single-family home owner has gone up only 1.5% a year. Thank downtown development for the difference.
But the heart of the budget process is people – how skilled, how many, and are they allocated efficiently? And that is where the tug and pull of budgeting happens.
Some city departments say it’s time to “get back to pre-recession staffing levels” in their budget requests. A ten-year history (above) shows why, but also shows how thrifty the city has been. (All the data is in the budget section of the city website).
During the recession years, full time workers dropped from 660 in 2009 to 609 in 2012, including a drop of 28 jobs in 2011. Remember when cities around the U.S. were going bankrupt? Portsmouth was able to deliver all its vital services with fewer people and live within its lower tax revenue. This wasn’t easy – who can forget a budget hearing when hundreds of upset residents filled the high school auditorium. Notably, the data shows the city did not go on a hiring binge after reducing staff.
The city has also watched out for taxpayers at the bargaining table. In 2008, average compensation per worker was galloping at 5.4% a year. That was reined in to 3-4%. But each year, contract increases drive higher pay packages – which is not always true in the private sector. That puts added pressure on headcount to keep tax increases at historically low levels.
City Manager John Bohenko has imposed fiscal constraint with a sound budgeting process: he and the council adopt a spending increase guideline (this year 3.25%) and city departments must deliver a budget that sings that tune with additional requests separate and above. That insures the budget doesn’t go wild, hurting the taxpayer.
In contrast to 2012, we are now living in Boomtown, USA. Here are some of the interesting budget choices to be made as our economy charges ahead:
Police Chief Robert Werner wants four new positions including two patrol officers. He says correctly that his department is still below pre-recession levels – 91 police employees in 2007, 86 today. And while city population has been flat at 21,000 for a decade, the number of visitors keeps growing.
Fire Chief Steve Achille wants to add four firefighters an inspector and an administrator. The fire department has been flat at 60-62 employees for a decade, despite at least 3 million feet of new construction, and increasing demand for paramedic services as our population ages. But given the context of our headcount history a 10% jump in staff is an ask taller than a ladder truck. Much of the construction is office space at Pease, and all of it has sprinkler systems.
School Superintendent Steve Zadrevic is working towards a 3.25% guideline, helped by retirement incentives for a “status quo” budget. Schools full-time headcount is 361 today versus 373 pre-recession.. Enrollments, though, are flat.
As we become a city of older residents and condo dwellers with no family growth, and exploding tourist traffic, all these trends pose some profound questions around how to allocate our human capital. Unfortunately, the city cannot create taxes or fees for visitors (except parking) due to state law.
So grab your tv remote and watch the debate, or go to city hall and speak out.