Fiscal Year 2013 Recommended Budget Discussion: Council Member Fimbres Questions Dated 4/25/12 with Staff Responses

in Bold 1. As it had been stated that the City Manager had gone through the proposed department budgets, line by line, what was the total of the department budgets, as proposed by the departments to the City Manager? See the DRAFT working paper reports issued to the Mayor and Council on March 30 for summary totals for the specific funds as reviewed by the City Manager. Total department budgets were not reviewed, only specific non-federal or state funding (e.g. General Fund, Environmental Services Fund, Tucson Convention Center Fund, Tucson Water Revenue and Operations Fund, etc.) 2. How does the proposed budgets, by the department directors compare to the City Manager's proposed budget? Specific adjustments were made upon City Manager direction following the review of the proposed budgets. Most adjustments made were line-item decreases with the exception of one-time funding added for security and safety needs (e.g. Parks and Recreation), pool openings, election equipment, TCC bleachers, fuel contingency, radio narrow banding infrastructure. 3. What are the proposed revenue figures listed based on? See explanations included in the Fiscal Year 2013 Recommended Budget document, Section C Funding Sources. 4. What is the proposed percentage, in the growth of revenue, based on? Revenue projections for the various funding sources were made by Finance and Budget staff, as well as departments, as to the amounts that potentially will have been collected by June 30, 2013. These projections are based on historical trends and other known factors and this is done as a standard budgeting practice. 5. Is this in conjunction with the state revenue growth projections? State-shared revenue projections have been provided to us by the State; however, the City is being more conservative based on our experience of what we actually receive from the State. 6. Does this proposed budget have a 1% COLA (Cost of Living Adjustment) built into it already? Yes, funding for a 1% COLA would be made available from vacancy savings for positions already included in the recommended budget.

7. What is the rate that the "administrative service charge" is assessed and by which standards? The administrative charge is based on a calculation of the cost of actual prior year services provided by support departments to the entity being charged. The City of Tucson utilizes a Full Cost Allocation Plan (FCAP) to identify the cost of central support services provided to its operating departments, special funds and other entities of the City. The FCAP is prepared with the MAXIMUS Cost Allocation and Rate System (MAXCars) software by Internal Audit staff. 8. How are the rates/charges that General Services assesses, based on what criteria? General Service Department (GSD) develops charges based on the total costs to deliver specific services their customers require and/or ask for. Charges are specific to services or groupings of like services. Some services are charged as demanded, i.e., parking meters, vehicle fuel and vehicle repairs. Other services are charged on a fixed price for the fiscal year basis, i.e., handheld radio maintenance and repair, as well as building maintenance and repair. The detail methodologies for determining charges vary by the service being delivered and represent those methodologies common to the applicable industry/service. GSD's charges are intended to recover all of their costs, including all overhead and longer term periodic costs. 9. What are the rates for which Environmental Services and Tucson Water charge the respective departments? The rates are the same as charged to all other external customers. 10. Is it the residential rate or the commercial business rate being assessed by Tucson Water and Environmental Services to the departments? Commercial. 11. Which departments are operated as "enterprise funds?" Tucson Water, Environmental Services, and Tucson City Golf 12. Which departments had received additional monies from the general fund due to running either a negative balance or otherwise? Pooled cash from all revenue sources is used to fund City expenses. No departments received additional monies from the General Fund. 13. How will it be noted of the employment positions that will be eliminated through a restructuring of the respective department? Shifts in personnel between Fiscal Year 2012 and Recommended Fiscal Year 2013 can be found in the Position Resources listing included with each departments budget in Section D of the Fiscal Year 2013 Recommended Budget document.