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Impact of FY10-11 Budget Reductions

City Manager

Fire Service:

Removed one fire engine from service on a 24-7 shift.
Reduced public outreach primarily through reductions in Pumper and Pals performances.

Police Department:

Eliminated four officer positions and reduced overtime. In general, a reduction in officers reduces ELPD's ability to staff for major events. These include planned events such as welcome week, MSU football and March Madness, as well as unplanned events such as a major catastrophe or serious crime.
Eliminated one School Resource Officer (SRO). This officer was assigned to the elementary schools. This is now covered by the middle school SRO.
Will eliminate one detective position in July. This may increase the amount of time it takes to investigate a case or reduce the number of cases that get investigated.
Eliminated one patrol officer position. This has some effect on the number of officers on patrol. We continue to maintain our minimum staffing levels; however, there will be fewer days that more than the minimum number of officers will be working.
Eliminated one supervisor position. The workload for this position has been redistributed, however, should not impact the citizens.
Eliminated the Citizens Police Academy and other public service presentations and staffing unless ELPD can present them without causing overtime or the group that is requesting the service pays for the overtime.

Department of Public Works:

Reduced all discretionary overtime.
Eliminated Hazardous Sidewalk Program
Extended the life of the majority of the City fleet by a minimum of two years. No vehicle replacement costs have been budgeted for the past two years.

Parks Maintenance

Reduced Staff by three in Parks Maintenance Division by attrition.
Contracted Soccer Facility maintenance.
Less frequent mowing of City parks and medians.
Eliminated two summer interns to work on flower beds and plantings.
Reduced fertilization and pesticide application in parkways and parks.
Eliminated capital outlay which includes picnic table and playground equipment replacement.

Major and Local Streets

Reduced staff by one in street funds by attrition.
Reduced pavement maintenance activities such as crack sealing and asphalt overlays. With the reduction in pavement maintenance, we are not hiring seasonal employees for the summer.
Revised the snow and ice removal policy to plow and/or salt less frequently and to reduce overtime hours except in the case of emergencies.

Solid Waste

Reduced the free yard waste collections in the spring and fall from three collections to two collections.

City Clerk:
Customer Service

The most significant impact will be customer service with fewer staff to cover the window and phones. The current procedure is to assist customers at the window prior to taking phone calls. During peak times (after lunch), phone calls may be forwarded to voicemail while assisting customers at the counter. This will become the standard during the November general election because of the increased amount of activity at the window.
Delays in addressing customers at the window
Delays in answering phones and responding to customer inquiries by phone
Delays in responding to customer requests via email, fax, or mail.
Delays in returning phone calls

Elections

Michigan Election Law establishes the timeline for coordinating elections (e.g. absent voter ballots must be available by a certain date). There also has to be staff available to review, notarize and accept candidate filings for local offices or proposals. The City Clerk office will begin to see a backlog with maintaining voter records causing possible delays in accessing voter information on Election Day in case the Qualified Voter File becomes inaccessible.
The most significant impact in elections will be on absent voter ballot processing. The office has a three-step system to ensure a voter is given the correct ballot. This is more of an issue in November general elections because of the number of possible splits within a precinct which is expected this November.
During even-year elections, the clerk is often out of the office due to the number of trainings, meetings, updates and discussions regarding the November election. This automatically creates a shortage of staff available to assist our residents.
Delays in processing absent voter ballot requests made in person, resulting in longer lines at the window.
Increased turnaround time for processing absent voter ballot mail requests depending on staff coverage that day.

Archival and retrieval of documents

The City Clerk is the official record keeper for the city’s official documents, the city clerk’s office has both internal and external customers and is the first point of the contact in many jurisdictions. We receive requests for information on a daily basis from residents, other municipalities, and states.
In order to continue our focus on customer service, the archiving of documents may be delayed resulting in delays in responding to requests for information.
Delays in archiving documents required by law.
Delays in responding to document requests for internal and external customers.

Code Enforcement and Neighborhood Conservation:

Reduced office hours for inspectors to meet with clients, which delays getting questions answered.
Reductions in staff mean fewer pro-active inspections can be made (catch problems before complaints come in).
Delays in processing permits and rental renewals in higher volume periods.
Delays in processing complaints.
There is occasional difficulty staffing the office at mid-day when clerical staff is off.
Discontinuation of the Inspector's Choice recognition.
Reduced contribution to the Detroit College of Law rental housing clinic.
Code Enforcement used to hold periodic training sessions for rental property owners and/or occupants, that has significantly decreased and with less personnel and less money and we anticipate bringing that back.
Reduction in code enforcement capability due to the loss of inspectors.

Parks & Recreation:

Elimination of the YAT (Drop in After School Program) - Primarily for Middle School Age Students from MacDonald Middle School. Held at ELHCC. $40,000 savings.
Increase non-resident admission fees by $1 per admission to Family Aquatic Center on weekdays beginning in 2011 season. We anticipate this will generate an additional $19,000 per year. A more positive impact is we are planning to reduce resident weekend fees to Aquatic Center by $1 per admission beginning in 2011 season.
Reduction of part-time Customer Service Associate hours at Hannah Community Center by $25,000 (full-time staff have been assigned to staff the front desk). Parks anticipates responsiveness to resident/customer requests will be impacted by this staffing level adjustment.
Reduction in the Capital Equipment Replacement Fund contribution by $15,000 (from $25,000 to $10,000) per year. Ongoing improvements or equipment replacements will be postponed.
Deferring department staff computer replacement program by $8,000. Likely will not affect day to day service capabilities to general public in fy2011.
Deferring automobile replacement program by $4,400. Likely will not affect day to day service capabilities to general public in fy2011.
Reduction in staff due to furlough days will impact our responsiveness to resident/customer requests.
Reduction in Park and Recreation Operating Budget Capital Improvement Program reduced by $84,000 in FY2011. We have postponed such projects as the front entry door replacement, front canopy installation, Gymnasium Floor refinishing, and other similar projects to the Hannah Community Center.

Government Buildings Budget Service Impacts

Reduced the HVAC Preventative Maintenance Contract by approximately 10% representing a savings of an estimated $36,000. Immediate service impacts will likely not be felt by residents/building users. However, reducing the preventative maintenance program could have long-term impacts in terms of life expectancy of equipment
No capital improvements are scheduled for Government Buildings in FY2011. The City typically expends approximately $110,000 to $120,000 per year on various building related projects for HVAC, plumbing, electrical, doors, windows, carpet replacement, other floor replacements, and etc.
Deferred roof replacement program. The City has an estimated $500,000 in roof replacements scheduled for ELHCC, City Hall, Bailey Community Center and the Library that have been deferred for 3 years now.

54-District Court:

Staff reductions may result it longer wait times for the public in lines at the counter and for phone calls to be answered.
The Court may have to reduce the number of hours phones are answered.
There may be a longer time frame for cases to be scheduled and adjudicated.
There may be a longer wait for restitution to be paid to victims.
It may take longer for the public to receive responses to requests to for information or letters about tickets.
There may be a delay in civil cases, as criminal takes precedence over civil. (This includes civil infractions.)

Planning Department:

Delayed efforts to proceed with form based code.
Less direct outreach to homeowners on historic district regulations.
Decreased resources for human service agencies.
Utilize interns for activities previously performed by staff, examples range from drafting the Impediments to Fair Housing study to receptionist duties.

Communications Department:

One less Dialog residential newsletter will be mailed each year. Cut from quarterly to three times a year.
The Annual Report Community Calendar will not be printed and mailed in bulk quantities, but will instead be posted online with a limited number of print editions available to residents upon request.
Eliminated use of outside graphic design services.
Reduced Winter Bowl and merged with the Holidays at Hannah event.
The Summer Concert Series’ Saturday night concerts are now being funded by a sponsor.
The Crystal Awards reception will be reduced and/or funded by a sponsor.
Reduced Great Lakes Folk Festival in-kind contribution, causing a reduction in the physical size of the site. In addition, the City’s contribution to the 2011 festival will be cut in half from $80,000-$40,000.

Library:

The biggest impact on the community will be the ELPL's decreased ability to purchase materials which translates to the ability to meet the community's informational, educational and recreational needs (there is often a short publishing cycle for some materials). In other words if you miss it then you've lost your chance to get it.
The high standard of service that we have been able to deliver will be compromised by not filling positions as they are vacated.

Prime Time Seniors:

The elimination of two chore service positions and two sub-secretary positions has resulted in fewer people to take on more in order to meet the senior needs that exist within our community. Chore service is one of our more widely accessed services. This provides for in-home assistance with everything from getting up on a ladder to change a light bulb to putting a safety rail in a bathroom. These services keep our community’s’ elders safe and allows them to remain independent longer. The average age of individuals who access chore service is 85, and as the 80 plus cohort is the largest growing segment of the U.S. population, the service demand continues to grow.
Without backup personnel - the ordinary work will become backlogged and will likely have an adverse affect on morale as well as response time regarding information and referral which covers things meals on wheels delivery and elder abuse concerns.

Miscellaneous:

50% reduction in social service agency funding.
Reduction in dues & memberships (LEAP, MLK, etc) to local organizations/events.