06 Attachment 5 - Public Comments Received between Monday 1100 May 18 and Tuesday 1100 May 19 2020From:
Sent:
To:
Cc:
Subject:
Terry Duryea <tduryea@aol.com>
Monday, May 18, 2020 12:24 PM
Marcia Jensen; Rob Rennie; barbara4lg@comcast.net; Marice Sayoc; Laurel Prevetti; Arn
Andrews
Stephen Conway; Gitta Ungvari
May 19, 2020 Town Council Meeting-Resident Comment Item 6-Proposed 2020-2021
Budget
Honorable Town Council Members
At the January 21, 2020 Town Council meeting, Staff requested Council Members to provide direction on budget assumptions, and specific direction for the preparation of the Town's Fiscal Year 2020/21 Operating and Capital Budgets. I submitted a letter to Council dated Jan 8 requesting the Council ask Staff to follow GFOA recommended best practices
in developing the budget. GFOA best practices provide greater transparency than the practices the Town has followed historically.
Because I could not make the meeting, Mr. Rick Tinsley read a summary of this letter during the 3 minute resident comment period. Based on a review of the video of the meeting, multiple Council members endorsed my comments,
requesting staff to consider them ..
I commend staff as they took a step forward on one of my suggestions-they are now budgeting employee salaries 1 step above the current pay grade rather than at top step.
Unfortunately, the current draft budget doesn't reflect any of the other comments Council encouraged Staff to make.
The largest distortion of the proposed budget is caused by assuming there are no staff vacancies during the fiscal year. Currently there are 9, 8 of which the Town is recruiting to fill. Page D-50 of the budget document indicates the vacancy
rate was 9% in 2018-2019 and is estimated to be 13% in 2019-2020. The Town projects it to be 10% in 2020-2021, but
the budget does not reflect this. Allowing Staff to continue to hide a "pad" in the budget makes it difficult for Council to hold Staff accountable for their management of Town finances. "Conservative budgeting" is a good practice only so long
as it does not prevent transparency.
Historically, the Town has used it budget surplus to fund Capital Improvement, and more recently AD P's for the Town's
pension obligations. I encourage the Town to continue to have a "budget pad", but that it be identified and quantified.
There is a second opportunity to improve transparency. The budget document should provide comparative historical information in the same table when presenting the proposed budget and 4 year forecast. This basic presentation allows
the reader to evaluate the proposed budget and forecast for reasonableness.
I ask Council to improve the transparency of the Town's financial disclosures. Having a financial transparency section on
the Town's website is only effective if the information presented provides transparency.
I will not be making a comment at the Council meeting as I have a conflict with another meeting.
Respectfully submitted,
Terry Duryea
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