News from Patrick Flynn

Friday, October 9, marked the first in-depth budget work session with the following departments offering additional details on their 2010 plans:

• Information Technology
• Purchasing
• Employee Relations
• Internal Audit
• Municipal Attorney
• Municipal Manager
• Public Transportation
• Health & Human Services
• Police Department

Editor’s note: I recognize the above list differs from what I posted earlier.  The administration made changes to their presentation schedule the preceding day.  Also, the Fire Department was supposed to present today but we ran out of time.

Several departments faced significant questions, here’s a sampling:

Information Technology:

Despite eliminating 12 full-time positions and one part-time position, department representatives explained there would be no impact on services to citizens and instead talked about focusing on their core responsibilities.  That seemed to mean supporting existing software and hardware with more focus on securing networks and maintaining data integrity.  It also seemed to mean continued development of the MOA web site so citizens can get more information without use of staff time, expanded use of the “Hanson” software to enhance permitting efficiencies and the likely replacement of a couple support-intensive processes (OMB and Employee Relations appear to be targets) to reduce both IT and personnel costs.  During the conversation I had the uneasy feeling that, so far at least, we lack a comprehensive strategy for IT – specifically a common, integrated platform that reduces expense associated with relatively unique or unsupported systems.  This problem isn’t unique to our city, and our new CFO has a background in matters like this, so I also got the feeling there’s reason to believe we’ll see improvement on this front.

Municipal Attorney:

Recent increases in the number of Anchorage’s police officers have, unsurprisingly, resulted in more arrests which means more prosecutions.  The Municipal Attorney’s office prosecutes most of the misdemeanors committed in Anchorage (felonies are the purview of the state Attorney General’s office) so they’ve struggled to keep up and sought to resolve some cases prior to the prosecutorial phase.  Continuing that effort, on Tuesday the administration will submit an ordinance that allows thefts to be handled administratively with fines, with an aim to reduce time needed to prosecute and the costs of indigent defense.  Similar legislation has previously raised concerns among the retail community so we’ll see how this goes.

Municipal Manager:

One of the structural changes in the municipality’s organization was migration of community grants to the Municipal Manager’s office.  With that move came a proposed dramatic reduction in said grants – only contributions supporting Fur Rondezvous and the Iditarod appear to have been held harmless.  I’ve already heard from two groups concerned about this reduction as the arts community receives significant funding from this pool.  We requested a list of 2009 grants and any plans for 2010.  I consider this an important issue since, aside from other matters, investment in the arts has proved to provide a bigger bang for the buck than most other so-called “economic development” initiatives.

Public Transportation:

After discussing cuts to routes in Eagle River and Peters Creek, the last bullet in this presentation mentioned “Higher fares for bus and AnchorRIDES (requires code change).”  What, I asked, does that mean?  Here’s the skinny:

• Adult fares would rise from $1.75 to $2
• Senior and other reduced fares would increase from $0.50 to $1
• Day passes would increase from $4 to $5
• Monthly passes would increase from $50 to $55
• Senior and other reduced fare monthly passes would increase from $15 to $25
• AnchorRIDES fares would increase from $3 to $4

And how much additional revenue are these increases estimated to achieve?  $250,000.  After my questions I didn’t need to voice my concerns about the effects on less affluent Anchorage residents, at least two of my colleagues jumped in to add theirs.  I expect we’ll be revisiting this one.

Police Department:

By cutting “mid-management” positions the administration’s budget shouldn’t reduce line officers.  The primary concern voiced was, for now at least, no police academy is scheduled for 2010.  That means as existing police retire we won’t have replacements available, though perhaps that helps address the aforementioned challenge for the Municipal Attorney’s office.  The administration proposes revisiting the issue during the first quarter of 2010.

Those are my notes so far and, as always, your comments are welcome.

Regards,

Patrick