Title
Reorganization of Budget & Finance Department (B)
This item details the proposed staff and reporting relationship changes associated with the reorganization of the Budget & Finance Department.
Explanation
Earlier this year in order to streamline service delivery, reduce operating expense and take advantage of the inherent similarities in functionality, the City Manager approved merging the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) with the Finance Department to form the Budget & Finance Department.
As part of this restructuring, the Strategic Planning function was moved from OMB to a direct reporting relationship to the Administrative Services Director. Within the former OMB department, the following changes were implemented:
· The OMB Director position was eliminated
· A Sr. Management Analyst position was eliminated and replaced by a Budget Coordinator slot
· A Management Analyst position was deleted
The result was the creation of a Budget Division inside the new Budget & Finance Department, with the Budget Coordinator reporting directly to the Finance Director.
Over the next approximately 21 months, the Budget & Finance Department is losing four key staff members to retirement:
· Treasury Manager in April 2007
· Payroll/Payables Financial Services Coordinator in June 2007
· Customer Relations Supervisor in January 2008, and
· Budget Coordinator in July 2008
During preparation of the FY2007 and FY2008 budget this past summer, it was discussed that the recent merger of OMB and Finance, coupled with the impending departure of the four senior staff members above, created both the opportunity and the necessity of restructuring the newly combined department, with an eye towards maintaining service levels while reducing cost.
To this end, the City Manager asked Budget & Finance to submit a departmental budget that showed in FY2008 a reduction from current staffing levels of at least 2 FTE and a budget reduction of at least $150,000. The attached organization charts depict the current and proposed organizational structure for the Budget & Finance Department. The proposed structure meets the objectives noted above through the following changes.
Treasury Division
A number of position changes are proposed in this area:
· Elimination of the Treasury Manager position upon retirement of the incumbent in April of 2007
· Elimination of the Customer Relations Supervisor position in Billing & Collections upon retirement of the incumbent in January 2008
· An add/delete process, deleting the existing Revenue Recovery Specialist position and adding a new proposed position with the title of Treasurer.
· Moving the pension & investment function to a stand-alone division
· Moving the mail services function under the auspices of the Purchasing Division.
These changes will result in a new Treasury Division composed of two sections, Billing & Collection and Payroll/Payables. These sections will be headed by existing Financial Services Coordinators who will report directly to the Treasurer. This division will provide the core of the Finance Department's processing functions, with responsibility for billing and receiving revenue as well as paying both our employees and our vendors.
Pension & Investments
As noted above, the pension and investment function is being moved out of the Treasury Division, creating a separate division devoted entirely to pension & investment administration. The Pension & Investment Division will be headed by a new proposed position, the Chief Investment Officer, which will report directly to the Finance Director. This position is created through a proposed add/delete process, adding the Chief Investment Officer and deleting the existing Treasury Supervisor. In addition, a title change is proposed, changing the current Treasury & Investment Coordinator to Pension & Investments Coordinator.
This change will allow Pension & Investment staff to focus solely on management of the City's one-half billion dollars in pension and retiree health insurance trust fund assets as well as the $75 million dollar operating investment portfolio.
Small Business Procurement Program
Since the departure in the spring of the Small Business Development Program Coordinator in the Economic Development Department, the Small Business Procurement Program Coordinator in the Finance Department has been performing this function on an interim basis. During this interim assignment, he has been performing in essence both of these functions.
I have had a number of discussions with the Economic Development Director and we are in consensus that this interim period has demonstrated that the duties of both jobs can be properly addressed through a single merged position reporting to the Economic Development Director. Therefore, the proposed reorganization of the Budget & Finance Department includes elimination of the Small Business Procurement Program Coordinator position.
Budget & Accounting
As part of the restructuring, an add/delete process will be proposed deleting the existing Accounting Manager position and adding a Controller position. This will create a structure under which the Budget Division, headed by the Budget Coordinator, and the Accounting Division will report to the Controller who is a direct report to the Finance Director. This reporting relationship should serve to improve communication between the Budget and Accounting areas, which is critical to efficient administration of City finances.
The changes incorporated in this proposal provide sufficient FTE and budget relief to enable the addition of a Management Analyst position back into the Budget Division to ensure appropriate service level delivery as well as reclassifying the existing Management Analyst slot to a Sr. Management Analyst to properly reflect the level of duties and responsibilities performed.
Summary
The proposed departmental structure was designed to improve the functional groupings of employees based on the duties and responsibilities assigned to the Budget & Finance Department. The result is a more streamlined reporting structure that should enhance both communication and work flow among the Department's various divisions. To recap, the proposed personnel changes are:
Positions Deleted:
Treasury Manager
Customer Relations Supervisor
Small Business Procurement Program Coordinator
Positions Added:
Management Analyst
Reclassifications
Management Analyst to Sr. Management Analyst
Add/Deletes:
Add Controller/Delete Accounting Manager
Add Treasurer/Delete Revenue Recovery Specialist
Title Changes:
Treasury Supervisor to Chief Investment Officer
Treasury & Investment Coordinator to Pension & Investments Coordinator
The net result meets the target established during the budget process by eliminating 2 FTEs and reducing the FY2008 Budget & Finance Department budget by just under $163,000, while providing the means to continue to provide necessary service delivery to the organization.
Fiscal Note
As noted above the proposed restructuring will reduce total FTEs by 2 and the Budget & Finance Department FY2008 budget by approximately $163,000.
Recommendation
The City Commission approve the proposed reorganization of the Budget & Finance Department.