Oxnard budget not approved, large low income housing advanced, controversy over key city staff “evaluation”

By George Miller

July 15, 2013

Editor’s Note:  The following is a summary of the Oxnard City Council meeting of Tuesday, July 9^th:   The $364 million (2013-14) and $426 million (2014-15) proposed budgets were not approved by the City Council because of excessive disagreements on priorities, missing items and questions about funding sources. Financial and compensation policy approval was also deferred. A major low-income housing project (funded by subsidies) was advanced. A contentious debate resulted in voting down the holding of closed sessions for the evaluation of the Interim City Manager Karen Burnham and City Attorney Alan Holmberg.  A split decision was given for a closed meeting to revisit a decision not to recover benefits illegally awarded to selected city retirees. The Ventura Star was awarded a legal notices contract.  The City Council discussed the need for major new computer systems along with possibility of a citizen advisory committee.  The City Council explored why the city had dozens of open city jobs but only six advertised jobs and approximately $3.8 million was approved for Hueneme Road widening.

 Ref: 

All Meeting Agendas, Archives and Minutes

Videos allow you to see and hear exactly what transpired.

Budget issues (Agenda item I-1)  see proposed budget: View Item (pdf 2.59 MB)

Oxnard is about in the middle of the pack of other local cities in expenditures per citizen (per staff budget presentations), driven by lower than average resident income, but higher than average demand for government services.  Much of the budget is pass-through funding and subsidies from higher levels of government, or service revenue-funded projects and activities.

Some say that Oxnard relies upon government more than is appropriate, but there is fairly strong evidence that these actions are supported by citizens based upon voting patterns and resident views expressed at meetings. Not too long ago, citizens voted for a half-cent sales tax increase (about 10% of the general fund) and various bond issues to fund more government.

The recession put a cap on spending, resulting in major capital project curtailments and a near freeze on hiring. The uptick in economic activity and optimistic predictions by various government officials have produced only a guarded optimism among council members. One of the concerns stated about the budget is that “no plan B exists,”  in case the economy turns South again. This could prompt a major retrenchment in staffing and projects and seems to have people worried.

High priority needs for water supply, wastewater processing and road repairs dominate the capital budget (approved 7/2/13) and will result in about a $60 million increase in spending in 2014-2015 alone.  A high degree of consensus exists among Oxnard council members and public who have expressed their views. Much of the city  budget is driven by compliance with public  laws, in housing, hiring, construction standards, wage levels, etc.  For example, state and federal laws on public housing mandate number and type of units and only allow discretion on site selection and implementation plans. Grants often dictate schedule and approach. Generous subsidies help these mandatory (per Councilman Bryan MacDonald)

A perusal of staff budget presentation materials revealed that there are dozens of open positions (64.5 in General Fund portion of budget alone), in some departments over 20 percent, many of which are said to be funded.  The total budget “headcount”  is 1226 but not all are designated as funded, unfunded or “on hold.”  An examination of the Oxnard Human Resource Department web page and an inquiry to Oxnard Human Resources (July 9^th) revealed that only six positions are advertised and six more “internal” openings

The difference in reporting Oxnard city staffing has given some departments additional funds but has resulted in heavier workloads for some employees and curtailment of some projects and services.  In some cases, this could result in loss of some grant funding and violation of contracts/regulations with state and federal government entities.  Not discussed at the council meeting was which cutbacks had no significant or  detrimental

The need for expenditures for upgrade of major computer systems/software is largely unbudgeted by the City.

Councilman MacDonald lamented endless debate of the budget items, especially since most had been in Council members’ hands for a month but only recently made available to the public.  Oxnard operates on a July 1^st  fiscal year and has started the new year without a budget.  However, Oxnard does not face any major repercussions for not having an adopted budget according to the city’s Finance Director (Mr. Cameron).

Councilwoman Dorina Padilla stated the budget is being balanced via keeping jobs vacant. At least one resident called for use of temps and interns to help control expenses.  The City Council heard a report from the Human Resources Manager concerning the bidding and recruiting process for bargaining unit positions which are opened and to be filled. Once approved, there is an up to a 10 day bidding process. If there aren’t at least three qualified internal applicants, external applicants are also sought.  According to the Human Resource Manager this is time consuming since only person in the department is overseeing applicants due to earlier staff cuts with the process only being able to be accelerated by either recruiting additional city human resource staff or contracting outside resources for this.

Debt

The proposed Oxnard City budget does not call for increases in debt or debt service (based upon the budget’s economic and revenue assumptions).   The need for funding is also based on the timing of the expenditures, which is not known (or reported) at this time.  Fiscal concerns were expressed by several Oxnard City Council members as well as Mayor Tim Flynn.

Councilman MacDonald had previously requested ,  in June, a list of outstanding bonds and terms.  Mayor Flynn (speaking to the Citizens Journal on 7/7/13)  stated that Oxnard’s total indebtedness is “around a half a billion” (dollars), considerably more than the total current annual budget.  Oxnard bond ratings have also been degraded.

Low Income Housing 

A major Developmental Services Department project (AAHOP—All Affordable Housing Opportunity Program), which consists of multiple projects at multiple sites, was presented at the City Council meeting which would provide 2243  low, very low and extremely low income housing units, at 36 sites, on 116 parcels of land in technical, presentation given by Chris Williamson.

Mr. Williamson later told the Citizens Journal that this was a general plan and that the entities which undertake the projects by providing management, resources and by securing funding are usually a combination of federal tax credits, grants (sometimes including United States Department of Agriculture money for farm workers’ housing) as well as state bonds or even City money.    According to Williamson, two projects are currently active: one by Cabrillo Management  and the other by an unnamed by a property owner.

Councilman MacDonald stated that these projects are mandatory, not discretionary (dictated by state and federal government).  Laws mandate a certain percentage of units to be “affordable” which are translated into quotas.

Public comment seemed mostly supportive of the Cabrillo project. One speaker inquired about funding sources and whether the city would have any liability, also suggesting that it might be better to focus on bringing in better paying jobs so Oxnard wouldn’t  have to “build cheap houses for poor people.” He said. We were told that this is being paid for by “tax credits” and grants.”

Computer Systems

The main “enterprise” software used by the city for its core activities of finance, human resources/payroll, Community Development and utility applications, is 25 years old and supporting hardware and system software is seven years old according to Tara Watson, IT Supervisor and David Endelman, GIS coordinator.  According to the presentation, the city computer systems are not fully web-enabled, not “fourth generation” systems and are not fully interoperable with current technology, or even other city systems. Oxnard Information Technology professionals and staff are therefore at a disadvantage in best serving residents, system users and the Oxnard City Council.

In addition, some other systems, such as permitting, inspections, planning, engineering, code enforcement, asset management, timekeeping and others, are also believed to be considerably short of what is desired and less efficient, for the same reasons.

Oxnard Information Services personnel made a presentation at the meeting but did not offer the presentation online to the public (although The Citizens Journal secured a copy of the PowerPoint presentation).

Those commenting, generally agreed that the full scope of requirements, metrics, applications, system hardware, software, networking, customization, integration/interfacing, installation, training, education, training, maintenance, support and ongoing system lifecycle issues, should be defined before writing a request for proposal and negotiating with vendors.  Mayor Flynn and resident Steve Nash called for a resident advisory board on this. No firm proposal on this was advanced, nor votes taken at the City Council meeting.

General

Agenda item L: Interim City Manager Burnham stated that City activities have resulted in a  five percent discount for flood insurance rates for properties in the city.  Libraries now have working WiFi. After considerable debate over two meetings (Agenda item M-3), Ventura Star was awarded contract (Motion carried, with Padilla and McDonald dissenting) to publish legal notices. VC Reporter and Vida newspaper also competed. The Star  was adjudged as the only qualified bidder because it was the only daily newspaper bidding and daily publication was said to be a requirement. Manuel Munoz, Publisher of the Vida, later told Citizens Journal that Vida’s continuous publication and availability of online notices should be adequate for the city’s needs. Agenda item Public Works-5: $3.8 million approved, unanimously for Hueneme Road widening, to accommodate heavier traffic, especially from the Port which is a source of revenue for the city.

Next meeting is July 16 at City Hall:

George Miller is a “retired” operations management consultant, active in civic affairs, living in Oxnard.