Columbia city manager focuses on sustaining existing programs

COLUMBIA — The city's fiscal condition is "sound but not comfortable," City Manager Bill Watkins said during his fourth annual State of the City address on Wednesday morning.

The theme throughout Watkins’ speech was not on introducing new programs but on carefully managing those that already exist. This is the first time since the 1980s that city revenue has experienced no growth, Watkins said. The budget for fiscal year 2009 projects is $74.9 million in general revenue, which would be down 2.6 percent from fiscal year 2008. Watkins said fiscal year 2010 might also see a decline in revenue.

The theme echoed last year’s address, when Watkins also emphasized refraining from new incentives and programs.

Watkins first spoke of sustainability, which he said is more than climate control and energy; it also involves maintaining city services that residents expect and retaining effective city staff, many of whom are expected to retire in the next few years, he said.

The city has scheduled nearly a quarter of the programs at the City Council’s annual retreat this weekend on sustainability, Watkins said. The council is to define the goals of a new sustainability manager, who is to focus on saving city money. The job’s tasks are likely to begin by engaging the community and businesses in energy-efficiency incentives but could broaden to ensure accountability and efficiency across city departments, city Public Communications Director Toni Messina said.

Watkins focused a large part of his speech on the city’s workforce, saying that it has been his goal to “recruit, hire and retain the best possible employees with the funds available.”

He is to propose to the council that the city fund a three-year talent strategy to find qualified staff that can offset the substantial number of city employees expected to retire soon.

Although he did not mention layoffs, Watkins did say that some empty positions would not be filled in the new fiscal year.

“Positions that have become vacant and that I feel we can live without, I will probably not fill them,” Watkins said.

A four-year internal review of all job descriptions is to be completed this summer, Watkins said. The review also is to include how the city’s pay scales compare with open-market levels.

“Our goal long-term is to move all of our positions up, comparable to market levels, so we are not substantially above or substantially below what it costs to fill them,” he said.

Watkins said he would like to provide an across-the-board raise for all city employees, but that's “probably not in the cards this year.” He said the city would have to contribute more to pension funds for retired employees because of the hit they have taken in the recession.

Watkins suggested creating an advisory task force to update the utility funding structure to meet toughened environmental standards and the city’s growth.

“The stormwater revenue system, set by voters almost 20 years ago, just is not adequate for what we must do,” he said.

Watkins said the council is to discuss amendments to land disturbance ordinances, update the city’s development plans concerning zoning and subdivision codes, and try to lower the city’s energy use through demand-side management.

The city manager briefly outlined four areas that are to be funded by more than $1 million through a federal Energy Efficiency and Conservation Block Grant: Energy Star assessments of all city buildings, energy retrofits for some city buildings, a pilot project to create energy-friendly building codes and building design incentives, and funding for the sustainability manager.

Watkins said that the city is to focus on maintaining existing infrastructure in neighborhoods rather than seeking to build new assets. Trying to save money by deferring maintenance is a strategy that has led to collapsed infrastructure in other communities, he said.

In the past, the city has spent funding on new sidewalks rather than repairing existing sidewalks, Watkins said. But he said he has immediate plans to fix sidewalks that are falling apart in old neighborhoods such as East Campus.

Because of increasing bus ridership, he also outlined plans to appoint a transit committee to advise the council on the bus system, stating that the council is committed to making it more accessible.

He also spoke about upcoming changes to the Police Department administration that are being implemented by Police Chief Ken Burton. Watkins mentioned a distribution system in the works to make sure police officers are spread throughout the city and not all responding to one incident.

He also said that the Police Department spends a lot of resources on solving crimes when more focus could be placed on crime prevention.

Despite the dour revenue expectations, Watkins said he firmly believes “we are at the bottom” of the economic downturn and on the way out. But the city is not yet in a comfortable position, he said.

“It’s been a long time since we as a community have had to face some of the economic challenges we will face in 2010,” he said.

The State of the City address sets the table for discussions at the council's retreat, which is to begin Thursday and continue through Saturday afternoon at the Lodge of Four Seasons at Lake Ozark.