❒ No major changes mulled as consideration of city fiscal blueprint begins

Benicia’s next two-year General Fund budget should resemble the previous edition with few changes, except those that could address the recurring problem that expenditures continue to outpace revenue, Assistant City Manager Anne Cardwell and Finance Director Karin Schnaider have advised the City Council.

The 2015-17 budget, which Cardwell and Schnaider called a “status quo” budget, will keep reserves at an average of 20 percent, though during the two years the actual percentages may rise and fall. The Council has said reserves should remain at 20 percent of a year’s anticipated revenues.

In a presentation Tuesday, the Council gave a general consent to the direction the budget is going, though several members said more discussion is needed on funding the contracted Climate Action Plan coordinator’s position.

Alex Porteshawver has been handling the duty, originally as the face of a Sonoma State University team that won a two-year, $150,000 contract with the city in December 2011. The position was funded with Valero-Good Neighbor Steering Committee settlement agreement funds.

The contract subsequently was expanded and extended until June 30 of this year, to coincide with the conclusion of the current budget.

However, Porteshawver has been hired by a private firm, PFM, which has proposed a one-year, $155,000 contract that would reduce her time in Benicia but offer supplemental help from other employees.

The Community Sustainability Commission has recommended the city keep Porteshawver as a contract employee for two years, and has offered to pay for the first year and part of the second, if the Council would earmark money for the balance.

The consultant’s contract would require deliverables and set deadlines, CSC Commissioner Sharon Maher told the Council. She said the company has been asked to provide a list of Porteshawver’s past accomplishments and their benefits to the city.

However, she reminded the Council, “The CSC has finite funds.”

CSC Chair Kathy Kerridge said Benicia, as a coastal city, is vulnerable to the effects of climate change. Mentioning the state’s severe drought, she said, “We can’t say weather is climate, but this will be how it looks in the future.”

Vice Mayor Mark Hughes praised Porteshawver for doing “a great job. The question is how we pay for Alex in the future.” He said that if the city is to turn away from structural deficits, “we will have to do things differently.”

Councilmember Christina Strawbrudge suggested the city negotiate with PMC “and see if there is any room” for modification of its offer.

In other environmental topics, business owner Jack Ruszel recommended the city use one-time tax revenues for renewable power investment. “I suggest taking chances — we have to do something boldly.”

However, city staff has made other recommendations for spending a $1.2 million revenue boost, half from a Board of Equalization payment and the balance coming from the ending of a complex bond funding method called California’s Triple Flip.

One recommendation is to underwrite an expensive financial software overhaul that is badly needed. Currently, Schnaider’s department has two computer systems that can’t interact; nor can the Finance Department and Human Resources computers. Much of the work involves notes on paper and entering information by hand, methods that could be streamlined under a modern system.

The city attempted for several years to install a system upgrade from its longstanding computer vendor. But that ultimately failed when the vendor and city employees realized the city’s computers wouldn’t accept the change.

City Manager Brad Kilger announced early in 2014 that Benicia would seek bids on a new, citywide, coordinated Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system that would help all departments handle their finances more efficiently. Cost of the new system would be comparable to attempting to complete the upgrade conversion, he said at the time.

Staff suggested some of the one-time money also should be directed toward complying with a state order to clean up toxic waste in the Benicia Arsenal and to engineer a plan to address past storm claims in the vicinity of Saint Augustine Drive.

“I can’t argue with staff,” Hughes said. “The ERP has to go forward. The system we have is embarrassing — doing analyses by hand?” He said a current estimate of the cost, $800,000, “is a lot of money, but over time, it will pay for itself.” In addition, according to reports given the Finance Committee, most financial institutions would not bid on being Benicia’s bank without the ERP system.

The budget is expected to be in place by July 1, and may be adopted as early as June 2.