Special Board of Aldermen 06-21-2021 Page 19
the percentage change is exactly. That way | am not trying to figure out based on what the original budget
was, what the Mayor proposed budget is because frankly what | calculated doesn’t match up with what you
just told us. Sol am willing to guess that | am perhaps wrong. But because of that | am asking that a
column for next year with a percentage change be included, that makes it clear. And if that were the case,
and if my numbers are correct, there are some of these numbers that are so astonishing how much the
increases have been that | am sort of sick, it just makes me ill. So | am hopeful | am wrong, but it would be
clear if you had that percentage right in the book. Thank you.
Chairman Dowd
Thank you.
John Griffin, CFO
Mr. Chairman?
Chairman Dowd
Yes?
Mr. Griffin
Maybe | could respond. John Griffin, Chief Financial Officer. There’s no question a $290 million dollar
budget is complex and difficult to understand. We try to demystify that as best we can. We have tried in
the past, some of you may remember, we put percentage increases on the right hand side. And to the
extent that in any given year there’s collective bargaining agreements or contingency for negotiation, it
tends to make that calculation difficult. | would be more than happy to further discuss. But we found that
putting increases and decreases even on line items where there is a collective bargaining agreement that
might have been not settled over 2 or 3 years very difficult.
So as an example, those unions that have not settled their contracts for Fiscal ’22, those monies are not in
the departments in which they work, they are in contingency with negotiation. That in and of itself makes it
difficult but when | arrived a few years ago, the logic was — which is interesting — we don’t really want to let
the various unions know how much we put aside. The reality is you can figure it out. But we do move the
contingency for negotiation down in contingency and it takes Legislative action by the Board of Aldermen to
move it into the departments in which those employees work. So that alone would tend to skew the
numbers. So what | try to do under the Mayor’s direction is at the Budget Review Committee Meetings and
we will have one next week with the recap is to make sure everyone understands the increases and
decreases.
Page 9 and 10 was an effort that | put forth trying to isolate on things that could be controlled by the City
but most importantly things that aren’t controlled by the City which is the pension discussion we have. So
that’s why it is a difficult budget to look at, but we try to make sure and all of my colleagues try to make sure
when they are before the Budget Review Committee they answer every and all questions that they can. So
| just wanted to share that with the group. Thank you.
Fred Teeboom | have no difficulty reading the budget, | read it like a book. It has taken me 5 years to learn
to do it. Here’s an additional percentage number for the lady that wanted to know percentages. The
pension fund, (audio feedback) a 6 year average, same years...
Mayor Donchess
Excuse me — the what? There’s an echo, | can’t always hear what you are saying, the what funds?
Mr. Teeboom The 6 year average for the pensions — the increase is 7.9%. It is now 23.5% if you look. We
mentioned a billion dollar mismanagement of the investing, but here’s another way to really look at it. | see
