Meeting Information

• Date: October 7, 2024
• Title: Budget Committee Meeting
• Present: Payne, Vetaw, Cashman, Chavez, Chowdhury, Palmisano, Koski, Chughtai. Rainville, Wonsley, and Ellison joined later.
• Absent: Jenkins, Osman
• Guests: City Attorney Kristyn Anderson, Interim City Auditor Siddhartha Poudyal, City Clerk Casey Carl
• Votes: 0

Highlights

• City Attorney’s Office presented their budget, highlighting stability in staffing and no new budget requests
• Mayor’s Office presented their budget, focusing on policy priorities and staffing structure
• Legislative Department presented their budget, including updates on Elections and Voter Services, Information Governance, and Legislative Support
• Discussion on the role and effectiveness of the new Oversight and Evaluation Division within the City Auditor’s Office
• Concerns raised about council staff turnover and compensation structure

Discussion

City Attorney’s Office Budget

City Attorney Kristyn Anderson presented the office’s budget, highlighting achievements such as stabilized staffing and implementation of new software systems. The office made no new budget requests, focusing instead on restructuring and reprioritizing existing resources. Anderson noted a 15% increase in salary and wages due to a market study that brought attorney compensation up to market rates.

Councilmember Koski inquired about the salary increase:

“I see that you have a 15% increase in salary and wages. I just wondering what was driving that.”

Anderson explained:

“This is the market study that I talked about. This was the, the union and the City had entered into negotiations and agreed to both a classification and a market study. The classification study wound up showing that all of the attorneys were working at a higher level, and then we looked at the market as well and determined that not only were they working at a higher level but we were behind in the market.”

The office reported improved retention and attraction of talent as a result of the compensation adjustments.

Mayor’s Office Budget

Grace Waltz, Chief of Staff, presented the Mayor’s Office budget. The presentation focused on the office’s organizational structure and policy priorities. The office reported being fully staffed by November and highlighted achievements such as launching a communications campaign for the Mayor to visit smaller community-led news organizations.

Councilmember Cashman inquired about the structure of the policy team:

“Are you kind of designating policy staff towards the large departments at the City, so like CPED, Public Works, and staffing accordingly like that in terms of topic areas?”

Waltz confirmed this approach, noting that they are continually refining the portfolios to align with city departments and specific topic areas.

Legislative Department Budget

City Clerk Casey Carl presented the Legislative Department budget, which includes the City Council, City Auditor, and City Clerk programs. The presentation highlighted significant investments in staffing and systems over the past two budget cycles.

A major point of discussion was the Elections and Voter Services Division budget, which accounts for almost half of the entire City Clerk budget. Carl explained the unique nature of the elections budget, which consists of two components: year-over-year funding for core infrastructure and supplemental funding for specific elections.

Councilmember Chavez inquired about a previously funded communications position:

“I think there was a position that was funded in the budget in December. If you could just give us a status update on that one, please.”

Carl explained that the position is currently vacant and will be reclassified at a management level, with recruitment planned for the second quarter of next year when the department relocates to City Hall.

Oversight and Evaluation Division Effectiveness

Several council members expressed concern about the effectiveness and output of the new Oversight and Evaluation Division within the City Auditor’s Office. Councilmember Vetaw voiced confusion about the division’s priorities and work assignments:

“I’m trying to understand who decides the priorities and the work assignments for your department.”

Jody Molinar Hanson, Interim Director of Oversight and Evaluation, explained that the division is still in the process of establishing its procedures and work plan. This led to further questions about the division’s accomplishments and interaction with council members.

Councilmember Palmisano commented:

“I’m struck by the output here. PAR and Audit, Policy and Research Division and the Audit Division, both have a lot of project examples in this presentation. But our Oversight and Evaluation Division has none… I’m not sure what accomplishments we have for the five full-time positions that were allocated in and hired.”

City Clerk Carl defended the division, emphasizing the challenges of building new functions from scratch and the overall increase in council workload.

Council Staff Turnover and Compensation

Concerns were raised about council staff turnover and the compensation structure for council aides. City Clerk Carl acknowledged that ward staffing and budgets have remained largely flat for at least the past 20 years, which poses a risk for council operations.

Councilmember Cashman inquired about potential changes to the compensation structure:

“Have you looked into, you know, with regards to the flexibility of these positions, you know, pay equity or having the council staff within the same pay range instead of on two different pay ranges?”

Carl explained that recent changes had been made to address pay equity concerns, but noted that the history and structure of these positions involve complex legal and administrative considerations.

Public Comments

There were no public comments during this meeting.