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The Commission recessed at 11:05 a.m. to determine when the final <br /> budget action would be voted on and reconvened at 11:08 a.m. <br /> Mr. Takahashi stated that while he's not disagreeing with Mr. De Lima, <br /> the Commission is free to take action and make effective dates of salaries on <br /> any date. It doesn't have to be July 1 of a fiscal year. It's true that if the <br /> Commission doesn't take action now, the County won't have the opportunity <br /> to budget for increases for the next fiscal year. However, that doesn't <br /> preclude them from taking action on December 1 or January 1, as examples. <br /> As just noted, the Fire Chief's salary was raised in January 2012; and that <br /> situation became binding and final. It was up to the department or the <br /> County to find the money to accommodate that increase as was effectuated <br /> by this body. Yes, there's a deadline if the Commission wants to include <br /> raises in next fiscal year's budget, but if the Commission takes the action <br /> subsequent to the passing of that budget, the action is still binding and the <br /> department still needs to find the money. <br /> Mr. Sumja asked how the departments find the money. Mr. Takahashi <br /> responded that they find the money by looking at their entire budget and <br /> making adjustments as necessary. <br /> Mr. De Lima stated that the important point is whether they are going <br /> to be responsible or not. In January 2012 when the Commission took that <br /> action(Fire Chief's pay increase), it was because the department and the <br /> executive came in and suggested that they would fund the increase and find <br /> the money to do so. That's a big difference than the Commission imposing <br /> its will and then requiring the departments to go and find the money. <br /> His point is that the Mayor and the Finance Director are saying that the <br /> Commission needs to take into account that money is tight and that they are <br /> proposing a balanced budget. In other words, the planned expenditures are <br /> being handled by the planned income. What is the planned income? It's the <br /> tax values and the tax rate to determine what real property taxes are going to <br /> be. If the Commission takes action after the adjustments and calculations are <br /> made, even though it's a small amount, the Commission is basically putting <br /> their financial plan into imbalance, however small. The difficulty for the <br /> departments is how do they make those adjustments? As one of the <br /> Commissioners, he's saying if they're going to make adjustments, it should <br /> be made prior to the County finalizing their financial plan, following an <br /> orderly budgetary process. If any department wants to come in for <br /> adjustments during mid-year, the question the Commission will ask, and the <br /> question they asked in January 2012, is how do they plan to fund this? <br /> Basically, they say they're going to do it within their budget. Each <br /> department can make adjustments within the department by just notifying <br /> the Council of what adjustments they've made. They're not required to have <br /> approval. <br /> Mr. De Lima recalled that the last time the permitted interaction group <br /> met, they came up with a report, then they submitted the report to the <br /> 6 <br />