Page 66 - Saginaw FY19 Annual Budget

CITY OF SAGINAW
GENERAL FUND OVERVIEW OF EXPENDITURES
2018-2019

The Department Heads and Supervisors were asked to budget for what is necessary to maintain
the current level of service and to make recommendations for what is needed to achieve the
City’s goals within the framework of the strategies developed through the City’s long range
planning initiative.

After negotiating with our current medical providers, and soliciting and reviewing proposals for
dental coverage, the City will remain with United Healthcare for medical coverage and add dental
coverage. The previous dental insurance provider proposed a 20% increase in premiums. By
remaining with United Health care for medical coverage and adding dental coverage, the City
will see no increase in dental rates and a 1% reduction in medical rates. The dental rates are
guaranteed for two years.

This budget does not include salary adjustments for employees but does include an increase in
the Texas Municipal Retirement System contribution rate from 6% to 7% beginning January 1,
2019. The 7% contribution rate is consistent with surrounding and similar sized municipalities.
In order to retain and attract qualified employees, our compensation and benefit package must
remain competitive. The employee contribution rate will also increase by 1%. The budget
includes a temporary 1% payment to employees to offset the cost of the increase. The 1% will
be paid each pay period but will not increase the employee’s salary or the overall pay plan. The
1% payment is not anticipated to continue beyond the fiscal year. The cost of the TMRS rate
increase is estimated to be $230,676 in the General Fund. The cost of the 1% temporary
payment is $71,342 in the General Fund.

The following is an overview of the major changes (FY17/18 Revised to FY18/19 Adopted) by
department.

Worker’s compensation insurance and property and liability insurance premiums have increased
citywide. The estimated increase to the General Fund is $22,125. These expenses are allocated
to each department based on number of employees and number of vehicles.

GENERAL ADMINISTRATIVE OFFICE:
This department's budget decreased from $1,838,940 to $1,668,235 or 9.3% from last year’s
revised budget. The increase related to the TMRS rate change is offset by the transfer of costs
related to Information Technology, which is now budgeted as a separate department. The
reduction is also due to the one-time cost of the equipment and technology to live stream City
Council meetings that was funded in FY17/18 and is not included in FY18/19. Increases that are
included for FY18/19: the estimated cost of the charter election ($50,000), advertising and election
administration, $10,000 for participation in the “6 Stones Community Powered Revitalization”
program, 50% of the cost of an electronic time keeping system ($5,000) to increase the efficiency
and accuracy of payroll, $8,200 to fund City Hall lobby and customer service work station
improvements.

66