FY 2025 Budget: A Bigger Government For A Growing City

Summary

At the City Council work session, April 15, 2024, departmental heads were on hand to answer questions. Questions focused on staffing needs and unfunded items in the budget.

• The reorganization of City Hall added two new deputy City managers, each receiving $250,000 in salary and benefits.
• For FY 2025, the general government budget (and corresponding revenues) grew about 8%. Mayor Letty Hardi warned that that was not a sustainable annual growth.
• A professional standards manager for the Police to focus on restoring accreditation.
• The two added emergency communications technicians (ECT) still leave some shifts covered by one ECT only.
• West Falls will require six more police officers when it is complete.
• The City will need to revise its code to move away from brick pavers for sidewalks and crosswalks because of high maintenance costs and safety issues.
• Road paving is not adequately funded to match the paving cycle.

Background

Heads of departments at City Hall were present at the City Council work session on April 15, 2024, to address their areas of  the operating budget for FY 2025and answer questions . (The operating budget does not include capital expenses.) This budget covers the period from July 1, 2024 to June 30, 2025.  Budget details may be found in the post A Review of the Proposed FY 2025 Budget.

The FY 2025 Budget calls for an increase of 8.8% in the operating budget for the City government, not including the schools and utilities. (This increase is higher than the 7.9% reported in the City Manager’s message in the proposed budget document because the latter omitted some one-time costs that were not itemized in the document. For transparency and to compare budgets across the years, we totaled the spending of each department as stated in the budget document.)

During the meeting, Council members asked questions after all the presentations were made. In this post, we provide the relevant questions and comments within each topic for easier reference. The focus was primarily on the three largest departments in the $52 million operating budget – the Executive Office ($5.9m), Public Safety ($12.4m), and Public Works ($9.4m).

Reorganization of a bigger City government

Growth in the workforce

An additional 15 full-time equivalent (FTE) employees will be added to the City workforce and one engineer will be added to the sewer utility. This represents an increase of 6% in the workforce. The City government will have grown by over 20% from 2021 if the City successfully fills all its 2025 positions. As can be seen from the chart below, this unprecedented growth has occurred since 2022.

Salary increase

A 6% merit increase is included in the budget for all civilian employees. Police officers will receive a 3% COLA and a step increase of 3%. (School employees are also scheduled to receive a 6% increase.) Neighboring jurisdictions have also adopted compensation increases for their workforce in FY 2025:

• Arlington County – 4.75% with one-time bonuses for public safety and select human services staff.
• Fairfax County  – An average of 3.5% to 6%, excluding public safety and schools.
• Alexandria City – Average 2.7% merit increases and 2% market rate adjustment for employees not covered by collective bargaining agreements.
• Loudon County – 7% merit increase for the general workforce. An average of 12.4% increase for uniformed Fire and Rescue and Sheriff’s deputies.

Two new deputy City managers

City Manager Wyatt Shields added two deputy City Managers to facilitate the management of this larger workforce.  These executive level positions cost about $250,000 each in salary and benefits. There are currently two interim Deputy City Managers. Andy Young oversees external operations – Public Works and Community Planning and Economic Development. Jenny Carroll oversees internal operations – Human Services, Recreation and Parks, Information Technology, Human Resources, and the Library. The organization chart is shown below.

Council discussion

Councilmember Caroline Lian said that she was concerned that the organization was “too top heavy” and asked about the trade-off between the high executive management salaries and lower salaried technicians and engineers listed among the unfunded needs. She said, “I think it’s really important to balance our investments in doers – people that do the work. I take a look at this unfunded list and there’s [need for an] urban forestry maintenance worker, a full-time engineering ops project manager, a full-time facilities technician, and I just want to make sure that we’re making the right tradeoffs.”

Speaking to Wyatt Shields, she said, “When you bought this re-org forth, I had expressed a consideration for you to kind of generate some cost savings to self-fund it. I’m disappointed I didn’t see that come through. … if we’re growing the budget this much, are we picking the right people to get the most for taxpayer money?”

Mr. Shields defended the reorganization saying, “What the reorganization has done is given us the ability to break complex issues down into component parts so that our doers get greater clarity about what needs to be done, and then we can execute with unity, with more efficiency, with greater organization. This is an organization of doers.” He asked for the support of City Council, saying, “The bottom line is I feel like after 20 years I know this organization really well, and I am telling the governing body we need this support.”

To Ms. Lian, he said, “I never sold this as efficiencies. You raised it early on, and my response was this is in response to the growth and dynamism that is happening in our organization so that we as an organization can rise to meet those challenges. Maybe over time there’ll be efficiencies gained.” He said there would be “avoided costs” such as past missteps when a software upgrade brought the Finance and Permits functions down for days.

Mayor Letty Hardi said that City government was “tripping over ourselves” and there were “clogs in the systems.” She hoped that the additional deputy City managers would “unclog those things” and that we would see efficiencies in the long run.

However, she cautioned that the City government workforce had grown 20% from FY 2022 even though the City did not grow 20% during that period. (Falls Church City population grew 12% from 2020 to 2025.)  Commenting on the 8% increase in the operating budget, she said, “8% revenue growth, while we are really fortunate, is not sustainable in the long run.” (Taxes are the main source of revenues and tax rates are typically set to bring in the desired revenues for the budget.)

Public Safety

Police Chief Shahram Fard took over the department in January, following the retirement of Chief Mary Gavin. He reported that the department was fully staffed.  The budget for the Department of Public Safety increased by almost 10% or $1.1m and included an additional three sworn officers and three unsworn employees. With those new positions, the department would have 39.5 sworn FTEs and 19.85 professional FTEs.

Two more patrol officers

Chief Fard said that two patrol officers are needed for shift relief to ensure that absences are covered. He also said that the West Falls development would eventually require an additional six patrol officers. The City is still negotiating with the West Falls developers to provide space for a satellite station, comparable to the one provided at Eden Center. The City does not pay rent for the Eden Center space. A satellite station provides a place for officers to rest, do paperwork, and hold meetings. It is not manned as a police substation.

Two more emergency communications technicians

Chief Fard also explained the vital role of emergency communications technicians (ECTs) and the current staffing shortage.  In addition to answering 30,000 emergency and non-emergency calls annually, they also dispatch calls requiring officer response, monitor regional alerts, and serve as after-hours receptionists. They maintain the criminal warrant file system and conduct vehicle record checks.

Currently, the department schedules one ECT per 12-hour shift. That number has not changed from the time the City population was 9,800 until today with a population of almost 16,000. Chief Fard would like to schedule two per shift or an additional four ECTs. For FY 2025 only two are included in the budget that he will assign to the shifts with heavier workloads.

Restoring the department’s accreditation

Even though we have a well-functioning public safety department, City residents may be surprised to know that the department lost its accreditation. Accreditation from the Commission for Accreditation of Law Enforcement Agencies (CALEA) is a recognition that the agency has policies and practices in place that meet the standards of best practice. The task of working to get accredited has been a part-time responsibility. The Chief  has requested a full-time professional standards manager, an unsworn position, to manage internal and external practices associated with policies-audits-inspections compliance and quality assurance, with the goal of regaining accreditation, and a Sargent position to manage the training and development of officers.

Council discussion

Mental health calls

Councilmember Erin Flynn asked why the department only had 0.1 FTE for a mental health clinician given that mental health issues are often encountered in law enforcement. Chief Fard explained that many of the officers have received Crisis Intervention Training (CIT) and that has thus far been sufficient. His goal is to have all officers receive CIT.

Planning for known long-term costs

Vice Mayor Debra Schantz-Hiscott pointed out that radios need updating every seven to eight years so that we need to make sure that we are prepared to do that financially. This year’s budget includes $1.5m to replace the police radio system.

Council members asked the Chief to look into tracking data on the kinds of calls, traffic violations and other incidents associated with policing the City so that we may have a better understanding of the public safety impacts of growth.

Public Works

The Department of Public Works (DPW) is responsible for maintenance work on the City infrastructure including:

• 31 Traffic signals and other components (flashing beacons, etc.)
• Over 200 City-owned streetlights and 1,020 Dominion Virginia Power streetlights
• 84 lane miles of roadway and pavement markings
• 26 bridges
• Sidewalks
• Urban forest

It also oversees work on utility infrastructure such as storm drains and sewer pipes, although the expenses for these are charged to the utility accounts. Most of the capital improvements projects are also the responsibility of DPW. This meeting focused only on the operating (non-capital) budget.

The DPW operating budget increased by 14% or $1.1m and included four new positions – two signal technicians and two projects manager as well as more money for outside contractors. The department also currently has eight vacancies with six of those in operations (crew members).

Council discussion

Vacancies unfilled

Councilmember Flynn asked about the “20% vacancies in DPW” and whether they should be focused on filling those before bringing in the new project managers.

Andy Young acknowledged that DPW has had difficulties filling vacancies and things were worse even nine months ago, but they are managing to recruit people and will continue to work on them.

Brick Sidewalks and Crosswalks

Councilmember Marybeth Connelly brought up the issue of the high cost of maintaining the brick crosswalks and sidewalks that the City had designated as standard. In addition, they are slippery and become tripping hazards over time. $300,000 has been allocated in the budget for repairing these walkways in FY 2025. Many Council members support changing the City standards to use other materials such as stamped concrete.

Public Works Director Zak Bradley said that federal grants do not cover  brick crosswalks or sidewalks. Mr. Shields said that it would take time to redo the standards. He pointed out that Mustang Alley in the West Falls development is about to install the largest area of brick pavers in the City. It would be difficult to change that because of all the construction and financing agreements in place. Some developers, such as Founders Row, are responsible for the brick sidewalks, but not Harris Teeter where the driveway bricks have deteriorated. The crosswalks are entirely the responsibility of the City.

Road paving

$800,000 has been designated for road paving with $1.2 million listed as unfunded paving needs. Ms. Lian asked about the trade-off of not fully funding paving, “when we don’t invest the $1.2 million.” Mr. Bradley responded that the City is currently doing surface paving that replaces only the top two inches of road and extends the road life by 5-10 years.  Currently, the paving cycle is about 30-35 years.  In order to match that cycle, the City should do more road base reconstruction that would extend the road life by 20+ years. The $1.2 million would allow for that deeper roadwork.

Hiring two signal technicians

Councilmember Justine Underhill asked about the need for two signal technicians. Mr. Young explained that this work had been contracted out in the past. Doing that work in-house instead would realize savings and better service. Mr. Bradley explained that the work is sufficiently involved to require two technicians full-time.

Internal Operations

Interim Deputy City Manager Jenny Carroll and her directors answered questions about their staffing needs.

Director of Human Resources Steve Mason said that his department has expanded recruiting efforts to attend career fairs. The increased workload from a larger workforce and the need to recruit and orient new hires necessitated an additional generalist position.

The City is in the process of upgrading its software system, the Enterprise Resource Planning system (ERP). A new project/application manager is needed to coordinate this effort.

Mary Riley Styles Public Library has added new programs that has resulted in a 19% increase in visits over the previous year. The library is requesting two 20-hour positions to continue this effort. The library also intends to close an hour later (at 5 pm instead of 4 pm) on weekends.

Ms. Lian asked if the Department of Human Services (DHS) had enough people. The department will be selecting residents for the 99 affordable dwelling units that are coming online at West Falls.  DHS is also developing the roadmap to prevent the City from losing the affordable units at the  Fields apartment building. DHS Director Dana Jones said they have already built a waiting list for the West Falls units and would bring in contract help if needed for the Fields and other work.

Trash – a future budget item?

Councilmember Connelly and Mayor Hardi asked the City manager to look at having residents pay for trash collection instead of including it as part of the tax rate. They felt that it was unfair to those who pay the same tax rate but do not receive solid waste collection services from the City, such as  mixed-use developments and high-rise condominium owners.

Mr. Shields said that item was not in the work plan, and it is a significant issue that would take at least a year to study. He estimated that that it would take about 2 cents off the tax rate, although his estimate of an annual charge of $350 per household may be low. Arlington County will charge $416 and Fairfax $555 in 2025.

References

• City Council work session, April 15 2024. This official video will not display properly on a small screen as it includes the agenda.
• City Council work session, April 15, 2024. YouTube video.
•  FY2025 Budget Q&A #2, Pages 1-8 (April 8, 2024), Pages 9-17 (April 15, 2024).
• MANAGER’s PROPOSED BUDGET presentation, April 1, 2024.
• FY2025 School Budget Questions, April 1, 2024.
• Budget Presentation , April 15, 2024.