COUNCIL BRIEFS September 13, 2016<\/p>\n
APPROVED THE FY2016-17 BUDGET\/SET THE TAX RATE AT $0.560472, A 2 CENT REDUCTION FROM THE CURRENT RATE.<\/p>\n
The budget passed, bringing to a close many, many meetings and countless hours of fascinating study, interesting and educational debate and ultimately, some important and difficult decision-making. Despite all our hard work, the mayor again politicized the process, making a last-minute attempt to undermine some of the decisions we had already made, and ultimately voting against Addison\u2019s budget.<\/p>\n
On the very day of the budget vote, the mayor proposed lowering the tax rate by a penny, funding that reduction by revisiting decisions we had already made about employee compensation. We had discussed these issues at length all during the summer budget meetings, reached a consensus and provided direction to the staff.\u00a0 Revisiting the already-decided issue of employee compensation on the very day of the budget vote was nothing more than playing politics, plain and simple.\u00a0 It\u2019s time for Addison to move on to a more responsible budget process, and hopefully we sent that message on Tuesday.<\/p>\n
I AM PROUD THAT THE BUDGET ADDISON\u2019S COUNCIL ADOPTED BEGINS THE PROCESS OF MAKING ADDISON\u2019S EMPLOYEE COMPENSATION COMPETITIVE AGAIN.<\/p>\n
A highlight of this budget is an average 4% MERIT PAY INCREASE for staff as well as funding for certification pay as staff earns professional certifications pursuant to their jobs. I feel very strongly that this is a positive step for Addison.\u00a0 Our employee compensation package has not been competitive for a number of years.\u00a0 During that time, this mayor has all but declared war on the staff, and they have responded by voting with their feet.\u00a0 We have lost almost every department head, in addition to many staff and safety personnel.\u00a0 These losses come with a price! We have been training police and fire personnel at a significant cost, only to lose them after two or three years to more lucrative compensation packages offered by our neighbors in the Metroplex.\u00a0 We have spent THOUSANDS of dollars searching for new management and staff, sometimes paying a premium for interim employees.\u00a0 The price of the mayor\u2019s war demonstrates that his is a penny-wise, pound-foolish approach.\u00a0 And that\u2019s before you get to the human side.\u00a0 We have a staff that has been demoralized by this mayor\u2019s tactics, and it is time for Addison to turn the corner and begin the rebuilding process.<\/p>\n
I cannot emphasize enough the importance of competitive <\/em>salaries and certification pay for police and fire personnel as we work to stabilize our staff.\u00a0 For example, just this year, Farmers Branch granted their Public Safety officers a 5% pay increase, effective September 1, 2016.\u00a0 Farmers Branch also dedicated an additional 5% raise, effective October 1, 2016.\u00a0 This move puts their pay ABOVE the median in our area.\u00a0 In contrast to Farmers Branch\u2019s approach, Addison\u2019s mayor wanted to fund his proposed last-minute one-cent reduction in the tax rate on the backs of our employees.\u00a0 Instead of an average 4% merit pay increase effective October 1, 2016, his proposal would have reduced it to an average 3% MERIT RAISE, AND WOULD HAVE DELAYED THE EFFECTIVE DATE UNTIL JANUARY 1, 2017.\u00a0 So, not only would the raise we agreed upon be reduced, it would also be limited to three-fourths of the year.<\/p>\n All of this magnifies a great divide between my views and the Mayor\u2019s views regarding staff. I am committed to staff and their well-being, including because it is in Addison\u2019s best interest.\u00a0 It is my desire to encourage them to maintain the high level of customer service we all have come to enjoy and to recognize them for their professional development.\u00a0 It costs the Town approximately $90,000 to train a Public Safety officer and we can\u2019t afford to be an entry point to the profession, only to lose them to neighboring cities with a significantly richer pay and benefit package.\u00a0 So, the next time you hear the mayor talk about employee compensation, remember what I\u2019ve said about a penny-wise pound-foolish approach.<\/p>\n I believe that fellow council members viewed the mayor\u2019s motion as being very divisive, since the council and staff spent more than 18 hours over the last month carefully discussing and dissecting each line item, including matters relating to employee compensation. Dale Wilcox was the only council member voting for the Mayor\u2019s ill-conceived motion, which failed 2-5.<\/p>\n LEAVING THE HARD DECISIONS TO OTHERS IS THIS MAYOR\u2019S EASY WAY OUT.<\/p>\n I guess the mayor\u2019s tactics shouldn\u2019t have been a surprise. The proposal to reduce and delay employee raises was the same tactic the mayor used last year.\u00a0 And, he played the same game about a last-minute proposal to reduce the tax rate three years ago, also after months of budget meetings and discussions.\u00a0 In both years, the mayor voted against the budget, leaving others to build consensus and have the courage to make the hard decisions.\u00a0 The pattern is the same: when \u201cconsensus\u201d is not what this mayor wants, he plays politics.\u00a0 Here, he puts on a show about his last-minute tax rate proposal, knowing that the entire budget had been discussed at length, and a consensus had been built.\u00a0 In the end, this mayor left others to stand fast and make the tough decisions that are in Addison\u2019s best interest.\u00a0 And we did just that.<\/p>\n Employee compensation is a hard issue. No doubt about it.\u00a0 But continuing to point at previous dollar increases in employee salaries \u2013 a favorite tactic of the mayor \u2013 is misleading and misses the point.\u00a0 The fact is that ADDISON\u2019S COMPENSATION PACKAGE HAS NOT BEEN COMPETITIVE FOR A LONG TIME, and it is has been a huge mistake to ignore that reality.\u00a0 The issue has never been whether money was previously budgeted for raises, the issue has always been whether the employee compensation problem has been SOLVED.\u00a0 And for this mayor, SOLVING the problem just hasn\u2019t been a priority.\u00a0 I think that\u2019s been a huge mistake.\u00a0 With this budget, we have taken an important step forward toward SOLVING the problem.<\/p>\n VOTED TO INCLUDE THE COLA IN THIS YEAR\u2019S BUDGET ON AN AD HOC, NON-RECURRING BASIS.<\/p>\n The cost-of-living adjustment is another component in our effort to regain our competitive posture relative to other communities who vie for quality staff.\u00a0 Last year\u2019s denial sent the wrong message, particularly given that virtually all of our competitive cities provide a cost-of-living-allowance to their retirees.\u00a0 Our retirees have served us well over the course of their careers and have always expected this benefit to be there for them.<\/p>\n Also, please be assured that Addison\u2019s TMRS pension plan is in great financial shape as compared to other cities.\u00a0 All cities are underfunded these days, particularly given the low interest rates we are currently experiencing.\u00a0 The percentage of Addison\u2019s underfunding is very small, including as compared to other cities.\u00a0 In fact, we are at the top of most of the other cities on this issue.\u00a0 So I find the mayor\u2019s efforts to focus attention on \u201cunderfunding\u201d to be misleading.\u00a0 You have to view the issue in context and again, we have to remain competitive.\u00a0 In any event COLA is a big issue, and I expect that it will be a topic for discussion in the upcoming legislative session.<\/p>\n ANOTHER OF THE ILL-CONCIEVED IDEAS OF THE MAYOR WAS TO GIVE $100,000 OF TAXPAYER MONEY TO THE ADDISON LEGACY FOUNDATION TO EXPLORE A DECK PARK.<\/p>\n It\u2019s amazing to me that the mayor would propose to once again refuse to deal with employee compensation, but then try to obtain $100,000 for his Legacy Foundation to study (in some unspecified way) the idea of a deck park over the Tollway. This concept has been reviewed a number of times over the years, at significant expense to Addison.\u00a0 It has always has been found to be too expensive and impractical for the Town to pursue. Despite hours of presentations and advocacy by the mayor, only he and Dale Wilcox supported the mayor\u2019s proposal to give away taxpayer money to this pie-in-the-sky never-going-to-happen idea.\u00a0 But, in typical fashion, the mayor continued his efforts to fund this apparently pet project of his.\u00a0 He was ultimately told that he had a conflict of interest regarding his efforts to gain money for his Legacy entity.\u00a0 But, he then voted with the majority in a 4-3 vote (myself, Angell and Duffy against) to spend $70,000 for city staff to manage a feasibility study process with a $30,000 contribution from the Addison Legacy Foundation.<\/p>\n Given the lack of transparency in Addison Legacy Foundation\u2019s financial reporting, the obvious conflicts of interest of council members serving on its advisory board, and their limited successful fundraising and project management to date, I could not support either of these proposals. But at least we were able to prevent the mayor\u2019s plan to give away $100,000 of taxpayer money to this issue.<\/p>\n THE PRIOR COUNCIL\u2019S DECISION TO PROVIDE A $6,500,000 INCENTIVE PACKAGE TO ADDISON GROVES (FORMER SAM\u2019S SITE) SIGNIFICANTLY HANDCUFFED US WHEN TRYING TO DEAL WITH THE CURRENT BUDGET.<\/p>\n The budget we just passed escrowed $1,000,000 from various funds on the operations side, in anticipation of having to make our payments. It\u2019s important to understand that this incentive package transferred the obligation from the debt service side of the budget to the annual, operations side.\u00a0 THAT MEANS DOLLAR FOR DOLLAR, THAT LESS MONEY IS AVAILABLE TO FUND MANY NEEDED PROJECTS.<\/p>\n Before my election, I opposed the Addison Groves project. Prior to its controversial package, the public was provided with NO INFORMATION about the magnitude of the financial incentives the prior council intended to provide. In turn, that meant that the public was given no financial analysis of the project, or how long it would take Addison to receive a return on its investment.\u00a0 We now know that the figure was $6.5 million, and it will take more than TWO DECADES to receive a return on investment, assuming a full build out.\u00a0 I continue to believe that it was a poor decision.<\/p>\n We\u2019re now living the ramifications of the prior council\u2019s decision.\u00a0 And, we will face this same situation for the next 2 budget years, as we continue to escrow millions of dollars from Addison\u2019s operational budget.\u00a0 Many legitimate operations projects have been and will continue to be mothballed as a direct result of these significant expenditures.\u00a0 The structure of the deal also places the burden of the costs squarely on current residents, whereas the benefits will be reaped by future residents.\u00a0 It is a frustrating reality, particularly when viewed in light of so many frivolous and ill-advised expenditures that we have all witnessed during the past 5 years.<\/p>\n Sorry, I couldn\u2019t keep these budget decisions to my usual \u201cbrief\u201d format. But, I\u2019m anticipating the usual flood of misinformation from the mayor and his supporters, so I wanted to provide a bit of background on the process.<\/p>\n