BOARD MEETING DATE: November 5, 2004
AGENDA NO. 12

Appropriate Funds from Undesignated Fund Balance to Augment Positions and Expenditure Accounts in FY 2004-05 Budget

SYNOPSIS:

As part of the June 4, 2004, public hearing on the adoption of the FY 2004-05 Budget, it was noted that, once payment of an $8.25 million penalty settlement had been made, staff would come back with recommendations for restoring positions that had been unfunded. That money has now been received and this action is to augment the current budget by 19 positions to meet critically important needs. Additionally, staff recommends augmenting funds for temporary employment services to fund a replacement for a staff member on military leave. On an annual basis, the 19 positions would result in an approximately $1.8 million increase to the budget. The approximate cost of the position and temporary services augmentations for the remainder of the fiscal year is $944,208.

COMMITTEE:

Personnel, October 1, 2004, Recommended for Approval. Administrative, October 8, 2004. Less than a quorum was present at the Administrative Committee meeting for the discussion of this item; those Committee members present communicated their concurrence.

RECOMMENDED ACTION:

Adopt the recommendations described below and summarized in Exhibit A, and appropriate $944,208 from the Undesignated Fund Balance to the FY 2004-05 Budget: $893,208 to Salary and Employee Benefits Major Object; $51,000 to Services and Supplies Major Object, Temporary Services Account.

Barry R. Wallerstein, D.Env.
Executive Officer

Background

At the June 4, 2004, adoption of the FY 2004-05 Budget, the Executive Officer informed the Board of an air pollution penalty settlement that had just been reached with a major refinery in the amount of $8.25 million. Based on that settlement, the Executive Officer recommended staff’s proposed 6% increase in permit fees be reduced to 3%, with a portion of the settlement amount to be used to offset the loss in fee revenues. Along with that recommendation, the Executive Officer also committed to the Board to bring back for their consideration, once the settlement payment had been received, a proposal to restore up to $2 million of the $5 million in position and expenditure cuts approved at the June budget hearing.

Proposal

The attached exhibit identifies 19 positions proposed as augmentations to the FY 2004-05 Budget. Thirteen of these positions are directly related to enforcement, permitting, and auditing. The remaining six positions would provide critically needed support in rule writing, intergovernmental affairs, District Counsel, air monitoring, and contracts management. Twelve of the positions were unfunded at the beginning of the current budget year and are now recommended to be re-funded. Seven involve substitutions of higher-priority positions, with an equal number of budgeted unfunded positions recommended to be deleted to maintain a constant number of authorized positions. With this 19-position augmentation, staffing would still be down by 25 positions as compared to last fiscal year.

The 19 positions include six inspectors and five permitting engineers in Engineering and Compliance; two rule writers and an audit engineer in Planning, Rules and Area Sources; one community relations manager in Public Affairs to oversee intergovernmental affairs; an instrument technician in Science and Technology Advancement; a senior attorney in District Counsel; an investigator in District Prosecutor; and a manager to oversee procurement and contracts in Finance. In addition, augmentation of the temporary services account in Administrative and Human Resources is requested to fund a temporary replacement for an employee who is on military leave.

Resource Impacts

The approximate annual budgetary cost of adding these19 positions is $1,786,416. The impact on the remainder of the FY 2004-05 budget year of the added positions and the temporary replacement for the employee on military leave is approximately $944,208. This fiscal year cost of $944,208 would be funded from the Undesignated Fund Balance out of the $8.25 million penalty settlement approved in June and received September 1, 2004.

Attachment

Exhibit A
 

EXHIBIT A
RECOMMENDATION TO AUGMENT POSITIONS
AND EXPENDITURE ACCOUNTS IN FY 2004-05 BUDGET
 

Organizational Unit	Class	No. of Positions Added	Recommended Action	Total Annual Salary & Benefits Cost	Temporary Services Cost	Deleted Positions
Engineering & Compliance	Air Quality Inspector II	5	Fund positions	$388,014
	Air Quality Inspector II	1	Add position	$77,603
	Air Quality Engineer II	1	Fund positions	$94,671
	Air Quality Engineer II	4	Add positions	$378,685
	AQ Analysis & Compl. Supv.		Delete position			($114,511)
	Sr. Air Quality Engineer		Delete position			($104,139)
	Air Quality Inspector III		Delete position			($84,904)
	Sr. Administrative Secretary		Delete position			($77,740)
	Office Assistant		Delete position			($48,170)
Planning, Rules & Area Sources	Air Quality Specialist	2	Fund positions	$189,342
	Air Quality Engineer II	1	Add position	$94,671
	Air Quality Inspector		Delete position			($77,603)
Public Affairs	Community Relations Manager	1	Add position	$108,469
	Intergovernm. Affairs Officer		Delete position			($147,596)
Science & Tech. Advancement	AQ Instrument Specialist I	1	Fund position	$71,290
District Counsel	Sr. Deputy District Counsel	1	Fund position	$148,696
District Prosecutor	Investigator	1	Fund position	$90,611
Finance	Procurement Manager	1	Fund position	$144,365
Admin. & Human Resources			Augment temporary services		$51,000
		19	Annual Cost	$1,786,416	$51,000	($654,663)*
			Approximate FY 2004-05 Impact: $944,208

*Note that, since these positions are not currently funded in the budget,
 there is no FY cost savings from these deletions

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