REPORT TO COUNCIL
SUBJECT
Title
Approve Updates to Council Policy 7.1.1 in Council Policy Manual Chapter 7, Section 1 - Fiscal Policies and Long Range Goals
Report
BACKGROUND
Council Policy 7.1.1 was established to guide Council's decision making regarding the City's fiscal operations. The Policy is broad and wide ranging, governing all areas of fiscal management for the City. The last significant revision was in August of 2011 when the policy regarding reserves was modified during the great recession. The policy is currently outdated and in need of update. For example, the City no longer has a Community Recreation Enterprise Fund and has recently established a Pension Trust Fund.
EXISTING POLICY
Council Policy 7.1.1, Fiscal - Long Range Goals and Financial Policies
ENVIRONMENTAL REVIEW
The action being considered is not a "project" that requires environmental review under the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) because it is a fiscal activity that does not involve a commitment to any specific project that may result in a potentially significant physical impact on the environment. (CEQA Guidelines, Section 15378(b)(4))
DISCUSSION
Attachment 1 provides a redline version of all the proposed changes. Some of the changes are material and others are just clean up language. They are summarized as follows:
Long Range Goals
Removal of language referring to "products" and "product costs." Tracking of workload statistics has moved to the Workload Indicators section of the budget for each department.
Addition of a new Section V to call out making investments to stabilize service levels over time and reduce pension and other post-employment benefit liabilities (OPEB).
Financial Policies
Section 7.1A - Budget Policies A.1: Development of the Budget and Resource Allocation Plan: Clean up edits to modernize the policy language and be consistent with the City's current budget terminology.
Section 7.1A - Budget Policies A.4: Budget Monitoring and Modification...
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