City Manager Response to Telegraph Herald Regarding New/Frozen Positions
Kevin Firnstahl
From:Mike Van Milligen
Sent:Friday, April 17, 2020 1:21 PM
To:Leadership Team
Subject:Response to Telegraph Herald City Budget Questions
From: Mike Van Milligen <ctymgr@cityofdubuque.org>
Sent: Friday, April 17, 2020 1:04 PM
To: 'Thomas Barton' <thomas.barton@thmedia.com
Subject: RE: TH article for tomorrow out of city budget hearing
Tom,
I will try to answer your questions. I do not currently have enough information available to me to project with any
certainty what could be the city's financial position if this crisis continues for an extended period, I do not think anyone
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does. However, we have created projections that I will share as part of the April 22nd and April 23 City Council
Meetings. How long might this continue and at what level (almost full shutdown as it is now or will it be will it be some
form of a partial shutdown)? The City Council will pick a number on April 23rd as far as a property tax levy and fee
structures and then say this is all the resources that are available so manage the operation to that number (whatever it
ends up being since we are making projections in unchartered waters). My hope is the City Council picks the number I
recommend.
I am making my budget recommendation in an effort to continue city services and programs and their associated
quality, all of which the City Council has said are things the residents should receive. Those programs and services
become more critical in a crisis, not less critical. Now if a person believes there are some city services and programs, or
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payments to outside agencies, the city should eliminate those could be identified at the April 23 budget public hearing,
and then if a majority of the City Council directed that the City Manager develop a cost savings estimate related to those
items city staff would provide the savings projections and the City Council could decide if cutting those things is the
correct decision.
Right now our Leadership Team (almost 100 employees) is trying to help ourselves stay grounded. We are answering as
a group these 7 questions, "How leaders can best set priorities during the coronavirus crisis"
https://www.fastcompany.com/90486812/how-leaders-can-best-set-priorities-during-the-coronavirus-crisis
• What is most important to preserve during the crisis? (reputation, connection with customers, expertise,
momentum on a certain project etc.)
• What traits or characteristics do you want to display in this crisis?
• If you look back on the crisis in 10 years, what will make you feel like you managed the crisis well?
• Are there particular morals or guiding principles that feel important to you at this time?
• What key relationships do you want to maintain during this crisis? (It is important to think beyond your
immediate stakeholders and to also consider relationships with your community and your family.)
• To what do you aspire during this crisis? (calm, courageous, heroic, measured etc.)
• What would make you feel proud even if the crisis ends badly for you or your business?
To manage the difficult decisions that are going to need to be made I am forming multiple employee work groups. All
teams will be assigned to assist the budget department as needed with review of FY21 projections. This will minimally be
quarterly (July 1, 2020, October 1, 2020, January 1, 2021, and April 1, 2021).
Recommendations would be generally based on community impact as follows:
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1. Funding source availability
2. Priority values developed by leadership team (the 7 questions described above)
3. City Council goals & priorities
4. Does the item influence our ability to provide essential services?
5. All teams will have to interact to determine influence on each other (ex. if we cut a service, there will be staffing
implications)
The work groups are:
1. CIP & Equipment Team (Additional decision criteria: Is project under contract?, Grant-funded?).
2. Operating Budget Team (Programs & Services).
3. Purchase of Services & Contracts Team (Additional decision criteria: equity indicators -- even more important as we
think about vulnerable populations).
4. Grants & Contracts team.
5. Staffing & Vacant Position Review.
After the budget process is done and employees have more time available as they manage through this crisis I will be
directing departments to develop cut back budgets that assumes operating at reduced funding levels, so we will be
prepared with strategies as the economy and revenues come back at some now unknown pace.
In the short term we are also forming a "Re-entry Team". Best case scenario, we're opening City Hall, and other city
facilities, back up in several weeks and there are a lot of questions to work through.
Sorry, for the length of last night’s budget hearing. When we have new Council Members we try to provide more detail
in the budget presentations. Combined with the Covid-19 report, a lengthy policy discussion, along with the remote
format it ended up being the longest budget hearing in a long time.
I say a long time because I think maybe the 2004 budget amendment public hearing might have been longer when I was
recommending the elimination of 19 positions and there were over 400 people in the audience, so the meeting was held
at the Five Flags theater. Maybe we were more prepared for that large attendance because people were going door to
door with petitions to save the jobs, as I was recommending eliminating 19 out of almost 700 city positions (2.7% of the
city workforce). It is understandable because employees and members of the community were in pain. We did not have
the opportunity to plan for those budget cuts because we did not know the state legislature was going to pass a $61
million state budget cut eliminating the local government revenue sharing program after the deadline had passed for
the cities to adopt their property tax levies for the next fiscal year. This $1.1 million City of Dubuque revenue cut was
combined with a bad health care year where we had a one million dollar self-insured employee health care
shortfall. Hoping I never have to experience that again.
The potential for a deficit in FY 2021 that makes this 2004 two million dollar budget impact look like a walk in the park
concerns me. That is why I am hoping the City Council will support my FY 2021 budget recommendation that will have
no increase for the average homeowner (and larger decreases for both commercial and industrial properties) and no
increases in the water, sanitary sewer, storm water or refuse fees. Hopefully, the economy will come back quick enough
that we will be able to unfreeze positions, complete capital projects, buy equipment, and maintain programs, but, if it
does not, hopefully, we will be able to avoid mass layoffs and significant programs and service cuts, along with possible
reductions in payments and grants to outside agencies who will be depending on money from the city to maintain
critical services to the most vulnerable in our community while they are experiencing catastrophic personal situations.
Fortunately, unlike 2003, the city has some time to plan and prepare for this potentially catastrophic
pandemic/economic crisis. Of course the City Council will decide what they believe is good planning for this potential
economic recession, or will it be a depression.
I will follow the direction of a majority of the City Council on April 23rd as we navigate this perilous journey.
Unfortunately for me, until then it is my responsibility to create an amended Fiscal Year 2021 budget recommendation
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for the April 23rd budget public hearing. Fortunately for me I have a great team to work with as we navigate these
perilous waters.
Mike
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