Recruiting, retaining city staff among priorities for upcoming Longview budget

City of Longview officials have identified key goals for the coming 2022-23 budget: to recruit and retain city staff and absorb inflation while maintaining high levels of service. 

City Manager Rolin McPhee said transparency and efficiency have been the focus of developing the coming budget . As the process started, McPhee said he recognized it is likely inflationary concerns and supply chain issues will play a significant role in developing the budget and that they could reduce any additional revenue the city might potentially receive through property and sales tax receipts.

McPhee said it is too soon to tell whether the tax rate will increase but that the initial projections are based on the current tax rate of 55.89 cents per $100 valuation. The rate does not include the 2-cent tax increase voters approved in May as part of a $45.6 million bond to address unfunded liabilities in the Longview Firefighters’ Relief and Retirement Fund.

McPhee said  the budget process occurs in several steps and typically begins with a kickoff meeting that includes staff, directors and managers of various departments. Managers are given time to prepare proposed departmental budgets that are then submitted into the city's financial system, McPhee said. A series of meetings with every manager — around 50 people — is then scheduled to discuss initial projections. 

Prior to starting the budget process, directors and managers were encouraged to mine their departments for "operational efficiencies" that could save the city time and money, McPhee said. During his 20 years with the city, McPhee said it's become common to justify new program expenses by the efficiency they create. 

Finding those efficiencies could translate into getting rid of some positions or identifying service redundancies, he said. 

Seeking efficiency plays into staff recruitment and retention by identifying areas where staffing could be rearranged or hired to assist operations. However, by budgeting a year in advance, this leaves the city as the "last to react" to economic developments like inflation , McPhee said. 

"Pay is one of those things that you look at for retaining staff," McPhee said. "At some point, when inflation's rising at the rate it is, at some point it is about the money because you've got to get things done."

City council members were also submitted their priorities for the upcoming fiscal year, and "investing in public safety was a recurring theme," McPhee previously said.

"Obviously we have a large number of vacancies in PD (police department) and fire but it's not just PD and fire. We have an equal number of vacancies in the first largest (city) department, which is public works," McPhee said. 

The city received $8.52 million in COVID-19 relief funds in May 2021 and a second $8.52 million in May 2022. From the initial $8.52 million, $4.05 million was allotted for revenue loss, $1.3 million for rehiring frozen positions and $2.12 million for drainage projects with $1.05 million remaining, McPhee said. From the second $8.52 million, $5.95 million is set aside for revenue loss, which leaves about $3.63 million yet to be assigned to a project. 

Assistant City Manager MaryAnn Hagenbucher said the $5.95 million could be spent on anything the city needs but that no concrete decisions have been made for the funds. 

"Not all of the ARPA (American Rescue Plan Act) money works that way, but the revenue loss portion doesn't have to be designated," Hagenbucher said. 

McPhee said the unassigned $3.63 million can be used for a "long list of things" like public safety but clarified that it cannot be used for a proposed amphitheater project in South Longview. He said it would be wise to be flexible and save the money until it must be spent in 2025. 

"When the COVID dollars were initially sent out to municipalities, we weren't at 8.6% inflation and we didn't have the tugs on the marketplace with the Ukrainian war that created things at home. So, I personally think it's prudent that you be very deliberate in using that money for things that are nonrecurring and that are the kind of needs that are beyond your normal operations and maintenance," McPhee said. 

According to Hagenbucher, the city has to declare what the ARPA funds are to be used for by 2024 but that it has until the end of 2025 to spend it.