City Details Layoff Plan, Employees Notified Hours Earlier

City Manager Stephen Rhodes shed greater light on actual cuts to staff and other expenses the city plans to make this year at Thursday night’s Financing City Services Task Force meeting.

The list of positions to be cut comes from reports issued to Rhodes from department heads earlier today. Employees who could lose their jobs were notifed only a few hours before the meeting.

In total, the city hopes to eliminate $1.5 to 2 million in expenditures after its most recent attempt at revenue, the fire suppression assessment tax, when put to a vote of Pacifica property owners.

The city manager reminded the task force, which advises the city council on making General Fund budgets, of the speed with which decisions about these cuts need to be made. A new budget not dependent on the tax has to be approved by July 1, and there is much work to be done by staff and the city council. 

First up in the cuts: The Police. 

Rhodes said that staff is looking at contracting ’s dispatch services with the county. Currently, Pacifica employs six dispatchers. He went on to say that staff was also investigating the possibility of finding those dispatchers jobs with the county as part of the deal. 

One police captain would be laid off as well, Rhodes said.

The city anticipates the cuts to police would immediately save about $651,000.

Rhodes said that one fire battalion chief, battalion chief overtime, one firefighter and a part-time fire inspector are set to be eliminated.

Making reductions to fire staff is a bit more complicated than in other departments, however, because Pacifica is part of a joint powers agreement (JPA) with Daly City and Brisbane and is reimbursed part of each of the three battalion chiefs’ salaries.

“We don’t get dollar for dollar the cuts we make [in fire] because we share management [responsibilities] in the JPA,” Rhodes said. “So when we cut, we’re cutting our contribution to management, meaning we would have to pay them [the JPA] if we’re not contributing as much.”

In the end, Rhodes predicts that fire will not be able to meet the percentage he told the chief to cut from its budget, and the slack will need to be picked up elsewhere. These eliminations would tentatively save the city about $300,000 annually.

In , Rhodes’s department, Rhodes has given up all of his cafeteria health insurance plan cash and one half-time position will be laid off. 

Council directed staff Wednesday night to look at the possibility of contracting out the city’s legal needs, meaning Cecelia Quick would be relieved of her duties.

The alternative to that, Rhodes said, is an $18,000 reduction to Quick’s salary, a reduction to the department’s budget and a reduction to legal services contracted from the outside, totaling $43,000 in savings.

Task force member Bruce Blanco wanted to make sure that laying off Quick and reducing contracted legal services were only tentative.

“Since that (what legal services are sought) is dependent on who sues us and what activity we get involved with, is it tenuous?” he asked.

“Maybe we’ll have a good year and we won’t need it,” Rhodes said.

If Quick is laid off, staff anticipates a savings of $75,000 in the first year (because of her buyout) and $240,000 in succeeding years.

One position in the Finance Department, an account tech, plus part time assistants will be eliminated for a savings of $91,000 annually.

In the Planning Department, one management analyst, who works as a laizon without outside agencies, would have his or her hours cut to half-time from full-time.

As with the City Attorney’s office, Rhodes is looking at contracting out certain duties in the Public Works Department, namely tree trimming, streetlight maintenance and street sweeping.

In order to soften the impacts of the cuts, Rhodes said he’s considering moving qualified employees with those responsibilities to the Wastewater Department, which the city is being forced to ramp up by the county.

Pacifica might even be the subject of a pilot program in which Pacific Gas and Electric would maintain streetlights.

As for the , Rhodes said that it’s difficult to make strict cuts to staff or programs because many are supported by revenue-generating aspects of the department. Senior programs, for instance, are supported by seniors purchasing meals to be delivered to their homes.

Staff is exploring ways to increase revenue through that department, however, such as charging customers fees to use credit cards to pay for services. Rhodes also hopes to use nearly all interest from the Roy Davies Memorial Trust Fund--$17,000--in the department. 

Still, three-quarters of a full-time position could be eliminated there.

City council is also planning on cutting some non-departmental expenses, many of which are discretionary.

Those include administration fees for retiree health care, rental and lease expenses, the farmers market, county library charges and property taxes the city pays.

The big ticket items on that list are animal control services, which cost $245,000 annually and are handled by the Peninsula Humane Society, consultant fees for the General Plan Update—$123,000—and support for the Pacifica Resource Center which costs the city $83,000 annually.

Several members of the task force winced at the possibility of cutting the resource center’s funding or expenses associated with the general plan update.

Rhodes also cautioned against eliminating the contract with the Humane Society for animal control services and trying to take those on as a city.

“You have not seen complaints or lawsuits until you run an animal facility,” he said. 

Near the close of the meeting, task force member Mary Ellen Carroll suggested that in addition to the plan outlined by Rhodes, the city council should consider eliminating a in its cafeteria health insurance plan altogether and a contract with Pacifica Community Television to broadcast city meetings, which costs $55,000. 

Councilmember Len Stone and Councilwoman Mary Ann Nihart, who sat in at the meeting, supported eliminating council's cafeteria cash. 

Carroll then proposed that the committee advise council to pursue the cuts outlined at the meeting, eliminating the health insurance cashouts and take a look at some of the discretionary expenses. She was seconded. 

When asked whether the city council would follow the recommanedation, Nihart said she would, but could not speak to other members' votes.