WHEREAS, the City Council and the Mayor are committed to high standards of financial management; and
WHEREAS, adopting and periodically updating and revising the City's Citywide financial policies are important steps towards assuring consistent and rational financial management practices; and
WHEREAS, the City Council and Mayor have reviewed, and expect to soon adopt, a comprehensive package of financial policies for the City; and
WHEREAS, this comprehensive review has resulted in future work program items in several financial policy areas; Now, Therefore,
BE IT RESOLVED BY THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF SEATTLE, THE MAYOR CONCURRING, THAT
Section 1. The Council adopts the following work program items.
a) Major Maintenance Demands. By August 2002, the Executive will review the City's major maintenance demands and propose an annual funding level that reflects this updated assessment of the City's capital infrastructure.
b) Establishing Business Improvement Areas (BIAs). The City of Seattle hereby establishes its intent to develop model methodologies for the establishment of BIAs. The model methodologies will present alternatives for BIA assessment methods, billing
cycles and ratepayer classifications, as well as a definitional guide to assist agencies establishing BIAs. The Department of Finance and the Office of Economic Development will develop the model methodologies for review and approval by Council by the
end of first quarter 2002.
c) Cost Allocation to Small Departments. For services whose costs are recovered by cost allocation charges to all City departments, the costs for the "small departments" (such as the Civil Service Commission and the Arts Commission) are grouped
together and charged directly to the General Fund. During the review of cost allocation policies, the Executive discovered that the internal service departments were using different definitions for what constituted a "small department." Therefore, the
Council directs the Executive to develop a consistent definition of what constitutes a "small department," and to apply this concept in recovering the costs of services using the all-department allocation methodology.
d) Fund Balances Policies in the Industrial Insurance Subfund and the Unemployment Insurance Subfund. With the Mayor's Proposed 2002 Budget, the Personnel Department and the Department of Finance will propose fund balance policies to address issues of
working capital needs and coverage for unanticipated catastrophic claims costs in the Industrial Insurance Subfund of the General Fund and in the Unemployment Insurance Subfund of the General Fund.
e) Budgeting Policies. By February 2002, the Department of Finance will deliver the Executive-proposed budgeting policies for Council review. Council adopted policies will be used in developing the Mayor's Proposed 2003-2004 Budget.
f) Rebating subrogation and other recovery revenues related to industrial insurance claims. The Council directs the Executive to study the feasibility of rebating subrogation and other recovery revenues to individual departments prior to the
2003-2004 biennial budget. This review will consider the administrative costs necessary to implement such a policy and will examine the effect of the policy on industrial insurance rates.
g) Fleets and Facilities Environmentally Sound Vehicle Goals. In the first quarter of 2002, the Fleets and Facilities Department will provide a report to the Council's Finance, Budget, and Economic Development Committee on performance measures related
to the use of environmentally sound vehicles. This report will include a description of the performance measures, desired goals or targets, actual performance data where available, and a proposal for how frequently to report back to Council with
updates on this information.
ADOPTED by the City Council of the City of Seattle the ______ day of ______________, 2001, and signed by me in open session in authentication of its adoption this _____ day of _______________, 2001. ______________________________________
President______________ of the City Council
THE MAYOR CONCURRING: ______________________ Paul Schell, Mayor
Filed by me this __________ day of _________________, 2001. ______________________________________ City Clerk
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