HomeMy WebLinkAboutFY 2020 Budget Presentation (Department of Finance)DEPARTMENT OF FINANCE
THE COUNTY OF KAUA'I
DEREK S. K. KAWAKAMI, MAYOR
MICHAEL A. DAHILIG, MANAGING DIRECTOR
DEPARTMENT OF FINANCE
REIKO MATSUYAMA
DIRECTOR
MICHELLE L. LIZAMA
DEPUTY DIRECTOR
FY 2020 BUDGET AND OPERATIONS SYNOPSIS
FY 2019 to FY 2020 BUDGET COMPARISON
FY 2019 FY 2020 $+I -0/o +I -
Salary and Wages 4,890,656 4,952,314 61,658 1.3%
Benefits 2,616,555 3,063,701 447,146 17.1%
Utilities 196,521 196,801 280 0.1%
Vehicle/Equip, Lease 12,449 21,147 8,698 69.9%
Operations 3t444t912 3J60t967 316t055 9.2%
11,161,093 11,994,930 833,837 7.5%
FY 2019 Operating Budget FY 2020 Operating Budget
•Salary and Wages
•Benefits
•Utilities
•Vehicle/Equip,
Lease
•Operations
FY 2019 and FY 2020 Comparison
Salary and Wages Benefits Uti lities
www.kau ai.gov
Vehicle/Equip,
Lease
•Salary and Wages
•Benefits
•Utilities
•Vehic le /Equip,
Lease
•Operations
Operations
FY 2019
FY 2020
4444 Rice Street Suite 280 • Lihu'e, Hawai'i 96766 • (808) 241-4200 (b) • (808) 241-6529 (f)
An Equal Opportunity Employer
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MAJOR CHANGES AND/OR VARIANCES IN OPERATIONS BUDGET
The Department of Finance is requesting a FY'20 operating budget of $12 million, which is
an increase of $834 thousand or 7.5%. Primarily the increases are attributable to salaries
and benefits which represent 67% of our overall budget.
We are seeking a help desk position within our IT Division which will reduce technical delays
at the department level as well as free up higher level staff time to concentrate on specific IT
initiatives. The increase in benefits reflects the corresponding increase in salaries and
wages as well as for the Employee Retirement System's (ERS) proposed increased
contribution amount and an allowance for pending collective bargaining raises. Other Post
Employment Benefits increased $223 thousand while ERS ' mandatory payments increased
$183 thousand.
Operationally, we are requesting an increase of $316 thousand or 9.2% over FY'19 to bring
us to $3.7 million in total spend. We are proposing an increase to the Humane Society
contract of $130 thousand bringing the base contract amount to $924 thousand. The
remaining increase is within the IT division and includes the implementation of Office 365
software and upgrades to our LaserFiche capabilities . The addition of Office 365 will allow
us to upgrade to the latest versions of Office and will modernize our email and collaboration
services by moving certain applications to the Cloud. The expansion of LaserFiche will
allow use of our document imaging software to support our drive to go paperless with as
many County processes as possible.
OPERATIONAL CHALLENGES
The Department of Finance consistently faces staffing and recruiting/retention challenges
due to the County's inability to pay competitive wages. Departments are competing for the
same talent since the unemployment rate is at a historic low. Even though the County's
population and demand for services are growing, administrative positions are the last to be
added. Procurement laws are becoming more prohibitive, creating more work for staff and
adding time to implementation of County projects. The information technology needs
throughout the County are becoming more complex and staff needs to be available at all
hours to accommodate growing emergency situations. Although there are nearly 12 ,000
additional vehicles on our roads , we have not added a full-time position to motor vehicle
registration since 2007. That is an average of 32 more transactions at our windows every
day .
We do what we can to mitigate the staffing issues. Effective implementation of cross-training
proves to represent an important risk management tool by sharing, spreading, and
capitalizing of individual retained knowledge in specialized functions. This is an ongoing
goal throughout the department as we foresee a number of retirements in the upcoming
· fiscal year.
Admittedly, we are weak in our communication efforts. Our divisions are compartmentalized
and do not function cohesively as a department. The Director is creatively thinking of long-
term solutions to reestablish a healthy working environment for all .of our staff.
OPERATIONAL HIGHLIGHTS FROM FY 2019
The Government Finance Officers Association (GFOA) awarded a Certificate of
Achievement for Excellence in Financial Reporting to the County of Kaua'i for its
Comprehensive Annual Financial Report (CAFR) for the fiscal year ended June 30, 2017.
The County has received this award for the 25 1h consecutive year. This award signifies that
the County's 2017 CAFR has achieved the highest standards in financial reporting in
accordance with Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP) and applicable legal
requirements. We remain hopeful the current CAFR will meet the Certificate of Achievement
Program's requirements.
We have implemented a number of efficiency items within our motor vehicle division. On the
eHawaii.gov website, we now have the ability to renew both late registrations as well as do
moped renewals. The kiosks at both Safeways (Kapaa to be installed early April) allow
individuals to renew their current (or no more than one year expired) registration 24/7 with
their debit or credit cards. We also implemented a numbering system at the County building
so that people can wait comfortably as opposed to standing in line . We are happy to also
report that we are finally fully staffed, although not fully trained. This will assist in
decreasing the wait time for our customers. Future initiatives include expanding the
capabilities of the kiosks, purchasing an automated queueing system, and accepting credit
cards at the windows.
The Department of Finance is proud of the strides that we have made to go paperless. We
now have an official County policy on how and where digital signatures can be used along
with the tools necessary to facilitate the use of digital records. Our partnerships with
computer software enterprises such as Adobe, LaserFiche and Seamless Docs have also
contributed to our progress. During the course of the present fiscal year, we have
developed an excellent found~tion for supporting our present and future initiatives to
eventually become a paperless workforce. The Division of Purchasing is already there as
they have a completely paperless operation.