Salaries and benefits make up 80% of city budget
What it is: The amount of the City of Springfield's current general revenue budget devoted to paying the salaries and benefits of about 800 employees.
Not including one-time expenses, general fund spending in the 2013-14 budget totals about $74.3 million. Of that, $59.3 million — about 80 percent — went to employee salaries and benefits and other personnel-related costs.
The percentage is higher than it should be, according to city policy. In 2000, City Council established a guideline calling for salaries and benefits to make up 73 to 77 percent of the general fund. The amount spent on payroll has exceeded the guideline in seven of the past nine years.
At a Tuesday lunch meeting, Finance Director Mary Mannix-Decker told council members that some of the reasons for the higher-than-recommended payroll percentage include:
• Increased payments into the city's worker's compensation and health insurance funds and the police-fire pension plan, all of which had been underfunded
• The addition of 14 front-line police and firefighters
• Refilling some of the positions left empty during the city's 2008-11 hiring freeze
• Reduced spending on non-payroll items, including capital expenses and maintenance.
Why it matters: The general revenue fund is the area of city spending over which City Council has the most control. But the high proportion of the fund devoted to salaries and benefits leaves relatively little wiggle room for new priorities or capital expenses such as police cars, building maintenance and replacement.
Councilman Jeff Seifried recently has called for the city to hire more police officers. But with so much of the general fund already spoken for, adding staff in one area could require eliminating positions elsewhere. If not, the payroll portion of the budget could rise higher still, hemming in council even more in the future.
What comes next: Citizens can expect to hear more about the proposed budget — and will have a chance to chime in — during the next several weeks.
April 29 — The proposed FY 2014-15 budget goes to members of City Council, to be followed by several lunch meetings reserved for budget presentations and discussion.
May 27 — The proposed budget, along with any changes, will be presented at a public hearing.
June 9 — The deadline for the city to come to an agreement with employee collective bargaining groups about how money set aside for pay increases will be divided.
June 30 — The deadline for City Council to adopt the budget.
How we did it
The idea: Finance Director Mary Mannix-Decker mentioned the high proportion of general revenue allocated to payroll during a presentation to City Council on Tuesday.
The request: Adopted city budgets going back to the 2010-11 one are available electronically on the city's website at www.springfieldmo.gov/budget/. Mannix-Decker provided information from older budgets.
Complications: Prior to the 2009-10 fiscal year, the city's budget documents included parks employees and some other staff in the general revenue category, making comparison difficult. Mannix-Decker provided budget information for previous years that was calculated using the more recent division, while also stripping out one-time expenses.
The cost: $0.