Report 2016-111 Recommendations

To address the structural deficit in its general fund, the city should seek long-term solutions to balance its budget so that its expenditures do not exceed its revenues. These solutions should include eliminating the reliance on one-time gains to fund ongoing expenses and identifying opportunities to further reduce spending. The city should document its approach in a long-term financial plan that should account for the following: a forecast of at least five to 10 years into the future, updates to long-term planning activities as needed to provide direction to the budget process, and an analysis of its financial status; revenue and expenditure forecasts; and plan-monitoring mechanisms, such as a scorecard of key indicators of financial health.

To ensure that employee compensation aligns with job statements, the city should review its salary incentives and modify the eligibility criteria so that they match the job requirements.

Considering that the city's retirement benefits are more generous than those of most comparable cities, and in light of its financial situation, the city should reduce its employee benefits costs by negotiating with employee bargaining groups and key management employees for the elimination of further city contributions to the PARS supplemental benefit plan or at least and increase in participant contributions to cover the full employee share of the plan's costs, recognizing that under California case law the city may not destroy vested pension rights legislatively.

To minimize the use of its reserves to reduce long-term liabilities, the city should annually determine whether it has sufficient funding to cash out employee leave balances. Additionally, in future labor negotiations, the city should explore the possibility of eliminating or reducing voluntary leave balance cash-outs by employees, and eliminate sick leave cash-outs altogether.

As a prudent financial practice, the city should collect receipts for all reimbursable council expenses and update its expense reimbursement policy to eliminate exceptions to this rule.

To reduce costs, the city should consider eliminating its current resident prescription drug benefit program and replacing it with the prescription discount card program offered by the League of California Cities that would provide discounts on prescriptions to residents at no cost to the city.

If the city chooses not to participate in the prescription discount card program offered by the League of California Cities, it should at least take the following step related to its current prescription drug benefit program: Align its prescription drug benefit program with its established purpose--to treat conditions proven to be caused or worsened by the city's mining activities--and limit the availability of benefits to only those medications approved for the treatment of such conditions.

If the city chooses not to participate in the prescription discount card program offered by the League of California Cities, it should at least reduce the cost of its current prescription drug benefit program by enacting limits--similar to those in its resident vision benefits--on the number or dollar amount of prescriptions an individual can receive each year.

To reduce the costs of its resident prescription drug benefit program, the city council should follow the recommendations of its consultant by approving the following: align copayments by increasing those paid by residents 50 years of age and older to the same level as those paid by residents who are 49 years or younger.

To reduce the costs of its resident prescription drug benefit program, the city council should follow the recommendations of its consultant by approving the following: implement coordination of benefits provisions, where applicable, to designate the city as a secondary payer to residents' primary insurance coverage.

To eliminate the need for police officer overtime, the city should evaluate the possibility of contracting for police services with the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department or another law enforcement agency as an alternative to operating its own police department.

While the city is considering recommendation #11, and if it should choose not to contract for police services, it should ensure that its police department is adequately staffed by performing a staffing analysis that includes a determination of the costs and benefits of officer overtime versus hiring additional officers.

While the city is considering recommendation #11, and if it should choose not to contract for police services, it should promote public safety and equity among its police officers by implementing a rotational order for scheduled overtime to prevent some officers from working excessive shifts.

To help ensure that it receives the best value for contracts it exempts from competitive bidding, the city should revise its purchasing policy to require its staff to perform a price analysis and prepare a cost justification form and place the document in each contract file as evidence that the contract price is fair and reasonable.

To help ensure that it receives good-quality services, the city should monitor all spending for contracted services. The city should also require its staff to perform post-contract evaluations of professional services contracts, particularly for those continuing services contracts it exempts from competitive bidding.

The Housing Authority should consider options to provide low-income housing opportunities to more people. Additionally, if the Housing Authority intends to continue providing low-income housing opportunities in the future, the city should examine the available funding mechanisms to continue providing low-income housing before it exhausts its Housing Authority Fund balance.

To ensure that all residents have an equal chance to participate in the Housing Authority's housing programs, the city should remove the long-term residency priorities from any future housing programs.

To help identify and prevent potential fraud, the city should develop and implement a fraud policy, following the guidelines provided by the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners.

To ensure that it continues to properly manage its debt, the city should prioritize developing and implementing a debt management policy.