05/09/05 Budget Study - Laserfiche WebLink

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Budget Study Session May 9, 2005 10.14 – Information Technology Mr. Ollendorff explained that this program was new last year, charging half of the half- time employee, now to be changed to a full-time Director of Information Technology and some support to be allocated to 713.00. He noted that 721.10 is contractual at the moment, but he is cutting back on contractual support and adding this amount to the 713.00 line item. A part-time person will be more cost effective than a contractual support person. Ms. Welsch asked about the difference in line 743.02 and whether it represented the difference to upgrade systems? This figure represents expenditures for hardware and software for various departments. There will be less in individual department budgets and more in the central Information Technology budget. She asked if this was the same for 726.06 and was advised yes. The big change is the full-time Information Technology department rather than part- time. Some discussion about when this would be implemented ensued and about the transition to a new City Clerk. 10.15 – Municipal Court There are no changes. There will be the same staff and budget, but an increased work load. Perhaps there will be more overtime. Mr. Wagner asked who the Court Administrator was and was advised it is the Chief Clerk, Kathy Matthews. It is the same person but with a different title. Some discussion about how this functions followed. Ms. Brot asked about line 722.06 and was told it is to pay for attendance at an annual conference. Ms. Colquitt asked why 725.05 was so high and was told that they had long-distance call service. 10.16 – Financial Administration There is nothing substantially new in this budget item. Mr. Ollendorff said if the City Council wants to ”bid-out” the auditing services, he will need to know this in January and suggested it as an items for a future study session. Ms. Welsch wanted to know if business licenses were always done by the Finance Department and was advised that in some cities the City Clerk did the task, but usually the finance function and the city clerk function were combined. She asked if these functions were ever combined in University City, and Mr. Ollendorff said not in his memory. She asked the City Clerk and the Director of Finance to submit a report of pro’s and con’s to help decided whether combining these functions is a good idea. Page 7