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Finance
Citizen Budget Task Force

The Budget Advisory Task Force will meet to discuss a budget and finance policy issue once each month, starting in January of 2008. The committee's service will end in August, 2008, with a presentation to city council on its findings and recommendations. City staff and city council will use the committee's reports as a tool for policy guidance in establishing the 2009 operating and capital budget, and planning for the City's future.

As part of their efforts to both demonstrate financial responsibility and build public confidence that tax money is used wisely - by including the public in their thinking - one of the City Council's Top Ten Goals for 2007-08 was to establish a Citizen Budget Task Force to review the sources and uses of government funds.

A short list of policy issues with critical budget and finance elements for the committee's review might include:
The Task Force will begin their work with a joint session with the City Council to discuss their charter and their expected deliverables. The above list is a starting point for discussion - not an ending list.


Schedule

Date Time Agenda Location
Tues, Jan 22, 2008 5:00 PM Council Worksession Council Chambers
Wed, Feb 6, 2008 5:30 PM Introductory Session Sister Cities
Wed, Feb 27, 2008 5:30 PM Task Force Library Conf Room
Wed, Mar 26, 2008 5:30 PM Task Force Library Conf Room
Wed, Apr 30, 2008 5:30 PM Task Force Sister Cities
Wed, May 28, 2008 5:30 PM Task Force Sister Cities
Wed, Jun 25, 2008 5:30 PM Task Force Sister Cities
Wed, Jul 30, 2008 5:30 PM Task Force Council Chambers
Wed, Aug 27, 2008 5:30 PM Task Force Sister Cities

Schedule is subject to change and additions of subcommittee work

Membership

Members of the Citizen's Budget Task Force are:
Danny Aronson Lisa Baker Don Davidson
Jim De'Francia Maurice Emmer Jenny Elliot
Alan Fletcher Michael Fox Scott Gordon
Marcia Goshorn* Ward Hauenstein David Hyman
Michael Kosnitzky Peter Louras Howie Mallory**
Marilyn Marks Steve Marolt Tom Oken
Bill Pope Dave Ressler Tom Schwerin
Lex Tarumianz Charlie Tarver Torre
Peter Fuchs      
*Task Force Chair
** Task Force Vice-Chair
"Click" on their name to send them an email about the Task Force's work.

Your Facilitator is:
Paul Mentor     paulm@ci.aspen.co.us     970-274-1068

On February 11, 2008, the City Council passed a resolution creating the Task Force, named its members, set the meeting schedule and adopted a set of by-laws for it. The Council's resolution and by-laws established that the Task Force is advisory in nature; that its work product is to be a written report with recommendations relating to the City's budget and fiscal policies; that the report is due to the Council by the end of August 2008; and that the Task Force would terminate when consideration of those recommendations is completed by the City Council.

The Task Force has created subcommittees in order to divide their work up and proceed at a quicker pace towards meeting their August deadline. The subcommittees are:

Housing
Taxes and
Finance
Transportation/
Parking
Information
Technology
Community
Development
Danny Aronson Don Davidson Lisa Baker David Hyman Bill Pope
Jenny Elliot Maurice Emmer Michael Kosnitzky Peter Fuchs Tom Schwerin
Marcia Goshorn Alan Fletcher Tom Schwerin Tom Oken Torre
Ward Hauenstein Michael Fox Lex Tarumianz Marilyn Marks  
Peter Louras Peter Fuchs Charlie Tarver Scott Gordon  
Howie Mallory Tom Oken Torre    
Dave Ressler Bill Pope David Hyman    
Jim DeFrancia Scott Gordon      
Marilyn Marks        
Alan Fletcher        
Goals for SubCm.
Goals for SubCm.
Goals for SubCm.
Goals for SubCm.
Goals for SubCm.


Background Information

As a "primer" for participants (and the public at large) a series of documents and reports is made available to Budget Task Force members to help with their understanding of City finances/operations.

2006 Comprehensive Annual Financial Report  in PDF format
2007 Comprehensive Annual Financial Report (when available)
All (state, local, special district, public authority, etc.) governments shall issue annual financial reports prepared in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP) promulgated by the Governmental Accounting Standards Board (GASB), or its successor bodies. The governing body of each (state, local, special district, public authority, etc.) government shall provide for and cause to be made an annual audit of the financial affairs and transactions of all funds and activities of such government (and of any entity that constitutes part of the reporting entity in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles) for each fiscal year of such government.

All annual financial reports shall contain at least the following:

  1. Financial statements prepared in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles promulgated by the GASB or its successor bodies, setting forth the financial condition and results of operations.
  2. Any additional information that may be required by the GASB or the State Auditor (or other appropriate state official or department) or that may be deemed appropriate by the (state, local, special district, public authority) government.
  3. The opinion of the auditor with respect to the conformity of the financial statements with generally accepted accounting principles.
2008 Approved Annual Operating and Capital Improvement Budget
Governments release one major document that sets out where and how it plans to collect and invest taxpayers' money - this document is the Budget that is approved by the City Council (after being recommended by the City Manager). In accordance the City Charter (section 9.8), the City Council annually adopts the budget in resolution form, and authorizes the collection of property taxes at the mill levy rate authorized by local charter and state law. This document is the legal instrument by which the Council annually grants authority for the expenditure of funds and the collection of property taxes.

It is this document that provides the Council's policy direction and a work plan for meeting the evolving needs and of the community. The document contains information regarding:

2007 Goals and Outcome Measures Plan  in PDF format
2008 Goals and Outcome Measures Plan (when available)
This is an annual "contract" of sorts between the operating departments and the City Manager that outlines a series of goals around customer service, efficiency and improvement effort. Many of the goals are measured by the results of customer feedback (surveys). Tied to the achievement of those goals is an annual bonus of up to $1800 per person (the same amount for everyone). For instance if you achieve 85% of your goals, you get 85% of the money ($200 is tied to the City and the departments greenhouse reduction targets, the other $1600 to the remainder of the goals).

This has proven to have gotten people's attention as to how well their department is doing at meeting the "daily work" kinds of things they are expected to achieve - and led them to both take ownership of the service and to think about how to improve it so that their customer's notice the outcome.


2007 Financial Condition and Budget Review Report (William Rivenbark, Ph.D.)  in PDF format
This is a consultant report requested by the City Council in the Fall of 2007 to provide them with a series of recommendations to advance the City's budgetary goals and to establish possible work objectives for the Citizen's Budget Task Force. The report consists of findings and recommendations that address the financial capacity of the City and its overall financial condition.

Monthly Financial Reports
These are the published monthly financial reports listing year-to-date revenues, expenditures and current cash positions of the underlying funds within the City Budget.

Quarterly Financial Reports
These are the published quarterly financial reports providing an overview of the condition of the City's major operating funds, Capital funds, debt service funds, major sources of revenues, forecasts for year end, and a summary of the City's investment portfolio.

1996-2005 Historical Revenue Report  in PDF format
Ten-year historical trend information for the City’s major and selected minor revenue sources, including the description, the source of authorization for the revenue and purpose/policy base for that revenue.

2008 Budget Development Presentations  in PDF format
These are the PowerPoint presentations prepared for the City Council during their review and deliberations prior to their approval of the 2008 Budget.

2007 Citizen Survey  in PDF format
For nearly a decade, the city of Aspen has asked its residents for feedback on how we have done in delivering services to the community. This year the National Research Center, Inc. of Boulder conducted a mail survey by selecting random households. Registered voters were eligible to take the survey, and 1,200 individuals were selected. Of those 1,200, 347 residents chose to respond.

We do these surveys it to find out what we are doing right and what we need to improve upon. We try and focus our efforts on understanding who our customers and stakeholders are, what they expect from us and how well we are meeting their needs and expectations. The survey contains both response data and respondents narrative comments.

2007 Official Statement for the Series 2007 City of Aspen Public Facilities Authority Taxable Certificates of Participation - Isis Theatre Project [5.05MB]  in PDF format
An Official Statement is much like an "offer to sell" document - in this case to those who might be interested in purchasing some of our debt related to the Isis Theater transaction. Official Statements contain an immense amount of information about the City and its financial condition.

Rating Agency Presentation  in PDF format
This is a copy of the outline for the presentation the City made to Standard & Poors in an effort to have them "re-rate" the City's financial condition and upgrade our bond rating (a rating is a guide to what the market will buy your debt for and hence what kind of interest rate the City will pay for the debt it issues).

Reports on Upgrading of Rating:
These are the reports of the rating agencies as to how they see the financial and management condition of the City and hence how they assess our ability to repay any debt we would subsequently issue.

Housing Summit Memo  in PDF format
On September 6 and 7, 2007, the City held a Housing Summit in order to thoroughly examine the issue of our community's need for affordable housing. The City Council invited the Pitkin County Board of County Commissioners, the Housing Board, elected officials from the rest of the Roaring Fork and Colorado River valleys, as well as representatives of major employers and other interested parties to discuss the issue of affordable housing and come to grips with the magnitude of the problem NOW and into the future. The PowerPoint presentations used that day are included as part of your background material:
Mayor's Paper on Housing  in PDF format
This is a paper prepared by Mayor Ireland and distributed at the Housing Summit in September 2007 titled "The New Housing Crisis: causes and effects."

Report and Recommendations of the Economic Sustainability Committee  in PDF format
This is a paper prepared as a joint project of the Aspen Chamber Resort Association, the City of Aspen, and the Aspen Institute Community Forum and presented in September of 2002. Toward the end of 2001, Aspen was faced with several years of lowered economic activity attributable to a combination of several mediocre snow years, the Y2K business consumer travel slowdown, the terrorist events of 9/11, and the general slowdown of the U.S. and world economies following the sustained bull market of the 1990s.

Concurrently, the Aspen Chamber Resort Association, the City of Aspen, and the Aspen Institute Community Forum Board were all interested in gaining a perspective on that situation. After individual efforts by each of these organizations were begun, it was decided to collaborate on a joint task force to assess the situation and to make recommendations.

City of Aspen Org Chart  in PDF format
Every organization has an org chart that shows who reports to whom - if this is useful, here is ours.

Overview of City Structure/Operations/Finances  in PDF format
This is an introduction to the legal structure and authority of the City of Aspen - it's "home rule" authority under Article XX of the Colorado constitution, it's structure and authority under the City Charter, it's organizational structure and an overview of its finances and financial condition.

City Council's Top Ten Goals for 2007-08  in PDF format
The City Council, in a goal-setting retreat in August of 2007, established its priorities for the coming year. They established a major focus for the year on "Environmental Stewardship" and a Top Ten Goals list for the city leadership team to deliver on. This is the list of those goals and who in the organization will champion them.

Entrance to Aspen
In early 2007, the City Council directed staff to engage the public in an extensive conversation about the Entrance to Aspen. So over the course of several months a series of forums where held to provide information to the public about the Entrance and to seek opinion about how citizens and commuters felt about the Entrance and what they wanted to do about it. This website was set up to provide information and results from those conversations. On the website you will find documents on: (1) background and history on the Entrance, (2) copies of the public presentation on the Entrance, (3) results of the Re-Evaluation of the Entrance Solution (the so-called Preferred Alternative) conducted by CDOT and their consultants, and (4) "What we heard" in our various involvement opportunities with the public - which took place over a 4 month period. "Click" on the above title and you will be taken to the SH82.com site where you can click on "Entrance to Aspen Information" and find a wealth of information. If you have not seen the short video on the Entrance, you can contact Barry Crook at 920-5296 to reserve a copy of the 35-minute video "The Entrance to Aspen - How Did We Get Here?" We also have an animated video of the Preferred Alternative that can allow you to see the Preferred Alternative and how you might drive through the PA once built.

Since that effort, the City Council has directed staff to get some additional engineering work done in three areas: (1) a "Split Shot" alternative that retains the existing SH 82 alignment as an outbound one-way two lane road, and creates a new two-lane road inbound - to create a "couplet" entrance that utilizes two S-curves. This option would build a new bridge over Castle Creek in the same location as the proposed new structure for the Preferred Alternative, but not as wide (it has to accommodate only two lanes, not four); (2) a "3-lane, contra flow" alternative that would add an additional lane in the current SH82 alignment (widening the existing Castle Creek Bridge) to create a reversible lane that would be used in the AM for inbound traffic, and for outbound traffic in the PM; (3) signal and interchange improvements (roundabouts or grade separation) at Cemetery Lane and at the entrance to Truscott to relieve congestion.

At a Worksession on February 19, City Council directed staff to implement the signal timing change at the Truscott intersection and to return with more analysis of: intersection options at Cemetery Lane, outbound traffic flow and capacity with the Split Shot alternative, and possible ways to limit construction impacts and improve the constructability of a new Castle Creek Bridge as part of the 3-lane contra flow alternative. Results of the additional analysis work will be available in late May.

Parking Policy Options
This memorandum, presented to the City Council at a worksession on March 17, 2008, grew out of Parking Department analysis of the impacts of current parking policies on the commercial core and adjacent residential areas. In this analysis, Parking Department Staff found that the current parking policies in the residential neighborhoods do not fully address the twin goals of reducing traffic levels and improving pedestrian friendliness. Despite staff's efforts, current enforcement and policies have not been able to mitigate "the two-hour shuffle" in the residential permit parking areas. The memorandum covered a range of strategy options, including: (1) status quo, (2) implement 2 hrs max/day in any residential zone, (3) establish permit-only zones adjacent to the core, (4) increase enforcement of existing regulations using license plate recognition technology, (5) expand parking pricing with limited residential metering, and (6) pilot "road pricing" - congestion pricing of the use of a particular road in a particular area.

At this Worksession on March 17th, Council directed staff to move forward with plans to implement a 2 hour maximum per day policy in the residential permit parking zones within three blocks of the commercial core. A new license plate recognition system will assist with enforcement of the new regulations. These changes will likely take effect in winter 2008/09, after the new bus lanes between Buttermilk and the Roundabout are completed.

Currently, vehicles parked in Aspen's residential permit parking zones are limited to two hours in any specific parking space. This policy encourages drivers to shuffle their cars, inconveniencing drivers and generating increased traffic in area neighborhoods. The new residential parking program will continue to allow up to two hours of free parking in a residential zone. However, parking for more than two hours within a residential permit zone will no longer be available without a permit. Drivers who must park for longer than two hours will have the option of purchasing residential day passes for a cost of $7. Day passes will be available from City Market stores, from the parking kiosk on the airport frontage road, from the parking office, and from conveniently placed vending meters.

Vehicles displaying carpool, residential, lodge guest or other valid permits will be exempt from the two hour limitation. The Rio Grande Parking Plaza will also continue to provide cost effective long-term parking for drivers.


RFTA and Bus Rapid Transit
Bus Rapid Transit is a significantly enhanced bus system that operates in bus lanes or mixed traffic. BRT combines the flexibility and cost savings of buses with the efficiency, speed, reliability, and amenities of rail. RFTA's BRT system will provide reduced transit travel times, improved mobility, and reliable access throughout the Roaring Fork and Colorado River Valleys during both peak and off-peak hours. Because BRT vehicles use hybrid electric/biodiesel engines, the system will help reduce emissions as well as local dependence on foreign energy sources. Typical BRT elements include:
Some BRT elements, such as two new park & rides, are already in place. In addition, about half of RFTA's fleet will be composed of faster-boarding, low-floor buses by the end of 2007. Phased implementation of the BRT project will be completed starting in 2009 and going through 2017.


Suggestions and things to consider in your effort

Your goal is to produce recommendations that will be implemented. While this may seem obvious, it is by no means an easy task. The single biggest obstacle preventing "logical" recommendations from becoming reality is the failure to consider political realities. Every cut or shift in a government program will face opposition. The failure to anticipate such opposition from program constituents, contractors, employees, etc. places the burden of crafting a workable solution on the politicians.

For example, The President's Private Sector Survey on Cost Control (commonly known as the Grace Commission) was established by President Reagan. Their final report in 1984 contained 2,478 specific recommendations that would have saved $424 billion in 3 years, rising to $1.9 trillion by the year 2000. Many of these recommendations were designed to clean up "absurd situations" that were readily apparent to most everyone. Unfortunately, most of these recommendations have still not been implemented.

While our local situation is much more logical and straightforward than the tangled mess in Washington, it is critical that all recommendations be thoroughly thought out. While you are not politicians, the eventual reception to your ideas will be dependent upon your ability to:

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1st Floor
Aspen, CO  81611

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