Finance Highlights 2006 1101 - Laserfiche WebLink

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Jermanis also explained that if the City decided to pursue a living wage ordinance, Council would also need to establish the level of compliance efforts required for monitoring that ordinance. Jermanis also pointed other issues for consideration when evaluating the living wage that include: 1. Benefits to the part-time employees, 2. Comparable pays in other jurisdictions, and 3. Reciprocal effect on all City positions. Human Resources Director Caire reported that the City currently has 91 part-time seasonal employees who are paid below the proposed $14/hr living wage rate. If current wages are raised to the living wage level and the rate separations between all classifications are maintained, the preliminary cost estimates are more than $500k ($300k initial impact and $200k-300k impact for position rollups). Caire further explained that more time is required for developing a more defined estimate and to conduct a comparison of part-time pay with other cities. Mayor Young questioned which 20 Bay Area cities have a living wage ordinance as mentioned in a previous Council meeting. Young requested a copy of the Hayward and Oakland's living wage ordinance for Committee review. Jermanis explained that the Purchasing Agent functions are currently performed by one full-time and one part-time positions and that the Engineering section reviews a contractor's payroll for compliance. The Finance Department does not have a compliance section to monitor living wage now; therefore, the Finance Department might have to add staff to perform this function. In response to the question on Crossing Guards expenditures raised by Young, Jermanis explained that the School District is not willing to pay so the City funds the program. Some Recreation Programs would not be sustainable if the City had to pay a living wage. If living wage was implemented, certain Recreation programs could face cutbacks or the City would have to provide additional subsidy. Jermanis approximated that three more meetings would be needed to discuss all the issues before forwarding to Council a Finance Committee recommendation for supporting or not supporting a living wage ordinance. Staff will bring back more data, information on what other cities are doing, and issues they are facing to the Committee. 2. Discussion Regarding First Quarter 2006-07 Investment Report Baloca reported that the City's investment portfolio, as of September 30, 2006, had a market value of $75.4m, reflecting a small increase of $2.26m from June 30, 2006. LAIF's investment return of 4.93% continued to exceed Chandler's investment return of 3.9%. The City recently purchased more corporate notes bringing the percentage held close to the policy threshold of 10%. The City's investment strategy remains the same as last quarter, in which the City purchases short-term investments to gain liquidity and maintain a higher yield, while also purchasing long-term investments to secure rates in the current environment. Baloca reported that he and Budget and Compliance Manager Chan met with Morgan Stanley representatives to learn about the brokerage services they can provide. Baloca explained that the City's investment cost will be lowered by using brokerage service instead of portfolio investment management since a broker only charges for trades purchased. Baloca estimated that the City