Dunsmuir is looking into ways to save money, and the City Council on Thursday directed the staff to pursue outsourcing City Hall duties.
The staff will look into contracting with a private company to process city employee payroll and water service billing, a move that could save the city hundreds of dollars each month.
City Manager Jim Lindley said the idea is part of an effort to make the city more efficient. Staffers have been crossed-trained in a variety of duties, he said.
“We’re pretty short staffed here,” Lindley said. “The thinking is that we can better allocate staff resources to more productive duties other than routine clerical tasks.”
Dunsmuir has 14 paid staffers not counting contracts with law enforcement or firefighters, according to city budget documents.
Some of those employees are part time.
Contracting out billing services would cost Dunsmuir about $421 monthly, according to an estimate from Advanced InfoSystems, a company that contracts utility billing services with nearly 20 cities and water districts.
But the city would gain about 12 labor hours from the deal, worth about $340, according to a staff report. Dunsmuir also could get rid of its postage machine, which costs the city $2,500 per year to operate and maintain, Lindley said.
“We’re just trying to come into the 21st century,” he said.
Dunsmuir would also save nearly $300 by outsourcing its payroll, according to a staff report. The city spends about $410 in labor per month to process payroll, while having another company handle it would cost about $140 monthly, according to the report.
Those figures are initial estimates, Lindley said. The staff will bring contracts for payroll and utility billing for council approval at a future meeting.
The outsourcing won’t result in layoffs.
“City staffing is already at bare bones to provide vital public services,” Vice Mayor Chris Raine said.
The council also decided to form a committee to figure out how to keep the Dunsmuir Library sustainable.
Currently open about 20 hours per week, the library is funded by city and a community group, Friends of the Dunsmuir Library.
The new committee will hold public meetings and form a recommendation for the council. Possible solutions include increases in either sales tax or property tax, Lindley said.
“We are committed to keeping the Dunsmuir Library open,” said Councilwoman Diane Dolf, who volunteered to sit on the committee.
In a letter to the city, Friends of the Dunsmuir Library’s board of directors said a sales tax increase would be shared by Dunsmuir residents and tourists, while the property tax would guarantee funding for the library.
Mt. Shasta voters in June approved a 0.25 percent hike in sales tax to fund their library.
“Mt. Shasta proved, with 75 percent voter approval for its sales tax increase measure, that this approach can be successful,” the letter says.
The group is looking to raise $40,000 per year to run the library, according to the letter.
Source:http://www.redding.com/news/2011/aug/19/outsourcing-of-city-hall-duties-considered/