Page 12 - 2022-23 Blue Book Vol 1

III. SELECTED BUDGETARY TERMS

The following budgetary terms appear in the Blue Book. To promote clarity for the reader, they are defined
below:

EMPLOYEE COMPENSATION ADJUSTMENTS

During each budget year, the City may provide a cost of living adjustment for City employees. Funding for
civilian and/or sworn employees is placed in individual departmental budgets.

SALARY STEP PLAN AND TURNOVER EFFECT

The City compensation system is composed of compensation ranges. Ranges have multiple steps or levels.
Most ranges have either eleven or fifteen steps. Assuming satisfactory performance, incumbents in each
range move from step to step over a period of time.

The Salary Step Plan and Turnover Effect is the estimated net effect of the salary step effect and the turnover
effect for the budget year. The salary step effect reflects employees who stay with the City over the course
of the budget year. Those employees may move from their existing salary step to a higher salary step. The
timing and resulting cost of this movement varies for each position.

Simultaneously, employees who have been with the City for a period of time may vacate their position at a
certain salary step (generally, the salary step is higher the longer the time of service in the position).
Replacements for those employees often are hired at lower salary steps. The resulting cost difference is the
turnover effect.

FULL FUNDING FOR PARTIALLY FINANCED POSITIONS

When new positions are approved, departments may only be provided partial year funding to allow sufficient
time to hire qualified staff. Additionally, departments may have one-time salary reductions in a given fiscal
year to reflect savings generated by positions filled in-lieu, held vacant for employees on long-term leave,
and/or anticipated attrition. This budget item is used during the following budget cycle to provide departments
full funding for those positions and salary accounts that were partially funded in the prior year.

DELETION OF ONE-TIME EXPENSE, EQUIPMENT, OR SPECIAL FUNDING

Each year, the adopted budget contains funding for one-time expenditures. Funding for these items is
deleted from the following year’s budget as a technical change. These technical changes are shown in order
to allow the reader to follow all the changes made to the budget and better compare the Mayor’s Proposed
Budget with the current year adopted budget. New or continued one-time expense, equipment, or special
items must be justified separately for inclusion in the proposed budget.

DELETION OF FUNDING FOR RESOLUTION AUTHORITIES

Each year, the adopted budget contains funding for resolution authority positions. Due to their temporary
nature, funding for these items is deleted in the subsequent year’s budget as a technical change.
Continuation of funding and position authority for these positions is dependent upon available funding and
continuing need in the next fiscal year. This technical change is shown to allow the reader to follow all the
changes made to the budget and better compare the Mayor’s Proposed Budget with the current year budget.

REALIGNMENTS

Routine changes are often required to move positions and/or funding between budget programs, accounts,
or funds to align department expenditures with anticipated needs and available funding. These changes are
typically referred to as Program Realignments (moving positions and funding between budgetary programs),
Account Realignments (moving allocated funding between different accounts, such as Contractual Services
or Salaries As-Needed), and Funding Realignments (moving allocated funding between funds, such as the
General Fund or the Sidewalk Repair Fund). These items typically have no direct or related cost, as there is
no change to the overall funding provided to the department.