TO: Mayor and City Council
FROM: City Efficiency Committee
SUBJECT:
title
Findings and Recommendations of the City Efficiency Committee
Ward(s): All Wards
Councilor(s): All Councilors
Neighborhood(s): All Neighborhoods
Result Area(s): Good Governance.
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SUMMARY:
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The City Efficiency Committee (CEC) was established by Council action to help identify efficiencies within the City’s General Fund for operations and expenditures as well as to provide information about the challenges facing the General Fund. The Committee met five times over the past several weeks to ask questions of staff and learn about Oregon budget law, government accounting, the City of Salem budget and services including Police, Fire, and Information Technology. The culmination of this work is a letter from the CEC (attachment 1) which includes their findings and recommendations.
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ISSUE:
Information Only.
RECOMMENDATION:
recommendation
Information Only.
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FACTS AND FINDINGS:
Full list of findings and recommendations are attached to this report; however, high-level findings of the Committee are as follows:
1. In the time given, the CEC did not find inordinate waste among City operations budgeted within the General Fund.
2. The City of Salem is doing more with less compared to cities of similar size.
3. Powerful externalities, if unaddressed, make current levels of service unsustainable.
Each of these topics are discussed in more detail in the CEC letter.
Additionally, the Committee had several recommendations for potential efficiencies to pursue in the future including:
1. Increase intergovernmental collaboration.
2. Identify alternative delivery of services.
3. Pursue reductions in employee overtime and turnover.
4. Give department heads permission and resources to think strategically.
5. Encourage efforts to leverage artificial intelligence.
6. Examine costs and benefits of the Urban Renewal Areas (URAs)
7. Leverage Moss Adams recommendations impacting efficiency.
8. Strengthen communication with the community.
As with the findings, each of the above recommendations have more detail within the letter.
Members of the City Efficiency Committee included:
Brian Moore, Chair - CEO of Neighborly Ventures and land use / real estate attorney;
Ernesto Toskovic, Vice-chair - Senior Vice President, Enterprise Banker, Keybank Commercial;
Erik Frisk - General Manager, Garmin Salem;
Kathy Gordon - Partner, Aldrich CPAs + Advisors;
Bryce Petersen - Owner, Petersen Auto Appraisals and Director of Marketing and IT at Valley Credit Union;
Michael Gay - Director of Government Relations and Strategic Communications for Salem Health;
Todd Graneto - Chief Financial Officer for SAIF Corporation;
Brian Johnston - CEO and Sr. Project Manager at Dallas Glass; and
Ryan Dempster - President and CEO of Willamette Valley Bank.
BACKGROUND:
On January 13, 2025, the City Council authorized the creation of the City Efficiency Committee with appointments to the Committee approved by the City Council Finance Committee on January 21, 2025. Since that time, the Committee held five public meetings between January 29, 2025, and February 12, 2025.
Over the course of these meetings, members conversed with staff from across the City including representatives from the Finance, City Manager’s Office, Enterprise Services, Fire, and Police Departments. The Committee focused on their goals of analyzing operations and expenses in the General Fund, learning about governmental budgeting, and transparency.
Attachments:
1. City Efficiency Committee Letter