Mission Statement

The Finance Department is committed to provide direct services to the entire Oakland Community, which includes approximately 425,195 residents and more than 65,000 businesses. Within the context of full disclosure and quality customer service, the Finance Department’s primary obligations are to safeguard the City’s assets; provide comprehensive financial services for the City; provide timely and accurate financial reports; maintain integrity of information in the City's financial systems and monitor internal controls; process payments; process payroll; collect, record and report City revenues; procure goods and materials for City departments; manage the City's investments; oversee debt issuance and assure ongoing compliance with debt covenants and regulatory requirements for the City and Successor Redevelopment Agency; as well as preserve strong credit ratings and investor relations.

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SERVICE IMPACTS &

EQUITY CONSIDERATIONS

Enhancements 

Trustworthy and Responsible Government

1. Create 2.0 FTE Principal Budget & Management Analyst to support the Budget Bureau in its elevated role of providing comprehensive and complex data analysis to the general public on the City’s budget and operations that includes both equity and fiscal data. The Budget Bureau is responsible for the development and creation of the City’s budget, which directs and impacts the entire City’s ongoing operations. Staff are also responsible for managing this process for all involved City departments. With racial equity analysis and interactive online budget books becoming the standard for the City’s budget work, the complexity of this work as well as volume of workload necessitates additional staff. These 2 positions will enable the Bureau to re-align workload and staffing, provide the Bureau with greater capacity to take on complicated financial analysis and special projects, and provide an additional level of supervision to executing this work.
   • Equity Consideration: The City’s Budget is one of the most important public policy documents for all Oakland residents because it determines the allocations of staffing and resources. It is also one of the most important public processes in which Oakland residents participate in deciding what services the City will provide to its residents. As such, the Budget Bureau plays a very significant role in supporting racial equity through the information collected in the process and provided to City elected officials and the general public. This role has become elevated with the Budget Bureau’s commitment to operationalize racial equity in all stages of budget development, which has also increased the workload of the Budget Bureau. With the addition of these 2 FTEs, the Budget Bureau will get needed staff to perform the fiscal and equity analysis both City leadership and the public demands for the budget cycle.
2. Delete 1.0 FTE Financial Analyst and Add 1.0 FTE Principal Financial Analyst to support the Controller’s Office in providing more sophisticated analysis in key areas of equity, including contracting and redevelopment funds. This vacant position has been updated to a higher level of skillset because it will perform a unique role in the Controller’s office through supporting in-depth sophisticated financial analysis. This position will be responsible for doing high level analysis on contracts reporting, negative funds analysis reporting, and Oakland Redevelopment Successor Agency (ORSA) redevelopment agency fund reporting. At present, the City does not have a dedicated FTE to do analysis and provide leadership around auditing redevelopment funds to ensure there is enough funding for debt service payments as well as development projects.
   • Equity Consideration: Recruiting a person with the skillset commensurate with this job classification will enhance the Controller’s ability to provide more oversight and analysis to the public about City finances in key areas of equity concern: contracting and redevelopment funds.
3. Delete 1.0 FTE Principal Financial Analyst and add 1.0 FTE Business Analyst III in Finance Administration Payroll. The Principal Financial Analyst position duties are being performed by a Payroll Manager. The new classification of Business Analyst III will perform the much-needed duties of documenting business practices in the payroll unit and performing analysis on ways to improve processes.
   • Equity Consideration: Ensuring that payroll operations continue with proper documented processes will ensure equitable treatment for all City employees and that they are paid accurately and on time.
4. Add $150,000 in O&M to examine historical disparities between City employees based on demographic characteristics.
   • Equity Consideration: Information regarding past disparities including racial disparities may help in developing solutions to mitigate or eliminate the recurrence of those disparities.
5. Add 2.0 FTE Treasury Analyst III, 1.0 FTE Financial Analyst and unfreeze 1.0 FTE Treasury Analyst III in the Treasury Bureau. This is the ideal staffing level to allow an even workload and manage City fiscal resources more efficiently.
   • Equity Consideration: Preserve City revenues and City investments, which results in the City having more overall resources to service the public.
6. Add 1.0 FTE Administrative Analyst I in Treasury Retirement to assist City of Oakland retirees and disabled safety officers.
   • Equity Consideration: City retirees and disabled safety employees will receive more efficient and effective customer service and faster processing times for critical medical reimbursement and disability payments. The goal is to make sure all retirees receive their pay in an efficient and equitable manner. Timely payments are critical for lower paid pensioners, who are less likely to be able to cover payments for medical coverage until they are reimbursed.
7. Adds $250,000 in O&M to conduct a disparity study to identify barriers to Oakland’s contracting process.
   • Equity Consideration: Information from the study will help the City assess its current efforts and identify remedies to ensure equitable opportunities and participation of businesses in local contracts, helping to inform future modifications that might be needed to the City’s current program.
8. Adds 3.0 FTE Administrative Analyst II in the Contacts Unit from the Department of Workforce and Employment Standards to the Finance Department in order to facilitate greater efficiencies in the contract and grant service procurement processes.
   • Equity Consideration: More timely and efficient contracting and procurement processes will improve service delivery for Oakland residents and may speed payment to City vendors and non-profit partners including minority and women owned businesses and non-profits serving BIPOC communities.
9. Adds $1.3M in funds to Revenue Management for additional costs to implement Business Tax Measure.
   • Equity Consideration: None.

SIGNIFICANT BUDGETARY CHANGES

FINANCIAL INFORMATION

POSITION INFORMATION