Letter of Transmittal

To:                              Mike Wildgen, City Manager

                                    Debbie Van Saun, Assistant City Manager

                                    David Corliss, Assistant City Manager

From:                          Rehelio A. Samuel, Executive Director

                                    Human Relations/Human Resources Department

Date:                           May 7, 2004

Subject:                       Transmittal of Department 2005 Budget Request

The Department’s Budget Request for 2005 is the same, for operational expenses, as in 2003 and 2004. This budget request, for the second year in a row, reflects a decrease in personal expenses from 2003 levels in that the Department has agreed to fully fund the Fair Housing Assistance Program (FHAP) Manager’s salary and benefits from the HUD grant.

Our overall operational capacity is facing a grave impediment. Our ability to perform our statutory mission has been dramatically hampered by budgetary reductions, inflation, and increased expenses (cause by the relocation of the Department to 947 New Hampshire). Requests for services from the community are at an all time high, while simultaneously budget allocations are at an all time low. Given this situation, it becomes counter-intuitive to expect continuing high levels of performance as long as this environment persists.  Because we wish to continue not only to perform at past high levels, but also to expand our services to even higher levels, a Program Improvement Package is included with this budget request, for the purpose of adding a Human Relations Technician position to the staff.  This is an essential and logical counter-measure to operating with a diminished budgetary capacity.

Our Department has been traditionally regarded, amongst our peers, as being the “best of the best”. We not only wish to keep it that way, we wish to do better.

Even with the addition of a Human Relations Technician, our Department’s total allocation of the General Fund is less than one third of one percent.

Respectfully submitted.