Some New Ideas for the City Of Erie

Here's a list of ideas that have been floating around in my head with regards to improving city government, its operations, and finances.

Some ideas for the city to lean down operations, capital boost, development, and revenue generators, listed in no particular order, just ideas that have been floating in my head for some time with regards to the city

1. Sell the golf courses, and auction out awards based not necessarily on dollar amount but rather on the quality of the development plan. City development through divestiture.

2. immediately shut down the printing shop and contract the printing work to a local business.

3. city star selling city-wide annual parking passes. This has been done in other cities, but small, whose data shows this boosts revenue as people are likely willing to overpay a bit what they would have paid via meter for the convenience, less administrative work with parking tickets, and increased city visitor traffic due to convenience. Love parking tickets to digital tickets and managing ticket payments in a modern database that records tickets and processes payments online. Create a tiered meter ticket system where habitual repeat violators see escalated fines.

4. merge city departments such as the Bureau of Engineering (traffic engineering) and the Bureau of Streets, lowering administrative costs. Also Bureau of Buildings and the Bureau of code enforcement.

5. Restructure the investment fund to a better risk mix and adopt a risk parity model - using slight leverage with very secure fixed income to boost return while actually lowering risk profile.

6. Refinance bonds to a longer sloping structure while entering into interest rate swap agreements with banking counterparties from fixed rate interest payments to a floating rate, thus benefiting from inevitable interest rate declines (maybe even this year). This lowers the interest cost of the bonds and doesn’t lock us into current high fixed rates. Borrow capital for investment fund on a floating rate basis at 4.75 or less and allow capital to grow in a fixed income/corporate credit / private credit fund that grows at 7%+. There are plenty of very low-risk credit opportunities on the market. Private credit can see yields north of 10%. For context, the city pension grows to around 5%. With this in mind, it might make sense to hire a proficient financial manager to oversee these programs and who could work as a co-manager with pension funds. The city has a lot of room under the borrowing cap to issue more debt instruments to fund local investment. Expanding on that, it might make sense to hire a very proficient financial manager to oversee these programs and who could work as a co-manager with pension funds – creating a Chief Financial Officer (nonpartisan) position with a small, highly skilled finance department overseeing financial matters, investments, and potential financing and related programs mentioned later.

7. Make PNC compete with HSBC for city business.

8. Adopt a cloud-based IT stack, moving city data storage and services to AWS or Google Cloud. This does several things; it lowers IT admin costs as server maintenance and management are offloaded to the cloud provider. It makes the system (ironically) more secure as the AWS/Google DevOps teams continually. It also actively manages security patches and security; it dynamically resizes as data needs change, reducing unexpected costs and severe equipment demands as the system grows.

9. Work with other municipalities through joint municipal authorities to leverage the scale of economies by bundling various goods and services into joint purchase orders. This can be done with insurance costs, better rates from financial managers, lower equipment costs, and cheaper IT services.

10. Work with the various municipalities to standardize financial reporting with a modern system that makes data analysis seamless. A city with data can make better decisions.

11. Expanding on that, work with the county to develop a data program where city residents and management can continuously update and add information about the city that all can access and use for decision-making and analysis. For example, input all 911 calls to the GIS-based data platform, allowing police to use AI technology to smart route patrol routes so that they are in the right spots and time. This also helps developers as they make investment decisions. It also helps sell the city by making business opportunities clear in the city.

12. Controversial, but on my wish list: sell city hall to a development company to build high-quality prime real estate housing on our Central Park. Jail should not sit on what should be some of our most prime urban real estate. Relocation sites include central city mall, which would pull economic activity (new businesses would move to this area to support the new labor base) to a large city section that has long been under-served and utilized.

13. More rigorous solicitation/purchasing decisions. I’ve seen too many equipment and service purchases that have paid a substantial premium (computer purchasing etc.).

14. Continue moving street lights and other equipment to low-cost LED.

15. Block contracting for infrastructure work on a spiral contract. This means instead of each year contracting for road work; for example, you would issue an RFQ for multiple years of service on a cost-fixed basis and update on two-year cycles. Work and contract jointly with surrounding municipalities for larger order sizes and benefit from scale. Also, in conjunction with city data being readily available about road and traffic conditions, this would improve traffic flow as construction work can be planned around routes.

16. Expand grant writing capacity. Lots of money out there from other governmental bodies and nonprofits. Explore nonprofit programs by enterprises that could be used for purchasing.

17. Expanding and cooperating with the county (similar to working with the county and other municipalities to standardize and share data) to adopt a shared data system where assessment records are dynamically updated when permits are filed. Encourage and petition the county to initiate a new county-wide assessment. If they decline, investigate returning city assessment power to the city (unsure of legality). Another option would be bringing a lawsuit to court challenging 10-20 randomly selected properties that are highly under-assessed and petitioning the court to order a new assessment from the bench. This has been done in multiple counties across Pennsylvania.

18. Stricter code with standards for materials.

19. Work on solutions to retire pension commitments through buyouts and other solutions (Unsure if state / local law allows for this, but it’s worth investigating).

20. Review service contracts and expand the bidding process for administrative and legal services, such as paying firms to challenge assessments. It might make sense for the city to have a small legal department to handle this and advise on other legal matters.

21. Continue modernizing systems for residents to interface with services, permitting & licensing.

22. Adopt a customer service mentality by creating a resident liaison office for residents and businesses to access services. Move everything online. Internet service is now universal; end physical processing of financial transactions and install digital kiosks (similar to those in airports or advanced ATMs) for processing payments in city hall, which reduces headcount and future administrative costs.

23. Recruit and create a city ambassador program for a small team that attends industry conferences for industries with a natural fit with Erie to interface with executives and decision-makers to recruit business to Erie. Chief recruitment officer charged with selling the city to new enterprises/start-ups. Reach out to regional venture capital and angel investors who can sway start-ups on locating their business. Offer subsidies to start-ups for internet service using the relationship with VNET to provide lower-cost high-speed internet access.

24. Create a financing program for property renovations to provide low-cost financing options for property owners to improve the housing stock. This could improve the cityscape and quality of living and produce a revenue stream for the city. Also, an alternative would be to work with local banks to create a program where the city, for an underwriting/administrative fee, serves as a joint financing partner with the banks to provide backing for loans for building improvements. Bank originates the loan, and the city provides a portion of the financing and receives interest.

25. Lower base property tax rates and increase income taxes for rental-related revenue. (Unsure if this works under state law). This moves the tax burden from property owners to income-producing/cash-flow-positive properties. This could be done as a fee rather than tax, but same idea. Get property taxes harmonized or competitive with surrounding municipalities.

26. Sell underused/nonproductive assets.

27. Create tax incentives and financing programs to help encourage enterprise/business owners to locate in the city. Reduces up-front tax rates on business revenue and building construction financing. Designate enterprise zones with benefits and subsidies for enterprise - specifically in the additive manufacturing / advanced manufacturing industry.

28. Not sure if this is done but purchasing monotone insurance where insurance guarantees our debt instruments, lowering rates.

29. Work with nonprofits in the space to create city greening programs for city planting/gardens and create codes requiring new developments to include a greenish plan to improve the cityscape.

30. Solar panels on city buildings to help lower utility costs.

31. Aggressively!! Pursue property tax/PILOTs with UPMC and other large institutions.

32. Improve automation and technology options to increase efficiency and reuse labor load and city hall payroll.

33. Institute more police walking patrols where crime and vandalism are elevated.

34. Chief innovation officer charged with continuously reimagining ways government works to improve efficiency, services, and lower costs.

35. Expand universal public Wi-Fi and sell a city pass to access wi-fi.

36. Licensing requirements for telco installations.

37. Excavation permits.

38. Licensing for processions through city traffic – such as funerals (charged to funeral home). Likely unpopular, but the point of this is to discuss potential revenue sources.

38. Congestion fees for the city traffic. Though a much bigger city, London instituted a congestion fee and generated over 100m in the first year. This could encourage more public transportation, generate revenue, and reduce unnecessary commercial movement.

39. Fees on eye-sore properties, vacant properties, and car lot properties that detract from enhancing city beautification and producing revenue.

40. Fees on large advertisement installations. These are more or less ugly and a good source of revenue.

41. Create a property management department to strategically maintain and keep abandoned/seized property to sell assets above court sales levels. If we believe our plans will work, city land will appreciate, and it may make sense to hold onto properties for future appreciation. Maintain property ownership and offer long-term leases for construction rights. Strategically purchase and lease properties that have sat on the market for an extended period and can be purchased below market.

42. Improve the collections process for tax revenue to stop leakage. Create financing plans for delinquent tax payments.

43. Red light cameras and enhanced mail ticketing for violations.

44. Food waste disposal charge on a volume-weighted basis.

45. Small surcharge on tickets at large venue events that cause large traffic issues and occupy the streets.

46. Work with the school district to identify ways to share resources and work together on equipment, utility, and service acquisition.

Anyways, enjoy. Would love to hear more ideas. Not enough floating around, in my opinion.