The city of Mobile essentially granted itself a $25,720 bridge loan from next year’s strategic plan budget this morning to pay for the efficiency study council members requested via resolution during this past May’s budget crisis debate.

Councilors unanimously authorized Mayor Sam Jones to use funds from this year’s strategic plan budget to get the ball rolling, but the study won’t be absolutely complete until the second quarter of the 2011 fiscal year, city officials said.

The budget crisis debate was ultimately resolved with a temporary one-cent sales tax increase scheduled to end in September of 2011.

The city of Mobile will employ the services of the Public Affairs Research Council of Alabama, or PARCA, to conduct the study.

According to the agreement, PARCA will perform a comparison study with Mobile and other cities in Alabama, provide an analysis of possibilities for consolidating local government services and train city employees in a new budgeting system called “SMART budgeting.”

The mayor’s chief of staff, Al Stokes said at least one of the stages – budgeting – would be aided heavily by the city’s already existing CitiSmart program, which emphasizes accountability and performance within different departments in city government.

“We looked at other companies, but when we talked with PARCA they said CitiSmart would help them greatly as they perform their study,” Stokes said. “Their SMART budget program will be enhanced by CitiSmart as they assess how we spend our dollar.”

Stokes said SMART budgeting will, at the most basic level, allow department heads to use their budgets as a management tool.

“We’ll give a department a budget and from there we’ll evaluate their results on a how and why basis depending on whether they go over budget or perform well under the new system,” Stokes said.

Stokes said efficiency measures would be considered once the Mayor reviews them and determines their applicability. The council will be consulted, he added, but the results of the efficiency study will not be placed on any of their desks until it is complete.

“The Mayor is open to eliminating duplication of services and consolidation with other local governments,” Stokes said. “But when it comes to determining how these tasks will be accomplished and if they can be accomplished, that’s an administrative function. They (the city council) asked the administration to pursue administrative courses of action and that’s what we’re going to do.”

Some councilors are concerned by the possibility of being left out of the loop as the study progresses.

“Who determines what’s applicable?” District 7 Councilwoman Gina Gregory asked. “This study has to be open to the council. We want to see what it says.”

Another concern of the council was how soon study findings could be applied. Stokes said that depends on the nature of study findings.

In order to include PARCA in the budgeting process this year, the city of Mobile would have had to contact them long before May when the one-cent sales tax increase was approved, Stokes said.

As to the outlook for this year’s budgeting process, Gregory doubts the coming study will change the Mayor’s method of formulating the budget.

“We’re going to be handed the budget and have to come in after the fact and be the bad guys,” she noted. “I think you’ll see some differences in attrition figures and performances contracts. But overall, I doubt we’ll see much change.”

The council could also approach next fiscal year’s budget approval process one person down if District 6 Councilwoman Connie Hudson is successful in the Aug. 3 runoff election for the Mobile County Commission District 2 seat. She faces Mobile County Sheriff’s Office HR Director Ralph Buffkin and, if she wins, would not be replaced until a special election held on the same Nov. 4 date as Alabama’s general election.

Down the road, Stokes is optimistic that the efficiency study will shorten the budgeting process.

“You don’t do it one time,” he said. “Hopefully it will shorten the time we spend on every budget from now on.”