MAJOR ACTIVITIES FOR FY
2006-07
Research Activities
As the research arm of the
council, OCS prepared approximately 858 written responses to requests for
service in fiscal year 2006-07. These
responses included 284 bills, 405 resolutions, and 169 letters, legal
memoranda, and statistical and research reports. OCS also provided research and staff assistance to the council’s
standing committees and legal staff services for the executive sessions of the
committee on executive matters and committee of the whole. In these executive sessions, councilmembers
considered matters permitted by chapter 92, HRS, to be discussed in meetings
closed to the public and discussed claims against the city where the premature
disclosure of information would adversely affect the interests of the city and
the public.
OCS issued another of its
“Issue Profile, Status of the City’s Finances” reports in March 2007. Published annually since 2002, the report
provides an overview of certain fiscal trends of the city, reviews the prior
year’s revenues and expenditures for the operating budget, checks on the
mid-year status of the current year’s major revenue assumptions and major
operating budget expenditures, and reports on the status of the prior year’s
capital budget appropriations. The
report is intended to provide the council with a historical and comparative
context to review the upcoming city budget.
For more than a decade, OCS
has provided the only volunteer reviewers in the state of Hawaii for the
nationwide Government Finance Officers Association’s (GFOA) distinguished
budget presentation awards program. The
reviews are based on how well an applicant local government’s annual budget
documents meet GFOA criteria relating to the budget as a policy document,
financial plan, operations guide, and communications device. During fiscal year 2006-07, two analysts
served as GFOA budget reviewers. The
budget reviewed in the fiscal year included those of the following
jurisdictions and entities:
City of Scottsdale, Arizona
City of Burbank, California
City of Fresno, California
City of Novi, Michigan
City of Troy, Michigan
City of North Las Vegas,
Nevada
City of El Paso, Texas