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6. GENERAL FUND EXPENDITURES This chapter describes the City's key departments, existing operational trends, and cost estimates associated with new growth through buildout. These cost estimates, summarized in Table 17, are based on interviews with the City staff and reflect the most up to date information available. Generally, the cost estimates in this analysis fall below the average cost approach, reflecting the City's established nature and ability to accommodate new growth in an efficient matter. General Government Pleasanton's general government includes City Council, City Manager, City Attorney, Finance, Administrative Services, and other general functions. New development typically has a minimal impact on administrative and legislative government costs in mature cities like Pleasanton. As a result, this analysis assumes that 10 percent of the General Government service cost will be affected by new development; the remaining 90 percent represents fixed cost and services that will not be affected by new growth. The portion of General Government cost assumed to be affected by new development is estimated at an average of$11 per service population. Community Development Community Development department provides a wide range of services, including traffic engineering, engineering services, building and safety, planning, and administration. Some of the services, such as building and safety and planning are more tied to new growth in the City. Different divisions realize various revenue recovery rates with the City planning to update its fee structure to improve existing cost recovery share. For example, plan check and building inspection are currently cost neutral to the General Fund as the cost is fully covered through fees, while planning is mostly funded by the General Fund. Some of the services, such as engineering, are utilized for various services, including those covered by the General Fund as well as the Enterprise Fund. The General Fund-related services provided by the Engineering division include project in-house design for infrastructure improvements, such as roads, curbs, and gutters. The division has four engineers who oversee major periodic road improvements, such as resurfacing and maintenance, to supplement minor road repair provided through the roads division. While most of the division's cost is funded through gas taxes, Measure B, and other non-General Fund sources, a share of staff cost is covered by the City's General Fund. In addition to the staff increase reflected in this analysis, the division indicates that additional General Fund funding, estimated at $2 million to $3 million a year, would be necessary to maintain the preferred level of road maintenance services in the City. Historically, this funding has been provided by the General Fund but has been cut due to Economic&Planning Systems, Inc. 35 P:\121000\121062Pleasanton\Report\121062Report_FINAL.doc