DEPARTMENT: Government and Public Affairs
DEPARTMENT HEAD: Jeff Coyle
COUNCIL DISTRICT(S) IMPACTED: City Wide
SUBJECT: Amendments to Master Interlocal Agreement with Bexar County
SUMMARY:
This ordinance authorizes amendments to the Master Interlocal Agreement between the City of San Antonio and Bexar County, which will update compensation amounts for City and Council services. This ordinance provides update amendments to the Master Interlocal Agreement sections related to Crime Lab/Medical Examiner, Hotel Occupancy Tax collection, Magistration, and Truancy services. The amendments do not alter the term of the agreement.
BACKGROUND:
For many years Bexar County and the City of San Antonio have entered into interlocal agreements to coordinate mutually beneficial services. A Master Interlocal Agreement (MILA) was developed in 2013 to consolidate agreements for services in: Animal Care, Cooperative Purchasing, Crime Lab/Medical Examiner, Platting, Vital Statistics, Fuel, Jury Pool, Library, Magistration, and Hotel Occupancy Tax collection. Subsequent to the creation of the agreement, City Council approved the addition of a truancy case management program, in May 2014, and amendments to the Library addendum in October 2014 and May 2015.
In late April 2016, the County notified the City that it desired to amend MILA addendum 6 - Crime Lab/Medical Examiner, addendum 8 - Magistrate, addendum 9 - Hotel Occupancy Tax, and addendum 11 - Truancy. City staff reviewed and proposed additions to the amendments. The requested amendments, detailed below by addendum, are acceptable to County and City staff and include primarily updates to agreement information necessitated by new forms utilized by the County and the City as well as changes to state law.
Crime Lab / Medical Examiner
• Update to Bexar County Medical Examiner Fee Schedule - Services provided by the Bexar County Medical Examiner’s Office are charged on a per use basis and invoiced based on an agreed to fee schedule. The County provides Medical Examiner services to various entities and has standardized and updated its Fee Schedule to reflect available testing and services. The change in fees varied in the service provided; some fees increased in cost while other fees decreased. Based on SAPD’s current utilization of Medical Examiner services, the estimated additional cost of the changes is approximately $3,300 annually.
• Removal of subcontractor subsections - Upon execution of the original ILA, Bexar County subcontracted certain services to an external laboratory. The County has internalized all testing and no longer utilizes a subcontractor. The amendment removes extraneous subsections related to subcontractor.
• Update to City of San Antonio contact person
Magistrate
• Update to Mental Health Assessment Escort Service - The cost of providing escort services are exceeding the originally agreed to payment, the City requested payment of actual costs incurred. The County is doubling payment for city provided mental health escorts to $64,498, services will be capped at this amount per fiscal year.
• Public Defender added - County will provide a public defender to provide indigent mental health representation.
• Change to invoicing frequency - Alters invoicing and service payment frequency for all services provided under this addendum from yearly to monthly.
Hotel Occupancy Tax
• Update to City HOT Report Form - The City has developed and is utilizing a new Hotel Occupancy Tax Report and Instructions. The amendment updates form on MILA.
• Modify collected tax transfer date - Date of transfer to County of the collected tax altered to meet County bond covenants.
• Deletion of first year payment estimate - The amendment deletes subsections that are no longer necessary. The relevant subsections were only utilized during the first year of the agreement.
Truancy
• Update to conform to legislative changes - The amendment updates the Truancy addendum to conform with recent legislative changes related to jurisdiction, a case manager under the Uniform Truancy Case Management Program and decriminalization of school truancy.
ISSUE:
For decades the City of San Antonio and Bexar County have entered into Interlocal agreements through which they provide services to each other. The City and County occasionally require or request modifications to these agreements to better provide services or adjust to changing conditions. It is in continuation of City policy to cooperate and coordinate with partners to provide needed services to the community.
ALTERNATIVES:
If these amendments are not approved, the City and County could continue with the existing MILA and postpone changes until the agreement needs to be renewed. There is no alternative that would accomplish the proposed changes.
FISCAL IMPACT:
This will update the County’s payment to the City for mental health escorts. The current payment for these services is $32,240 and with this agreement the payment will increase by $32,258 to $64,498. Funds will be deposited in accordance with the FY 2017 General Fund Budget.
Additionally, this will increase several fees for services provided from the County to the City for medical examiner services. Based on the services normally used by the Police Department, it is estimated that the payment will increase by $3,300. Funds for this are included in the Police Department FY 2017 General Fund Budget.
RECOMMENDATION: Staff recommends approval of the Master Interlocal Agreement amendments.