Divided City Council Approves New Budget

A divided City Council approved a new two-year budget that includes cuts to programs and increases in some fees.

The $135 million 2012-2014 general fund budget was approved on a 4-1 vote, with Councilwoman Kristina Lawson voting against it.

The council also approved a $14.8 million two-year capital improvement budget on a 3-2 vote with Lawson and Councilman Gary Skrel in opposition.

The votes came Tuesday night without public comment after months of meetings, feedback and discussions.

The proposed budget had a deficit of more than $2 million just a few months ago, but city officials, at the direction of the council, cut expenditures and raised revenues to balance it before the fiscal year begins on July 1.

The general fund budget will total $67 million in 2012-2013 and $68 million in 2013-2014.

The biggest departmental expense is police services, which total $22 million in each year.

The city will also spend $15 million each year for public services and $13 million a year for arts, recreation and community services.

On the revenue side, the city will receive about $19 million a year in sales and use taxes. It'll take in another $16 million or so in property taxes.

The arts programs bring in more than $9 million in fees each year. The police department is expected to generate $2 million a year in revenue. Public services will bring in almost $7 million each year.

The new budget also contains small fee increases in a variety of city services ranging from administrative appeals to permits. Many parking tickets will also rise from $40 to $45.

Lawson opposed the budget plan, saying it didn't provide a vision for the city.

"What this budget tells me is our position is the status quo," she said. "Why is the status quo acceptable and what are we waiting for?"

Lawson said the city is facing long-term financial problems that the budget doesn't deal with. Gone, she said, are the days when the city took in more money than it spent and built up its reserves.

In his budget message, City Manager Ken Nordhoff said there are issues ahead that need to be tackled, including library hours, infrastructure replacement, information technology investment and new water quality standards.

In addition, he said, the city's tax revenues are well below their peak in 2006 while municipal expenses continue to rise.

"As the city looks ahead, the challenges are likely to become more difficult and the impacts more obvious to the community," Nordhoff wrote.

The other council members, however, said the 2012-2014 budget solved short-term problems and was a good launching point for discussions on future budgets.

"We can't make all the changes we need to make in one budget cycle," noted Skrel.

"Our city's overall financial situation needs work," added Councilman Kish Rajan.

He said the council needs to look for ways to cut costs, examine how programs operate and communicate with the public.

"We need to make sure the community understands what's at stake," he said. "The questions are big about where we go from here."

The capital improvement budget brought even more dissension.

The $14.8 million two-year plan includes $5 million for roadway maintenance and about $2 million in transportation projects.

It also allocates $750,000 for improvements to the municipal swimming pool in Larkey Park as well as $2 million to build all-weather sports fields and $650,000 for a proposed ice rink and bocce ball courts in Civic Park.

Skrel said he would vote against this budget because of the expenditures in Civic Park. Lawson said the Civic Park additions as well as the sports fields bothered her.

"We should be spending taxpayer money on existing facilities," she said.

However, Councilwoman Cindy Silva and Mayor Bob Simmons voted with Rajan in favor of the spending plan.

They said the budget wasn't perfect, but it had enough worthy programs in it for them to approve it.