Walnut Creek Adopts Its Budget--With Reservations

The Walnut Creek City Council on Tuesday passed a $126 million two-year budget that eliminated a $20 million shortfall. Although the new 2010-12 budget means letting go some 30 employees and raising fees on a range of city services, it also did not go far enough, some council members said, in making the necessary structural changes to secure the city's financial future. 

At the same time, the council's 4-1 vote will allow the city to save some of its signature services--at least for now--including free rides on the downtown trolley, the Walnut Creek Concert Band, school crossing guards, and two well-regarded summer camps, one which serves disabled children. 

Council member Gary Skrel cast the one "no" vote. " While praising all the hard work city staff has done over the past 18 months to save that $20 million, he said he was concerned that the use of one-time money and reserves to do so is a "dangerous path to be going down." At the beginning of 2008, he said the city had about $29.8 million in reserves; the number will drop to $18 million in 2011-12.

"In my opinion, while we've balanced budget on paper, we continue to erode the city's financial foundation," he said. "We need to work together on solutions. The longer we postpone the tough decisions, the more expensive it will get." 

He added that the employee compensation program needs to change. The city has begun discussions with employee groups about how that might happen.

Council members Bob Simmons and Kish Rajan agreed that the city needs more structural changes, even with eliminating staff positions and outsourcing "whole departments."

"This is not a budget to be happy about," Simmons said. "There are things we're doing with this budget that a very sad. We're cutting off funds for programs that are very important and saying good-bye to employees who have done very good work and who have been with the city for a long time."

He added that this budget is still "a spending budget, instead of a savings budget." However, he agreed to approve the budget because he believes that the city has done "what we could do in this budget cycle."

Mayor Pro Tem Cindy Silva expressed a more "glass half full" viewpoint on the budget. "I do believe it's thoughtful and conservative," she said. "It might not be as conseravative as we might like, but I do believe it has been very strategic."

Mayor Sue Rainey said this budget represents the start of making those structural changes that Skrel and others have talked about. Some of those structural changes, staff have said, include looking at new ways to bring in revenues, from perhaps assessing fees on downtown bars to asking residents to approve a sales tax.