Council to discuss $5.7 million deficit in special session
From the staff report:
Report in Brief: Staff has completed the initial development of the FY 2011 General Fund budget. Unfortunately, the City’s General Fund revenues will continue to decline over the next year while expenditures in certain areas will increase slightly. As a result of the decline in revenues, the City’s General Fund deficit at this time is projected at $5,639,637.
In response to this deficit, the City Manager’s budget review team has met with all departments and developed strategies to address the deficit primarily through significant reductions in expenditures. These reductions need to correct the City’s continuous fiscal imbalance by reducing employees, programs and service levels in a manner that will be sustainable over the next ten years. All departments have cooperated by providing detailed, reasoned and prioritized expenditure reduction options for the City Council and the community to consider. The information and alternatives presented on March 30 will begin the consideration process.
Staff recommends that the City Council receive the presentation on alternatives to balance the FY 2011 General Fund and provide direction that will reduce expenditures to balance the approximate $5.7 million deficit as described herein.
Read some excerpts of the report at WoodlandRecord.com.
Read the entire report at CityofWoodland.org.
The special session will take place at the Community and Senior Center, 2001 East Street, Woodland, on Tuesday, March 30, 6 pm.
Posts
24 comments:
How about laying off department heads that make 100K and up. The average pay in Woodland is $36K a year to put it in perspective.
How about turning off lights, sliming down and consolidating departments like the old days.
Getting rid of employee cell phones, personal computers etc...
Do we really need the hyped up redevelopment staff? NO
Charging developers like Lombrazo and Petrovich to develop instead of skirting the fees.
Taking projects in house instead of EXPENSIVE CONSULTANTS like paying for that stupid survey about where our money should go.
Get rid of token positions like the Chief of Police running Parks n Red and being Chief of Police
Drop Chamber Memberships, what have they done for us lately
Drop the multiple Daily Democrat subscriptions ...
Fire anyone supporting the sales tax increase and cost to prepare and market it.
Welcome to the real world outside of governemnt. Now try to live like, the rest of us, on a shoe string
It is very interesting that people sling about facts without any concern for accuracy.
For 2009 the census bureau reports the following:
The median income for a household in the MSA was $48,401, and the median income for a family was $57,112. Males had a median income of $43,572 versus $31,889 for females. The per capita income for the MSA was $23,508
I am no genius but it seems different from the $36K in the earlier post.
I also like the part about get rid of the employees, get rid of consultants, and bring work inside.
Sorry pal, you got a math problem.
Dino
Have you seen the 2010 budget? I havent been able to find it. The City could privatize a lot of what they do. For example: Public Works, bid out an annual contract for the service to private entities. Do the same with Parks and Recreation. The City could do this with almost every division and save millions.
#1 Reduce Parks and Rec
#2 Reduce Library
#3 Adjust the ratio of reserves needed post those reduction
#4 Apply that potion of reserves to retention of Public Safety
#5 Revoke the pay raise of the police chief and all others who snuck the raises last time
#6 Apply that dollar amount of revoked raises toward retention of Public Safety personnel.
Remember folks, when the State of CA releases hundreds of hardened criminals from prisons and county jails due to their own budget cuts, YOU ARE going to need police and fire more than ever before.
If you live in a nice neighborhood and don't go out much after 9 pm, I suggest you take a drive on Donnelly Circle or down 6th street south of the County Fair Mall. I highly recommend you do not attempt this tour alone or on foot! Just because you live in a perfect neighborhood doesn't mean you or your children are safe from the gangs or the sex offenders who are amped up on meth looking for a house to rob or child to victimize.
Don't touch public safety!
Well, you would think the current budget would be located at this Web page, but apparently it is not. This is exactly what I was referring to under the "West Cross fire makes KCRA news" story - lack of available information from the city. Could I call or email someone from the city to get the current budget? Yes... but the city Web site is a joke. It is not user-friendly and it is not current. Why make citizens dig for information on a Web site, where it should be, only to find that info isn't there or it's in some obscure place. The suggestion to just pick up the phone everytime you want information is ridiculous. For one, I don't have time to play phone tag and the city does not have time to take unnecessary calls... unnecessary because information should be readily available at their Web site.
I like the idea of privatization and I like the idea of a co-op between the county and city. For example, the same company/person that does the county Web site should be doing the city's. And council should be meeting in the county chambers where all meetings can be streamed live over the internet (like the county already does). Of course that will take creativity, proactivity and some cooperation... so it will never happen.
Regarding privatizing... the city already does a fair amount of it but I think it needs to be very careful. For instance, Bobby Harris is looking into the budget and structure of Measure E. Apparently, the only advisory vote that had any denominations or percentages listed was the one for roads. Now some council members have the attitude of staying with the higher budgeted amount despite the decrease in revenue. So what has happened is that Teichert, the beneficiary of many road projects, receives a disportionate amount of Measure E money. You have to then look at contributions and relationships between Teichert and staff/council at the time Measure E and the advisory votes were drafted.
As you suggest, though, all options should be on the table.
I agree that Teichert has a fair amount of the Measure E contracts, my question is did they bid to the City and were they awarded the projects due to being the low bid or have the best value or did they receive the contracts due to another process? All bid results from any public entity should be opened, read and posted so that it is totally transparent. I bet that Woodland could be run efficiently with an annual budget of less than $10 million per year. I would love to see an itemized breakdown of this years budget.
I'm watching the city council meeting right now and I am confused. The chief of police is arguing on behalf of the Parks Department (in his police uniform) and I'm wondering...is he going to turn around later in this meeting and then advocate to spare the police department? I think this is a bizarre conflict of interest. Personally, I am more supportive of saving police positions, but if I was one of those employees in the police department who's job was on the chopping block, I would be REALLY confused by my own chief (in uniform) vying to save the jobs in the Parks Department, AT THE EXPENSE of MY job at the Woodland Police Department!
A hybrid police/parks chief?
Seriously...
What were they thinking?
7:10 PM I just bet the savings from using the Police Chief as a duel department head pays for one cop. The fact is the city has reduced the number of managers in the city and some must do double duty.
6:49 PM your facts are a little thin. You saying the city can run on $10 million per year is like me saying you can feed your family on $500 per year. Neither one of us has any idea of what the real needs are, do we?
10:40
I think 9:25 was referring to the pay of City of Woodland employees... not sure that is correct, though. The comparison was that to those in the city who make over 100K.
6:02
The chief is not doing double duty. He received a 10% pay increase for assuming the title of Parks and Rec director at a time when all others received cuts. This also happened in August when council was in recess. Why wasn't someone who actually works in that department elevated to that position or at least assume some of those duties? This is why people don't trust the city with our money.
Right on! Fire all the city employees, then bring all consulting work in-house. Close down all the parks then contract out for parks. Increase the police force but reduce their pay. Remove all the employees computers but make all records go paperless! Remove their cell phones but make government more accessible! Reduce our taxes but increase our services! Fire everyone but get everything done faster! Don't spend money on consultants but outsource everything! Come up with generic and contradicting solutions without cognitive dissonance!
6:02
You need to think in a broader scale. The City does not need to self perform in some of the departments that they have created. What I was trying to convey in my message is that the City could competitively bid out annual contracts to administer some of the services. The entities that administer the services would hire employees and pay taxes on what they earned, its a win win
I watch the circus last night on the budget, boy what a show. The Fire chief should get a oscar award for his performance. You would think that Woodland had 4 fire daily. We had three fire in three days and the Fire Department lost two. The City hall fire could have been extinguished with five gallons of water instead of five fire engine and fifteen firefighters. Let get real.
1:46
I also viewed the council meeting and at no time did the Fire Cheif indicate that Woodland was responding to multiple fires every day or week. He did his job just like every other department head of providing the facts about the proposed cuts. What I think is amazing is that The Fire Chief and the Firefighters must stand up to protect the rest of us citizens happy with our protection from people like you..... So I ask nicely to stop F@$king with my safety.
It has nothing to do with safety and we all know it. It only has to do with saving your jobs and paying you as high as possible. Public Safety will ruin many more cities like it did in Vallejo. The public safety departments are way over paid and way over inflated. Like we really need four guys rolling up on every medical call. Then two more following up in the ambulance. It is all about the unions positioning themselves for the biggest money and they use safety as their cover.
Here the problem with the way the fire and police is ran. Uyou can come in at 22 years old work for 25 to 30 years retired with full medical benefits and wages and go out and get a civillian job and retired in less than 10 years and scam both the city and the social security at the same time aint it wonderful. Or go out early on disability and run costco.
um...5:00...you seem to have all the answers...no facts but all the answers. How would you "ran" the police and fire?
Before you enlighten us, lets get some facts...
1. Full medical is no longer offered.
2. Nobody retires with "full" wages.
3. Once one is qualified for PERS, their social security is all but taken away, even if they qualified for both.
4. You don't want 65 year old policemen or firemen do you?
Fire Chief is from Down South and makes $165,000. How about the old days. NO ONE in the City should make 6 figures.
My idea is to do a Woodland Survivor. Make it a pay per view site on Face book and charge City employees to make money to view it while they sit on their butts during work.
Then let the Woodland citizens vote City of Woodland employees off after they have to accomplish tasks like budgeting the check book, find a parking place not on main St, make it work on time, who can go through Facebook withdrawls longest when we cut them off it during work hours. Make them find files and records.
What do ya'll think?
So 6:50pm You are telling me that if you retire at 50 fromk the city That you cant go out and get a job for 15 years and not collect your pers and ssi at 65?
let them all go. Govt represents the people and the people are broke thus the govt cannot function until it cuts its budgets.
Taxing the citizens will not help only make matters much worse.
The pyramid is toppling.
Get back to the real world and cut perks and saleries of legistlatures on down.
Cut the size of County and City staff and budgets.
Other cities are in fact one city has the city manager answering phones.
If there is no money for the city to fdunciton on and work all the staff is totally redundant.
This means we will have no parks, no rec etc... but right now we are operating like an extravagant ex wife that is overspending and breaking the bank.
How about having all city employees take a 10% reduction in salaries like the private sector has. Then most all the employees can stay.
4:33.... I am a city employee and I belive that is where we are headed.... but I would ask all who follow this blog to understand that a 10% compensation reduction may not be a straight across 10% reduction in wages.... It may be a combination of salary reductions, freezing of holiday pay, reduction in medical insurance... etc. So please, I would ask that when some of this occures and local media only targets wages, that we all understand that probebly isn't the whole story.
I have to agree with the last lady who spoke "water, sewer, and public saftey are critical, everything else is a luxery" who was she and why dosen't run for council? She made more sence than all of the speakers combined! And who the heck was the last guy that spoke "I can not support a community without a library." holy cow gt real mayor!!!! Pull your head out, you would rather have a book to read than have water, sewer, and safety? Books are a great thing but I think council should start balancing the budget by cutting "nice to haves" not necessitys. With time we can and will reopen the library, and maybe even full time but come on.
And one way or another, our coniving police chief will find a way to eek out another raise for himself behind the curtain.
I vote off Paul Hanson From The Woodland Island because of the havock he has raised and run off small business
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