Budget Cuts

How do you make large cuts in an already tight budget?  You do it by taking little steps, by doing the little things that individually might not seem like a lot of money, by transferring some of the load off of the general fund and by making strategic investments.  Although we are seeing many positive signs that our economy is turning around, at least in our city, we are not there yet. We need to maintain fiscal responsibility and be 100 percent accountable to how we spend your tax dollars. I believe that at least from my position, the City of Pacific is attempting to do that.

I have stated before that I look at this recession as more than a time of cutting back and tight budgets.  I look at this as an opportunity for our city to position itself to take advantage of our recovery.  We need to be creative in keeping our city moving forward in a positive direction, but do so without large tax increases. We need to not only keep our infrastructure from falling apart, but make strategic investments that provide additional benefits for our future.  The investment we made last year of extending lines down West Valley Highway is now starting to pay dividends as we are seeing new businesses start the process of locating there.  The investment we made then, on something that needed to be done anyway will now generate new revenues that will quickly exceed what we spent.

We also have issues where we need to make investment to keep infrastructure from falling apart.  A road project recently rejected by your City Council is an example of that.  This proposal included the shifting some of the burden for road repairs over to utility accounts that have had impact on the road condition (IE: A water or sewer line break has caused partial failure of a road or repairs have resulted in only a patch repair.) It also included an investment of approximately $100.000 that would be in the form of an Interfund loan from utilities to pay for the balance of some critical repairs.  This Interfund loan would be made in place of borrowing the money from the revolving trust account that would otherwise fund these types of repairs.  It was decided in 2005 that it made more sense to loan ourselves the money instead of paying the interest back to other interest outside our city.  It should also be clear that this is not an Interfund loan used to just balance the budget, a practice I fought hard to stop when I first took office.

Council voted this down at an extended meeting on September 20^th.  I expect this measure to be brought back at tomorrow night’s meeting and I want any Council member who votes against this tell our citizens how it can be done better.  To not make these repairs is not an option.  One of the areas that would be included is the road directly in front of our Fire Station. If the road fails here does it only affect those who use 3^rd ave or does it impact our entire city?  Tune in tomorrow night to find out what your council decides to do.

This next month I will be presenting my proposed budget for 2011.  This budget will be built on current revenue forecast, a slight increase in taxes (1% increase in total property tax value is allowed under State Law) and will be the tightest budget I have had to produce.  Its balance will reflect the priorities that citizens developed with the survey in July and will include creative ways of keeping important programs from collapsing.  It will also, as all of my previous budget proposals have been, be 100% accountable to the citizens of this city.  We will have to see how the political dynamics on our council comes up with as alternatives.