Back to the Budget

Back in January, each Councilmember appointed three citizens to a Budget Advisory Committee. The purpose of the Committee was to provide a citizen perspective on the budget cuts and revenue enhancements being proposed by City staff. As most of you know, we are facing an $11 million gap in our $40 million City General Fund operating budget. Cuts are inevitable and it is crucial that we focus our cuts on areas that have the least negative impact on the public. In order to prioritize cuts, the Council thought it was important to receive input from a cross section of citizens.

The Committee has held three lengthy meetings to date. They've asked a lot of hard questions and really helped our city staff get a better feel for which city programs are most coveted. While we originally envisioned three meetings, the group has agreed to meet at least one more time to mull over the staff proposals for cuts and revenue enhancements. The next meeting will be held next Thursday, March 25 at 3:30pm in the Senior Center.

I'll be updating the blog next week on some of the discussion I expect will occur at the next meeting. One of the items we'll be sharing was a report provided by a similar group in Turlock four years ago.

I've posted that report here to provide you with the sort of recommendations typically submitted by a citizens committee.


AdvisoryReport.pdf