Budget Woes
It is never a good thing to wake up in the morning and see the word "layoffs" dominating the front headline of the newspaper. Granted, our local editor was careful to note in the opening sentence of the news article that I never uttered the word "layoffs" during the duration of the meeting. He was also correct in noting that in order to reduce our budget deficit, we have no choice but to reduce the number of employees being paid in the General Fund.
This does not necessarily mean that we'll be actually be doing any layoffs. It will mean that fewer positions will be funded with general city revenues. It will mean that vacant positions will be eliminated from the budget. It will mean that a number of positions may be redirected to other funding sources. It will mean that we will actively assist employees in moving into non-general fund positions that are currently vacant. For example, new positions in our Solid Waste Division are being filled by workers currently funded with general tax revenues. Divisions such as Wastewater and Solid Waste are funded solely via user fees and do not impact the General Fund.
As a service organization, it is my goal to preserve as many positions as possible. Manteca has never been a staff intensive municipal corporation. There are many cities with more employees per capita. As Manteca has grown from 30,000 to nearly 70,000 residents, general fund staffing in particular has not grown commensurately. Our workforce has understood the importance of adopting technological innovations, working smarter, and accomplishing more with less resources.
In these tough budget times, I've asked our Department Directors to do everything they can to reduce costs without reducing service to the public. I'm confident that they will do everything in their power to preserve the staff provides the needed services to our community.
In future posts, I'll be asking Department Directors to talk a little about what they are doing and what they will be doing to preserve service levels for our citizens.
This does not necessarily mean that we'll be actually be doing any layoffs. It will mean that fewer positions will be funded with general city revenues. It will mean that vacant positions will be eliminated from the budget. It will mean that a number of positions may be redirected to other funding sources. It will mean that we will actively assist employees in moving into non-general fund positions that are currently vacant. For example, new positions in our Solid Waste Division are being filled by workers currently funded with general tax revenues. Divisions such as Wastewater and Solid Waste are funded solely via user fees and do not impact the General Fund.
As a service organization, it is my goal to preserve as many positions as possible. Manteca has never been a staff intensive municipal corporation. There are many cities with more employees per capita. As Manteca has grown from 30,000 to nearly 70,000 residents, general fund staffing in particular has not grown commensurately. Our workforce has understood the importance of adopting technological innovations, working smarter, and accomplishing more with less resources.
In these tough budget times, I've asked our Department Directors to do everything they can to reduce costs without reducing service to the public. I'm confident that they will do everything in their power to preserve the staff provides the needed services to our community.
In future posts, I'll be asking Department Directors to talk a little about what they are doing and what they will be doing to preserve service levels for our citizens.
posted by City Manager @ 8:17 AM
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