City Council Approves Budget Cuts
At its regular meeting Tuesday, December 4, the Chula Vista City Council voted to approve a package of budget cuts designed to correct an $8.2 million shortfall for this year and a projected $15.5 million shortfall for fiscal year 2008-09. An unanticipated decline in General Fund revenue, triggered by a severe housing slowdown and lower than expected franchise fees and sales taxes, contributed to the City’s financial dilemma.
Every city department has been affected by the budget cuts with reductions ranging from 15% in Administration and 9% in Public Works to 6% in Police and Fire. Although city staff sought to minimize impacts on the public, Chula Vista residents will notice changes in city operations and services.
Reduced staffing will result in shorter library hours, fewer recreation programs, longer response times for some police and animal control calls, increased waiting times at city counters, and a reduction in the quality of street and park maintenance.
“This has been an emotional time and a very painful process,” said City Manager David Garcia. “But we needed to make these cuts to maintain the long term solvency of the organization.”
At the recommendation of city staff, council members voted to close the Fire Dispatch Center at an annual savings of $740,000. Fire dispatch services will be outsourced to another agency with more sophisticated equipment, a move that is expected to result in improved response times.
Overall, implementation of the budget reduction plan will result in the elimination of 113 permanent positions. About half of those positions are vacant, and another 34 positions
involve employees who are taking advantage of the early retirement program. Fire dispatchers account for ten of 26 possible layoffs, however, efforts are underway to minimize other job losses.
“I’m optimistic we’ll be able to avoid most of the anticipated layoffs,” Garcia told the Council Tuesday night. “Our Human Resources staff is working with the labor unions and department managers to place some of the employees in other positions throughout the organization.”
During two City Council workshops in November, Garcia recommended a series of proposed across-the-board budget cuts. In an effort to bring expenditures in line with projected revenues, Council was presented with 195 potential budget reductions totaling $21.4 million in annual ongoing savings. By the end of last night’s meeting 161, items were included in the reduction package.
Although the 2008-09 budget appears to be balanced, a gap of more than one million dollars is still projected for the current fiscal year. To close the gap, staff is considering a number of options including the continuation of the citywide hiring freeze and collection of outstanding payments owed to the Redevelopment Agency.
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