The closure of the city's swimming pools was also mentioned.
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Friday, May 18, 2012
Three Budget Issues Stood Out With Residents and Taxpayers During the Council Budget Hearing!
The closure of the city's swimming pools was also mentioned.
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EXAMPLE for City of New Britain - HOW CITY OF SAN DIEGO ENDING FISCAL YEAR $16.5 M IN THE BLACK.
SAN DIEGO - San Diego's "Structural Budget Deficit" has ended and residents will receive the immediate benefit of longer hours at Libraries and Recreation Centers, Mayor Jerry Sanders said. I'm pleased to announce the city's decades-long "Structural Budget Deficit" is history," Sanders said at a news conference.
Recent projections show the city ending this fiscal year on June 30 at about $16.5 million in the black, Sanders said. About half will go toward opening Libraries an extra four hours per week to 40 hours, keeping Recreation Centers operating five more hours weekly, adding 15 more cadets to the next Police Academy and funding a new Fire Station Alert System. He called them "Targeted Restorations" of services. The remainder of the found money will be put into reserves.
Library Director Deborah Barrow said she was excited to learn that each of its 35 branches would get the funding to restore four hours of service per week. We are examining the possibility of bringing back Monday,” Barrow said, “Because that’s a very important day. Quite honestly, every day is important to the Library, ask any library user.”
“I know the Library’s been struggling for funds for a long time,” library patron Deborah Flores said. “It’s such a valuable community service. They do so much for the community that I’m really happy that they might be able to stay open longer.”
The outdated fire station alert system at San Diego Fire Station 23 in Linda Vista will also be replaced using surplus budget funds. According to Capt. Alan Arrollado, the system is a combination of wires and electrical components, some of which date back more than 20 years.“The current system we have is pieced together with different technologies,” Capt. Arrollado said. “The information we get sometimes is broken. We don’t get it completely.”
The "Budget Surplus" will also be spent on increasing the number of cadets in the San Diego Police Department’s next training class. There are currently 134 officer vacancies in the department.
“This is just the beginning,” Executive Assistant Police Chief David Ramirez said.
Revenue Income, particularly sales and hotel room taxes, is projected to climb $21.9 million over budget, off-setting some higher-than-predicted expenses. The larger income levels are expected to last for several years, resulting in the end of the "Structural Budget Deficit", the mayor said.
Mayor Sanders said he wanted to restore certain services early for residents, who he credited for displaying "resilience in lean times." The mayor did not say if some of the higher revenue will wind up in the paychecks of city employees. Municipal workers took a 6 percent salary cut a few years ago and the reduction remains in place.
City officials are negotiating with municipal labor groups, so it wasn't an issue he could discuss, Sanders said. He said the budget picture for next year remained tight, despite having more cash.
"It's not like we're hemorrhaging money and we don't know what to do with it," Mayor Sanders said.
And City Council President Tony Young said he and his colleagues will have to show "Spending Restraint" in the next few years. "We share the mayor's cautious optimism that the city's "Structural Budget Deficit" is pretty much over," Young said. "It's a wonderful thing that City's long "Structural Budget Deficit" is final over.
A government budget deficit occurs when a city spends more than it receives in tax revenue, while a structural deficit occurs when a budget deficit persists for decades, 10 to 15 years of consecutive budget shortfalls and worsening revenue estimates.
Structural deficits will eventually pose a problem for any government. Structural deficits are financed by borrowing money, and continued borrowing leads to an accumulation of debt.
The Solution/ Control Spending/ Raise Taxes.
I think I know a Sanders in town that could get that done, maybe Its time for him to straighten this mess out!!!!!
The best opportunity for residents to weigh in on New Britain government "spending of dollars" was at the Slade Middle School, where the Common Council conducted a public hearing before setting the NB budget for the year that begins on July 1, 2012.
The Common Council's annual hearing on the municipal budget comes amid concerns over layoffs of city’s work force, school funding, library & park funding and the O’Brien's administration’s efforts to control the Structural Budget Deficits. Of particular concern were proposed cuts that deal with public library and the impact that 100 layoffs would have on the delivery of vital city services.
For information on budget and city finances visit -
http://www.newbritainct.gov/index.php/city-services/finance/overview.html
Anonymous said...
I think I know a Sanders in town that could get that done, maybe Its time for him to straighten this mess out!!!!!
We would be much better off today if Sanders were mayor!
Fiscal Responsibility- San José's Structural Budget Deficit.
Starting in FY 2002-03, the City of San José experienced a staggering 10 consecutive years of budget shortfalls. This structural budget deficit has been primarily driven by an unsustainable cost structure and has become even more severe due to the effects of the recent global recession.
The City is legally required to balance its budget every June, and to close these deficits, San José leaders were forced to continually reduce services to the community. The most drastic cuts came in 2010 and 2011, when the City experienced back-to-back General Fund deficits surpassing $100 million each. That is more than the City pays for parks, libraries, community centers, gang prevention programs and senior services combined!
Without fundamental reform, this structural budget deficit will destroy the City's ability to deliver basic services to the community. The City of San José has had to continually raise fees, reduce services and shrink its workforce to close the ongoing budget gaps in its General Fund. Early on, San José leaders were able to blunt the impact of budget deficits through strategies like: tapping into the city’s reserves, implementing controls on discretionary spending, and eliminating vacant positions. However, with each additional year of deficits, the city has been left with fewer options for closing its budget gaps. As a result, San José residents have seen significant reductions in core city services. Over the past 10 years, the City has been forced to:
Shrink our police force by hundreds of officers, including cuts in patrol, special operations & investigative services.
Eliminate four engine companies and one truck company in the fire department, while also implementing flexible brownouts.
Cut branch library hours down from 6-7 days/week to only 4 days/week.
Greatly reduce funding for street paving (the # of residential and arterial streets sealed are down 73% and 61%, respectively).
Eliminate funding for sidewalk repairs and street tree services (which are now the responsibility of property owners).
Delay opening newly built libraries, community centers and the police substation.
Significantly reduce funding for park maintenance, code enforcement, traffic calming, park rangers, crime and gang prevention programs, and youth/senior services.
Without fundamental changes, San José residents are facing the prospect of even more devastating cuts in the years ahead. As a result, Mayor Reed and the City Council continue to pursue much-needed Fiscal Reforms to ensure that the City can continue providing basic public services to its citizens.
San José's structural budget deficit is the result of an unsustainable cost structure in which the the City’s expenses have been growing much faster than its revenues.
In particular, personnel costs (which includes salary, retirement and health care) have grown dramatically. Over the past decade, the average cost per employee has increased by about 85%, even though General Fund revenues have grown much more slowly and the City's workforce has shrunk significantly.
This growth has been primarily driven by the escalating cost of retirement benefits. In FY 2011-2012, the City's retirement costs will reach $245 million - more than three times what the City paid a decade ago. Retirement benefits now cost more than 50% of base payroll and consume more than 20% of the General Fund.
While the roots of San José’s fiscal problems go back many years, the global recession has increased the severity of recent deficits. Property tax revenues and sales tax revenues remain below 2007-2008 levels and the City has had to make even larger payments into its pension funds to make up for recent market losses.
Without fundamental changes, San Jose' residents are facing the prospect of even more devastating cuts in city services in the years ahead.
Without Consolidation- New Britain Residents Could Face 30 % Tax Increase...
Mayor Tim O’Brien said without his consolidation plan at City Hall & Employee Cuts throughout the departments, residents would be forced to paid 10 mill tax hike which would amount to about a 30 percent increase in taxes. So, we’re not raising taxes, O’Brien said. If it was increased, it would be 30 percent. It’s not doable and won’t be done. It’s my responsibility to have a balanced budget.
A formal consolidation plan is set for July in order to reduce the $30 million budget gap. O’Brien said he would prefer the consolidation take place over a period of time through employee attrition.
We need to reduce the size of the city’s payroll to balance the budget, O'Brien said. The reality is we have tough budget decisions. Everything is still on the table, but it does appear that some department head positions will be cut.
There are productive discussions going on with City's labor unions, O’Brien added. I have made it a strong point that the problems were not created by City workers. The problems that we now have are things the City inherited.
Money was previously committed over a period of 10 to 15 years creating a Structural Budget Deficit.
This guy is claiming that in 10 to 15 years the city will be at a loss for revenues? It's called collective bargaining you idiots! Any actuary will predict all costs to escalate over time just how much depends on many factors including assumptions made by them.
Bottom line is the budget will increase over time no shit Sherlock! What a pack of juveniles these people are!
Anonymous said...
This guy is claiming that in 10 to 15 years the city will be at a loss for revenues? It's called collective bargaining you idiots! Any actuary will predict all costs to escalate over time just how much depends on many factors including assumptions made by them.
Bottom line is the budget will increase over time no shit Sherlock! What a pack of juveniles these people are!
Fiscal Responsibility = and San José's Structural Budget Deficit.
Starting in FY 2002-03, the City of San José experienced a staggering 10 consecutive years of budget shortfalls.
The 10 years of San Jose' budget shortfalls turned into what we now call a structural budget deficit, that has been primarily driven by "spending problem" and shortfall in revenue income.
And the solution to the City of San Jose" 10 years of budget shortfalls...are items 1 & 2 .
1.- Control Spending.
2.- Raising Taxes.
#.- And in some 4 - plus years the City of San Jose" would/might have a balances City Budget and end of its structural budget deficit problems?.
BRISTOL CT -How "structural budget deficit" hinders the town of Bristol, CT ?
In an unexpected twist, Republican City councilors in Bristol pushed for spending cuts in a proposed $177 million municipal budget but Board of Finance members refused to support the move.
The spending plan for the coming fiscal year won approval on a 9-5 vote that saw four Republican councilors and one finance commissioner argue unsuccessfully for lowering the 6 percent property tax called for in the budget.
The majority turned down proposals to slice spending on parks, the library, a contingency account, money set aside for salary hikes and other measures that might have reduced the tax burden a bit.
The fiscal oversight panel, created during the Great Depression to put a check on politicians’ spending, said that last-minute cuts would hurt services, weaken the city’s finances and undermine its work during the past few months.
Finance Chairman Rich Miecznikowski said the tax hike will hit the average homeowner for about $240 extra in the fiscal year beginning July 1, an amount he called “minimal.”
But Bob Fiorito, president of the Bristol Taxpayers Association, said the city has “a spending problem” that has already created a gap of as much as $10 million between the needs and revenues for the 2013-14 budget. “Stop moving the problem down the road,” he said, as two dozen supporters in blue T-shirts cheered him on.
Mayor Art Ward said he is going to create a new task force to identify ways to reduce spending or raise revenues. Its report will be due in October, the mayor said. Miecznikowski said he believes the task force will help make a tax freeze possible next year. Bob Casar, a finance board member who sided with the GOP councilors, said more could be done now by making cuts. He said the city “keeps kicking the can down the road, only to find out it’s a cul-de-sac.”
City Councilor Henri Martin said the city “is running on fumes. The tank is empty.” He said there is a "structural budget deficit" problem that can only be resolved by slicing spending, particularly given the likelihood of state and federal help continuing to erode.
Mayor Ward said nobody likes to increase taxes. But, the mayor said, “it is urgent that we do so if we are to maintain the city’s strong financial condition and excellent bond rating.” Voting against the budget were Casar, Martin, Ken Cockayne, David Mills and Derek Czenczelewski. The other GOP councilor, Eric Carlson, was absent.
The new budget raises the mill rate to 28.75 mills, or $28.75 per $1,000 of assessed property value. Thus a house worth $200,000, assessed at 70 percent of its value, would wind up with a tax bill of $4,025. That’s $211 more than the homeowner paid this year.
For budget backers, that’s a reasonable price to pay to maintain city services, avoid City Hall layoffs and keep the city’s finances solid. That some Board of Education workers may be laid off wasn’t discussed Monday night.
Opponents said the city of Bristol has to start taking control of its spending or the future looks bleak. Martin said the city would be better off preparing “a soft landing” by making some cuts now rather than putting everything off for major surgery later.
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