The City of Hollister is not alone in its battle of a budget.
According to a just-released report, budget shortfalls nationwide
for the current year reached nearly $80 billion.
The City of Hollister is not alone in its battle of a budget. According to a just-released report, budget shortfalls nationwide for the current year reached nearly $80 billion.
But one thing we do know about Hollister after officials adopted a $35.2 million 2003-04 budget earlier this week is that officials used creative financing, innovative thinking and sound planning to better the community while keeping deficit spending to a minimum.
Faced with a General Fund that has gone from $15 million three years ago to its current $9.3 million and coming off a year where the city approved spending that surpassed revenues by $3.3 million, the city made all the right moves to address urgent needs in the face of short supply.
The city is projected to deficit spend nearly $750,000, but it also set a precedent to avoid dipping below $4.5 million in the General Fund for the coming years.
The city addressed public safety by approving funds to build a much-needed second fire station, which will reduce response times to emergencies by nearly half. It also found funds to hire two police officers, which staved off the department from eliminating the officer who teaches crime and drug prevention classes at schools and its school resources officer.
“I’m very pleased the Council made the move they did to allow us to keep in place some very significant programs in the community,” Interim Police Chief Larry Todd told the Free Lance.
So are we.
And, the city funded a $450,000 portion of an extensive roadway repair project to improve our streets.
It also approved $1.2 million for a new animal shelter, and officials took it a step further by shifting animal control operations to police jurisdiction, it will allow them to fund a lease-purchase agreement on the facility from the police impact fund so as not to dip into the General Fund.
This juggling of what to spend money on also bounced to what not to fund. And, correct decisions were made, again.
The city decided not to fill the utility manager’s vacancy, and, in what we believe to be a good-faith gesture, the city manager’s assistant position will remain vacant. Also, the city halted the $15-million Civic Center project, one such project that has no pressing urgency and one that may be killed altogether.
Added up, it’s the right budget for the times.
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