Cuts will be spread among all Hollister city departments
A solution to the city’s financial woes has been proposed by the
city manager, but the picture he paints is grim and the city
council decided to take more time to consider the proposal before
acting on it last week.
Cuts will be spread among all Hollister city departments
A solution to the city’s financial woes has been proposed by the city manager, but the picture he paints is grim and the city council decided to take more time to consider the proposal before acting on it last week.
Since the city faces a shortfall of $2.8 million, the city staff has to find proposed ways of reducing the deficit and balancing the city’s funds.
The ultimate goal of the cuts was to balance the budget, but City Manager Clint Quilter wanted to minimize the impacts to the community while at the same time minimizing disruption and maintaining flexibility.
The criteria for budget reductions included having a balanced budget and maintaining a general fund reserve of about 20 percent – equivalent to two months operating expenses, said City Councilman Doug Emerson.
Mayor Brad Pike agreed.
“Obviously balancing the budget was the goal. The city can’t go bankrupt, so we had to take a hard stance,” Pike said. “The only thing I was adamant about protecting was public safety.”
Quilter’s proposal suggested increases in recreation program fees, recreation special event fees, increases in community center rentals, increases in recreation sponsorships and increases in Veteran’ Building rental rates. Every department would be equally impacted in the proposed reductions. However some services, such as the recreation department were spared because of the business arrangements that are already in place with local schools. Were the city to eliminate the recreation department completely and then find the funding for it later on, it would lose the business agreements that are already in place and contracts would have to be re-negotiated with various schools, Quilter said.
Both the police department and the fire department will take hits including the loss of Special Weapons and Tactics (S.W.A.T.) program and Juvenile Impact Program from the police department. The fire department will reduce a ladder truck and rescue company by one shift and a fire marshal position will be eliminated.
Additional proposed cuts to the fire department include the loss of a clerical assistant and public education.
The animal control officer will have her work cut out for her as well, as funding for assistance has been reduced. Animal control response may be delayed hours or days depending on availability of animal control officers.
If an animal is struck by a vehicle it may be days before animal control can even do anything about the incident, animal control staff said. Public education will be eliminated and animals will be put down after the mandatory eight-day holding period, since there won’t be funds available to pay for anyone to take care of them.
Other service reductions include street repairs. Pothole repair will be drastically reduced unless the pothole is more than three inches in diameter. Weed abatement; alley maintenance and downtown clean up will also be restricted.
Park restrooms will no longer be open to eliminate the cost of operation and maintenance. The skate park will be closed at night. Tree trimming will cease except for emergency situations. Stump grinding and sound wall maintenance will also end.
Additionally, a number of city departments including engineering administrative services and city hall would be closed to the public one day per week in an effort to reduce costs and allow focused efforts on future projects.
“There is no department that we can point at and say they’re not being impacted as much as another. They all have the same confines, which is why we need to look at creative alternatives,” Pike said. “We need to educate ourselves to both sides before we can make any decision.”
Pike thought Quilter’s proposal was well put together, but ultimately he thought it was a generic way of addressing the city’s financial problems.
“I think we need to re-think how we serve the public,” Pike said.
He explained that he wanted Quilter to look again at all the departments and see if there were not places where the city could consolidate departments.
“I think we need to look at some unique solutions,” Pike said. “How we take care of the situation today is a critical thing, but we can’t lose the safety of the community. Can a street go one month without being cleaned? Yes. Can a call to 9-1-1 go unanswered? No.”
For now the council will continue to examine the budget and look for areas where they can trim, but the overall problem will continue until the city has more money.
“Even with the reductions proposed the city still has a deficit, we have to change the way we do business,” Pike said.
Patrick O’Donnell can be reached at po*******@pi**********.com.
