Hollister
– The city council sat down Monday night to the first of several
sessions to mull a proposed $29 million bare-bones budget that
includes an ongoing deficit of more than $2 million.
Hollister – The city council sat down Monday night to the first of several sessions to mull a proposed $29 million bare-bones budget that includes an ongoing deficit of more than $2 million.
“It’s pretty bleak,” said Mayor Robert Scattini before the meeting. “There’s no fat in the budget.”
The deficit is down from the estimated $3 million that city officials had been tossing around in recent months. But it’s still enough to merit deep cuts to the city’s operating costs in coming months, should a proposed sales tax hike fail on November’s ballot. City officials hope voters will approve bumping Hollister’s sales tax from 7.25 percent to 8.25 percent.
“If that doesn’t pass, we’ll have to make some significant changes,” said councilman Doug Emerson. “It’s less, but it’s still a deficit.”
Emerson attributed the drop in the deficit to cuts in operating costs – such as avoiding new equipment – throughout the city’s departments.
“It’s penny-pinching,” he said, prior to the meeting. “Staff has done a very good job minimizing services.”
Vice mayor Brad Pike said he would like to see department cuts continue by further limiting expenditures such as new uniforms, special training programs, office materials and telephone usage.
“It doesn’t look like a lot – 10,000 here, 11,000 there,” Pike said. “But pretty soon you’re at $100,000 and making some substantial cuts.”
Council members had already been perusing the budget proposal before Monday’s meeting. Scattini said he’ll be putting the pages under a microscope.
“I will look at every nickel,” he said. “I’m going to be conservative until we can start generating some income.”
The overall budget includes numerous funds. The largest is the $15 million general fund which is used to provide Hollister residents with basic services such as police and fire departments.
Currently, the city is bringing in $13 million in taxes and fees to feed the general fund. That’s where the $2 million shortfall comes in. If left unchecked, the drain could deplete the city’s $7 million reserve within a few years.
City Manager Clint Quilter estimates the tax hike will add an additional $4 million to the general fund, enough to hire additional city employees, such as police officers, if necessary.
Some residents, however, are skeptical and a bit tentative about the hike.
“I think the city needs to get things in order on (its) own,” said Hollister resident Jeannette Langstaff, an advocate of slow growth. “If they can assure us that the money is being used wisely, then I would support it.”
“It’s something to really think about,” said Laurie Cottrell of Hollister. “You need the revenues, but 1 cent? That’s substantial.”
A February survey commissioned by the city painted a slightly different picture. Fifty-five percent of voters supported the increase and 42 percent were against. The city paid a polling firm $26,500 to conduct the survey. Hollister’s 7.25 percent sales tax is one of the lowest in the state.
The city council overwhelmingly supports the tax increase.
“When you’re talking about a 20 percent cut in services, I don’t think we have an option,” Councilwoman Monica Johnson said.
Administrative Services Director Robert Galvan pointed out that the budget numbers are still preliminary.
During the next few days, the city council might manage to shave off more from general fund expenditures, he said. And the city doesn’t get its final returns on property tax and sales tax from the state until August, he said. Cities earn a penny in sales tax for every dollar spent inside city limits.
Banks Albach covers local government for the Free Lance. Reach him at 831-637-5566 ext. 335, or at [email protected].
