Supervisors scheduled to revisit finances July 26
At the end of three days of budget hearings, in which the San
Benito County Board of Supervisors gave a temporary due pass to
each department unit, the board continued the budget to July 26
after the regularly scheduled budget meeting.
At the conclusion of the Thursday afternoon session, the board
members needed to decide how to fill a $3.93 million gap between
projected revenues and expenditures for the 2011-12 fiscal year.
The supervisors continued the meeting until next week to give staff
members a chance to look at some of the options suggested and
present numbers to the supervisors.
Supervisors scheduled to revisit finances July 26
At the end of three days of budget hearings, in which the San Benito County Board of Supervisors gave a temporary due pass to each department unit, the board continued the budget to July 26 after the regularly scheduled budget meeting.
At the conclusion of the Thursday afternoon session, the board members needed to decide how to fill a $3.93 million gap between projected revenues and expenditures for the 2011-12 fiscal year. The supervisors continued the meeting until next week to give staff members a chance to look at some of the options suggested and present numbers to the supervisors.
During the morning session July 21, the board of supervisors met a second time with two department units whose budgets proved especially difficult for county officials. The first was Calfire, which provides fire protection, prevention and emergency services. At question was whether or not the county should pay for a prevention captain who works with planning on reviewing building proposals and investigates structural fires.
Also during the session, the supervisors brought back the library staff after initially meeting with County Librarian Nora Conte on July 19. At the initial meeting some of the board members were not aware that the recommended budget presented to them on July 7 had been adjusted to included not $82,000 in cuts, but a total of $182,000 in cuts. Conte was apprised of the recommendation on July 8 and presented the board with several options for increasing revenue in the future, including a library card fee to city residents, increasing funding from the city for the library, and creating a special tax district.
Additionally the supervisors met with Nancy Martin, the executive director of the Economic Development Corporation to discuss whether the county would continue to supply $50,000 in funding to the agency.
Check in at www.freelancenews.com tomorrow for more detail on the outcome of the morning sessions with the three agencies.
