After more than hour of back and forth between council members,
residents and the city manager, the San Juan Bautista City Council
approved a budget $90,000 in the red with a 3-2 vote Tuesday.
After more than hour of back and forth between council members, residents and the city manager, the San Juan Bautista City Council approved a budget $90,000 in the red with a 3-2 vote Tuesday.
Although city staff started creating the budget in March and council members attended a budget workshop last week, council members still had concerns about the budget’s contents before they voted to pass it.The city’s budgeted expenditures total over $2.2 million, while its total revenue is about $2.1 million.
City Manager Larry Cain said he intentionally budgeted the deficit to demonstrate that the city has operated in the red for several years because they haven’t raised water and sewer fees.
“The rates are not enough,” Cain said. “We’re doing a rate study to raise the rates, then we’ll be break even.”
Cain said he won’t know how much the rates will increase until the rate study is completed, which he hopes will be finished by the end of the calendar year.
Cain also is hoping voters pass a three-quarter of a percent sales tax in November. If they do, it will pad the budget with an estimated $110,000, he said.
“This budget is not a lot different than the budget we had last year,” he said.
Councilman Charles Geiger said he disagreed with some expenditures, such as $25,000 for new fire truck equipment, while the city passed a budget they knew had a $90,000 deficit. Geiger questioned whether the city will be able to afford the new equipment.
“We’re looking at approving a $90,000 deficit budget, and part of that is $25,000 to buy equipment for the truck,” Geiger said.
Geiger and Councilman Arturo Medina both voted against the budget.
“A lot of numbers have changed since the workshop,” Geiger said.
Before approving the budget, council members argued over items such as the fire chief’s salary and a budgeted pay increase for the position.
Resident Jim Pereyra, who is running for city council, questioned an increase of $6,000 in the fire chief’s salary, which totals about $22,000.
Cain explained the increase was justified because part-time Fire Chief Rick Cokley will be taking on duties of code enforcer in the city, he said.
Cokley will be allocated $500 per month for his code enforcement duties. Geiger wanted to reduce the salary by $1,000 because Cokley has not performed enforcement duties in July and August.
He also asked that Cokley’s salary for fire department duties, about $16,000 a year, and code enforcement duties of $6,000, be separate line items in the budget so the council can better monitor what’s being accomplished.
“What I see here is nothing like what we agreed to in the (budget) workshop,” Geiger said. “I don’t believe in paying someone who has not worked… I’d like to make it real clear – you’re getting this because you’re doing this.”
Resident Jess Murgia expressed frustration with the council’s bickering about kinks in a budget that should have been ironed out before it came before the council for approval.
“It appears that (Cokley) has been stalled in doing his duties because you have not passed a budget that should have been passed in June,” Murgia said. “You should put a line item in there to penalize yourselves for not doing your work properly and timely.”
Geiger later defended the council’s late approval, blaming the state for the tardy approval of its budget.
“Members of the council asked to see the budget back in May, but thanks to Governor Schwarzenegger’s budget delays, it had an impact on us,” Geiger said. “We aren’t looking at it in August because we choose to… we couldn’t act on it because we didn’t know what the state’s budget was.”
