City Manager Dale Shaddox recently sent a forthright memorandum
to the Hollister workforce that outlines the city’s bleak budget
predicament and the possibility for position cuts soon.
The letter points out the recent repeal of the vehicle license
fee tax by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and how it may result in
layoffs as soon as January. The repeal, which discounts drivers but
clobbers local jurisdictions, could produce an immediate $738,000
shortfall for an already reeling city.
City Manager Dale Shaddox recently sent a forthright memorandum to the Hollister workforce that outlines the city’s bleak budget predicament and the possibility for position cuts soon.
The letter points out the recent repeal of the vehicle license fee tax by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and how it may result in layoffs as soon as January. The repeal, which discounts drivers but clobbers local jurisdictions, could produce an immediate $738,000 shortfall for an already reeling city.
The memo makes official the belief Shaddox has previously expressed to the Free Lance – a critical situation that calls for a desperate solution. The city plans to cut about 40 jobs by July, and possibly 10 of them sometime in January or February. The city plans to offer some people early retirement packages to offset the outright layoffs.
“I assure you that this is very difficult for me to deal with,” Shaddox wrote to the 175-person workforce.
The letter goes on to discuss the city’s habit in recent years of overspending, including a plunge in the General Fund reserve from $15 million to less than $9 million in four years. And next July, he wrote, the city could be facing an additional “problem of $2.55 million.”
The city’s “potential response” is a reduction in the workforce if the state does not replenish the VLF backfill revenues soon, according to the memo.
“We have no other options given the significant dollars involved,” he wrote.
Mayor Tony Bruscia said he agrees with Shaddox’s strategy of openness with employees about the likely cuts. It is important, Bruscia said, to continually educate the employees because the budget outlook keeps changing.
“This is definitely the most difficult challenge since I’ve been on the Council, hands down,” Bruscia said.
John Vellardita represents about 70 city employees as the head of a local union branch of Service Employees International Union. The city’s intent is good, he said, but he wants SEIU to be more involved in the talks about cuts.
“I think it needs to be followed up with a real concrete dialogue with SEIU,” Vellardita said.
The memo’s delivery superseded the City Council forming an “ad hoc” subcommittee to address the issue at its Dec. 1 meeting; ad hoc means it will disband once the issue is resolved. Bruscia appointed himself and Councilman Brian Conroy to the task force.
The subcommittee held its first meeting Tuesday, where they were briefed by city staff on a “broad overview” of the shortfall, according to Bruscia. They plan to meet again Dec. 17, he said.
Shaddox has been meeting with department heads on the issue for almost the past month and plans to continue those meetings in the coming weeks.
“In the meantime, I appreciate and will consider the e-mail/memos from you all on ways that the city can save money,” he closed the memo.
