Mayor Al Pinheiro was disappointed with the scant turnout at the
educational budget meeting he led with the city administrator, but
he had prepared
”
tough
”
questions to ask in case that happened.
Gilroy – Mayor Al Pinheiro was disappointed with the scant turnout at the educational budget meeting he led with the city administrator, but he had prepared “tough” questions to ask in case that happened.
Aside from a couple of call-ins, only one resident showed up to address Pinheiro and City Administrator Jay Baksa at City Hall Thursday night.
“I would’ve expected folks to ask the hard questions and get answers if there’s such a concern in the community,” Pinheiro said Friday. “But it could be that the majority of folks out there trust the system and trust the council, and maybe they’re more informed than some believe.”
To make sure, Pinheiro asked himself and Baksa three “hard” questions in lieu of residents: How can the city afford the new, $25 million police station and not fund sidewalk repair? How can the city give big raises to top-level employees while it’s running a deficit? And were water funds inappropriately used to fund downtown redevelopment in light of recent allegations?
The short answer was that a national economic slow-down has trickled down to Gilroy and compounded by the fact that more than 60 percent of the city’s expense budget is restricted. Less than 40 percent, known as the general fund, is discretionary.
“I wish I had a dollar for every time that came up because I’d be a millionaire,” said Baksa, referring to residents who sometimes misunderstand that money restricted for, say, the planned $25 million arts center doesn’t come from the discretionary general fund, which subsidizes the city’s sidewalk repair program and pays Gilroy’s 296 employees.
Restricted funds must pay for things like new buildings, roads, sewers and other public improvements.
The vast majority of the general fund budget pays salaries and employee benefits. The gap between general fund revenue and expenditures was $2.5 million last year, and as of June 30 this year, it was $817,000, according to Baksa. While the gap has usually narrowed in years past and the deficit has been a problem since 2002, Baksa said, it increased by $1.3 million in the 2005-06 fiscal year. The city’s fiscal year runs from July 1 to June 30.
A few councilmen and candidates showed up, but the lone resident who said he owned a business in San Jose told Baksa and Pinheiro that he understood the city was weathering an economic slow-down and had to run a temporary, $4.7 million general fund deficit to sustain city services.
Pinheiro welcomed the understanding ahead of his next presentation to Rotarians Sept. 25.
“All I ask is that you trust in the process and the folks making the decisions,” Pinheiro told “residents in TV land” watching on Channel 17. “The world is not coming to an end. The city won’t be bankrupt tomorrow.”
