GILROY
– Councilman-elect Russ Valiquette wants the new City Council to
discuss, and potentially alter, a budget-cutting plan the sitting
City Councilmen approved several months ago and have defended as a
fair and responsible blueprint for future trims to city
spending.
GILROY – Councilman-elect Russ Valiquette wants the new City Council to discuss, and potentially alter, a budget-cutting plan the sitting City Councilmen approved several months ago and have defended as a fair and responsible blueprint for future trims to city spending.
Valiquette wants the new Council to refine the plan by the first of the year, in time for regular budget planning sessions in the spring. The former paid-call firefighter, who was endorsed by the firefighters union in the election, says he wants to see “harder numbers” before backing the existing cost-cutting plan.
And, Valiquette says if a worst-case budget scenario unfolds in Sacramento, he doesn’t want the city to slash spending by closing its third fire station.
“I don’t even think that should be on the radar screen,” Valiquette said.
While they were campaigning for mayor and three vacant City Council seats, candidates if nothing else agreed on one thing – no matter who got elected, the biggest issue they’d have to face was the budget. On Election Day, Gilroy voters put two new faces – Valiquette and Paul Correa – on the city dais and elected a mayor who campaigned on his consensus-maker abilities some say the outgoing mayor, Tom Springer, didn’t have.
“I think it makes sense for Paul and I to put our two cents in,” Valiquette said. “I don’t think it’s a process that has to be drawn out for months. Let’s all come prepared. Let’s put it on the agenda maybe for a January meeting. And let’s give it a half hour or so.”
The new Council will be sworn in Dec. 1 at the regular City Council meeting.
Nov. 4 has passed, the City of Gilroy is getting by using $2 million in “rainy day” funds and it’s spending $1.6 million less than normal. Although the state’s economic woes have gotten less gloomy, Gilroy’s biggest issue still looks to be the budget.
Correa is all for taking a fresh look at the budget-cutting plan, but the professional land-use planner and former Gilroy planning commissioner says he is not intimately familiar with the existing document.
“I need to sit down with Jay (Baksa, the city manager), take a look at the plan and understand all the details,” Correa said. “If I see something then that I’d like to be different, we’ll discuss it, and I hope we can reach a consensus.”
For Councilman Roland Velasco, who was elected to a second term Nov. 4 and sat on the Council that approved the budget cutting plan, anyone proposing a change should come prepared with viable cost-cutting alternatives.
“Anybody can be a critic, but I want to see some solutions,” Velasco said. “I’m comfortable with our plan.”
Velasco said in tight budget times all options for saving money should be on the table, but he questions why someone with concerns didn’t speak up more and earlier. After all, Velasco said, the sessions in which Council talked about the budget cutting plan were open to the public. And, he said both new Councilmen had opportunity as planning commissioners to be familiar with that plan.
“The principles this plan is based on are sound and solid,” Velasco said. “After going through the process of adopting the plan, I’m reluctant to have the administration try to start changing things.”
City Council’s budget-trimming plan is a three-tier approach to spending cuts that spans the gamut of city services. Nothing, including police and fire protection and city code enforcement, remains untouched.
As the economic picture for the city would worsen, Council would direct staff to implement cuts tier by tier until enough savings was reached.
Savings from the tier system would range from just more than $77,000 this fiscal year to a total of $6.3 million four years from now.
“The plan is a flexible document,” City Treasurer Mike Dorn said. “If something dramatic happens in the economy, then the cuts can be accelerated.”
For instance, the cuts proposed in Tier 2 could begin simultaneously with the cuts from Tier 1.
No tier has been triggered yet. So far, the city has used reserves (rainy day funds) and a first round of spending cuts to stave off the first of the three tiers.
Current cuts include hiring freezes, reductions in Visitors Bureau and Economic Development Corporation spending and delaying more than half-a-million-dollars worth of major facility improvements such as repairs to the police station roof.
Essentially, the cost-cutting tiers would be triggered if any one of four sources of city revenue took a significant turn for the worse. The revenue sources include:
• Vehicle License Fees
• Sales tax from the Pacheco Pass Center retail development
• Other sales tax
• Fees generated from residential, industrial and commercial growth.
Dorn says sales tax has slipped a few percentage points in recent years. However, the city could likely withstand a 10 percent dip before entering Tier 2.
On the brighter side, development of the Pacheco Pass Center, on the north side of Highway 152, is not slowing like some had feared if the state’s overall economic picture continued to cloud. As stores enter that development, revenue from sales tax is more likely to rise or maintain its current levels.
The pressing issue for cities all over the state remains to be Gov.-elect Arnold Schwarzenegger’s plan for Vehicle License Fees. Like many gubernatorial candidates, Schwarzenegger said he may cut the share of the fee given to cities.
Such a move could mean a $2.5 million loss for Gilroy, triggering Tier 3 – closing of the fire station at Sunrise drive, closing of the Youth and Senior centers, and terminating 43 full-time positions.
“If that happens I would be ready to go up to Sacramento and discuss it with our legislators,” Correa said.
Already Council has sent a letter to the governor-elect outlining the problems with changing VLF.
“All I know right now is that (Schwarzenegger) has someone studying it,” Dorn said.
Budget Reductions
First tier
• 10 percent reduction to Visitors Bureau and Economic Development Corporation
• 40 percent reduction to City Hall custodial service
• 50 percent reduction to Fire Public Education
• 50 percent reduction in operating hours of Gilroy Museum
• 15 percent reduction in park maintenance standards
• Eliminate code enforcement program
• Terminate nine full-time positions
First tier reductions could save: $77,405 in 2003-04
to $1.4 million in 2007-08.
Second Tier
• 25 percent reductions to Visitors Bureau and Economic Development Corporation
• Eliminate Fire Public Education
• 50 percent reduction to police department’s Neighborhood Resources Unit
• Close Gilroy Museum
• Reduce Youth Center hours from 19 to 12.5 per week
• Reduce law enforcement data collection
• Terminate 19.5 full-time positions
Second tier reductions could save: $76,742 in 2004-05
to $2.5 million in 2007-08.
Third Tier
• No monetary contribution to Visitors Bureau and Economic Development Corporation
• Consolidate Community Service & Community Development departments
• Close Youth and Senior centers
• No non-city government use of city facilities
• Close third fire station
• Reduce police department street staffing to 1 officer per 1,000 residents to 1.5 officers per 1,000 residents
• Terminate 43 full-time positions
Third tier reductions could save: $2.14 million in 2006-07 to $2.36 million in 2007-08.
