2009-2010 budget up for consideration at special meeting
BARSTOW • Due to a decrease in revenue from sales tax and property tax, the 2009-2010 city budget the Barstow City Council will vote on at Tuesday’s special meeting will be smaller than last year’s budget.
General fund revenue for the 2008-2009 fiscal year totaled $16.3 million, said city spokesman John Rader. This year, the city’s general fund is projected to total $15.4 million — $900,000 less. The smaller budget is due to a 13 percent decrease in projected sales tax revenue for the 2009-2010 fiscal year, and a $100,000 decrease in projected property tax revenue, both of which are results of the poor economy.
The city cut $900,000 from its budget by freezing vacant positions and reducing the budget to train current employees. The vacant positions being left open include an assistant city planner position, a lieutenant position in the police department, a building inspector and aides in the Parks and Recreation Department, Rader said.
According to a statement by City Finance Director Terri Willoughby, the hiring freeze and budget reductions will allow the city to maintain its service level and would minimize impacts to current employees.
Willoughby and City Manager Richard Rowe went through the budget with each city councilmember individually, said Mayor Pro-Tem Julie Hackbarth-McIntyre. Any additional concerns the City Council has will be addressed at Tuesday’s meeting, she said, but she doesn’t anticipate that many changes will be made.
“What’s in the budget now is probably going to be what’s going to be in that budget,” she said, adding that the City Council probably wouldn’t be able to add anything to it. “We’ll probably have an adopted budget.”
One of the things Hackbarth-McIntyre said she was concerned about, and wanted to see addressed in the 2009-2010 budget, is improving the wastewater treatment facility. At the last city council meeting, a report on a five-year capital improvement plan to upgrade the wastewater facility was presented to the City Council. That wasn’t addressed in the 2009-2010 budget, Hackbarth-McIntyre said.
Barstow Mayor Joe Gomez has concerns of his own that he’d like to see addressed in the budget, but said he’s comfortable with where it’s at right now. At today’s meeting, he said the City Council will listen to public comment and consider staff recommendations before voting on the budget.
“The meeting we have (today) is one of the single most important meetings we’ll have all year,” he said. “I’d like to see more people get involved so we can listen to their concerns.”
A draft of the 2009-2010 City Budget is available on Barstow’s Web site at www.barstowca.org. The meeting can be viewed on Time Warner Cable Channel 6.
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(760) 256-4123 or jcejnar@desertdispatch.com
Barstow City Council Special Meeting
When: 6 p.m. Tuesday.
Where: Barstow City Council Chambers.
• An agenda and a copy of the 2009-2010 City Budget can be found at Barstow’s Web site, www.barstowca.org. The meeting can be viewed on Time Warner Cable Channel 6.
