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Uploaded: Sunday, January 13, 2013, 1:44 PM
Updated: Thursday, January 17, 2013, 1:28 PM
San Ramon to consider priorities before deciding on cuts
Reserves predicted to drop to about $10.9 million by 2017/18 without cuts
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by Glenn Wohltmann
San Ramon's City Council is not rushing as it considers what should and should not be cut in an effort to balance its budget -- which faces another shortfall in the coming fiscal year, beginning July 1.
The city held a special meeting to discuss the budget on Tuesday but will hold off any decisions until the end of the month at the earliest, according to Mayor Bill Clarkson.
"Our public meeting is Jan. 28, then we'll have our City Council goal-setting session the next day," Clarkson said. "From that goal-setting session, I think we'll have a framework to go on."
He said, for example, "if public safety is our priority, we probably shouldn't touch that."
The public discussion will be at 7 p.m. on Jan. 28 at the San Ramon Community Center, 12501 Alcosta Boulelvard, with the goal-setting session to be held at Forest Home Farms, beginning at 1 p.m. Jan. 29. The goal setting session is open to the public.
At its last meeting, Pat Boom asked if the city could consider giving job security to some of its workers.
"We have a number of full-time temporary workers throughout the city," Boom told the Council. "Unfortunately, a number of these people are looking elsewhere, at nearby cities that are hiring."
While the budget process usually takes six months, Boom worried that the city could lose trained staff if it doesn't give them permanent status.
"They're going to be gone, and they're excellent employees. I'd hate to see that happen," she said.
Councilman Scott Perkins asked how many of those employees the city has and how much it would cost to make them permanent.
That will be brought up in upcoming budget talks, but City Manager Greg Rogers said, "That will make the deficit larger."
This year, Council dealt with a $300,000 shortfall through a combination that included taking money out of reserves.
San Ramon spent $1.9 million more than it's expected to bring in during the current fiscal year, which ends June 30. Revenues were $49.2 million, and expenditures were $51.5 million, with an additional draw down of $500,000 for health care.
The trend of drawing on the city's reserves is predicted to continue through June 30, 2018, with the city's deficit peaking in the 2014/15 fiscal year. San Ramon's deficit will hit $4.7 million that year, which includes another half-million dollars for health care and $1.5 million to pay down bond debt.
Without changes, San Ramon's reserves will drop to about $10.9 million by the 2017/18 fiscal year, according to the report presented to City Council. In the 2011/12 fiscal year, it was at $33.5 million and has since dropped $2 million to $31.5 million, a trend that's expected to continue for the next five years.
At a recent meeting, staff presented a list of 118 items that could be cut from the budget, ranging from the large -- $200,000 in earthquake insurance that's been dubbed "optional" to the small -- $150 a year for newspapers.
That list totals more than $5.3 million, 10 percent from each department, but Rogers said City Council will have to decide how much it wants to cut and whether, for example, to cut radically in one sweep or to ease into the cuts gradually.
The city is looking at other options as well, including bringing in new revenue. Without cuts or additional revenue, next year the draw down of reserves nearly doubles, climbing to $3.6 million.
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Posted by Ms. Bunny, a resident of San Ramon, on Jan 14, 2013 at 9:04 am A little confusing...While I'm all for planning effectively BEFORE July rolls around in necessary trims to the current budget due to shortfalls? It was just several weeks ago the city mentioned putting part time staffers back on fulltime. So I wonder if I'm missing something here? I definitely feel safety is a major concern and hope there are no cuts there. I should think landscape maintenance might be a place to consider...
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Posted by Bob P, a resident of another community, on Jan 14, 2013 at 3:19 pm Glenn, I wasn't there but I assume the Pat you are referring to is Pat Boom (not Boone), although I could be wrong.
As far as choosing which items to look at, I don't think anything can be off the table. While public safety is and should be a top priority,it should be fair game for optimization, out of the box ideas that could help reduce costs or increase revenue.
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Posted by Stan, a resident of San Ramon, on Jan 16, 2013 at 9:59 am maybe they should add the mayor's travel budget??? thats worth a few bucks.
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Posted by Joe B., a resident of Danville, on Jan 26, 2013 at 8:38 pm Wake Up San Ramon. How about taking into the considerations made by the Grand Jury Report. Don't be held hostage by fear that you will lose 'good' employees if you don't offer them f/t employment. There are more than enough qualified and employable individuals that can fill temp. positions. Start cutting the budget by cutting salaries. Then fix the pensions and decrease the percentages. Get rid of lifetime health care for retirees. Stop paying health care for elected officials and put the stipend pay back to where it should be. San Ramon is in this mess due to ignoring the many warnings that came their way regarding over paid public employees, out of control pensions and unsustainable benefits. Clarkson ran on the ticket that he was going to address this. Where is he now? San Ramon will be bankrupt if they don't fix the problem that they know is causing this financial Tsunami. SR had the second highest paid city manager in the state - some of the most absurd pensions packages and still, they are really going to look to cutting services. Do they think we should praise them for putting a hiring freeze in place and not giving raises? Sorry, no pat on the back from me. You fell short and, once again, didn't honestly look at what is sucking the life out of your city. Get honest and realize that the taxpayers can't support you fat cats anymore. You are running the city into the ground. Time to wake up - get rid of overpaid employees - move to 401k retirement program and save the city from bankruptcy. There will be plenty of qualified individuals, happily standing in line and ready to work. I am proud of the Danville elected town council members and their duty to serve our residents. Take a look at how we do it and I suggest you follow suit. Let the overpaid city employees of SR deliver their resumes to the private sector. They will be told of their 5 holidays a year,5 sick days that don't get rolled over and a 401k w/o match. Oh and, they will have to work a true 40 plus hour work week. Start negotiations SR or suffer the consequences that so many have warned you about.
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