With little of the angst and fanfare of the past two years and sparse public comment, the Richmond city Council adopted a balanced Fiscal Year 2005-2006 budget with General Fund expenditures of $107,813,489, and total expenditures of all funds of $316,678,919. The General Fund budget includes a reserve of $2 million, and apparently, any “structural deficit” seems to have evaporated. But the City is still running lean.

In fact, the adoption was so low key that there was no subsequent press coverage. Not bad for a City that some saw as teetering on the verge of bankruptcy 18 months ago.

For commentary on the past two years’ budgets, see Whiskey to Beer, June 24, 2004, and City Adopts "Hail Mary" Budget - Asks Unions For 5% "Give-Back", July 09, 2003.

For FY 2004-2005, the estimated General Fund expenditures are $100,395,985, and for FY 2003-2004, actual expenditures were $98, 302,182. The significant contributor to increased revenues are sales and use taxes resulting from Measure Q. Property taxes, non-Measure Q sales taxes, and one-time revenues from the Point Molate option also added several million dollars.

As we begin to rebuild departments, restore services and hire permanent managers, our most crying need is to make sure that we are operating efficiently, measuring productivity, holding staff accountable and allocating our resources to our residents’ priorities.