At its meeting of June 26, 2012, the City Council adopted an operating budget for FY 2012-13 which reflected a deficit position of approximately $3 million.  In adopting this budget, the Council also directed staff to prepare and present at the City Council’s first meeting in September a recommended amended FY 2012-13 operating budget that closes this budget deficit.  The Council also directed staff to meet with employee bargaining unit representatives between then and the end of August to discuss ways to reduce the operating deficit.

At the June 26th City Council meeting, City Manager Bill Lindsay indicated that, although his preference was to adopt a balanced budget prior to June 30th, he thought it more prudent not to rush through discussions with the bargaining units, and to take some time to generate other approaches to revenue enhancements or cost cuts.  It was also acknowledged that reviewing the budget after August would provide the opportunity to know more precisely what will be the City’s property tax revenues FY 2012-13, which, at that time, was only a best estimate of these revenues without assessed value data.

The good news is that, based on certified assessed value data that we received in late July, staff can recommend a revised estimate of property tax revenue that completely eliminates the FY 2012-13 budget deficit that was projected on June 26th.  As a result, Bill Lindsay intends to recommend that the City Council adopt a balanced budget for FY 2012-13 at its September 11th meeting that does not include any additional service level reductions or changes to employee compensation.

Bill Lindsay said, “as a reminder, although the revised estimate of property tax revenues has allowed us to present a recommended balanced budget for FY 2012-13, it still includes the substantial expenditure and service level reductions that were included in the budget that was adopted on June 26th.  In our view, the revised revenue estimate is not sufficient to increase expenditures or service levels beyond that previously adopted by the Council.”

The new budget information will be presented formally at the September 11th City Council meeting.