Budget passes despite differences

Deirdre Newman

The City Council narrowly passed a $110-million budget for the

2004-05 fiscal year Monday amid debate over how heavily government

ought to intervene.

The budget went through on a 3-2 vote with Councilmen Allan

Mansoor and Chris Steel dissenting.

The discussion of the budget illustrated the dichotomous opinions

council members have about the role of government. While some, like

Mansoor, prefer a limited role, Councilwoman Libby Cowan believes

city government should provide services the community wants, with the

community pitching in as well.

“I’m not interested in living in a community that doesn’t value

people,” Cowan said.

The approved budget relies on $9.3 million of fund balances

carried over from the previous fiscal year. Some residents said the

city should try to balance its budget without relying on this tactic

in the future.

“You can’t keep using this fund-balance stuff,” Geoff West said.

“You have to find a way to balance it without pulling money forward

from the previous year.”

Mansoor said he voted against the budget because it wasn’t limited

enough. He said the primary responsibility of the budget is for

infrastructure and public safety.

“As much as possible, everything else should be delegated to

families and private [entities],” Mansoor said.

City Manager Allan Roeder and the city’s finance team received

major kudos for putting together the budget without any increase in

taxes or fees.

In an effort to cut costs, the council also examined some programs

and services to consider whether they should be modified or

discontinued, like teen programs and the appeals process. But many

residents said they didn’t feel that altering these programs and

services would make a significant dent in the budget.

“Many of these are nominal in scope of the whole budget, and they

are the things families love and want,” said resident Katrina Foley,

who is on the Planning Commission.

In reviewing the programs and services, the council approved

combining the city newsletter with the recreation newsletter. Six

programs and services were slated for future discussion, including

the mobile playground/mobile skate park program and the appeals

process.

The council approved the elimination of polices and practices

involving “walling off” revenue for specific uses. Over the past

several years, many practices have been established that restrict

flexibility in the budget by walling off certain revenue sources to

be used exclusively for specific programs and services.

“In times of prosperity, we can afford to wall off some things,

but in times of financial crisis, I know in my business, [I wouldn’t

do that],” resident Sam Clark said.

In addition, the council suspended the City Home Buyer Program,

starting with the 2004-05 fiscal year. The program has a balance of

about $340,000 held in escrow. Because the program has been

suspended, these funds can now be returned to the general fund

balance.

The council also adopted a resolution establishing an

approximately $14-million general fund operating reserve for the next

fiscal year.

Mayor Gary Monahan summed up how painful the choices in this

year’s budget were for everyone involved.

“This has not been easy,” Monahan said. “We’ve just gone through a

serious discussion, and there are definitely a lot of competing ideas

on the City Council. I think that’s good.”