Fewer dollars mean more city cuts

<p>The decline can be seen in the black-and-white pages of Petaluma’s draft budget — the pot of tax money shrinking from $23.3 million two years ago to $20.6 million expected for next year.</p><!-- Nothing to do. The paragraph has already been output --><p>That 11 percent drop — along with lower returns on everything from investment earnings to fines and fees — means City Hall is facing another round of cutbacks and reduced services in order to bring next year’s spending plan into balance.</p><p>With a Monday deadline to adopt the 2009-2010 budget before the July 1 start of the fiscal year, officials are sorting out just what has to go — and how many employees might be let go in the next 21⁄2 weeks.</p><p>City Hall has tried to avoid layoffs for the upcoming year, but some will be necessary, City Manager John Brown told the City Council at a budget workshop Monday.</p><p>Whether the four layoffs expected from a merger of park maintenance staff with the public works department will be the final number depends on how Brown’s negotiations with employee unions end.</p><p>He’s proposing a 5 percent cut in salaries and benefits for each department, but whether that comes from lighter paychecks or fewer bodies — or some combination of both — remains to be decided.</p><p>“There is still some work to be done,” Brown told the council. In seeking concessions from employee unions, “we’re finding that it’s more of a mix-and-match program.”</p><p>The 5 percent cut in personnel costs, regardless of what form it takes, is needed to close a $1.1 million gap that existed after a myriad of cost-cutting moves were enacted, Brown said.</p><p>Those steps range from the parks-public works consolidation, saving $426,000, to relatively minor tweaks such as having firefighters do their own linen service — saving $10,000.</p><p>But after making those adjustments, “There really isn’t any other place you can go for reductions other than salaries and benefits,” Brown said. “That’s the last place to look.”</p><p>So far, employee groups haven’t been interested in contributing more toward health care costs, Brown said, and only three employees have expressed interest in an early retirement buyout designed to help avoid layoffs.</p><p>Current and expected vacancies in the police and fire departments will not be filled, the draft budget shows, and the city is considering a reduction of the “minimum staffing level” for its three firefighter shifts.</p><p>Instead of 46 firefighters working three shifts of at least 14 employees each, the city may operate a 42-person firefighting force with no fewer than 13 workers per shift.</p><p>Such a change would save $630,000 but requires approval of the firefighters’ union. It could also impact the city’s fire insurance rating, according to a budget analysis.</p><p>What drew the most discussion among council members at Monday’s workshop was a proposal to “burn down” the city’s undesignated reserve fund in order to balance out the remainder of the current fiscal year and shore up the next year’s budget.</p><p>Brown said he reluctantly suggested reducing reserves to limit “as much as possible” the amount the city is asking employees to give up.</p><p>“I know that we’re not well, doing what we’re doing here, but at the same time I’m mindful that we don’t impact wage earners who work for us any more than we have to,” Brown said.</p><p>Council members Mike Healy and David Rabbitt said the use of one-time money like unspent reserves masked the fact that general fund revenues are lagging behind expenses by about $2 million.</p><p>“I was a little disappointed to see our reserves depleted,” Rabbitt said. “I’m not sure I’m totally supportive of that.”</p><p>“I’m not convinced this is a sustainable spending level, given our revenue sources,” Healy said. “I don’t have any great confidence that our revenues will be better in 2010-2011 than they are in 2009-2010.”</p><p>Brown said any additional cuts would have to come on top of the 5 percent reduction in personnel costs the city is already seeking.</p><p>“Realistically, we’re talking about eliminating large portions of departments at that point,” Brown said. “We’d be asking people for almost 15 percent back if we went in that direction.”</p><p>Other council members said the budget has been cut back enough.</p><p>“This budget is already a very painful one,” Councilmember David Glass said. “I think it’s premature to say we need to come back and bite off another $2 million in spending.”</p><p>“It’s too bold a move for me,” Vice Mayor Teresa Barrett said. “I just think it would bring unnecessary hardship to so many people — not only the employees, but also the people who depend on these services.”</p><p>Healy said he wasn’t asking that the city make up the $2 million difference through additional cuts at one time, but that options be presented to narrow the gap.</p><p>“If we don’t actually do the hard work this year, it may be even harder next year,” Healy said.</p><p>The budget is slated to be adopted at the council’s Monday, June 15 meeting, following a second budget workshop at 1 p.m.</p><p>(Contact Corey Young at corey.young@arguscourier.com)</p>