Sebastopol holding meeting tonight on budget

Sebastopol city officials begin budget deliberations tonight with expectations of increased resources, but also rising costs and assessed needs that exceed nearly the $7.7 million general fund revenue projected for the fiscal year that begins July 1.

Spending choices that must be made as a result will be the subject of a public hearing during tonight’s 6 p.m. City Council meeting, with a follow-up session June 16. The budget must be approved by June 30.

Considerations include a list of special outlays requested by city department staffs totalling $1.7 million - a little more than $900,000 of which have received preliminary approval from a budget subcommittee consisting of council members Una Glass and Robert Jacob, City Manager Larry McLaughlin, City Clerk Mary Gourley and Finance Director Ana Kwong.

Recommended expenditures include $128,200 to remodel the reception area and restrooms at the city community center; $40,000 to upgrade and redesign the city web site; $65,000 to replace financial software; $89,000 for an administrative assistant to be shared by the city clerk, city manager and finance department; $60,000 for an economic development position or consultancy services; $60,000 for information technology support; and $36,500 for police simulator training equipment.

The budget subcommittee left unfunded requests for $100,000 for a bike trail feasibility study; $55,000 for a downtown parking study; $450,000 for a new fire emergency/rescue vehicle; and $98,500 for additional community center remodelling work.

The city also anticipates a 5 percent increase in health insurance costs, according to the subcommittee’s budget transmittal letter.

The council also is scheduled to restore the balance of furloughed hours negotiated with city workers in 2011-12 under a 5-year memorandum of understanding that cut work weeks to 36 hours for the first two years and gradually reinstated a full 40-hour week.

Increased revenues for the 2015-16 budget year reflect voters’ approval last fall of Measure R, which established a 3.75 percent utility user tax extended across cell phones and landlines, cable TV service, garbage and energy use, raising a projected $530,000 in the coming year, Kwong said.

The draft budget also includes a total sales tax estimate of $3.3 million - an increase of $275,000 over last year and the highest sales tax revenue in at least the past 10 years. Sales tax accounts for about 42 percent of general fund resources, according to the draft budget.

The meeting will be held at the Sebastopol Youth Annex/Teen Center, 425 Morris St.

You can reach Staff Writer Mary Callahan at 521-5249 or mary.callahan@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter @MaryCallahanB.