Council adopts $79.8 million baseline budget
City of Paso Robles Council meeting Tuesday, June 21.
Budget adopted for next two years, city focusses on recession recovery
–On Tuesday, June 21 the Paso Robles City Council adopted unanimously a two-year Operating and Capital Improvement Budget. The budget addresses all city programs and funds, with emphasis on the general fund, the road maintenance and repair efforts associated with the half‐cent sales tax approved by the voters in 2012; and the city’s four enterprise funds; water, sewer, airport, and transit. The budget makes use of reserves, bond proceeds and grant funds as well as current revenues.
Total projected city revenues for all funds for 2016-17 is $78.7 million and total projected expenditures for all funds, including all operating expenses, capital expenses, and debt service, is $79.8 million. Several of the enterprise funds have major capital projects being initiated during the fiscal year, and therefore show expenses in excess of revenues. This is a planned approach, called “pay as you go;” by using reserves and grants for such major capital projects, the need for project financing is reduced, thus reducing overall costs.
For 2017-18, total revenues are projected at $102.6 million and total expenditures at $102.9 million. The significant increase is due to the planned expansion of the sewage treatment plant, in order to produce recycled water for use by agricultural and for landscaping. This expansion will be financed primarily by a state grant and a low-interest loan available to the city as a result of Proposition 1, passed by the voters statewide in 2014.
The budget includes road maintenance and repair expenditure levels that exceed the sum of the maintenance of effort (provided by Gas Tax and other funding sources) level plus the contributions from the supplemental sales tax measure approved by the voters in 2012. The budget proposes working ahead of the receipt of revenues in order to make headway addressing the backlog of needed work. This approach can have multiple benefits, including minimizing the cost of repairs, reducing the wear and tear on vehicles, potentially reducing accidents, and providing a more enjoyable driving and bicycling experience to residents and visitors alike.
The document includes the fiscal years, 2016‐17 and 2017-18. For the past several years the city has been focused on recovery from the recession. The stated goal is to return services to their pre‐recession levels. During the next few years, the city is more likely to face a new recession than fully recover from the last one. The budget considers the existing, reduced level of services as the baseline, or the “new normal.”
City Manager Tom Frutchey said adoption of the budget, which will go into effect on July 1, 2016, authorizes the receipt of revenues and the expenditure of monies to accomplish the goals for the community, as adopted by the council. “The budget includes funds for the continuation of existing services, as well as some major new initiatives,” he said.
The city council conducted a budget workshop on May 12, and held its first public hearings on June 7. At its first public hearing on the budget, on June 7, the council reviewed the full set of options included in the proposed budget, offered additional options, and provided informal direction.The budget document contains all projected revenues, appropriations, and transfers, and will be implemented by the city manager per council policies and direction. The direction and suggestions from the council at the previous sessions have been incorporated into the proposed budget.
Total projected General Fund revenues for 2016-17 are $37.5 million and total projected General Fund expenditures, including all operating expenses, capital expenses, and debt service, are $37.4 million. For 2017-18 total projected General Fund revenues are $39.1 million and total projected General Fund expenditures, are $38.2 million. Resulting surpluses would be added to city reserves at the end of each fiscal year. There are also four enterprise funds; water, sewer, airport, and transit. The funds are each run like a private business, with no tax support and all costs are recovered from users. The budget includes other funds as well, such as the Lighting and Landscape District fund and the Traffic Development Impact fund, as required by law and good practice, based on guidelines established by the Government Accounting Services Board.
Staffing authorization includes 199 full-time equivalents, which can be filled with full- or part-time personnel, within those classifications as detailed in the budget. Consideration on meeting new personnel needs will be directed at all options, including volunteers, part-time staff, full-time staff, not-for-profits, and private sector alternatives. Two major initiatives during the budget period will be to look at increasing the use of part-time employees and increasing the use of contracting for those services that can be performed more cost effectively by others.
As part of its adoption of the budget, council also approved four upcoming study sessions, on key topics, designed to examine those topics in-depth and elicit comprehensive community input. The four topics are:
- the future of fire and emergency services;
- development and circulation proposals for the northeast quadrant of the city, with special attention on the problems and opportunities of Highway 46 East;
- staffing levels and compensation, with special attention on CalPERS; and
- the city’s reserves (i.e., the city’s invested funds), their appropriate size, and how to best invest them for the benefit of the community.
Dates have not been set yet for each session, but they are targeted for August and September. The budget documents can be viewed www.prcity.com/government/departments/adminservices/budget
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