2012-13 Budget, Part II

In my last column/blog I talked about our City’s budget issues and the challenges ahead. In this edition I want to back up a bit and examine things from a larger prospective. One of the things that our Interim City Manager has suggested to Council is a re-examination of the service levels they provide our citizens. The thought behind this is that once the Council determines the service level then they can adjust the budget accordingly.

I would agree with this methodical and reasonable course of action. Too many times we see government agencies simply take an action without taking into account the full scope or knowledge of their actions. The City Council has not reviewed these service levels in years and it is extremely important to do so after all our economy has been through.

Let’s look at a few examples. In 1977 the Marina Fire Department had 14 firefighters, covered 5 square miles and handled some 600 calls annually. Today the Marina Fire Department has 15 firefighters, covering 10 square miles and handles some 1700 calls annually. Is our Fire Department right sized for our community? We should talk about this extensively.

Another example; the City has several economic development projects on deck. These range from a new Hampton Inn hotel to the new Theatre at the Dunes. We also know we will have the new Veterans’ clinic and other projects coming fairly soon. Currently we do not have enough staff to review the plans for these projects in a timely manner. What are our options at this point? How can we help facilitate the projects that will bring new revenue to our City and help our budgets in the future?

Finally, our Community has several public facilities that the City is responsible for maintaining, including our beautiful new library. The care and maintenance of these facilities is important to make sure they are there for our Citizens use. Right now our staffing levels and budgets make it very difficult to fulfill this obligation. What are our options here and how can we make sure these facilities remain available to all of us?

These questions really need to be answered sooner than later. Yes, we will draw from our reserves during this discussion time but that is why they are there. Our Citizens deserve to have the services they voted on maintaining when they approved Measures M & N in 2010. Nothing has changed since that time which is really the issue.

We all deserve an adult conversation that explores all of our options that focuses on the level of service we want, a conversation that looks at the things our local government can do and should do. This is a conversation that should cross all party and ideological lines that is unique to our Marina community. This is something we can accomplish if we work together as a community. Let’s make it happen.

More later

2012-13 Budget, Part I

Well, here we go again! Our City Council has the duty to work on and approve the 2012-13 annual budget between now and June 30^th. Let the games begin.

As part of the annual budget process the Interim City Manager Doug Yount has provided a 20 page budget message. It is a well thought out and detailed document that explains Marina’s overall financial situation, our staffing issues and his recommendations for what he calls a “status quo” budget.

What is even more important, Mr. Yount has asked the City Council to review the level of services that the City provides its citizens. This would include our police and fire protection, our recreational services and our public works services such as pothole repair, building maintenance, etc. If the Council decides to make cuts in the overall budget, he has asked that they decide on what services they wish to eliminate.

The document is very clear that there is just no more excess in the budget, and that any cuts made will directly affect the level of service that the City can provide. The document is also very clear that our City staff have been incredible stewards of our City’s funds. They have done their best to save monies where possible. Unfortunately, some of these savings were due to a lack of staffing that made it impossible to get some important things done in key departments such as finance and planning.

Another part of the document outlines the importance of Measures M & N to our City budget. It shows that the Citizens of Marina stepped up to cut the City’s overall budget deficit in half by passing the measures in 2010. Unfortunately, this also means that our City Council majority has essentially done nothing to narrow the revenue gap since then.

There will be a series of public meetings over the course of June (June 9, 12, 13, 19 and possibly the 20^th) to discuss the budget and to hear your input. I would ask that you pay attention to the process, add your input to the discussion and let your Council know what level of service you want from your City.

There will be much discussion over the next month and I will weigh in with some very specific ideas and solutions to our current situation. One idea that needs to be a part of any discussion going forward is to consider a two year budget cycle. We just simply do not have the staffing to stop everything and take almost two full months every year to approve our budgets. A two year cycle with 6 month updates will be far more efficient and allow our staff to focus on the services the City needs to provide our citizens.

More later…