Minutes 04/14/1987 - Laserfiche WebLink

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TUESDAY, APRIL 14, 1987 ,,- policy that we have chosen to follow. It started off to be a small amount but just gets bigger and bigger each year. Instead of attacking the problem, which was the imbalance of the budget, we would attack any agency who asked for more money than they received the prior year. We would knock them down a few thousand here and a few thou- sand there and then in order to balance the difference in the imbalance, we would then work out the transfers and presto! the budget was balanced. Pretty easy and we all looked good! There really isn't any rule on how to use these surpluses and I don't think that any Council chooses to make one. My interpretation of surpluses as monies earned by a department would be to give the profits back to the people in the form of capital improvements, such as: sidewalks, curb and gutter, street lights, rehabilitation of blighted areas, and other improve- ments that I probably haven't even thought about. My feelings are that these surpluses or profits, whatever you want to call them, should be left in a reserve account to be used for the upgrading of our utility departments and the balance not needed should go to capital improvements. We have to work to the point where we would no longer be dependent on these funds to balance the budget. We have to look for other sources of revenue. The cost of services that we perform are getting higher and higher every year, while revenues from these services are getting lower and lower. And in some cases, no revenue at all! The cost of operating City Hall is increasing by leaps and bounds while the revenue is getting less and less. The agencies that we support or help to support are raked over the hot coals each year by Council. A few extra hours a week to operate the library gets to be a blg issue because again the funds to do this are not there. I cannot in good conscience accept this budget as submitted. I suggest to the Council that we request from the City Manager his suggestions and recommendations on how we can increase the revenue side of the budget in order to narrow the margin between our expenditures and our revenues. I would also recommend that Mr. Brown meet with his department heads and request from them suggestions and recommendations on how they intend to reduce the cost of their departments over the next twelve months. The time is here, as they say, to "Bite the bullet!" If we take the initiative to start narrowing the deficit by using less and less surplus funds, while finding ways to increase our revenue, then we will be setting a course for other Councils to follow. *******