The Sacramento City Council has approved a $1 billion budget for the next fiscal year.
About three-quarters of the total goes to employees, services, and supplies. Ten percent is for debt service and eight percent is for capital improvement projects. The rest is for property, operating transfers, and contingency.
The budget is balanced, but not everyone was pleased with the accounting. Resident Victor Brazelton spoke before the council voted and urged members to be more fiscally prudent.
"We are using one-time funds to create new programs to fund new positions and we do not have the money that is going to be able to sustain those."
The vote was unanimous. Eric Guerra is the council member from District 5.
"I'm glad that we're starting to look prudently at our long-term impacts, but also being responsive to some immediate needs that we need today."
Leyne Milstein is the City Finance Director. She says an increase in property tax revenues is primarily the cause of a $13 million surplus, but deficits are forecast for future years.
"Our next big challenge is the expiration of Measure U and our efforts to address the costs associated with our long-term pension liabilities."
Voter-approved Measure U tax money for police, fire and parks totals about $63 million. The tax is set to expire in 2019.
The economic development and emergency services departments will now be under the authority of the City Manager's office. A total of nine positions from various departments will now be under the City Manager's control.
The City Council added several items to the budget, including $750,000 for to create a "business incentive zone," $400,000 for youth development, $200,000 for Del Paso Heights programs -to be administered by the Gang Prevention and Intervention Task Force, $200,000 to increase community participation in city-sponsored programs, $100,000 for Summer Night Lights programs, $100,000 to remove chain link fencing from front yards, $75,000 for police cameras or PODS, $50,000 for flashing crosswalk lights, and $40,000 to operate the Grant Union High School Pool.
The budget includes the loss of 80 positions as the START Program will be privately operated and will no longer be operated by Sacramento school districts.
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