Councilman Kevin McCarty says more of the money should be spent in the first three years.:
“We should put the lion’s share of the money in there," said McCarty. "And we’re just trying to hammer out how much of a reserve to have, but I think that we’re just about there and we’ll find something that makes sense for the city.”
Leyne Millstein with the Finance Department says it would be more fiscally responsible to spread the money out over time:
“We have resources available to establish a reserve so at the end of the six year allocation of Measure U resources that we don’t hit that fiscal cliff immediately –that we had some resources to provide a transition back to our regular levels,” Millstein said.
According to the finance department, if its preferred larger reserve is in place, the city would have a budget surplus of three million dollars after six years. But, if the council’s proposed budget with a smaller reserve passes at tonight’s meeting, the finance department says the city would be nine million dollars in debt in 2019.
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