Dark days Drastic budget cuts lie before City Council
By Melissa Daugherty
June 6, 2013
“This probably is the darkest time for the city of Chico.”
Those were the words of City Manager Brian Nakamura toward the end of the City Council’s regular meeting on Tuesday (June 4) as he led into an announcement that the city would be revealing a draft budget the following day, in advance of a budget-info forum this Friday (June 7) and the annual all-day budget session that’s scheduled for June 18.
And based on Nakamura’s comments at this week’s meeting, the session a few weeks out is going to be painful for everyone involved, including the council, which has the final say on approving a draft budget that includes dozens of employee layoffs.
“The task for the council is not going to be easy,” he said.
Released mid-morning Wednesday, the 333-page document contains a long introduction attempting to put the far-reaching cuts into context. It notes, for example, how the city has done its best to provide services during “one of the most difficult financial times ever experienced.”
As proposed by Nakamura, the draft budget reduces city operational spending by about $1 million, from $83.8 million to $82.6 million. By far, the deepest cuts are in capital spending, from $48 million in fiscal year 2012-13 to a proposed $22.8 million in 2013-14. The total proposed budget is set at $105 million, a $29.5 million reduction from last year’s $134 million total budget.
Nakamura’s plan seeks to eliminate the city’s annual $4.8 million budget deficit as well as pay back certain depleted funds that have been used in recent years to balance the books.
To do so, he is recommending numerous layoffs of city personnel. As of deadline, the total number of layoffs was unclear (Nakamura was not available for clarification as of deadline). However, it appears at least 28 positions are in jeopardy. This includes reductions in public-safety staffing levels—19 altogether (one lieutenant, three sergeants, 10 police officers, three community-service officers, an admin assistant and an animal-control supervisor). Five vacant positions in the Fire Department will be eliminated under the plan.
Elsewhere, reductions include four positions in the Administrative Services Department, which includes one vacant position; leaving one vacancy in the City Attorney’s Office unfilled; the elimination of three positions in the City Manager’s Office; and eliminating one post and leaving 2.5 vacancies in the Community Development Department.
The cuts in the Police Department will be felt around the city in a variety of ways, including delayed or canceled responses to property crime, public nuisance and civil matters, and potentially to critical incidents, the report notes.
Nakamura said as much during the meeting.
“There are going to be service reductions—that’s unavoidable,” he said.
The city manager wasn’t the only one to speak about the city’s budget during Tuesday’s council meeting.
Rumors of sweeping layoffs had been circulating for days and, just before Nakamura spoke to the budget, a few employees had their say during the business-from-the-floor portion of the meeting, the time during which anyone is able to speak about any matter.
James Erven, a maintenance worker in the General Services Department, said eight employees in his department, which houses the Park and Operations and Maintenance divisions, were getting pink-slipped. He said the consequences will be dramatic because, without these workers, the city will not be able to respond adequately to infrastructure and other emergencies, such as fallen trees or large limbs.
“I can’t imagine this is something the public would be content with,” he said of the potential layoffs.
Erven was echoed by Chris Bolshazy, a representative of the Trades and Crafts Unit of the Service Employees International Union, which represents 46 city workers.
“These are the folks who provide the infrastructure to the city,” he said.
In moving forward, Bolshazy urged the council to “lead by example.” He tried to subtly suggest that those in management reduce their own compensation packages, but then very bluntly got to his point.
“It’s a bitter pill to swallow when we look at the top three managers getting between 20 to 30 percent increases over former managers,” said Bolshazy, pointing to the fact that Nakamura, Assistant City Manager Mark Orme, and Administrative Services Director Chris Constantin make significantly more than their predecessors.
Nakamura later indicated there were some positive signs in the local economy. He was referring to rebounding housing, stabilizing property tax and sales tax revenues, as well as a rise in construction permits. He made it clear, however, that the city, even in more fiscally solvent times, needs to be cautious with its spending.
“The key is to be able to do the right thing, even when nobody’s looking,” he said. (link to source)
Chico's Budget Woes
Reported by: Ross Field
June 6, 2013
There are no more easy decisions.
That's the sentiment of top Chico officials who have been pouring over city finances for months.
This week, the news is out about how the city is likely going to have to tackle one of the city's worst fiscal times ever.
At issue is a $4.8 million dollar budget deficit that has to be wiped out for this coming fiscal year, beginning July 1st.
More than 50 layoff and displacement notices have been given out to certain employees this week.
City Manager Brian Nakamura is also proposing to cut police department personnel by 19 positions, 14 of which are vacant sworn officer positions.
The fire department would also have to hold off on filling five of its vacant positions and much stricter cost controls would become the norm under the 2013-14 fiscal year budget.
So now for the next few weeks, city managers and the city council will have no choice but to face this fiscal issue head-on.
Action News reporter Ross Field spent the day speaking with city leaders to figure out how Chico got into this situation and what needs to be done for the city to dig itself out of the budget hole.
During Tuesday night's council meeting, Nakamura said this marks, "the darkest time for the city of Chico," and that means deeper, more serious cuts, to public services.
Chico City Manager Brian Nakamura held little back.
"The reality is, we as a city are going to be facing some really difficult economic times and we're going to have to make some really tough decisions," said Nakamura.
Facing a $4.8 million dollar budget defecit, the city manager called for dozens of positions to be cut and this is just the first step towards balancing the city's chronically ill budget and the fact is......
"That's going to impact the services that we provide our citizens," said Nakamura.
Among the proposed cuts, city employees in nearly every public service department, including the one's that directly affect the safety of the city's citizens.
"With public safety, our police and fire dept will continue to do the best we can, but unfortunately those are going to be impacted," added Nakamura.
The police department faces the largest number of staff reductions, 19, making up $1.1 million in proposed cuts.
The fire department would also have to hold off on filling five of its vacant positions. impacts will include the closure of an unknown fire station.
Impacts to the community will result in slower response times but Councilmember Sean Morgan says there is no other way to bring Chico out of the red and into the black.
"The cuts hurt, I understand the cuts, but if we don't do it, again, the other only road is insolvency. So have we been pushed in the corner and we don't have the options we'd like to have? Absolutely we have, but are we going to die? No, we're going to fight and we're going to come out on the other side," said Morgan.
Morgan said part of the blame? Putting off Chico's budget problem for several years.
"The challenge with the city of Chico is we put this off for far too long. Now we're in a position literally if we don't do what we're doing right now, we'll run out of cash in December and everyone will go home with an IOU," said Morgan.
"It's going to take time, it's going to take patience and perseverance and we're a very resilient community, we're a very opportunitistic community, we're looking forward to the future," said Nakamura.
The Chico City Council will continue to discuss the issue with an all-day budget study session on June 18th. (link to source)