Two days before the Mayor of Fresno will be presenting her budget before City Council, Swearengin decided to have her Citizens Academy Alumni along with the Mayor's Community Advisory Panel (who inspired the Citizens Academy) listen to what she had to present. City Manager Mark Scott was also on-hand to set the scene for the budget years leading up to today and future outlook. Mayor Swearengin then took over diving into the details. She seemed eager to present to the group of about 40 and even mentioned how excited she was to show her four budget boards on easels. The four budget boards displayed: a graph of the "General Fund History and Forecast," "General Fund Five Year Forecast," "FY 2012 Mayor's Proposed Budget Plan," and "Budget Options for Council." What it boiled down to were 23 items that would fill the current $18.5 million budget gap, 3 of which were considered controversial. These controversial items, which amounted to about $5.3 million, were then prepared to be replaced by 15 of the "Budget Options for Council" if not passed. Of the three is the return of the proposal to privatize solid waste ($1.9 million), along with the delaying to add some money to the parking enterprise fund (which is about $14 million in the hole) and a 3% request for employee concessions ($3 million). Most of the other items that have been predicted to pass are creative accounting numbers (delayed payments, revenue gains, funding source changes, etc.) or the effect of employee contraction from budgets proposals of the past.
Here are some others stood out:
Establishing Roll-off Container Franchise Fee = $500,000
This will allow private roll-off container providers to pay the city to broker the roll-off service to their customers.
Abandon Airport Police Conversion Back to the General Fund = $1 million
Fresno PD is currently out at Fresno Yosemite Airport providing security, and the City was considering allowing the Airport to hire private security guards to save money that would go to fill their own $4 million fund gap. But Fresno PD has a no layoff clause, so FYI will continue to pay for the PD security service. (not sure how that affected the General Fund still)
Elimination to the City Call Center (621-CITY) = $114,000
This would eliminate the call center that is reached when dialing 621-CITY and only have a private call center forward the message to the respected department. Before, the City's call center would send a work order email to the right person as they received the call.
Postpone Land Use Data Base Software Investment = $130,000
Currently, the City's Planning Department has a very outdated software program that reduces efficiencies in the planning process. They have been expecting an update on their software for some time but it will continue to be postponed.
Increase Park Gate and Reservation Fees on Holidays/Peaks = $100,000
Park entrance fees will go up from $5 to $10 on holidays, but the Mayor has also considered a one dollar increase for everyday as an alternative.
The last three mentioned are some examples of items that are anticipated to be passed, but should actually be replaced by one or some of the items in the "Budget Options for Council." I will be posting the accompanying documents when available so you can see for yourself but you can not have an impact unless you are heard.
-Arthur Servin
Update: here is the PDF of the Mayor's Budget Proposal to City Council with all the information as explained above
