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March 19, 2008
THE CITY COUNCIL SHOULD TAKE THE LEAD--NOT THE FIANANCE COMMITTEE
Tthe City Council should consider doing away with its Finance Committee hearings relating to the City's "Structural Budget Deficit" problems which have been discussed, meeting after meeting, without any real solutions to the disastrous, short and long-term, "Structural Budget Deficit" in the General Fund. The taxpayers now learn, for the first time, that there are at least another 12 funds that are also in a deficit position, including the Redevelopment Fund with a 10 million deficit.
In the meantime, the Finance Committee meetings are tying-up valuable staff time—six or more staff at each of the meetings.
The deficits and the solution is a City Council problem; not a committee problem; and the Council knows that the only long-term solution is to reduce the cost of salaries and benefits or ask the voters for a tax increase, which they probably believes would not be approved at this time.
The only real solution is to secure a voluntary salary and benefit reduction from its unions, which is probably unlikely, unless the City Council threatens bankruptcy.
It appears that the Finance Committee meetings are a way of delaying a solution to the "Structural Budget Deficit" until after the November elections.
Posted by Fred at March 19, 2008 11:00 AM
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