CONCORD — The city’s planned spending will barely change at all next year despite the influx of new money from the Measure Q sales tax, city staffers said in their first presentation of next year’s budget.
It is the first time in several years the city has avoided deep budget cuts, according to the presentation to the Measure Q Oversight Committee.
But it’s too early to tell whether the city is on the path to long-term financial stability after the tax expires in five years, according to the committee.
Furlough days for city workers will continue, said Assistant City Manager Valerie Barone, as will other cuts made in recent years.
In next fiscal year’s budget, which starts July 1, the city plans to spend $71.4 million — just a hair more than the $71 million the city is spending this year.
In the 2007-2008 fiscal year, the city spent $77 million. Since then, it has lost nearly a quarter of its workforce to budget cuts after tax revenue plummeted during the recession.
The half-cent sales tax approved by Concord voters in November will add about $8 million to the city’s coffers starting next year. Retailers began collecting the tax April 1; the city will not see that money until this summer.
In next year’s budget, the city will spend about $3 million of that additional revenue to stave off additional cuts and save the other $5 million to rebuild reserves, which stand at around $6 million. Before the recession, the city held more than $20 million in reserves.
The city will also make several organizational changes, like placing the neighborhood preservation department under the police department to help it focus on the most urgent blight cases, Barone said. Development review and economic development work will also move into a new department, she said.
Those changes will be detailed at the City Council’s budget hearing May 24, Barone said.
The Measure Q Oversight Committee gets the first look at the budget, but the City Council makes all the final decisions. The oversight committee will meet again next week before making its recommendations to the council.
Committee members said it was too early to tell whether the city was on track to maintain its balanced budget once Measure Q expires.
“This is basically a status quo budget,” said committee chairman Guy Bjerke. Next year, after the city has readjusted to its smaller size and collected a year’s worth of sales tax money, the committee will know more about the city’s long-range financial plans, he said.
The committee is charged with making sure the City Council uses the new sales tax money to preserve core city services. But there is no clear definition of what fits that category, said committee member Bill Gram-Reefer.
“What are the ‘core city services’ we’re talking about here?” Gram-Reefer said.
Some committee members said they were concerned about police spending, and that the city should look at ways to assign some tasks currently done by sworn police officers to less expensive staff members.
“We’re spending the maximum amount of resources on the police department,” said committee member Harmesh Kumar.
Contact Paul Thissen at 925-943-8163. Follow him at Twitter.com/pthissen.
