Yesterday's Claremont Courier reported on the state of Claremont's municipal budget (the article is not posted on the Courier's website). City staff will present the next two-year budget proposal at the next City Council meeting on Tuesday, June 24th, and the budget cycle starts July 1st.
The Courier article said that city staff looks to sales tax revenue to remain flat for a year, then increase by five percent the next year. In anticipation of the state withholding funds because of its own $15 billion (or more) deficit, city staff is figuring on receiving $385,000 less in sales tax revenue from the state.
Staff figures that property tax revenues will not be affected, but Councilmember Peter Yao seemed more concerned, the Courier reported:
"Some 10 percent of housing in Claremont is in some state of foreclosure," Mr. Yao said. "Property tax is a significant part of our budget, so I have asked staff to offer a presentation of where department cuts will be made in case there is a short fall."
The article also pointed out that city's CalPERS employee retirement account is still underfunded by several million dollars. The city is not budgeting anything to bring that account back into the black.
As usual, staff is putting it's typical spin on the budget, saying that the budget is balanced and that we're not as bad off as some other area cities who've had to lay off employees or borrow from reserves to fund their budgets.
The article also indicated that Clarmeont Mayor Ellen Taylor's two biggest goals are building more affordable housing (see yesterday's post on the Cal Poly project) and getting more sports fields for Claremont's youth (a self-created problem, as we've reported in the past).Bet on this, Queen Ellen (pictured above) will find some way, come hell or highwater, to spend that balanced budget into the red.
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