Politics & Government

City Council Adopts Budget for Fiscal Year 2011-2012

Last night during its regular meeting, the Dixon City Council adopted a budget for fiscal year 2011-2012

The Dixon City Council adopted a budget for 2011-2012 Tuesday evening during its regular meeting.

Since the beginning of the month, the city council has met for special budget workshops designed by City of Dixon staff to help the council see how much money is coming and going from city coffers, as well as the impact of the downed economy on the budget.

The adopted budget – which encompasses the city, the Dixon Redevelopment Agency, Dixon Public Improvement Corporation and Dixon Public Finance Authority – comes with revenues of $32.1 million and appropriations of $35.6 million – a deficit of $3.5 million.

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City Finance Director Jeremy Craig told the council that they would be adopting a budget with known uncertainties including the financial impact of ongoing labor negotiations not reflected on the budget. Craig also noted that the state has yet to pass its budget (the deadline for state legislators to pass the budget is at midnight), the future of redevelopment agencies in this state is unresolved, and there's a lull in property and sales tax which Craig said staff are continuing to track.

Vice Mayor Michael Ceremello said he was comfortable with the budget more than he has been in the past.

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“I think we are fairly close to being balanced,” he said. “I would like to see some additional cuts made.”

“I do think there are some areas to look at in the future,” Councilman Dane Besneatte said. “I think we have cut back a lot, if we have some employee savings (in) wages, I think we can be balanced.”

Ceremello, as did Councilman Thom Bogue throughout the budget workshops, raised concerns about the amount of money being spent on professional organizations such as LAFCO, ABAG, League of California Cities and Solano County Water Authority. Ceremello said he could go along spending the funds, noting that it was a minor amount of money and his fellow council members did not argue against using the funds for membership in the organizations.

The council must still keep a watchful eye on what the state does with items such as Redevelopment Agencies; the council, acting as the Dixon Redevelopment Agency, moved to protect its RDA funds by putting them in the Core Area Drainage Project earlier this year.

State legislators have until midnight to pass a budget.


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