Sunday, May 13, 2007

Local Government Announcements

The city of Sacramento has enough money to increase its budget and the County has a deficit, bad news for the Parkway under the current governance structure, but if we can see a move to a Joint Powers Authority, the budget surplus of entities involved will balance out the deficits and hopefully keep the Parkway solvent, which it certainly isn’t now nor promises to be in the next year’s county budget.

What You Need To Know This Week
Published 12:00 am PDT Sunday, May 13, 2007

Sacramento City Council


The council on Tuesday will take its first public look at the proposed 2007-08 operating and capital improvement budgets.

The proposed operating budget of $965 million would include most of the city's expenses, including paying salaries and providing services. Last year's operating budget was $870 million.

The new budget would add funding for some priorities set by the council, including increasing the number of 911 dispatchers and increasing pay for civilian members of the Sacramento Police Department.

The city is also proposing a $113 million capital improvement budget, which includes repairs and construction projects.

The first hearing on the budgets will be at 2 p.m. Tuesday. Additional hearings will take place in May and June. The final budgets are expected to be adopted June 12.

The council meets at City Hall, 915 I St., Sacramento.

Sacramento County

County spending will be up for debate in a series of workshops Wednesday through Friday.

Much of the discussion will focus on closing a $33 million budget shortfall. The county executive is proposing a number of options, including defunding vacant positions, postponing capital projects, freezing new vehicle purchases, selling surplus land and asking departments to tighten their belts.

The county has directed all departments to hold off on new spending requests until the final budget hearings are held in September.

The workshops start at 9:30 a.m. in the board chambers, 700 H St., Sacramento.