The Parkway is managed and funded by local government and when their funding drops, the Parkway, due to already being on the bottom of the priority list, suffers more than it already is, running about $1.1 million short annually, just in basic maintenance.
We have called for the Parkway to be managed by a nonprofit organization (like the Sacramento Zoo and Central Park in New York) giving it the ability to raise supplemental funding philanthropically and making it much more resilient during tough times
City faces soaring deficit
It freezes hiring as housing crisis takes toll on budget
By Terri Hardy - thardy@sacbee.com
Published 12:00 am PDT Monday, October 29, 2007
The nation's housing crisis has hit Sacramento's economy like a sledgehammer, prompting a city government hiring freeze this month and an urgent examination into how millions can be trimmed from the budget.
A report that will be presented to the City Council on Tuesday spells out the grim news: By the 2008-09 fiscal year, a city deficit could grow to between $45 million and $55 million. The city's 2007-08 budget is about $960 million.
"We were hoping for a soft landing from the housing market problems, but it didn't turn out that way," Russell Fehr, the city's finance director, said on Sunday. "We have a widening gap that will grow and grow if we don't do something about it."
Fehr ruled out layoffs, at least for now. He said he expects necessary cuts can come from attrition, the hiring freeze and restricting some discretionary spending like travel.
"It's a long-standing city policy that you do everything you can to avoid laying off career employees," Fehr said.
The report says Sacramento is not alone; local governments including Sacramento County, and eventually the state, are having similar problems.
