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Poor economic outlook, minimal new revenue sources and "at risk" funding from the state are just some of the limitations city planners had to consider while drafting the city's budget for the 200304 fiscal year. But despite the limited resources, Cupertino will cover its expenses as well as continue funding some major capital improvement projects such as the library and civic center plaza by dipping into the city's economic uncertainty reserves and implementing budget cuts.
According to Carol Atwood, the city's director of administrative services, going into another tough fiscal year, the city is once again reducing its expenditures.
Besides a selective hiring freeze, the city is forced to cut back on some of the services it has been offering to the community, such as selected library operating hours on Mondays, Tuesdays and Sundays.
According to Mary Ann Wallace, supervising librarian for the Cupertino Library, the reduction means that starting on July 1, the library hours on Mondays and Tuesdays will be 129 p.m. (currently 10 a.m.9 p.m.) and 15 p.m. on Sundays (currently 126 p.m.).
City staff had originally planned to cut all hours on Sunday, but after working with library staff and members of the Cupertino Library Commission, they revised the plan to fund four hours on Sundays.
"We never like to cut hours to the public, but we're happy to see the city is funding some Sunday hours. Sunday is our busiest day; this is the only day for many people and families to visit the library," Wallace said.
Library hours are just one of many areas facing cuts as the city works to cover an estimated $26,419,000 in operating expenditures as well as continue to fund some major capital improvement projects.
With the state budget yet to be finalized, city planners are taking a conservative approach to prepare for the worst case scenario, in which the state takes away the city's revenues sources, such as the vehicle license fees.
To make up for the estimated $2 million that the state will take away this upcoming fiscal year, the city will cut its funding for the capital improvement projects by $1 million and reduce the economic uncertainty reserve by another $1 million.
"If the state take-away is greater than $2 million, then we'll have to do layoffs and further service reductions; there's no doubt about that," Atwood said.
In the current fiscal year, the city covered its $3.1 million reduction in revenue budgets by cutting expenditures by $1.4 million and using savings from the economic uncertainty reserve, which is almost $5.9 million below the city's $15 million reserves policy level.
For the 200304 fiscal year, the reserve level will be even lower, down to about $8.9 million, which is around $6.1 million under par.
Despite the bleak forecast, the city will continue to fund some major capital improvement projects that are under way. These include the library and civic center plaza, sports center renovation, Mary Avenue bicycle footbridge, city center plaza, safe routes to schools and gas tax projects.
Atwood said city staff is looking at various cost-saving strategies such as a citywide fee analysis and departmental operating cutbacks to makeup for the loss.
The Cupertino City Council unanimously adopted the proposed 200304 budget at the June 16 meeting. The next fiscal year begins on July 1.
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