By Carolyn Leal
The city's Financial Advisory Committee has recommended abolishing the Saratoga Recreation Department to make up for money lost when voters last November failed to continue Saratoga's utility-user tax.
The tax loss for 1997-98 is estimated at $816,000, but the city also faces the loss of matching funds, according to City Manager Harry Peacock.
The finance committee's recommendation to cut recreation services surfaced during a Jan. 13 City Council budget study session.
Committee Chairman Richard Van Hoesen explained that, in an effort to figure out what could be cut, city services were divided into "basic" and "optional" services, even though it was difficult to make such a division.
Public safety, infrastructure maintenance, waste management, permits and inspections and capital projects were identified as "basic" services that should not be cut. As "optional" services, the committee listed recreation programs, senior assistance, youth services, community events, cable television and library assistance.
If city recreation programs were eliminated, it would save some $253,000 annually and would result in the reduction of six people from the city staff, according to the committee's report. However, the accuracy of the savings was questioned, since the recreation department recovers some 91 percent of its costs in fees.
The Financial Advisory Committee suggested that the Los Gatos- Saratoga Department of Community Education and Recreation could provide recreational services for Saratoga if city services are cut. That organization, which already offers its own schedule of recreation events, would be encouraged to establish a satellite office in the Saratoga Community Center or the Warner Hutton House Teen Center.
However, Bob Best, director of the Los Gatos-Saratoga Department of Community Education and Recreation, said that he had not been contacted by anyone from Saratoga. His impression was that Saratogans are happy with their own recreation department, he said.
In other proposed cuts, the finance committee recommended that volunteer-program coordination be transferred to the city manager's staff and that no expenditures be made for computer hardware or software in the recreation department.
The Financial Advisory Committee made other recommendations for cost-cutting.
Elimination of a p.m. sheriff's deputy on patrol was suggested, along with transferring the responsibility for the school resource officer and crossing guards to the Saratoga Union School District.
For additional cuts, it was suggested that maintenance at Hakone Gardens could be reduced; the number of city street maintenance personnel could be reduced; an irrigation specialist could be eliminated, and city custodial staff could be reduced.
In addition, the committee recommended no new expenditures of park development funds that would increase maintenance costs.
The committee also recommended that the city recover full costs for permits, planning and zoning services.
The total of all of the staff reductions, including the recreation personnel, would come to savings of $762,000 annually, Van Hoesen said.
However, the committee's suggestions are only recommendations, joining other recommendations by commissions and citizens. The City Council will make the final decision on how much and where to cut the budget.
Other saving suggestions at last week's meeting ranged from exploring whether the Los Gatos Police Department could provide police services if that agency is less expensive than the Santa Clara County Sheriff's Department, and taking over operation of Hakone Gardens from the current nonprofit board. A citizen also suggested exploring cuts in the top levels of city management.
The Sheriff's Department's police service, at $2.2 million, is the most expensive item in the city's budget, but none of the proposed budget-cutting scenarios recommends substantial cuts in sheriff's services.
Joan Pisani, chairwoman of the Recreation Department, said in a telephone interview that the department is essentially self-supporting. The department's expenditures last year were $617,000, while $590,000 came in from fee-based programs. "The difference--about $22,000--was used to fund the city's teen program," she said.
"If they close the department and do away with everyone here, they'll still have most of the expenses," Pisani said. "If you cut the programs, you cut revenues. It comes out a net zero and still doesn't solve the problem."
Pisani said the Recreation Department sponsors about 600 classes a year, including 35 camps for kids, some 30 trips for seniors and teens, adult softball and basketball leagues.
In addition, the Recreation Department operates the city's teen program, sponsoring teen dances and after-school activities at the Warner Hutton House.
"We see hundreds of people each day at the community center," Pisani said. "The recreation program brings people together in the community."
"I was totally shocked," said Parks and Recreation Commissioner Jennifer Crotty. "We have over 91 percent cost recovery."
This article appeared in the Saratoga News, January 22, 1997.
©1997 Metro Publishing, Inc. All rights reserved.