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Council expected to approve healthy budget
By Steve Enders
A nip here and a tuck there, and Saratoga's annual city budget process is almost complete. The ordeal has been relatively painless so far, as the Saratoga City Council has made and reviewed what are mostly minor changes to the draft budget in three separate workshops during regular council meetings since April 30. The thick document is expected to be approved and adopted by the council after a final public hearing on Wednesday, June 16. The new fiscal year begins July 1.
Some highlights of the 1999-00 and 2000-01 budget include a title change for the city attorney--the position will now be called "legal services/risk management." The City Council is still working toward hiring a new firm to fill the position now held by Mike Riback.
The budget also contains a number of reassignments and other title changes in city staff, designed to save the city some money. The new budget also reflects a slew of mostly minor increases and decreases in allocations for various city departments and programs maintained by City Hall, again, designed to save the city some money.
On the positive side and the biggest indicator of the city's fiscal health is the general fund--the money in city coffers that isn't mandated for any specific city function. Instead, it's up to the city to dole out these funds.
According to Mary Jo Walker, director of administrative services and the architect of the budget, the general fund should continue rising and top out at $7.36 million in fiscal year 2000-01. That's up from $6.69 million in 1998-99.
Property taxes and motor vehicle fees account for the largest portions of general fund revenue, at about 44 percent. The rest of the fund is made up of sales taxes, franchise fees and other local taxes.
A majority of the general fund is spent on public safety and the contract between the city and the Santa Clara County Sheriff Department. In 1999-00 and 2000-01, the city will spend $2.7 to $2.9 million on sheriff services, or about 46 percent of the general fund.
The next largest chunk, 39 percent, goes to general government functions, and 11 percent is going into public works projects over the next two years.
Some of the biggest movements in the budget will occur when the city spends more than $2 million in park development money that's still untouched. The expenditure of that money is contingent upon the resolution of debate between the public, the city's parks and recreation commission and City Council. On paper, however, the money is gone next year, when it's supposed to have been spent.
A big jump occurs in the budget from money expected from various transit funding allocations to the city during the next couple of years. It's expecting hundreds of thousands of dollars from federal, state and local transportation measures, much of which will go toward improving Saratoga-Sunnyvale Road.
Some of the unknowns that may or may not affect the city's budget either positively or negatively, Walker said, include possible Y2K problems--computer glitches that some experts believe may come with the new year. The city is working on updating all of its own systems now, but is taking a wait-and-see approach to any outside factors that may affect city functions.
Also, Walker said, the future of the city's contract for animal services with the Humane Society is up in the air, as the agency tries to disband and cut its long-held ties with local cities. Saratoga has money in its budget allocated for continued field and sheltering services, but nobody knows yet who will pick up where the Humane Society leaves off, or how much it will cost the city.
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Saratoga, California Since 1975
