Photograph by Paul Myers
Administrative services director Jesse Baloca arrived in mid-October and will help the city to deal with the weak economy and potential cuts in funding from the state.
New director to help steer Saratoga's financial ship through choppy waters
By Oakley Brooks
With the state's budget deficit swelling and Gov. Gray Davis already drastically cutting back funding for education, Saratoga and other cities across the state are wondering whether the vehicle license money the state sends to local governments might be the next cut.
Saratoga relies on the money related to vehicle license fees for a significant chunk of revenues, typically near $15 million annually. In the last several years the city has been granted around $1.5 million a year of the license money.
"Our biggest fear in the current crisis is that license fee money would be touched," said Jesse Baloca, who oversees Saratoga's finances as the city's new administrative services director. "It may or may not happen."
If it does, it wouldn't be the first time Baloca, 32, has faced a tough fiscal challenge.
As the youngest finance director in the state of Washington five years ago, Baloca inherited the struggling city of Bonny Lake (population 11,000) east of Seattle. The city was in a deep financial hole, deep enough that it was laying off firefighters. In four years, Baloca helped nurture Bonny Lake back to health, and it built up reserve funds and received a certificate of achievement in accounting before he left.
More recently, Baloca helped the community of Sammamish--located near Microsoft's headquarters in Redmond--gain cityhood. Starting from scratch, he developed the city's first budget.
"It's just something I'm good at," Baloca said about crunching numbers.
Fortunately for Baloca, city officials in Saratoga have apparently made good financial decisions in the last few years.
During budget season in June, they braced for economic hardship. In addition to the $2.2 million the city typically reserves for earthquakes and other disasters, the city set aside $1.5 million for "economic uncertainty," which could help Saratoga withstand a loss of state funds.
Saratoga officials are all too aware of how the state raided funds from local governments during California's last big economic slump in the early 1990s. Then-Gov. Pete Wilson and the state Legislature shifted property tax money earmarked for city and county schools, and the state reduced the money it sent to school districts.
Saratoga City Manager Dave Anderson said that recently he is not sure how cuts in cities' vehicle license money would play out this year, as the Legislature is currently not in session.
"A lot of trial balloons are being proffered," Anderson said. "We're not sure which one people will feel comfortable with at the end of the day."
The situation is complicated by the fact that several years ago the state lowered vehicle license fees for drivers, but local jurisdictions continued to receive the same amount of funds. The state has been paying the difference from its coffers.
To make up for the current budget deficit, the state could stop paying that "backfill" money to cities. Or it might raise vehicle license fees for drivers.
Anderson said he has been in contact with the League of California Cities, which is gearing up for a lobbying campaign against a possible vehicle license money decrease when the legislature returns to session in January.
Meanwhile, at city hall, Baloca said that if the state cuts funding, he'll have to batten down the hatches in Saratoga. He'll look for ways to streamline everyday operations at the city and possibly hold off on certain projects until the economy improves.
That adjustment is familiar to Baloca, who comes from a state where Boeing's recent relocation announcement and the high-tech industry's stumble meant hard times as well.
"Everybody's trying to do more with less," he said.
As one of seven children growing up in western Washington, Baloca was frugal from an early age. At 9, he was already working on his grandparents' berry farm in Auburn, in the Puget Sound area. He also paid his own way through college at the University of Washington and Seattle University.
Following stops at Bonny Lake and Sammamish, he put in most recently at Bellevue, Wash., as an interim assistant finance director.
He said he headed south to the Bay Area for the sunshine. More importantly, he moved to be closer to his fiancée, Maria Michiko Carunho, who splits her time as a pediatrician between Foster City and her native Philippine Islands.
Saratoga, California Since 1955
