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City passes the budget of $208 million unanimously
Public works and public safety receive lion's share of funding
By Gretchen Knaup
The public works department will receive the most funding in the freshly approved Sunnyvale 2001-02 city budget, with 44 percent, or approximately $70 million, of the operating budget. The public safety department will receive 26 percent, or more than $40 million, of the operating budget.
There was virtually no change between what both departments received last year and this year. In 2000-01 city budget, public works accounted for 46 percent and public safety 25 percent.
In the projects budget, $1.5 million was allocated for downtown revitalization.
The unanimous approval of the budget was the culmination of hours of deliberation and study by city staff. The council adopted the recommended budget of more than $208 million at its June 19 without argument or controversy.
The council voted on three sections of financial action. The first concerned proposed fee changes, the second concerned the adoption of the budget and the third concerned the adoption of the appropriations limitation. All three sections passed unanimously, with only five amendments.
Four of the amendments were minor and, thus, worked into the budget during the city council's workshop. The last modification was raised unexpectedly by Fred Fowler, who requested that a $10,000 match amount go to the Junior Achievement program, if they can find another sponsor.
One of the more high profile amendments proposed during the workshop was the redesignation of $1.5 million in funds to the multimodal transit station. "We moved the money to fund the additional costs of the improvement of the station. The improvements would have happened, anyway. It was just a shuffling of the money," Councilman Jim Roberts said.
"My concern was with the multimodal station. Once that was accomplished, I was happy," said Councilwoman Julia Miller, adding, "Mary Bradley really knew what she was doing and put it all together nicely."
Expenditures for the budget are divided into categories of operating, project, supplements, sMart station expenses, debt and equipment. The operating budget is over $146 million, while the project budget has been given over $32 million. Budget supplements are more than $214,000 and sMart station expenses total almost $12 million. Debt is projected at approximately $6 million and equipment at almost $110,000. The grand total is over $208 million.
The 2001-02 budget is more than $3 million lower, or approximately 14 percent less than the 2000- 01 adopted budget.
On May 22, the council held a budget workshop to review in detail the recommended budget and the 10-year allocated resource plan. In addition, the council held a public hearing on June 5, where members of the public were able to offer comments.
"Our process is particularly smooth," Assistant to the City Manager Dan Rich said. "In comparison to other cities, we only had one person from the public, which was from the Junior Achievement Program requesting $19,000."
Community Development Director Robert Paternoster commented on the smoothness of the meeting, by saying, "Did we just have a public hearing?"
According to Rich, there weren't many changes that needed to be made between the process of the recommended budget and the adopted budget.
"The feedback from the council was only a small amount of amendments, that came out of the workshop," Councilman Jim Roberts said. Concerning the smooth process, Roberts said, "It just shows that we are incredibly strong financially. I promise, you won't be able to find that in any other government agency. Even assuming economic downturn, we can still keep everything running with the same funding it has now, and not make any cut backs."
According to the city manager's letter of transmittal, there are a number of changes that have taken place that will affect the city's fiscal situation. One is lower personal income and household wealth, as a result of declining stock values. There is also the increase in the costs of goods because higher energy costs, such as rising gasoline prices, and finally a lower demand for high-technology products, reducing the ability of companies to pursue expansion plans. These changes have reduced the disposable income of Sunnyvale residents.
In the larger spectrum the state legislative analyst's office projects that the California economy will slow in 2001, and, as a result, the state's current revenue growth will slow. In a report entitled The 2001-2002 Budget Perspectives and Issues, the analyst's office said, "We believe that economic growth in the state will taper off in 2001. In particular, the state's high-tech sector, which has been a key engine driving our economic growth, will be negatively affected by slowing U.S. business and personal spending on computers, electronics and software."
City Manager Robert La Sala said, while economy as a whole may experience increases, or drops, in the years to come, Sunnyvale's conservative approach to budgeting will enable the city to reduce the effects of any wild swings. La Sala said the Sunnyvale approach to budgeting is one of long-range strategic planning, as well as long-term financial planning and includes short-term planning for the allocation of resources in the two-year action budget. According to La Sala, this integrated framework, taken from the city's planning and management system has enabled the city to accomplish goals established by council. Other key elements in this framework include the council study issues process and annual performance reporting.
According to Roberts, Sunnyvale is unique in that it looks ahead to the future with a 10-year allocation plan and a 20-year forecast that gets updated every year. "If you don't look at the long-term program, you can find out in the future that you don't have the money you thought you'd have," he said.
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Sunnyvale, California Since 1994
