Mayor Ron Gonzales has a $70,000 budget this year for the annual event, although mayoral spokesman David Vossbrink said Gonzales won't spend all of it.

Vossbrink said expenses should be about the same or lower than last year's tab of $51,500, even allowing for a change of venue from the Center for Performing Arts to the California Theater.

Last year, the Willow Glen Resident reported the flabbergasted reactions of mayoral staffs from major cities around the United States, who found it almost impossible to believe that San Jose spends so much on a single speech. Representatives from the cities of Detroit, Indianapolis, Baltimore and Jacksonville, Fla. all reported they managed to spend next to nothing on their mayors' state of the city speeches.

There is one policy change this year, though: The mayor's not accepting financial donations to help pay for the event.

Last year donations from lobbyists helped ease the taxpayers' burden by contributing a total of $8,500. Pacific Gas & Electric, real estate agent and registered lobbyist Jerry Strangis together with wife, Janet, also a real estate broker, and developer Rob Bettencourt each donated $2,500 as sponsors of the event. The Morley Hunter Group, a real estate development consulting firm, chipped in $1,000.

Ampco System Parking, City Year, Personal Telephone Answering Service and the San Jose Conservation Center, however, are listed as in-kind sponsors this year.

While the city is facing a multi-million-dollar deficit, and many city services are losing funding, $70,000 could go a long way to fund some projects that would otherwise go under-funded or unfunded altogether.

Asked what they would do if a $70,000 bonus suddenly dropped into his district account, District 4 Councilman and mayoral candidate Chuck Reed had an immediate answer. "I'd spend part of it on pedestrian-activated uplight crosswalks at Piedmont Hills High School, Independence High School and St. Victor's School, and save the rest for park maintenance expenses next year," Reed said.

One council member would spend the money closer to home.

"I would give my staff a raise. They have not had one for three years," said Forrest Williams. He said he'd also drop some extra dollars into District 2 community improvement projects.

Other city departments suffering slashed budgets, such as the San Jose police department, declined to comment on what would be on their wish list.