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The good news about San Jose's budget deficit is it's not the projected $76 million. The bad news is the city's still $35.9 million in the red.
Mayor Ron Gonzales gave his preliminary budget message report to the council on March 7. He highlighted the fact that the city has reduced the deficit by $263 million since 2002, but noted that since the city's economy has experienced only moderate growth, it was necessary to maintain a conservative approach.
The council confirmed its top six priorities were the same as the year before: building strong neighborhoods, remaining the country's safest big city, strengthening the city government's role in education, building better transportation systems, promoting a strong economy and making government more efficient and accessible to the public.
The mayor said it would be another tough budget year, with hard decisions about what services to cut. Specific proposals were not made, but public safety cuts versus non-public safety cuts are being reviewed.
According to Gonzales, the advantage of a higher percentage of cuts coming out of the public safety budget is that it is a large portion of the budget. For example, in fiscal 2005-06, the budget for public safety was approximately $368 million out of a total budget of about $2 billion. However, given that remaining the safest big city is one of council's priorities, city officials were hesitant to look at big cuts to public safety and directed the city manager to look at cuts up to 2.5 percent in that area of public safety.
Council members expressed concern about cuts in personnel. Interim City Manager Les White said layoffs were unavoidable. "This is a people business," he said, referring to the fact that salaries for city employees are paid for out of the General Fund.
Councilwoman Nora Campos asked for a list of vacant positions, suggesting that the elimination of the unfilled positions could avoid possible layoffs.
A study session on the budget is scheduled for March 16. The city council is scheduled to hear the issue on March 21. At that session, council members will provide specific budget recommendations to the city manager. A final budget will be presented in June.
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