City passes smaller budget City passes smaller budget (June 11, 2004)

Leaders expect big state takeaway

By Corey Pride

The Mountain View City Council raised fees and eliminated 11 employee positions in the 2004-2005 budget it passed Tuesday night in anticipation of a state takeaway of local revenue that may come later this year.

The city's total expected revenue for the next fiscal year is $167 million. Its total expenditures add up to $176 million.

City Manager Kevin Duggan said the city isn't really running a deficit because funds saved for capital improvement projects prior to the next fiscal year are included in the 2004-2005 fiscal year expenditure tally.

In the past three years, 61 city government positions have been eliminated. Eleven more local government jobs are being terminated in 2004-2005 but no employee will be laid off.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger announced plans last month to partially cover the state deficit, projected at $15 billion for the next fiscal year, by asking cities to contribute $1.4 billion.

Mountain View has set aside $1.5 million to cover a possible $1.4-million takeaway but city leaders fear the state will ask for more money in the upcoming months.

As a result of that and dwindling revenues to Mountain View's general fund, recreation fees, planning fees and utility rates will all increase in the 2004-2005 fiscal year.

Monthly combined rates for water, sewer and trash services for home and apartment complex owners will be set at about $56 and $220 per month, respectively. Current levels are $53 and $208 per month.

A variety of recreation activity fees will also increase in hourly and fixed rates anywhere from 25 to 75 cents per hour to a $6 flat fee increase. Building costs for developers will also rise.

Council member Nick Galiotto said he believes it's unfair to increase fees on residents when some of the city's expenditure costs could be covered by one-time allocations of reserve funds or monies originally earmarked for projects that have already been completed.

"The economic downturn (the city) is facing, individual residents are facing on a personal level. It bothers me that we are increasing fees across the board," he said.

Mayor Matt Pear was disturbed by the council's decision to increase planning fees.

"Fees are getting prohibitively large. Sales tax revenue is a big part of the city (budget)," Pear said. "I don't know how well businesses are going to grow here in the future. The rest of the country's GDP seems to be picking up. Here in our area we haven't seen that type of recovery yet."

Vice Mayor Matt Neely said he thinks Mountain View is in better economic shape than a lot of cities and expects a turnaround in the city's economic fortune soon.

"I think the public got a great deal on this budget. We don't have to cut whole departments like the situation some cities find themselves in," he said. "The people of Mountain View will bear with us this last tough year."

E-mail Corey Pride at cpride@mv-voice.com

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