BUILDING UP OUR RESERVES

By Joseph J. Gonzales

In 1999, our city had 2.4 million dollars in reserve funds. Today, we have less than 1 million dollars. We must make better decisions on how we spend our city's precious dollars. The Mayor must provide leadership by making sure the reserve funds are protected. The leadership must be provided in order to find new revenue sources and where to trim the budget.

As Mayor, I will take the leadership role and remind my fellow City Councilmembers of our financial responsibilities. The city must be fair to all of its departments and we can not continue to favor the City Attorney's and City Manager's budget.

Currently our City Manager makes $127,000 dollars a year (not including benefits) and was given a $27,000 dollar raise after only one year on the job. This was done while the City Council reduced the Sheriff's and the Senior Citizen Center's budgets. The next Mayor must take on the responsibility of finding a common ground with city staff and City Councilmembers to balance the budget and raise our city's reserve funds.