FOR
IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Sept. 17, 2003
CITY
COUNCIL PASSES BUDGET CUTS
TO CLOSE $1.4 MILLION MID-YEAR DEFICIT
Council closes
budget gap created when the state reduced funding to local government
Berkeley, CA – On Tuesday
night, the Berkeley City Council unanimously passed an additional $1.4
million in cuts to balance its current year operating budget.
These reductions were required after the state passed a budget a
budget in July that reduced funding to local governments.
The reductions included the elimination of three vacant positions,
reductions in administrative overhead and staff overtime costs, and the
use of reserve funds set aside by the City Manager and Council.
During the June budget process, Mayor
Tom Bates and the Council created a $230,000 emergency-funding buffer and
set aside salary savings from vacant positions to guard against these
types of mid-year budget cuts. It
was a strategy that proved useful.
“We were very careful to protect our
services from state budget cuts,” said Mayor Tom Bates.
“The wonderful work from our budget staff and the Council’s
conservative budgeting really paid off.
We were able to absorb these cuts without dramatic impacts on
services to the public.”
However, the city faces an additional $8
million shortfall in the next fiscal year.
City budget staff and the Mayor’s Advisory Task Force on Revenue
are reviewing options for closing this deficit.
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