FOR
IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Sept. 14, 2004
Read the Fiscal
Recovery Plan (PDF, 597 KB)
MAYOR
BATES TO RELEASE PLAN
TO DEAL WITH RECORD CITY DEFICITS
On Tuesday,
Mayor Bates will release his ‘Fiscal Recovery Plan’ detailing the
City’s
efforts to eliminate its $33 million deficit and keep its budget
balanced through 2009.
Berkeley, CA –
With the state budget crisis and the economic downturn hitting
local budgets hard, the City of Berkeley has been coping with the largest
budget deficits in its history and its most serious fiscal crisis in a
generation.
On Tuesday, Mayor Tom Bates will
release a plan to keep the City’s budget balanced through the decade.
This Fiscal Recovery Plan outlines steps the City has taken
beginning in 2003 and outlines plans to close deficits projected through
the 2009 fiscal year.
The Fiscal Recovery Plan, which is
based on existing Council policy, reduces spending by over $20 million by
2009 and looks for tax increases of $5.7 million annually.
Economic development, fees and fines also help close the projected
deficits.
“Throughout the fiscal crisis,
the City has managed the budget without undermining essential public
safety and health services,” said Mayor Bates.
“Under this Plan, the City will have cut over $20 million by the
year 2009. But without some new revenue, we cannot continue to guarantee
the high quality public safety, health, and social services our residents
depend on.”
Over
the past three years, the City Council has already cut more than $14
million from its general fund budget by eliminating over 100 positions,
reducing programs, and reaching an agreement with City employees to give
up some of their pay.
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