Balancing Mountain View's budget may require some painful cuts this year, including to the police department, parks and the library, according to city manager Kevin Duggan.
Tonight the City Council will review Duggan's strategy to address the city's $6 million deficit projected for next year, which could grow to $15 million by 2012 without intervention, Duggan says.
Duggan proposes using $2 million in reserves to help close the $6 million gap, with the remaining $4 million coming primarily through cuts. He also proposes new fees for parks, development permits and code enforcement fines. A preliminary list of cuts and new revenue sources are included in the report.
Duggan is calling for residents' help in defining the city's priorities during budget hearings, which are expected to continue after next year's budget is adopted in June. Because the city budget has already been cut several times since the 1990s, there are "very limited options to address this current challenge without significant impacts on service to the public and city staff," Duggan writes in his report. "In essence the less painful actions have already been taken."
The first tier of Duggan's preliminary list of cuts includes staff and service cuts to the library as well as City Planning, Parks and Recreation, Public Works and Mountain View Police departments....
read about more budget cuts at the Mountain View Voice