10C Action 2009 1116 - Laserfiche WebLink

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in new revenue) were placed before the voters and passed, the General Fund's structural deficit would be "solved". Timing, however, plays a key role with respect to the revenue measures. More specifically, Council would most likely consider placing the revenue measures before the voters in March of 2010. If approved, the revenue measure(s) would go to the voters in June of 2010. Considering that Council must receive a proposed budget in May of each year, for the following fiscal year, waiting for the outcome of the revenue measures is not a workable approach. Public Information Program--Revenue Measures. At this point it may be appropriate to emphasize the importance of a public information program with respect to the revenue measures. If San Leandro voters are given the opportunity to vote on one or both revenue measures it is critical that they have sufficient information on which to base their decision. Consequently, I will be bringing such an item forward for Council's consideration in the upcoming weeks and requesting budget authority. Key Considerations for 2010-11 Budget. In the following section, staff outlines a possible approach to formulating the 2010-11 Budget. At this point, the strategy does not address several other key budget questions. For example, to develop the Reduction Budget (defined later in the report), significant reductions will have to be made achieve the $5.5 million savings. Priorities, criteria and process are key issues that need to be addressed in the upcoming months. Another very important consideration is the implementation timing of any budget reductions. Fiscal year 2009-10 is the first year of a three year "work out" plan to balance the General Fund budget. That is, staff recommended and Council agreed that the General Fund would meet targeted deficits over a three year period with the General Fund balanced in the fourth year. However, the three year approach is impacted by the possibility of new revenue and the Forecast information. Consequently, the Finance Committee may wish to revisit this strategy for the upcoming year. Bud eg t Preparation Strategy for 2010-11 In view of the timing issue noted above, staff is recommending the following approach for preparing the 2010-11 Budget: Prepare a General Fund budget that would be balanced, assuming that neither revenue measure is approved. This would require staff to close an approximately $5.5 million deficit mainly through budget reductions. For reference purposes this budget would be titled the "Reduction Budget" 2. The budget so developed would set out for Council's review both staff reductions and program changes from the current (2009-10) budget. Then, staff would prepare a Supplemental Budget(s) which would list those positions/programs that would be reinstated to the Reduction Budget assuming one or both of the revenue measures pass. For example, one Supplemental Budget would provide reinstatements based on the sales tax measure passing. A second if the LLAD measure passes and a third if both pass.