Each year, the City of San José must develop a budget plan that addresses the needs of the City’s diverse communities, reflects shared priorities, and continues to move the City forward. The City of San José continues to face significant and enduring fiscal challenges and will need to make up an $85 million shortfall to balance the budget for the fiscal year beginning in July. Unfortunately, after 7 years of budget cuts, the City is now facing employee layoffs and service cuts in order to balance the budget. In addition, the effects of the State Budget crisis will likely further impact the City’s deficit.
Collaboration opens opportunities for thinking outside the box and being creative in addressing issues and problems. Instead of focusing on neighborhood specific budget recommendations, I worked collaboratively with Councilmembers Campos, Kalra, Nguyen, and Pyle and took an uncommon step of offering a broad, multi-issue Budget Document to the Mayor for preserving essential city services. Council Members had a deadline to submit their budget recommendations to the Mayor on Thursday, May 21, 2009.
The Proposed FY 2009-2010 Operating Budget included a large number of service reductions with serious impacts on the well-being of our residents. Responding to the enormity of those impacts required attention to numerous reinstatement recommendations, including:
- Park Ranger Program
- Branch Library Hours
- Library Systems-Wide Support Staffing
- Traffic Calming Program
- Crime Prevention Staffing
- Police Patrol Unit Staffing
- Police Records Staffing
- Police Traffic Enforcement Unit Staffing
- Police Horse Mounted Unit Staffing
- Satellite and Neighborhood Community Centers
- General Code Enforcement Program
In addition, I joined Councilmembers Campos in submitting Budget Documents to maintain operations and services at Fire Stations 30 and 33, to create a new revenue generating fund to support core city services, and preserving fire department service eliminations. To view the list of all budget documents that I submitted, please visit the following links:
On Friday, June 5, 2009, the Mayor released his June Budget Message, which will incorporate the recommendations from the City Council and proposes a balanced budget for the next year. The final public hearing on the proposed operating and capital budget will take place on Monday, June 15, 2009 at 7:00 p.m. in the Council Chambers. The City Council is expected to review and adopt the Mayor’s June Budget Message on Tuesday, June 16, 2009 and to adopt the FY 2009-2010 Budget on Tuesday, June 23, 2009.
I appreciate hearing your thoughts, concerns, and priorities over the past few months as the City Council moves forward in preparing the FY 2009-2010 budget. Your feedback has given me valuable insight during the budget process as I work with my colleagues on the City Council.
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 Tuesday,
May 19, 2009
Today, City Council approved a Water Conservation Ordinance
in San José and I want to share with you details of
this ordinance so that you too, can play a crucial role in
conserving water.
In the Ordinance that was approved today, the San José
City Council adopted a resolution declaring a water shortage
of 15% for the City of San José, which means that the
City will adopt a policy to strengthen the City's water waste
prevention and water shortage measures. The City of San José
will also establish a water budget program for Municipal Water
System customers located in the System's Edenvale, Evergreen
and Coyote service area.
This is in response to the Governor's declaration of a state
of emergency in February 2009, due to the drought and issued
a proclamation that directs agencies to implement a drought
emergency plan and provide assistance to those impacted by
the drought.
As we begin to enter the warmer months and expected increase
in water usage, I want to encourage you to think of ways you
can conserve water this year to play your part in water conservation.
To learn more about how you can conserve
water, please visit http://www.sanjoseca.gov/esd/water-conservation/default.asp
and http://www.valleywater.org/conservation/
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