Preliminary plans call for reduction of 60 positions to help eliminate $7.6 million shortfall
Now it’s up to the Culver City City Council to decide what exactly it wants to do with the proposed 2010-2011 fiscal year budget, the document having been officially delivered during the body’s most recent meeting Monday, May 17.
With the 200-plus page document in hand, the five-man council has the remainder of this week to get up close and personal with the interim city manager’s recommendations before beginning to break down the numbers at the next council meeting, scheduled to take place at 7 p.m. Monday, May 24.
“Everyone is now aware of what’s being proposed in this fiscal year budget,” said Ewell, who also instructed his office to send out a letter explaining the process to everyone on the city payroll.
The reason for that move is simple — Ewell wants complete transparency throughout budget discussions, especially given that his primary proposal for taking care of a projected $7.6 million -shortfall going into the next fiscal year is the elimination of 60 positions.
The bright side to that number, if there is one, comes in the fact that 30 of those positions are currently vacant, and another 14 are being eliminated through the early retirement incentive first proposed by former city manager Mark Scott earlier this year.
That leaves 16 positions currently filled by city staff on the potential chopping block. Ewell is open to the idea of offering a third round of the retirement incentive so that the number of actual layoffs, should they be approved by council, comes in lower.
“The economy continues to sag. We’re just having to adjust to the reality of less revenue setting in,” Ewell said.
And perhaps the most unfortunate part of that reality is the fact that the most efficient way to balance the books is by eliminating staff.
“It will go a long way in helping to reduce the current-year deficit,” said Ewell, whose plan actually calls for gaining approximately $5.3 million of ground in 2010-2011, and making up the remaining $2.3 million in 2011-2012. “Over 80% of expenses are in employee salaries. The only place you can go is reducing the number of employees that you have on the payroll.”
As promised, Ewell did not target any one city department with deep cuts, but instead has proposed a broad-based approach. The departments scheduled to take the biggest hits are public works (20 positions spread between the general fund and the non-general fund), police (10 positions), and parks, recreation and community services (eight positions).
Ewell will make his formal budget presentation to the council this Monday, with the city’s police and fire departments also scheduled to address the council regarding their individual department budgets. The remaining city departments will go before the council beginning June 7, followed by a public hearing June 14 — which is also the night Ewell will recommend council to take action and approve the budget.
From there, the budget will be put into effect July 1.
Culver City Mayor Christoper Armenta admitted he has not had time to delve too deeply into Ewell’s proposal thus far, but said he is looking forward to drawing on his background as an auditor to find the right combination of cuts and revenue--generating moves that will put the city back on solid financial footing.
“We’ll be discussing that on May 24, the idea that you should be looking at both ends — trying to find ways to make money for the city, but at the same time making necessary cuts,” Armenta said.
He also stressed the need to ensure those cuts do not hit too close to home for Culver City residents.
“We need to make sure the residents in the community feel no difference in the quality of the services that they’re provided,” Armenta said. “The impact should be zero to the community in how they see it.”
For an in-depth look at the budget proposal, log on at www.culvercity.org/government/finance and click on the “Budget Books” link on menu on the left side of the page.
