Amador County – Ione City Council took input from various city departments Wednesday, less than a week after hearing the General Fund budget was $500,000 short.
Building Inspector Don Mishrall suggested renting out the horse arena, and selling the city’s three corporate yards that are collecting dust. He said the city should also try to get a volunteer program or Amador County Recreation Agency to run the swimming pool. He said the city loses money every year running the pool, which they don’t even own. Amador County Unified School District owns the pool.
City Manager Jeff Butzlaff said he has experience with pools and “the only way to make money is to privatize it for swim lessons.” Mayor David Plank said the cost of maintenance is what makes the pool lose money.
Mishrall said a representative of the city should talk to Amador Water Agency about reimbursements for the water it uses for irrigation. He said three of four city parks are watered at residential rates paid to AWA. He said the city also pays for the “Christmas lights” downtown.
Mishrall said: “I’ve been furloughed out for the last year,” and the city is “just trying to get away from the evil that was.”
City Clerk Janice Traverso said it was a sad situation, and she and others alluded to 2009 concessions they brokered with the former city manager. Traverso lost two employees, and they still face this issue, losing more employees, hours and pay.
Ione Police Chief Michael L. Johnson offered up the K9 program as one of several options for cuts, all totaling $260,000. Councilman Daniel Epperson asked if people could donate a bag of dog food to help keep the program.
Johnson said “of course,” adding that “it’s going to take the community pitching in to make this all work.” His options included two-and-a-half personnel layoffs. He said he was not asking for all of these cuts, but just giving the council options. Butzlaff said Thursday that staff proposals got the city half-way to where it needed to be in the budget.
Story by Jim Reece This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
