By Holly Boitano - The City of Sutter Creek is approaching a half a million dollar deficit from the 2007-2008 fiscal year. That was the bad news last Friday in a Sutter Creek City Council Special Meeting, where the city's money woes took center stage. "To summarize our performance last year, I'd say it looks pretty dismal," said Councilman Brent Parsons after looking through the numbers. The City's Financial Advisor, Jeff Gardner, walked the Council through three data sets, including the General, Internal Services and Enterprise Funds. Gardner said the deficit could be summed up starting with a few items in the General Fund. The City realized $255,000 in sales tax revenue for 07-08, about $125,000 less than anticipated. The City is down another $110,000 in revenue from other taxes and permits.
Considerable over-expenditures also occurred in the Police and Planning departments. City Manager and Police Chief Rob Duke said that in order to save money, the City will not replace a police officer who recently left the force. During the ensuing discussion of planning expenses, Planning Commissioner Mike Kirkley entered into a heated round of finger-pointing with some members of the council. Kirkley's assertions included that the council is overzealous with its contracting out for inconsequential services, and dependes too much on anticipated revenue from the Gold Rush Ranch development for upgrades to existing infrastructure. Councilman Parsons, in turn, criticized the Planning Commission's demand for "high cost planning consultants" during the City's General Plan update. To compensate for the deficit, Gardner has trimmed department budgets by 10 to 15 percent, and City personnel will not see an increase in salary this year. In addition, the City plans to increase sewer rates yet again.
On the bright side, some revenue is expected in 2009 from the Sutter Hill annexation and the Crossroads Retail Development. The City will complete its budget review at its regular meeting September 15th.
By Holly Boitano - The City of Sutter Creek is approaching a half a million dollar deficit from the 2007-2008 fiscal year. That was the bad news last Friday in a Sutter Creek City Council Special Meeting, where the city's money woes took center stage. "To summarize our performance last year, I'd say it looks pretty dismal," said Councilman Brent Parsons after looking through the numbers. The City's Financial Advisor, Jeff Gardner, walked the Council through three data sets, including the General, Internal Services and Enterprise Funds. Gardner said the deficit could be summed up starting with a few items in the General Fund. The City realized $255,000 in sales tax revenue for 07-08, about $125,000 less than anticipated. The City is down another $110,000 in revenue from other taxes and permits. 
Considerable over-expenditures also occurred in the Police and Planning departments. City Manager and Police Chief Rob Duke said that in order to save money, the City will not replace a police officer who recently left the force. During the ensuing discussion of planning expenses, Planning Commissioner Mike Kirkley entered into a heated round of finger-pointing with some members of the council. Kirkley's assertions included that the council is overzealous with its contracting out for inconsequential services, and dependes too much on anticipated revenue from the Gold Rush Ranch development for upgrades to existing infrastructure. Councilman Parsons, in turn, criticized the Planning Commission's demand for "high cost planning consultants" during the City's General Plan update. To compensate for the deficit, Gardner has trimmed department budgets by 10 to 15 percent, and City personnel will not see an increase in salary this year. In addition, the City plans to increase sewer rates yet again. 
On the bright side, some revenue is expected in 2009 from the Sutter Hill annexation and the Crossroads Retail Development. The City will complete its budget review at its regular meeting September 15th.
