Amador County – Adoption of a 2009/2010 budget was the sole topic of conversation at Monday’s Jackson City Council meeting. City Manager Mike Daly laid out the specifics of three budget-related resolutions, a Resolution for Retiree Medical, approval of an SEIU Memorandum of Understanding and approval of a Jackson Police Officers Association Memorandum of Understanding. “Because of these dramatic declines and the likelihood that we’ll not see recovery anytime soon…council during last workshop set strong precedent to come up with a balanced budget for this year,” said Daly. Since before the mid-year budget review in February, City Council and staff have focused on “the prevailing issue facing most government’s this year;” balancing the General Fund Budget. Jackson’s General Fund revenues have plummeted with changes in the local and national economy. Daly cited the volatility of sales tax and decline in the housing market as “a double whammy on the City’s revenues, down over 20 percent in just the past two years, with another decline of 7 percent predicted for this coming fiscal year.” General Fund revenues have declined from $4.34 million in Fiscal Year 2006/07 to a projected $3.172 million in Fiscal Year 2009-10. The General Fund deficit has now grown to over $560,000. Most of Daly’s presentation outlined the creative yet sometimes dire steps taken to balance the budget. The city successfully qualified for federal COPS funding made available through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act that will fund one police officer position for three years. However, the City is still waiting for final approval of this grant. Five city staff positions have been either eliminated or frozen in the past two years. SEIU Local 1021 management and employees agreed to a zero cost of living increase, a freeze in merit based step increases, a cap on insurance benefits and two unpaid furlough days per month, equating to a 9.23 percent salary reduction. Full-time employees of the City were asked to change their benefits structure to help fund the PERS retirement benefit paid by the city. The city is also considering two proposals: reducing retiree medical insurance payments from $350 to $175 per month in order to save $23,100 in General Fund costs; and reducing the city’s typical yearly contribution to the Amador County Recreation Agency from $21,575 to $11,575- a savings of $10,000. Daly closed his recap of these and other cost-saving measures by saying, “there’s a good possibility we might be back (to discuss this) again very soon.” Councilmember Pat Crew said he was thankful the city had a reserve, but told the council that Daly’s presentation was a “rosy view of the situation.” Councilmember Keith Sweet asked Daly and staff to take another look at costs related to the city swimming pool and “anything we can do to generate additional savings.” The council approved all facets of the adoption of the Jackson budget, with exceptions to the Resolution for Retiree Medical after protest from some audience members. Vice-Mayor Wayne Garibaldi reminded the council that “the solution is not cuts or where we make cuts. The solution is getting the revenues up.” Story by Alex Lane This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.