CC 2019-02-26_11a Supplemental No. 1_R
MEMORANDUM
TO: CITY COUNCIL
FROM: JAMES A. BERGMAN, CITY MANAGER
SUBJECT: SUPPLEMENTAL INFORMATION
AGENDA ITEM 11.a. – FEBRUARY 26, 2019 CITY COUNCIL MEETING
CONSIDERATION OF FISCAL YEAR 2018-19 MID-YEAR BUDGET
REPORT
DATE: FEBRUARY 26, 2019
Attached is correspondence received regarding the above referenced item.
cc: City Attorney
City Clerk
FCFA Fire Chief
Public Review Binder
From: ROBERT OLSON < >
Date: February 25, 2019 at 9:14:29 PM PST
To: Jim Bergman <jbergman@arroyogrande.org>, Russom Caren Ray
<crayrussom@arroyogrande.org>, <lgeorge@arroyogrande.org>, Kristen
Barneich <kbarneich@arroyogrande.org>, <jpaulding@arroyogrande.org>,
<kstorton@arroyogrande.org>
Subject: Budget "Adjustments"
Dear Mayor, City Manager and City Council Members,
In reviewing the agenda for your meeting this Tuesday night, I noticed something
that came up last year about this time and that I spoke to during public comment.
It has to do with the city staff's request for several budget adjustments for the
balance of the fiscal year.
As with last year, the term "adjustment" isn't a very good descriptor of what is
being requested. Adjustments, at least in my world, can be up or down. In this
particular case, all of the adjustment requests are for more money - just as they
were last year. There are none asking for less. Perhaps a better description for
this exercise would be "mid-year budget increases."
Semantics aside, I don't believe good budgeting review practice includes only
considering the categories where more money is needed and ignoring those where
less money will be necessary. In a budget as complex as Arroyo Grande's, it is
100% certain that, at this point in the year, there are spending categories that are
running under budget and that the city's directors are virtually certain will end the
year that way. These must be included in tomorrow night's budget review and
balanced against the requests for additional funds. To ignore them is to give our
residents only part of the story. We deserve to know both sides of the spending
equation.
Sincerely,
Robert Olson