Last week's budget revisions by the Hollister City Council were simply a case of survival; the city's back was against the wall. In the words of City Manager Clint Quilter, the city was just trying to buy some time and they probably did. They are doing it in three ways; finally backpedaling on their poor compensation decisions, transferring money from Measure T tax receipts and raiding the redevelopment agency using questionable accounting practices.
Government accounting practices are like their low-income housing programs, they do not have to work - they just have to look good on paper. This emergency shuffle is something the City Council and staff is very good at. They should be since they have had plenty of practice. In a candid moment, Quilter told the council that the term "balanced budget" was merely accountant-speak that had little to do with the city's actual financial condition. In other words, Hollister is hemorrhaging red ink.
The General Fund's lifeboats this time around are a partial reversal of excessive pay raises that should never have been implemented, the transfer of $1.6 million of Measure T collections and the snatch of $1.2 million in RDA funds from the sale of the old Fremont School site to the county. Now, if they could only figure out how to get back the hundreds of thousands of dollars from the T-shirt fiasco, we'd be all set.
The critical question is, will the city government learn anything from the mistakes that repeatedly back them into a corner. Politicians seem have a universal rule, they do not like to dwell on their errors, but in this case, more than a little error dwelling is in order.
Even with these extraordinary measures, the city's General Fund balance is projected to take a Titanic-like trajectory in the future - from today's paltry $3 million to $1.9 million next fiscal year and ending at $767,000 in fiscal year 2011-2012. Going, going, gone. Naturally, the city is hoping something will come along, but to quote New York's well-known former Mayor, Rudy Giuliani, "hope is not a strategy." The city may be able to muddle through, but no political entity ever muddled its way into prosperity.
The city is reasonably generous, as it should be, with the charities and non-profits that do such critical work, especially in tough times. However, it cannot give what it does not have. Therefore, the council decided to cut the city's contributions to non-profits by 5 percent across the board to match the reductions they are asking of city employees, but what will happen when they cannot provide even that level of support?
If you discuss this situation with your councilmember, and you should, they will certainly blame the economy, but I encourage you to look past that. There are always outside influences moving the general curve in one direction or the other, but what did the city do to prepare for problems of this sort and what are we doing to counteract them except launching the lifeboats. Will we be prepared to move, immediately, when an opportunity arises? More important, are we going out, finding the rare opportunities that do exist, and dragging them in. If we don't do it, someone else surely will; this is as true now as it was in Roman times.
"Luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity" - Seneca, Roman philosopher, 5 BC-65 AD.
Marty Richman is a Hollister resident. Reach him at cwo4mgr@yahoo.com.
Marty Richman Got a question or a comment? Send us an email.
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