Council to Vote on $50 Million in Temporary Funding to Deal With Late Budget

Next year's budget is typically presented in May and approved by June 30. But this year, the budget is late and no one quite knows when it will be ready.

On Monday, the City Council will vote on $50 million in temporary appropriations, to pay for the city’s day to day operations while a new budget is developed. City Manager John Brown has said the budget is delayed because of ongoing negotiations between the city and ten bargaining units. These include unions representing police, fire, middle managers and non-public safety city employees.

Brown has said that it simply does not make sense to approve a budget when there are so many unknowns, including what kind of concessions the unions will make. These include salary reductions, higher health insurance contributions, extended furloughs and deferring cost of living adjustments. 

“…effort is being made to reduce the size of the layoff list by evaluating proposals that would create the savings necessary to balance the budget with fewer layoffs, in the event concessions are not obtained from the bargaining units,” wrote Interim Finance Director Susan Mahoney, who took over after former Finance Director Marc Puckett left suddenly in December after being on the job for less than three months.

“Until all this work is completed and certainty regarding salaries and benefits is achieved, an accurate budget cannot be built and presented to the council,” Mahoney wrote.

Meanwhile, former City Council member Bryant Moynihan criticized the delay, saying that passing a resolution to approve temporary appropriations was a violation of the city charter.

"The Petaluma City Council and administration is acting in an unprecedented fiscally irresponsible manner in not reviewing the fy 2011-2012 budget,” said Moynihan, who is a member of the Sonoma County Taxpayers Association, which advocates for accountability and transparency in government. 

“Approving a $50 million appropriations "resolution" is like signing a blank check allowing weak leadership to dither instead of making the tough decisions (about layoffs) which should have been made five years ago," Moynihan said.

Mahoney has said that temporary appropriations are allowed in the city charter. In addition, numeorus council members interviewed for the story all said approving the emergency appropriations was necessary to give the city time to wrap up talks with the unions.

"It is appropriate to give our City Manager as much flexibility as possible to continue to negotiate with the labor groups," said Councilman Mike Harris. "We need a budget that is fiscally sustainable in perpetuity and if negotiations are on-going and in good faith, a temporary appropriation is appropriate in my view."

Councilwoman Tiffany Renee said that the council had adopted temporary funding measures in 2008. "It's not unusual when negotiations are slow," she said.

The City Council meeting starts at 7pm Monday.