Renee Casts Sole Nay on City Budget in Lengthy Meeting

At the end of the Petaluma City Council meeting that lasted almost five hours, the final result was a somewhat leaner city budget that trimmed about 5 percent from the general fund in a $32.5 million spending plan.

According to an article in the Press Democrat, councilmembers engaged in lengthy discussion on almost all aspects of the budget, asking each city department to cut from their budgets to save $1.5 million.

Vice Mayor Tiffany Renee was the only councilmember to cast a vote against the spending plan, on a motion at about 11:10 p.m. by Councilman Mike Healy to adopt the FY 2012-2013 general fund budget.

"I continue to be frustrated by the cuts we've had to make in services,” she said. “We sort of have danced around the fact that we keep hoping it's going to change for the better. But we have not really discussed the solution for improving the situation in the future.”

Earlier, she had proposed putting a sales-tax hike on the November ballot, though Mayor Glass pointed out that any tax hike if approved would not take effect until next year and have no impact on current financial straits.

"I would like to have a discussion with the community aobu tthe revenue augmentation and what services it might restore," said Mayor Glass, "but not tonight."

A video record of the entire meeting is available on the City of Petaluma website at this link.

The council also agreed in principle to to a new non-profit, the Petaluma Animal Services Foundation. Current Animal Services Manager for the city, Jeff Charter, would transition to the new foundation as Executive Director. A suggestion that he also serve on the PASF board for a one-year term was withdrawn following skepticism from council members of the conflict between an executive director and board member.

Last night's discussion did not end in a formal adaptation of the new budget, which is expected to come at the next City Council regular meeting on June 4.