Budgeting for results
Last night, the City Council unanimously approved next year's budget. It marks the success of our three year plan to balance the budget. The chronic gap between revenue and spending obligations has been eliminated. More significantly, new revenue has gone to the four priorities identified by the City Council in 2005:
Increase Police and Fire staffing to make Ventura safer by improving emergency response times
Invest in our capital infrastructure, including repairing our streets, water mains, sewer lines and other public facilities
Maintain our parks and public landscaping to keep Ventura green and clean
Restore competitive compensation for city staff so we can continue to retain and attract outstanding performers to do the vital jobs in public service
The new budget plan makes real progress on all four key priorities. It adds six Police officers. Four will be added to Patrol, two to gang violence suppression. It adds a new 3 person Fire crew to be deployed during the hours when we have the highest calls for service.
It continues additional funds for street and alley repair and for repairs to the Promenade along the beach. It provides maintenance funding for the new Montalvo Park added as part of a new housing development nearing completion. It provides adjustments to bring city staff closer to average pay among competing public and private employers.
It also specifically puts new emphasis on economic development. If we are to sustain the progress we are making, we must retain and attract the high quality jobs and business that are essential to our standard of living and supporting the quality of life that Venturans cherish. We will be focusing on strengthing our Auto Center, continuing the revitalization of Downtown, rebuilding the north end of the Pacific View Mall and bringing new clean industry and offices to the Westside and 101 corridors.
For more on the budget, see the summary at:
http://www.cityofventura.net/enews/smartgrowth/issue3.asp
This morning's Star also carries a summary of last night's City Council hearing and final budget adjustments:
http://www.venturacountystar.com/news/2007/jun/19/ventura-approves-94-million-budget/
posted by Rick Cole at
8:37 AM
2 Comments:
Economic development I wished to see a little bit higher than 9 cents a day. We need to work on creating more tax revenue so we do not have this funding proublem any more.Our City's prime function should be finding high paying jobs to bring into this city so we can attract new quality residents who would love to live here but cannot find a job locally and stay in Los Angeles or other metro areas becuase of the high quality of jobs. I have lawerys and bio chemestry freinds who grew up here but live in Santa Monica to be close to the high paying jobs.If we recruit such businesses here it will be a snow ball effect. Higher paying jobs equals less crime, more tax dollars to revitalize and preserve the city we all love.
If the raises are to restore competitive compensation, to attract people to do the jobs that they are hired for, why then does the city spend hundreds of thousands of dollars every year on so called consultants? Doesn't the Gang in the Ivory Tower trust their own highly paid employees?
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