Over the past several decades the city, residents and businesses have worked together to build a quality community here in Carlsbad. We have high standards, and it shows.
Our challenge today is maintaining the quality of our community in the face of significantly decreased resources. For the city, this means continuing to invest in infrastructure, economic development, neighborhood revitalization, public safety, parks and libraries, those core services that are essential to our quality of life.
I am happy to report that the City of Carlsbad is starting its new fiscal year with a balanced budget that leaves these core services intact, even with less money and fewer staff.
I am often asked about how the recession has affected the city. Overall, the city's ongoing revenues are down $14 million since their peak in 2007. All of the city's top three sources of money have decreased since the start of the recession in 2008.
• Sales tax is down 21 percent.
• Transient occupancy tax is down 19 percent.
• Property tax, the city's largest source of revenue, is projected to decrease by 2 percent since its peak in fiscal year 2008-09 and an additional 2 percent in fiscal year 2010-11.
The next most common question I get is, how are we managing with these significant decreases in revenues? The answer starts with our city employees. Through innovation and a lot of hard work, they have found ways to reduce costs while keeping the focus on the customers we serve.
Careful planning is another part of our approach. The city develops budget projections 10 years into the future. Several years ago, as the city noticed decreases in projected revenues, it began modifying its spending plans.
These reductions started even before the true gravity of the recession became widely known. As part of the budget planning process this year, I looked back at some of those earlier projections. Had we not started to make adjustments to our planned spending when we did, we would be facing multi-million dollar deficits today.
So far, the city has reduced its budget by about $10 million from fiscal year 2008-09 while continuing to absorb increasing operating costs including labor and benefits, water, gas, electricity and all the other things you need to run an organization.
The city is operating with 25 fewer positions since the start of the recession. Staff reductions have been achieved by restructuring some city departments, early retirements and eliminating unfilled positions, rather than layoffs. As a service-oriented organization, personnel costs are a significant portion of our budget.
We are also saving money by investing in technology. For example, the city is switching out all 7,000 city street lights with high-efficiency bulbs that are better for the environment and use less power. Automated water meters will transmit water use data back to the city wirelessly instead of having city staff manually record this information. The city is also working on a plan to generate hydroelectric power by capturing energy used to pump water to Maerkle Reservoir.
Although all of these projects cost money in the beginning, the long term savings more than makes up for the initial investment.
It has not been easy, but careful planning and responsible management have enabled the city to preserve our core programs and services for the public while decreasing spending. For more information about the city budget and to review the city's monthly economic reports, please visit our Web site at www.carlsbadca.gov/finance.
Our challenge today is maintaining the quality of our community in the face of significantly decreased resources. For the city, this means continuing to invest in infrastructure, economic development, neighborhood revitalization, public safety, parks and libraries, those core services that are essential to our quality of life.
I am happy to report that the City of Carlsbad is starting its new fiscal year with a balanced budget that leaves these core services intact, even with less money and fewer staff.
I am often asked about how the recession has affected the city. Overall, the city's ongoing revenues are down $14 million since their peak in 2007. All of the city's top three sources of money have decreased since the start of the recession in 2008.
• Sales tax is down 21 percent.
• Transient occupancy tax is down 19 percent.
• Property tax, the city's largest source of revenue, is projected to decrease by 2 percent since its peak in fiscal year 2008-09 and an additional 2 percent in fiscal year 2010-11.
The next most common question I get is, how are we managing with these significant decreases in revenues? The answer starts with our city employees. Through innovation and a lot of hard work, they have found ways to reduce costs while keeping the focus on the customers we serve.
Careful planning is another part of our approach. The city develops budget projections 10 years into the future. Several years ago, as the city noticed decreases in projected revenues, it began modifying its spending plans.
These reductions started even before the true gravity of the recession became widely known. As part of the budget planning process this year, I looked back at some of those earlier projections. Had we not started to make adjustments to our planned spending when we did, we would be facing multi-million dollar deficits today.
So far, the city has reduced its budget by about $10 million from fiscal year 2008-09 while continuing to absorb increasing operating costs including labor and benefits, water, gas, electricity and all the other things you need to run an organization.
The city is operating with 25 fewer positions since the start of the recession. Staff reductions have been achieved by restructuring some city departments, early retirements and eliminating unfilled positions, rather than layoffs. As a service-oriented organization, personnel costs are a significant portion of our budget.
We are also saving money by investing in technology. For example, the city is switching out all 7,000 city street lights with high-efficiency bulbs that are better for the environment and use less power. Automated water meters will transmit water use data back to the city wirelessly instead of having city staff manually record this information. The city is also working on a plan to generate hydroelectric power by capturing energy used to pump water to Maerkle Reservoir.
Although all of these projects cost money in the beginning, the long term savings more than makes up for the initial investment.
It has not been easy, but careful planning and responsible management have enabled the city to preserve our core programs and services for the public while decreasing spending. For more information about the city budget and to review the city's monthly economic reports, please visit our Web site at www.carlsbadca.gov/finance.