Progress report issued to Community Budget Working Group
Added March 17th, 2009
A two-part progress report divided into proposals for the San Jose city budget that respond to the current recession and ongoing budget issues was reviewed Monday to the Community Budget Working Group.
Supported by the South Bay AFL-CIO Labor Council and convened by Working Partnerships USA (WPUSA), the Group is crafting a set of proposals for the city budget reflecting community values and priorities and aimed at the reported $65 million deficit.
Bob Brownstein, a former city budget director and now WPUSA’s policy and research director, told the meeting at the Joyce Ellington Branch Library and others following the meeting online at www.mybudgetidea.com that the Group’s work had produced $8 million to $10 million in budget savings so far and cautioned that service cuts are inevitable in the current financial climate.
His progress report, based on the results of the Group’s first meeting last month identified eight budget areas for implementation during the recession. Fundamental to all of them, Brownstein said, was the priority that the city base its recession response on measures that will increase general fund revenues. They included ways in which San Jose’s Redevelopment Agency can pay into the city’s general fund for services or take actions on its own, such street reconstruction, that will relieve the city budget of that burden. The report also recommends using one-time revenues to preserve high-value public services during the recession.
Ongoing budget proposals were grouped into 10 proposals such as improving the efficiency of the city’s vehicle fleet, increasing city costs to users of a disproportionate share of city services such as policing in the downtown entertainment zone, marketing bonds directly to city residents and increasing fines for violations of city ordinances.
Please join the group in the next step of the budget process Tuesday, March 24, when the City Council takes up the budget message, and continue to follow the progress of the debate here.
Brownstein will be teaching two courses to help citizens understand city budgets sponsored by the UC Berkeley Labor Center and WPUSA. The 9 a.m.-4 p.m. classes will be offered Thursday, April 2 at WPUSA's offices, 2102 Almaden Road, Suite 107 in San Jose or Tuesday, April 7 at the UC Berkeley Labor Center, 2521 Channing Way, Berkeley. Either class is $200 and you may register online here.
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