The Arroyo Grande City Council unanimously passed a budget for the next fiscal year at its June 28 meeting, bridging a $760,000 budget gap by tapping into reserves and demanding concessions from city employee unions.
The city will use $350,000 of its reserves and $410,000 in employee concessions to deal with rising costs
and flat tax receipts to balance a $23 million budget. In a sign of possible trouble ahead, the city only approved specific budget figures for the 2011-12 fiscal year instead of the usual two-
year budget. City staffers said they weren’t sure how another likely budget deficit would be dealt with for the next fiscal year.
The budget presented to council-
members was missing several chapters. City staffers said the budget as presented was incomplete because of last-minute negotiations with city employee unions.
City workers will have to pay for a larger share of their pensions, though many employees recently received a 4 percent cost of living increase.
This article appears in Jun 30 – Jul 7, 2011.
