City faces drastic budget changes

Burlingame adopted a $40.5 million budget last year and last night directed staff to move forward with a $3.1 million in cuts for next year. Sharing police services and cutting library money in hopes of securing donations frustrated residents. Sharing police services, an item people protested earlier in the evening, seemed premature to those in attendance. Hoping residents will fund maintaining library services offended many residents who gave donations to maintain the facilities and continue to give for special programs.

Drastic changes will be needed to make the budget work, said Councilwoman Ann Kieghran.

Worker pensions and health care costs are growing and addressing that through cuts and shared services will help, she said.

A merger or shared services decision was not on the agenda, and may not work, said City Manager Jim Nantell. However, it should be explored, he said.

Of the 12 employee positions listed for reduction, 3.5 are filled while the rest are vacant, said Nantell. Cutting the filled positions would mean just under $400,000 in savings for the city, about what would be saved if all employees agreed to a salary freeze, he said. Nearly all groups agreed to such a freeze last year. Such conversations are ongoing.

Julio Moran, a tree maintenance worker who is on the reduction list, requested the city work with him and tree maintenance employees to keep people who love the city employed rather than contracting out their positions.

Councilman Michael Brownrigg made a plea for employees to again agree to freezes. In doing so, Brownrigg said the council would be able to save employees that would otherwise lose their positions.

In addition, Brownrigg found it hard to decide what cuts were appropriate and would serve the city long term without a multi-year projection, which he requested be used in the future.

Vice Mayor Terry Nagel requested an analysis of the city’s middle management after numerous comments asserting that the city was heavy in such positions.

Library cuts topped concerns of residents who spoke as library supporters will be asked to pull out their wallets to maintain services. The city is hoping for $70,000 in donations to maintain services at the Easton Branch and hoping the library board and foundation can cover the cost of new books for one year, a $183,000 cost.

Councilwoman Ann Keighran was against relying on donations to keep Easton open, since the community already raised the money to renovate the site. She did, however, support asking for donations specifically for the branch as a benefit now and in the future.

Interim City Librarian Pat Harding explained money from a trust along with $50,000 in donations from the foundation would be used to cover the new book costs. She warned such a solution was short term.

Don Roberts, who serves on the library foundation, called talk of possibly closing the Easton Branch a "slap in the face to those who donated the money at that point in time.”

Resident Jim Cannon wondered how the city expected the foundation to raise an additional $70,000 in such a short period of time.

Resident John Root agreed and added all are supportive of the budget plight of the city.

"People are not going to raise money, as a general rule, to operate things. They want to see special programs,” he said.

Mayor Cathy Baylock was sympathetic to frustrations for the continued reliance on the community to raise funds but also saw no other option.

"We have an immediate need,” she said, adding there will need to be foundations for other city services in the future like tree planting and parks and recreation. "I hate that we have to do that. But I don’t see that there’s anything else that we can do about it.”

Nagel and Baylock also could not support Easton, but were not sure what should be cut instead.

Not setting aside money for an election, since it’s not an election year; reducing the finance and planning department staffs and operating budgets and adding fees for certain services will also benefit the budget.  

Among the larger cuts to the fire department are closing one engine company for 45 days and reducing staffing on fire trucks from 4 to 3. The engine company closure could increase to 100 days, Nantell explained, since the city has historically underbudgeted for overtime. In an effort to budget for overtime correctly, the needed savings from the closure would result in closing the engine company for more days.

Police cuts were overshadowed with talks to start sharing services with San Mateo. Numerous people spoke earlier in the evening against bringing in a San Mateo employee to lead the Burlingame Police Department while that partnership is studied.

A number of costs, particularly long-term benefits for employees, will hit the city next year, said Nantell. Without exploring larger options like shared police services, the city will be in the same position next year searching for solutions.

Nagel brought forward suggestions for raising revenue gathered from residents like charging for audio/visual equipment, renting out city facilities and advertising on the city Web site.

Ticketing those who fail to move their cars during street sweeping is another way for the city to raise revenue, said Keighran. Creating such a system would require an investment by the city in the first year to enforce it and install signs, Nantell explained.

In addition, Keighran suggested researching a parking permit program as another possible revenue source.

Heather Murtagh can be reached by e-mail: heather@smdailyjournal.com or by phone: (650) 344-5200 ext. 105.