Foster City has surplus in budget

The City Council previously decided to spend about half of that surplus money on pension liabilities with the other half going into various city funds dedicated to the maintenance and replacement of city facilities as well as future capital projects, Moneda said.   

For fiscal year 2018-19, the city district is fiscally strong with an expected general fund balance of $43.6 million at the end of June 30, 2019, which is 96% of the next fiscal year’s proposed operating expenditure of $45.4 million, Moneda said. And that’s well above the council’s reserve policy of 33.3% to 50% of operating expenditures, he added.

At a previous meeting, Finance Director Edmund Suen expected this fiscal year to result in a surplus of $300,000 in part because of growth in hotel tax and property tax revenue.   

Beyond this fiscal year, staff is expecting balanced budgets in each of the next five fiscal years with surpluses reaching $1.5 million by June 2020 and ranging between $385,000 and $712,000 in the subsequent four fiscal years.

“So we’re looking good with a balanced budget,” Moneda said. 

Included in this year’s operating and capital budgets is compensation adjustments for city employees, all of whom have agreed to a one-year contract extension of current agreements with a 2% annual wage and benefits increase through fiscal year 2023, Moneda said, adding that the council will formally vote on that arrangement next month.

Moneda is proposing to eliminate one vacant building inspector position and instead rely on consultants to save the city money. 

Based on requests from various department heads, Moneda is also proposing an annual increase to the animal control contract with San Mateo County, the addition of closed captioning services for the council chambers, special events overtime, part-time staff wage increases for Parks and Recreation, an increase in motor officer equipment and larger budget for range fees for the Police Department.

He’s also proposing $40,000 for the San Mateo County Flood and Sea Level Rise Resiliency Agency and an upgrade of a position in the Community Development Department. A senior inspector is being promoted to a principal inspector as part of a succession plan to prepare an employee to become the next building official. 

The council appeared open to all of those proposals except for the increase in the animal control contract. Suen confirmed that the proposed budget hike is from $132,000 a year to $172,000 a year and Mayor Sam Hindi felt that number was high and requested staff bring back data on how often those services are used in the city.

“That’s a pretty significant number so I’d love to see what we get for it,” he said.

There will be a special council meeting May 20 to determine how $60,000 for nonprofits is allocated and the council will consider a final budget at a meeting June 17.   

In other business, the council adopted an ordinance last week requiring those who store guns at home to keep weapons in a locked container or disabled with a trigger lock.

zachary@smdailyjournal.com

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