The plan is to spend $400,000 (instead of $1 million) on the library after August 15, by contracting with a third party, municipal or private, to begin near August 16, 2012. This $400,000 would come from a swap of gas tax funds for general funds, and this means that funds that would have gone for sidewalk repair and replacement just got deferred (since the gas tax only pays for two thirds of the cost of maintaining public streets).
Also included are various items that could still be cut (such as senior meals, code enforcement reduction, after school programs, crossing guards), revenue sources (selling city property, billboards, trash transfer station fees, selling future cell phone tower revenue, and tax increases), and a discussion on the fire consolidation. Very little time is spent on the revenue projection, other than it is low - no other contingencies appear to have been made for other shoes to drop such as the local property transfer tax and hotel tax failing.
More details on the library after the jump.
From the document (after I ran it through an OCR program since this was just scanned in without text recognition):
Librarv - The
Library contract proposed on March 19, 2012, would have saved approximately
$160,000 and added additional hours to library operations, However, with the revenue losses
described above, the previous outsourcing proposal is no longer an option and a different
restructuring model is now recommended. The budget report prepared for the June 18'h City
Council meeting included a proposal for the complete, but temporary, closure of file Library
which, based on a August l5th closure date, would have saved nearly $1 million with the loss of
11.0 benefited positions (16 current employees) and multiple part-time hourly positions. There
was an additional $19,000 in savings estimated in Public Works for reduction in custodial
services currently provided to the Library, Minimal operational costs for the Library such as
utilities and security services remained in the proposed budget. As of this writing, the proposal
is to contract with a third party, municipal or private, at a reduced service level for 2012-13 to
begin on or near August l6th, 2012. An appropriation of $400,000 has been placed within the
$160,000 and added additional hours to library operations, However, with the revenue losses
described above, the previous outsourcing proposal is no longer an option and a different
restructuring model is now recommended. The budget report prepared for the June 18'h City
Council meeting included a proposal for the complete, but temporary, closure of file Library
which, based on a August l5th closure date, would have saved nearly $1 million with the loss of
11.0 benefited positions (16 current employees) and multiple part-time hourly positions. There
was an additional $19,000 in savings estimated in Public Works for reduction in custodial
services currently provided to the Library, Minimal operational costs for the Library such as
utilities and security services remained in the proposed budget. As of this writing, the proposal
is to contract with a third party, municipal or private, at a reduced service level for 2012-13 to
begin on or near August l6th, 2012. An appropriation of $400,000 has been placed within the
proposed budget to fund the restructured
Library. Ancillary operations such as Cultural Arts
Commission meeting expense has been moved to General Services and passport operations has
been moved to Human Resources. Overall, the estimated savings are approximately $500,000.
Commission meeting expense has been moved to General Services and passport operations has
been moved to Human Resources. Overall, the estimated savings are approximately $500,000.
The $400,000 in recommended funding comes
from the additional use of Gas Tax funds to cover
the remaining operational costs related to street maintenance, traffic paint and sign, traffic
signals and street lights, and a larger portion of street tree maintenance. The additional use of
Gas Tax for these costs frees General Fund monies for other services such as the Library. The
available balance in the Gas Tax fund is estimated at $850,000 before using the proposed
$400,000 and was to be used for a future proposal to the City Council for the development and
implementation of a sidewalk repair and replacement program.
the remaining operational costs related to street maintenance, traffic paint and sign, traffic
signals and street lights, and a larger portion of street tree maintenance. The additional use of
Gas Tax for these costs frees General Fund monies for other services such as the Library. The
available balance in the Gas Tax fund is estimated at $850,000 before using the proposed
$400,000 and was to be used for a future proposal to the City Council for the development and
implementation of a sidewalk repair and replacement program.
6 comments:
While I am relieved to hear of a possible solution regarding the library, I get nervous about the idea of private funding for a public library. The two don't go hand-in-hand very well in my book, although it beats closing the library altogether. If any private funding ends up coming through to save the library, I hope it is a stop-gap measure only. Thank you, by the way, for keeping us all informed on the goings-on about Pomona!
Makes me wonder if all this was a ploy to get the library out-sourced like they wanted to earlier. They couldn't do it before with out public outrage. Here it is again. Coincidence? Probably not.
Didn't the Pomona City Council recently authorize $39,000. of City funds to go to the Day Labor Project?
To be exact, $37,000. $75,000 was proposed for next fiscal year, now cut back to $50,000.
Ask yourself this or check the record Pomona voters before you go vote:
* Members of the city council knew library was on the chopping block since mid-yr budget reports were submitted in Dec,2011
* The mayor and the other council who are financed by fire were willing to go fwd for the last 6 months with this idea until the public became aware
* once TASK FORCE created how many meetings did your current mayor show up to? what about the others who are running for reelection? they didn't even show up
* why isn't the council who receives fire money removing themselves from this vote?
and last but not least, why is 6 mgmt positions in the revised budget getting raises when the entire city staff has foregone raises for the last 5 yrs to save services and jobs for the residents...the report says 5% or 10%...total equals $100k in this next fiscal year in increases alone. One increase is almost $38K and the tell the reports, how did we get here?
While the mayor, nor most of the council showed up at the taskforce meeting, Paula Lantz and Cristina Carrisosa were there. The meeting was fairly last minute, and while I don't know their schedules, I do know that councilmembers Soto and Rodriguez have full-time jobs so a 10 am meeting might have been difficult for them, it would be interesting to see their responses.
The next taskforce meeting is on Monday at 10:00 am in the library for those who are interested in attending. BRING IDEAS.
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