Editor's note: The second part of this two-part overview will appear in Your Space on Aug. 7.
As the nationwide economic slowdown continues and the city of Roseville starts a new fiscal year, we've made adjustments in plans and spending. We're balancing how we adapt to the ever-changing dynamics of the economy and its effect on our community, with a continued emphasis on maintaining our quality of life.
Strong council leadership combined with a proactive city staff enable us to deliver a budget that combines excellent levels of service with thoughtful reductions in expenditures.
Making wise compromises
In this fiscal year, general fund operating expenses dropped 2.4 percent – from $132.2 million in fiscal year 2007-08 to $129 million in fiscal year 2008-09. These are the dollars the City Council allocates to run all of our public safety, parks and recreation, library, development departments and general administrative services.
To tackle budget challenges, we have defunded 43.5 full-time positions to date, achieved a 10 percent reduction in costs of materials and supplies, and reduced travel and training budgets and use of consultants.
We also have eliminated some temporary staffing positions and consolidated workloads among employees. Thankfully, we still have a projected $10.8 million reserve at the end of the fiscal year, a product of decades of conservative fiscal management.
However, if current economic conditions – namely, the impacts of the housing slowdown, the decreases in sales and property tax revenue, rising fuel costs and the effect of the state's budget crisis on cities – do not improve during the budget year, more cuts will be necessary. Monitoring tax revenues
Although retail sales growth has slowed, it still remains strong. The city's total retail sales in 2007 were estimated at $3.6 billion, placing the Roseville 11th in the state. Based on the opening of Fountains and the Galleria's expansion, we hope to hold steady on sales tax revenue during this fiscal year.
Roseville's property tax revenues are increasing but at a much slower pace because of reassessments and the slow housing market. This year, we project an increase of less than $200,000 in local property tax revenues.
Protecting public safety
Despite the challenges, one of our key goals – a safe and healthy community – is still at the forefront. Our current level of 1.2 law enforcement officers per thousand residents is a ratio that this budget allows us to maintain.
We're pleased to report that police data show robberies and motor vehicle thefts both declined by more than 25 percent last year. Although we've grown significantly in the past decade and our daily daytime population swells by 40,000 with workers, shoppers and recreation enthusiasts, our 2007 crime rates were 28 percent lower per-capita than those of 1995.
Good traffic engineering combined with effective police enforcement keep people moving safely. From 2004 to 2007, while our population grew by 10 percent, total collisions declined by 7 percent.
The unprecedented number of wildfires this year leaves no doubt how critical our Fire Department is to public safety. This budget allows us to continue our response-time reliability and further improves our depth in rescue capabilities.
Celebrating our centennial
As we approach our city's centennial in 2009, our goal is to keep Roseville on course for another 100 successful years. We are enjoying strong corporate and community support to fund our centennial celebrations through a community-based, grass-roots effort, which kicks off with a float entry in the 2009 Rose Parade in Pasadena.
The next big event is Tuesday, when a delegation from the Tournament of Roses will join us for the mayor's State of the City address at 2 p.m. at the Roseville Theater, 241 Vernon St., followed by the unveiling of our float design. The public is invited to the address and to events before and after. We want everyone to share in the excitement of our centennial, so visit www.roseville.ca.us/ 100 to keep up with the latest events.
In the second half of this overview, I'll highlight some of the projects under way around Roseville, what's on the horizon and how projects are funded. Distinguishing funding sources is important because that determines whether projects can continue in tougher economic conditions.
W. Craig Robinson has served as Roseville's city manager since 2003.
