Surprise, AZ News blog

Surprise City Manager clarifies media budget report

SURPRISE, AZ (March 4, 2009) Today, there may be some misunderstanding in our community about the state of our budget due to a media message. The Mayor, City Council and I have been informing residents quickly and accurately about our budget processes in these difficult times, so I want to move promptly to address today’s situation.

The city is not in a position where we “look for” or “may face” $6.8 million in budget cuts. Instead, the city council has already acted to reduce the FY2009 budget by $6.8 million (to be precise, $6,802,100). Those reductions include the elimination of 32 city positions. We project these actions will produce a surplus of $546,200 at the end of this fiscal year.

As we plan for FY2010, the $6,802,100 in reductions made this year will be maintained so that the savings will also be realized in FY2010.

As I explained in my February 12 presentation to the City Council, our anticipated shortfall in FY2010 is $11,572,000. When you deduct the $6,802,100 in already-identified reductions, we have a projected shortfall of $4,769,900.

My recommendations of February 12, which were subsequently adopted by the Mayor and Council, address this shortfall. We project a balance at the end of FY2010 of $65,200 based on a status quo budget (i.e., FY2009 adjusted). You can view my presentation to council here. At this time, a formal FY2010 budget is being prepared for consideration by the council.

The biggest threat cities across the state see to our budgets is possible state action reducing shared revenue with the cities. If that occurs, further cuts will be necessary.

Thank you. You can be sure I will continue to communicate with you promptly and accurately about developments with our budget.

Charles R. Oliver, CPA, PE
City Manager

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