Budget Decisions Return to City Council Tuesday

Elected officials once again will focus on where to chop from the city budget Tuesday, as the city council continues its ongoing fiscal deliberations. The council is holding a special meeting after two similar sessions that stretched into the late hours earlier this month.

City staff have been negotiating on labor concessions, and the council already has decided to put senior and recreation services on life support, requiring them to be self-supporting. A proposed $10.7 million general fund budget for fiscal year 2011-12 represents a cut from about $14.5 million in 2009-10. The plan includes closing one of the city's two fire stations and assumes that there will be about $560,000 saved from labor negotiations with city workers.

With static or declining revenue from property and sales taxes, and the threat that the state legislature will seize more revenue from the city's redevelopment agency, the city recently turned to employee layoffs and offers of early retirement to cull expenses. City Manager Belinda Espinosa, Assistant City Manager Michelle Fitzer and City Clerk Patricia Athenour to a 16 percent cut in compensation for next fiscal year.

Tuesday's meeting will follow a 5:30 p.m. closed session involving further negotiations on labor concessions. The meeting will be held in City Council Chambers, 2131 Pear St. It will be telecast live on Pinole TV Channel 26 and streamed live on the city's website.