The City Council held two public workshops on the budget last month before bringing the budget to the Sept. 13 council meeting for final approval.
City Administrator Dale Neiman reported that the city faces significant budget challenges. "We have a very serious problem with the general fund this year."
When work on the spending plan began, Neiman said the city was nowhere close to balancing the budget. They began with a deficit of more than $1 million, but have since narrowed it to a "manageable" $105,000, with the city department heads working to reduce operational spending.
The city's budget this year is $11,452,187; the Redevelopment Agency has a $9,195,253 budget, according to city documents.
In order to address the budget shortfalls, the city made staff reductions, which included cutting four police officer positions and one street maintenance position. In addition, Neiman will take on the role of Community Development director in addition to his city administrator duties in order to save money.
Neiman said he originally proposed freezing salary steps for city employees, but changed his mind, saying that the city has made substantial progress in addressing spending issues. He told the council that in January they need to take a close look at the budget to make sure the city stays on track financially.
Clearlake resident Alice Reece criticized the city for holding only two budget workshops that she said weren't at good times for the public.
She also objected to the use of $100,000 in redevelopment funds for abatement, to which Neiman replied that redevelopment is used for getting rid of blight.
Reece and Neiman also argued the merit of the city selling 61 vacant lots to the Redevelopment Agency for an affordable housing program. She said the city is assuming the lots are buildable when she said that the 20 she has looked at are not.
"I think your ideas are really great in a perfect situation," she said.
Returning to the issue of blight and abatement, Reece said the state definition of blight is too ambiguous and is up to the agency's discretion. "Our community has been so shut out on anything to do with redevelopment."
Mayor Judy Thein responded that the council had made efforts to schedule the budget hearings at different times of the day in order to make them more convenient for the public.
Neiman added that the budget had been ready for public review for three weeks and that city staff is available to answer questions.
Vice Mayor Curt Giambruno said that the budget sessions once were not public, and for the last two years the council has worked to foster public participation, although few people attended the sessions. Adding more hearings, he said, didn't seem like a good time investment. "We can't spend our life in public hearings."
He also asked Reece why she didn't voice her concerns about the budget workshop times when they were announced during an August council meeting.
Supervisor Jeff Smith followed Reece to the podium, stating he believes the city is moving in a good direction, with the $100,000 in abatement a good investment.
In order to address community members' concerns about redevelopment, he suggested having a workshop on it.
He added that the county has a much larger budget than Clearlake's, yet they held only two budget sessions. Few people came to those sessions as well, he said; Smith added that he interprets that as people being satisfied with what the county is doing.
Smith said he disagreed with a comment made earlier in the meeting by Councilman Roy Simons about using redevelopment funds for a street repair project on Olympic Drive.
Simons has said in several past meetings that the city should not use redevelopment money for street repairs, although this spring he voted for the Olympic Drive project's engineering study to be funded with redevelopment money.
"You're just suggesting we throw out the rules and do it our way?" Simons asked Smith, referring to disparate interpretations of redevelopment rules.
Councilman Chuck Leonard said he didn't interpret Smith's remarks that way, and suggested that Simons needed to accept it when people have different opinions than he does on redevelopment.
Leonard added that they had a council workshop on redevelopment and yet Simons hadn't brought up his concerns about streets and redevelopment.
Simons responded by calling Leonard a liar, which caused Thein to gavel him and declare him out of order.
City resident Bill Shields said he thinks redevelopment funds have been misspent and asked Neiman if he could go back and track it. Neiman responded that he wanted to focus on creating a workable redevelopment program now, not rehashing the last 17 years.
"We could waste days of staff time looking at what happened in the past, but that won't amount to anything," said Neiman.
Resident Rick Mayo told the council he was concerned about city police officers needing badges, and mentioned he had spoken to Police Chief Allan McClain about the matter.
"Those officers should not have to pay a dime out of their pocket for badges," said Mayo.
Finance Director Michael Vivrette reported that new badges will be included in this year's budget, without officers having to pay for them.
Community member Jim Honegger echoed Reece's sentiments, saying he believe the 61 lots the Redevelopment Agency is purchasing from the city "are too extreme" for building.
He added that the plan isn't helping Clearlake, and called it part of the city's "voodoo economics."
Once the public hearing closed, the council discussed their budget concerns.
Council member Joyce Overton said she objects to cutting the council's travel and training budget. She said she's spoken with representatives from other cities who say they wouldn't cut those items because of their importance.
"For us to run a city without training is just not appropriate," she said.
Simons agreed, saying they need redevelopment training. He said Overton recently wasn't allowed to attend such a redevelopment training in Modesto. "Apparently they don't want us to know anything," said Simon.
Leonard moved to accept the budget, which the council approved 5-0.
No public comment was made during the Redevelopment Agency's budget hearing, and the council summarily accepted that budget 5-0 based on Leonard's motion.
E-mail Elizabeth Larson at
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