CLEARLAKE – Clearlake's new city administrator said the city budget will be late this year but he's planning some procedural changes that he believes will increase fiscal responsibility.

“I know we're going to be late,” Dale Neiman said Wednesday about Clearlake's budget.

Neiman said he thinks he'll have a draft budget ready for the council in July or August.

Once they have a draft in hand, Neiman said he'll set up public budget workshops for the City Council to go over the details. The budget will eventually be accepted after a public hearing, he added.

When budgets are late, he said state law requires cities to adopt a resolution that stipulates the budget accounts used to operate until the new budget is adopted.

Neiman said he's still getting up to speed on the city's budget processes, but he sees some changes he'd like to make in purchasing expenses.

At other cities where he's worked, he signed off on all department expenditures above $250. In Clearlake, he only signs off on an expenditure if it's above $5,000, an amount be feels is too high.

He plans to have that amount reduced, although he didn't say to what number.

Another change he'd like to make is to the city's policy of using credit cards. He doesn't like them, largely because he knows of two cities in Humboldt County which were embezzled – one by more than $30,000 – because employee usage wasn't monitored properly.

One plus of not completing the budget early: “There's potentially a bunch of transportation funds coming,” he said.

By not having the budget finished before those funds are available, Neiman said they can plug them in without having to go through a budget amendment process.

E-mail Elizabeth Larson at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

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