Mark Olbert Blogs About The Budget

City Councilman Mark Olbert posted a new blog about the city's budget study session. Olbert's main idea was to redistribute responsibilities so the ciy manager could tackle some of the smaller issues, and school related issues could be handled by the school district.

"I understand one person’s triviality is another’s vital public interest. But 15 minutes on $4,000 when the total budget is close to $40,000,000?," Olbert asked. "At that rate it’d take us 2,500 hours — more than a working year — to go through everything. Not counting time for eating and sleeping."

He goes on to say he isn't suggesting the city ignore the small things but just control them differently. 

One major issues facing the city, is the "pretty significant" PERS unfunded pension obligations, in the ballpark of $60 million.

"Before you panic, a good portion of that amount is being funded every year by employee contributions," said Olbert. "But some isn’t, and will have to be covered out of City revenues. Getting a handle on how much is covered is something I’ve been working with staff to learn. It’s complicated by the fact that PERS — California’s Public Employee Retirement System — doesn’t make the information needed to answer those kinds of questions readily available.

"That leaves only one realistic option: pay it off through growth, coupled to tight spending controls."

How does this news leave you feeling regarding the city's budget? Let us knowin the comments!