Spring Break
Millions behind, City talks budget
Jesse Kimbrel
Issue date: 4/17/08 Section: News
SAN JOSE - A neighborhood advisory group met Wednesday night at City Hall to discuss the City of San Jose's budget shortfall for the current year.
The city manager's office and Mayor Chuck Reed's office both presented PowerPoint slides to explain the severity of the shortfall.
According to a memorandum from the mayor sent out March 7, the current shortfall is $22.3 million.
One of the slides presented by the city manager's office showed that to make up that kind of money in sales tax the city would have to have five more Valley Fair malls or 10 more Santana Rows.
"There are no easy decisions in any of this," said Councilman Sam Liccardo.
Armando Gomez, budget and finance adviser for Reed, said, "We've got a spending problem, and we don't have as much money as we did before."
He said the roads in San Jose are in poor condition and that "if you want to protect the city you need more officers."
One slide showed that San Jose has seen a decrease in spending for street maintenance since 2001.
Advisory budget meetings are scheduled to be held for all council districts in San Jose and are open for the public to make suggestions to city officials on how to fix the shortfall.
The city manager's office and Mayor Chuck Reed's office both presented PowerPoint slides to explain the severity of the shortfall.
According to a memorandum from the mayor sent out March 7, the current shortfall is $22.3 million.
One of the slides presented by the city manager's office showed that to make up that kind of money in sales tax the city would have to have five more Valley Fair malls or 10 more Santana Rows.
"There are no easy decisions in any of this," said Councilman Sam Liccardo.
Armando Gomez, budget and finance adviser for Reed, said, "We've got a spending problem, and we don't have as much money as we did before."
He said the roads in San Jose are in poor condition and that "if you want to protect the city you need more officers."
One slide showed that San Jose has seen a decrease in spending for street maintenance since 2001.
Advisory budget meetings are scheduled to be held for all council districts in San Jose and are open for the public to make suggestions to city officials on how to fix the shortfall.
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