CCMIN121702 - Laserfiche WebLink

(4) Ms. Ayala felt it would be usefu/to have a workshop on Finance. Ms. McKeehan said the January 7, 2003 agenda appears to be light and questions could be answered about sales tax and other normal financial updates. Unfortunately, much of the information she believed Ms. Ayala wanted will not be available from the state for several months. She only has some preliminary information about programs that could be attached, such as road funds and the library funds, but discussions are still ongoing and it is impossible to make any decisions on current information. Ms. Ayala also wanted to know what increased expenses will be incurred by the City so Council would know what impacts there would be if there was a continuing decline in income. Ms. McKeehan noted staff continually provides updates to Council. Mayor Pico asked if staff believed there was a balanced budget for the City and whether staff could stay within that budget for the year. He felt the answer was yes and most of the concerns related to next year's budget and future years. Council is not making major decisions regarding budgets like new union contracts, pension agreements, or other major issues. Ms. Ayala pointed out that was just done. Mayor Pico said that was true, but was done within the existing budget and with full awareness of impacts. He felt her concerns would be reviewed when Council actually looks at the budget and plans for the future. He did not think there was a benefit to raising undue concerns or starting to cut programs or expenditures at this time. He did not think the City would see any major budgetary impacts. He wanted to make certain the decisions were made using valid information and not guesses. Ms. McKeehan indicated staff is starting the process for the next two year budget. There will be a review of every account. Between now and the end of the fiscal year, it is not expected there will be any significant issue. Ms. Ayala was not as optimistic as Mayor Pico. She has spoken to many businessmen who are having difficulty and she felt the public sector should be sympathetic to that cause and begin to look at how it is spending the taxpayers' dollars and doing some belt tightening. (5) On another matter, she referred to a newspaper article about the possible BART extension to Livermore and she wanted an update on that. Mayor Pico said he was part of the study group for the 1-580/BART to Livermore plan. County Supervisor Haggerty and BART Director Pete Snyder were at a transportation conference and saw a demonstration of a "Colorado rail car", which is a self-Propelled vehicle that could nm on heavy rail systems with freight trains, etc. That has not been available in the past. This is a potential for study by the BART to Livermore group. BART h'tred a consultant for a very preliminary, quick feasibility study to determine whether there were any "fatal flaws" in looking at a process that would use something like this "Colorado car" on existing or Pleasanton City Council 14 12/17/02 Minutes