{"id":23991,"date":"2024-06-21T12:38:00","date_gmt":"2024-06-21T19:38:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/peninsula360press.com\/?p=23991"},"modified":"2024-06-24T18:20:23","modified_gmt":"2024-06-25T01:20:23","slug":"redwood-city-budget-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/peninsula360press.com\/en\/redwood-city-budget-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Reallocation of funds from Redwood City's budget for this year to be discussed"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Reallocation
Redwood City's budget has a $21 million surplus; but those funds apparently couldn't be touched because the municipality anticipates that the numbers coming in the next few years\u2026 will be red.\u00a0<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Listen to this note:<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Redwood City<\/a> is now in a more comfortable position than other neighboring cities in the county to face a budget shortfall. It has a $21 million surplus in fiscal year 2023-24; but those funds apparently could not be touched because the city anticipates that the numbers coming in the next few years \u2026 will be in the red.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The money will be needed in the next two fiscal years, so there would not be much left to pay for essential services in the coming months, including salaries and the maintenance of the police force.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

On Monday, June 10, the City Council discussed in a \u201cstudy session\u201d some of the measures that could be taken to address the crisis.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

As we reported, Redwood City is considering including a tax on new business licenses on the local ballot in the November elections.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Prevention is cure\u00a0<\/b><\/h2>\n

At the meeting on Monday, June 10, it was reported that a survey of residents resulted in a proposal to invest one million dollars in security cameras to be installed in some areas of the city.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

However, this initiative did not go down well with some councillors.<\/span><\/p>\n

Vice Mayor Lissette-Espinoza Garnica and Councilman Chris Sturkin said they would prefer to see at least some of the camera funding go toward programs that help keep vulnerable youth out of the criminal justice system.<\/span><\/p>\n

According to Espinoza-Garnica, \u201cthe best way to invest that money would be to put emphasis on prevention services\u201d (of crimes) instead of spending it on programs that are useful if the crime has already been committed or if the incident has already occurred.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cUsing more police or cameras to combat crime is not going to reduce it,\u201d said the Latina vice mayor. \u201cThat only perpetuates the cycle of criminalization,\u201d she said.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The deficit: here and in Sacramento<\/b><\/h2>\n

Among the causes of the fiscal hole that is troubling the city is the possible refusal of the state government to pay Redwood City's share of motor vehicle license fees.<\/span><\/p>\n

Typically California collects that money and reimburses it to municipalities during the next fiscal year. But as the state faces its own $28 billion deficit \u2014 according to Gavin Newsom's budget \u2014 Sacramento suggested three counties could <\/span>Not receive<\/b> those vital funds. And among them, is our San Mateo County.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Mayor Jeff Gee is optimistic that the refund will eventually be paid to municipalities.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThese funds are very volatile,\u201d Gee said. But he also warned that \u201cservices and programs will have to be adjusted to the budget\u201d available.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

For fiscal year 2024-25, if the anticipated deficit is covered with that $21 million, there will still be a deficit of $15 million.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

What to do and what not to do<\/b><\/h2>\n

According to a report submitted by the city, another cause of the deficit is the slow economic recovery after the Covid-19 pandemic.<\/span><\/p>\n

The same report proposes cutting city spending by 5 percent if necessary, which would mean eliminating the downtown police unit, closing the Red Morton Community Center on weekends, and cutting youth and recreation programs.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

What will not be suspended for now is the repair of sidewalks, the replacement of traffic lights, the construction of wheelchair ramps and the completion of work in the pedestrian zone on Broadway Street.<\/span><\/p>\n

The next budget discussion will be on Monday 24th, and public comments are accepted before the date and in person on the same day.\u00a0 <\/span><\/p>\n

You may be interested in:<\/strong> $40 million allocated for affordable housing in San Mateo County<\/a><\/em><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Escucha esta nota:   Redwood City est\u00e1 hoy en d\u00eda en una posici\u00f3n m\u00e1s c\u00f3moda que otras ciudades vecinas del condado para enfrentar un d\u00e9ficit en su presupuesto. Tiene un super\u00e1vit de 21 millones de d\u00f3lares en el a\u00f1o fiscal 2023-24; pero esos fondos aparentemente no podr\u00edan tocarse porque la municipalidad anticipa que los n\u00fameros […]<\/p>","protected":false},"author":54,"featured_media":7491,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9,14],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-23991","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-community","8":"category-cover"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/peninsula360press.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23991","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/peninsula360press.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/peninsula360press.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/peninsula360press.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/54"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/peninsula360press.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=23991"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/peninsula360press.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23991\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":24040,"href":"https:\/\/peninsula360press.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23991\/revisions\/24040"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/peninsula360press.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7491"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/peninsula360press.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23991"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/peninsula360press.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=23991"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/peninsula360press.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=23991"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}