CityWise: Oakland facing budget deficit again

By Kelly Rayburn, The Oakland Tribune, Calif.

Nov. 6--OAKLAND -- Oakland's budget is in trouble again.

A city report projects a deficit of $18.9 million in Oakland's general fund by the end of the 2009-10 fiscal year because of revenue shortfalls and some overspending from July through September.

What it means is more painful budget cuts for a city that faced an $83 million budget deficit going into the fiscal year and had to cut an additional $8.1 million out of the general fund at the end of July.

A report on Oakland's first-quarter revenue and expenditures goes to the council's finance and management committee at a noon meeting Tuesday. The full council will meet to grapple with the budget Nov. 17.

"It's beyond me where we're going to find (the money)," said City Council President Jane Brunner (North Oakland). "But we're going to have to figure it out."

The latest city projections show revenue shortfalls of $10.1 million and projected overspending of $4.3 million. Officials are also acknowledging that $4.5 million in anticipated revenue from a proposed Oakland Coliseum ticket surcharge may not be collected this year.

Brunner said she might be willing to set the $4.5 million aside for now and focus on the rest of the projected deficit. She also said she doesn't believe the time is right to ask Oakland residents to pay more to fund city services.

"It's up to us to create a government that lives within our means," she said. "Some of the programs that were

saved in the last round of cuts may be on the table again."

Projections show the city's general fund revenue pegged at $411 million and spending at nearly $430 million.

The city projects lower-than-expected property, hotel and parking tax receipts. The biggest expected shortfall, however, is from sales taxes, where the city expects revenues will be down by $6.7 million.

Those calculations are based on revenues received from January to March of this year, and the city's report said there is "no conclusive evidence" to support the idea that increased parking rates and metering hours that took effect in July damaged Oakland's sales-tax base. The council rolled back meter enforcement hours to 6 p.m. last month.

On the spending side, the Police Department is on pace to bust its budget by about $3 million. The finance and management agency is on pace to exceed its budget by $490,000; information technology by $270,000; and Mayor Ron Dellums' office by $260,000.

Dellums spokesman Paul Rose said the mayor's office is "currently in the process of evaluating the situation." He did not say whether anyone in Dellums' office would be laid off to meet the budget-reduction targets.

Meeting the chief

Mayor Dellums and police Chief Anthony Batts were in West Oakland Monday evening for their first of three town hall meetings to introduce the new chief to the city's residents.

Batts was perhaps most passionate speaking about his experience growing up in South Central Los Angeles and relating it to what people in Oakland struggle with today. He recalled when was 8 years old witnessing "kids being stabbed for leather jackets" and "kids being shot and killed, kids losing their lives at a young age."

Batts called Oakland's murder rate -- particularly the number of young people dying -- unacceptable.

"One hundred and thirty one year, 140 another year, 125 another year," he said. "That is just simply outrageous to me."

Dellums and Batts will hold their next meeting Monday at the Cesar E. Chavez Education Center, 2825 International Blvd. The event runs from 6:30 to 8 p.m.

Bobb officially out

The slim chances of former City Manager Robert Bobb running for mayor of Oakland in 2010 evaporated last week when Michigan Gov. Jennifer Granholm appointed him to a second year as Detroit Public Schools' emergency financial manager.

Bobb, who was once a leading candidate to replace former City Administrator Deborah Edgerly, hinted earlier this year that he might run for mayor in Oakland. The extension of the Detroit job precludes that possibility.

Former state Senate President Pro Tem Don Perata and Councilmember Jean Quan (Montclair-Laurel) are the only two people so far to announce their intentions to run for mayor in 2010.

Reach Kelly Rayburn at 510-208-6435.

-----

To see more of The Oakland Tribune or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.insidebayarea.com/oaklandtribune/.

Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.

For reprints, email tmsreprints@permissionsgroup.com, call 800-374-7985 or 847-635-6550, send a fax to 847-635-6968, or write to The Permissions Group Inc., 1247 Milwaukee Ave., Suite 303, Glenview, IL 60025, USA.

A service of YellowBrix, Inc.