The numbers are in! Our year end financial review is nearly complete and the time has come to share the results. I’ll dedicate the remainder of this article to comparing the financial figures of 2008 to those of 2009 and to laying out Pleasanton’s agenda for 2010.
City Hall made a concerted effort in 2009 to streamline procedures and closely monitor spending in all facets of our cities budget. Overall spending in 2009 was decreased by $24,881 (excluding payroll which increased $2,772 over 2008). The financial statements from 2009 show several notable line item spending reductions in comparison to 2008, among them:
$7,530 Less in Legal Fees
$7,600 Less in Other Commodities purchases (Water Utility Fund)
$5,785 Less in Contractual Services (Wastewater)
$5,147 Less in Maintenance & Repair (Police)
$3,941 Less in Other Commodities purchases (Wastewater)
$1,592 Less in Event Committee Expenses (City Council)
$1,300 Less in Other Commodities purchases (Streets)
Water production costs for 2009 were $14,090 less than the previous year. This is a substantial decrease and highlights the success we’ve had in working to make water production as efficient as possible.
2009 was the first full year that the new Purchase Order (P.O.) Policy has been in place. This policy requires that any purchase over $25 made by an employee must have prior approval. The policy allows for careful attention to be given to smaller, “Other Commodities” type purchases (paper, printer ink, bolts, screws, etc.) that don’t fall under any other line item but can add up to a lot of dollars throughout the year. Other Commodities spending was decreased by a total of $15, 202 in 2009.
Tightening up the reigns on the above mentioned line items has allowed us to allocate more money to important projects such as street repair, sidewalk grants, lake improvements, etc. and will allow us to transfer more money into funds such as Municipal Equipment, Water Capital Reserve, Special Streets and others.
The transfer of money into the cities various special funds or “savings accounts” is the key to funding the big ticket infrastructure projects our community so desperately needs. Below is the amount of money we have transferred or plan to transfer into the cities funds this year:
Special Street (repair): $70K
Water Fund: $70K
Capital Improvement: $5K
Municipal Equipment: $30K
Our agenda for the City of Pleasanton in 2010 boils down to a few key ideas; street repair, water system improvements, business development, residential clean-up. The logistics of these goals are complicated and costly, but beginning the process of improvement and development in these areas is imperative to the future success of our community.
Look for work to begin on the Street Repair Project in the spring of 2010. All or portions of Park Street, Linn Street, School Street, 10th Street, 6th Street, Cedar Street, Center Street as well as others are slated for repair.
We hope to develop a Long Term Capital Improvement Plan for the replacement or repair of our water distribution system and even begin work in earnest in 2010.
Nuisance abatement will be a top priority for me and the Pleasanton Police Department. We are already and will continue to write notices and tickets on properties that fail to conform to codes ordinances.
And finally, I am confident that business development will happen in Pleasanton in the coming year. We will continue to actively work with potential developers along the newly expanded highway as well as market city and privately owned property on Main Street.
To all those that helped improve Pleasanton this year, THANK YOU for your help and continued support.
Tim Staton
Director of Operations
City of Pleasanton |
