Menlo Park: Recession pushes council back to basics Menlo Park: Recession pushes council back to basics (February 04, 2004)

By Rebecca Wallace

Almanac Staff Writer

Facing what looks like another fiscal year of budget cuts, members of the Menlo Park City Council have ranked the nuts and bolts of city departments -- supplying drinking water, providing police dispatch and patrol, and unclogging storm drains -- as the most essential services.

According to a recent survey conducted by city staff that asked the council to rank the 120 services in Menlo Park's budget from "essential" to "nice to have" and "not important," council members gave low marks to holiday and cultural events, mental and physical wellness activities for adults, and other leisure activities.

The community mediation service, which the council voted last week to discontinue, also had a low ranking.

At a special Saturday budget workshop on January 31, Mayor Lee Duboc said it was important for the city to focus on services that only a city typically provides, such as infrastructure.

Councilman Nicholas Jellins also mentioned the police department's narcotics enforcement unit as an important service to keep, saying that it helps improve safety in Menlo Park and neighboring cities.

The workshop also gave an overview of the city's budget situation and the challenges its decision-makers will face when they pass the 2004-05 city budget, which is set to take place in June. Currently, the city has a general fund budget of about $26 million.

In the past three years, the city has cut back its budget by about $3 million and shrunk its workforce by about 20 positions, City Manager David Boesch said in a report to the council. With sales tax revenue sluggish and the possibility of losing more property tax and vehicle license fee revenue to the state government, more cuts are likely, he said.

The city is also facing higher pension costs for retiring city workers, an issue that is certain to be raised in labor negotiations, he said. Menlo Park's contracts with the police force expire June 30, and those with other workers expire October 30.

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