For the first time in many years, the City of Escalon will not have a budget in place by the start of the fiscal year, which begins today, July 1.
"We're still meeting with employee groups, which is a huge piece of trying to close the budget deficit," Escalon City Manager Greg Greeson said, noting that cuts and concessions are being sought across the board to try to keep from dipping too deeply into the city's reserve fund.
Escalon, like most municipalities across the state, is dealing with lower income due to falling property taxes and sales taxes, while operating costs continue to rise.
While the city does have a healthy reserve, council members have been hesitant to allocate much of that money to ease the budget gap between revenues and expenditures, not wanting to use too much this year with the next couple of years looking just as dismal.
Greeson said a budget workshop is anticipated sometime in the week following the Fourth of July holiday period, with budget adoption likely by mid-July.
"We're looking at dropping revenues by $700,000," he said of having less money coming in to the coffers.
To help counteract that, all 'expendable' expenses have already been cut.
"We've cut all capital outlay, we've cut all training except what is mandated, cut all conferences," Greeson said. "Every line item of every (department) budget is cut back as far as it could be."
Not filling a police sergeant post and eliminating a weekend part-time animal control position will save some money in the police department, while Greeson said there are no plans for employee lay-offs at this point.
"Everybody realizes it's a tough time," Greeson said.
The final budget, he admitted, "may not be comfortable" but the city will have to find a way to make it work.
"We're still meeting with employee groups, which is a huge piece of trying to close the budget deficit," Escalon City Manager Greg Greeson said, noting that cuts and concessions are being sought across the board to try to keep from dipping too deeply into the city's reserve fund.
Escalon, like most municipalities across the state, is dealing with lower income due to falling property taxes and sales taxes, while operating costs continue to rise.
While the city does have a healthy reserve, council members have been hesitant to allocate much of that money to ease the budget gap between revenues and expenditures, not wanting to use too much this year with the next couple of years looking just as dismal.
Greeson said a budget workshop is anticipated sometime in the week following the Fourth of July holiday period, with budget adoption likely by mid-July.
"We're looking at dropping revenues by $700,000," he said of having less money coming in to the coffers.
To help counteract that, all 'expendable' expenses have already been cut.
"We've cut all capital outlay, we've cut all training except what is mandated, cut all conferences," Greeson said. "Every line item of every (department) budget is cut back as far as it could be."
Not filling a police sergeant post and eliminating a weekend part-time animal control position will save some money in the police department, while Greeson said there are no plans for employee lay-offs at this point.
"Everybody realizes it's a tough time," Greeson said.
The final budget, he admitted, "may not be comfortable" but the city will have to find a way to make it work.
