Because of the steps taken by the city council and staff, the rainy day fun will continue to be fully funded even through this year.
The steps that were taken include reductions in staffing, expenses, and some fee increases.
Now, that extra money will be used to pay down some of the debt that has built in the city’s pension system.
From the Santa Monica Daily Press:
While Santa Monica city officials were worried last year that they may have to tap into a “rainy day” fund to help close a projected $13 million budget deficit, it turns out they had nothing to fear after all, ending up with a budget surplus of $7.9 million at the end of 2009-10, City Manager Rod Gould said.
The rainy day fund of $8.2 million will remain fully intact at the end of the current fiscal year as well, as City Hall expects to have another budget surplus of $1.7 million, Gould told the City Council Tuesday during a mid-year budget review and five-year forecast.
Gould said the unexpected surplus was due to a “multi-faceted financial strategy” that included reductions in spending, some fee increases, eliminating waste, the use of one-time funds and some city employees agreeing to pay 5 percent of their healthcare costs and forgo bonuses.
Read the full article here.