South Lake Tahoe Council gets first look at 2019-20 budget: New police and fire personnel added

SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. - The proposed 2019/20 budget for the City of South Lake Tahoe was presented to the Council Tuesday by City Manager Frank Rush who showed where $119M will go should they agree and approve at their September 17 meeting.

The financial plan for the City's fiscal year of October 1, 2019 to September 30, 2020 addressed what the City Council outlined as some of their highest priorities: Fire safety, wildfire preparedness/prevention, street maintenance, public transportation, snow removal, housing, sustainability, and fleet replacement/improvement, as well as recreational improvements.

Rush told them the prepared budget is aimed at striking a balance between fiscal conservatism and prudent investment in these priorities and service quality and:

• Address immediate needs, but also maintains a longer-term focus
• Include funding to strategically address organizational needs that will
enhance service quality and enhance employee morale
• Effectively plans for necessary capital replacement/improvements
• Maintain a healthy General Fund reserve balance that will enable the City
to deal with unexpected fiscal pressure and preserve flexibility for future
capital investment
• Strategically identify and utilize other non-General fund balances to achieve
the City’s goals

The total budget will reflect $107M in revenues to be used in $119M expenses (difference coming from previous fund balances):

General Fund - $47,346,878
Special Revenue - $23,759,283
Enterprise Funds - $2,469,160
Debt Service - $6,304,368
Captial Improvement Project - $29,744,022
Trust and agency - $6,101,515

Salaries and benefits take up 64 percent of the General Fund budget, or $30,299,837. The biggest three departments are Police 10,528,836, Fire 7,566,861 and Public Works at 4,283,638. The City is looking at adding seven firefighters with the reopening of Station 2 (pending the award of the SAFER grant), three police officers (one supported by Cannabis Program), three maintenance/tech positions and one housing manager. They will also an assistant to Rush. New positions will be offset by six positions frozen or eliminated. Calpers is planned at $8M for the next year.

The 13 Council priority items include the following in the proposed budget:

- Street Rehabilitation $2M general fund plus $2.4M in outside revenue
- City-wide Emergency Communication System $1.2M
- Funding for implementation of Police Department take-home vehicle program – 17 vehicles $700k plus $565k other restricted Police revenues
- Creation of Workforce Housing Fund, new Housing Manager position
- Funding for transit improvements - $75k
- Replacement of a critical snow removal equipment (1984 loader) $350k

The new budget doesn't touch the 25 percent reserve set up by previous City Manager Nancy Kerry to help prepare in case of a rainy day situation like a recession. Rush did tell the Council they could have some flexibility and perhaps use a small percentage of this reserve for a much-needed emergency communications system.

Some of the increased revenues in this new budget come from new contracts with SnowGlobe and the Cal Tahoe JPA, and the SAFER grant, if awarded, that would fund Station 2.

To spend, the City must have revenues. In the budget, the City expects to see $2M more in income for the General Fund of $46,862,096. City Tourist Occupancy Tax (TOT) brings in the most at almost 25 percent, followed by property taxes, Project Area TOT, and sales tax.