By Li Terrell
The South Lake Tahoe City Council met Tuesday to pass an interim budget in an effort to have more time to work out labor negotiation and budget shortfall issues that have the community up in arms. There were no comments offered by council or the public, and the motion passed unanimously. Prior to the meeting there was a closed session for bargaining units to meet, and following was another closed session for council to hear the latest of the negotiations.
“The light is finally starting to come on for them that there may be other ways to do this,” said Steve Crouch, Representative for Local #39 of the bargaining units. “But it’s going to take another year to implement and they have to allow for that.”
The final agenda item was the Interim Budget for the month of October, which passed with no comments or discussion from council. For most of the funds, the amount passed was only enough for the month of October. The two exceptions were Debt Service and Trust Agency, who are agencies that have payments due bi-annually in October and April, and were listed in full annual amount on the interim budget. The city treasurer asked for this exception to expedite payment and because the amounts do not affect the general fund or the budget issues in question.
City officials are hopeful that the extension will help in the settling of budget cuts that must be implemented. Councilwoman Angela Swanson said she had received many calls and emails in response to the last meeting.
She also said that, unfortunately, many of the ideas only generated a fraction of the $5 million shortfall and would take a year to implement. She believes we all have to learn how to live in the current economic climate for some time.
“It’s like, should I go on a diet today or wait till Monday,” she said. “Either way I am going to have to give up chocolate.”
Among other agenda items was a resolution regarding earmarked money from the Measure S Bonds that were collected as a portion of property tax and kept to be used to build new bike trails. Since the trails have not been built, it was suggested by the South Lake Tahoe Recreation Facilities Joint Powers Authority that the money be freed up and used for the communities youth athletic fields and to repair and maintain current biking trails in town. The resolution was recommended by the Council unanimously.
Though the City’s Redevelopment Agency is still in a place of impasse with the State of California Supreme Court until mid-January, it is still required for the City to detail redevelopment payouts in 6 month increments. The council approved the recommendation and filing from the city attorney, with the exception to remove The Aspens project from the payout list, because it has not been officially contracted by the city, and payment would not be due until six months after breaking ground.