San Bernardino, dealing with budget cuts, must eventually figure out how to rebuild city government

By Andrew Edwards
Staff Writer

SAN BERNARDINO -- The latest round in the City Council's debate over restoring funding to the Fire Department raises the question of how City Hall can restore public services once lean times are over.

If it can be assumed that the recession and its related freefall of tax revenues will end, one question that remains is how San Bernardino officials will choose to restore funding to firefighting and other city operations that have been subjected to cuts.

City Manager Charles McNeely's contract has a provision that could provide a venue for city officials and the public to begin crafting a plan for a post-recession San Bernardino. McNeely's employment agreement mandates that he convene annual workshops to discuss city's priorities.

McNeely started with the city June 1 and is obligated to hold the first such meeting within his first three months on the job.

Sixth Ward Councilman Rikke Van Johnson said he wants to meet for the workshop soon after the city has a budget plan in place. San Bernardino does not yet have a budget for the fiscal year that started on July 1 and the council could vote on a budget plan Monday.

"I'm willing to let him (McNeely), take the lead on how we're going to work," Johnson said.
McNeely could not be reached for comment by Wednesday's deadline.

He has previously said that he plans to provide the council with a list of recommendations on how to enhance city operations and wants to change San Bernardino's budget documents so that it's possible for decision makers and the public to easily understand how much money is being set aside for city programs.

Seventh Ward Councilwoman Wendy McCammack said Wednesday that she wants the city to practically restart from scratch. She said the city should craft its next budget by knocking funding for all city operations to zero and then planning to spend available dollars where the money is most needed.

"You need to get back to the basics of running a city," she said.

The Fire Department issue, just one of the city's problems, goes back to February, when the council voted to delete eight firefighting positions in an attempt to save up to $1.6 million. No firefighters were laid off when the jobs were deleted, as the positions were filled by firefighters working overtime.

As of Monday, Fifth Ward Councilman Chas Kelley -- who initially agreed to the budget cuts -- has made three efforts to reverse that decision.

He most recently proposed Monday during a budget workshop Monday that the city borrow more than $1 million from the San Bernardino Economic Development Agency to put the eight firefighting jobs back on the city payroll. Kelley's council rejected his bid by a 4-2 vote.

Fire Department cuts are developing as a campaign issue as the November election approaches. Kelley, whose seat will not be up for election until 2011, said Wednesday that his continued attention to the issue has nothing to do with setting up a political issue for November.

Kelley also said he is not catering to the firefighter's union, which has given $12,500 to his campaign between Jan. 1 and June 30. Instead, he said his concern rests on his lack of confidence that a majority of the council is willing to make Fire Department funding a priority as fire season approaches.

"How many years do we have to wait to restore these positions," Kelley asked. "If you can hobble along ... they never restore it. They just put more work on other people."

Kelley's plan to borrow from the EDA follows McNeely's proposal to borrow $1.3 million from the same agency, which is responsible from redevelopment.

McNeely initially proposed taking a $5.4 million loan from the EDA, but curtailed those plans after state officials decided to borrow redevelopment money from across the state to balance Sacramento's budget.

San Bernardino's EDA could lose about $12 million, but whether Sacramento's plan survives challenges remains to be seen.

Whatever happens, Johnson, Second Ward Councilman Dennis Baxter and Fourth Ward Councilman Fred Shorett said they disagreed with Kelley's proposal because they don't want to run up additional debt.

Whether the planned workshop helps the council get closer to crafting plans to restore funding to public safety and other city services remains to be seen.