Budget problems? We ain't got no stinkin' budget problems...
For the past eight months, officials in Baldwin Park having been using “dire budget constraints” as reasoning behind a lot of things they CAN’T do: they can’t up the police officers’ salaries, they can’t pay their maintenance workers — who threatened to go on strike last year — more money, they can’t move forward with a public safety tax on the next ballot because it would cost the city too much to facilitate it.
Now, many cities like Baldwin Park that do not bring in the same kind of sales tax revenues as other wealthier Valley Cities (i.e. West Covina, Glendora) truly do work on limited budgets. But what I can’t understand is the comment Baldwin Park’s Chief Executive Officer made to me earlier this week after the city conducted its mid-year budget review.
I asked him how the session went and how things were looking financially for Baldwin Park.
He replied, “Good, good. Things are looking good for the year.” He went on to say that “things” were looking good for next year too.
I guess it must be raining money in BP.