Better late than never

Most budgets -- except for our State budget -- were approved at the beginning of July, the start of the fiscal year.

In Covina, the city didn't have a finance director and the final approval of the budget has been on hold. But as now that the city has an interim finance director and the state's preliminary budget was approved, Covina's budget got the final approval Tuesday night.

The city council adopted the 2008-09 budget, and it also got an update from its interim City Manager Cynthia Kurtz on the state of the city's finances. Like many cities, times are tough in Covina. The city has seen a $1 million decline in sales tax revenue. Much of this revenue is largely attributed to the auto industry, which we've all seen in recent weeks has got significant problems.

Also this week, Covina received a letter from the State that it would be tapping into Covina's redevelopment funds by taking $522,000.