{"id":2072,"date":"2019-07-10T20:30:00","date_gmt":"2019-07-10T20:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/maderatribustg.wpenginepowered.com\/?p=2072"},"modified":"2026-05-13T18:28:43","modified_gmt":"2026-05-13T18:28:43","slug":"budget-balanced-for-now","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/maderatribune.com\/es\/budget-balanced-for-now\/","title":{"rendered":"Budget balanced for now"},"content":{"rendered":"
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There is good news for the city of Madera \u2014 the city\u2019s 2019-2020 budget is balanced \u2014 but that news must be tempered with cautious optimism, according to new City Manager Arnoldo Rodriguez.<\/p>

\u201cIt\u2019s a balanced budget and a step in the right direction, but it provides for immediate needs and not long-term needs,\u201d he said.<\/p>

In other words, revenue in from residents \u2014 such as taxes, utility billings, and other charges and fees, \u2014 just meet current city obligations of payroll, pensions and some other operational needs, with the Measure K sales tax revenue of almost $4.8 million dollars providing welcome new equipment, buildings and personnel for the police and fire departments, which might not have otherwise have been possible.<\/p>

Rodriguez, previously a city planner with Yuba City, took the helm of Madera in early December, and likened the last six- or seven-month process to a stabilization effort and \u201ctrying to drink out of a fire hose,\u201d with sorting out all the information, personnel and financial challenges of his new position.<\/p>

After irate residents repeatedly demanded change, at least six senior department heads resigned, took retirement or did not have their contracts renewed by votes of the 2019 Madera City Council, leaving a total of 26 unfilled positions city wide.<\/p>

\u201cThere are (still) a lot of unmet needs in our community. This gets us to a better (financial) footing, and the community a better understanding of where we are at (financially.)\u201d He called the budget \u201ca dense document (of several hundred pages) but a concise document with a lot of information in it. It\u2019s written in a way to try and make it understandable. But it doesn\u2019t get into (or reflect) our long-term (financial) needs. There is very little in this budget that addresses our (previously) deferred maintenance needs in this budget.\u201d<\/p>

Rodriguez said this year\u2019s budget does manage to cover a $4.7 million dollar payment to the State of California Public Employees Pension System, known as PERS, for the controversial \u201cunfunded liability\u201d portion amounts previously promised to some senior municipal employees statewide. This large unfunded liability amount is due annually and is projected to grow and affect most California cities for the next four to five years, and fluctuates with many variables and the success or failure of the PERS pension investment funds.<\/p>

The unfunded PERS liability is costly but can be managed several ways, he said, by careful planning and cost savings, leaving positions unfilled and barring another economic downturn, trying to bring in more businesses to grow jobs and the sales tax base.<\/p>

\u201cI don\u2019t think there is a (single) solution, but rather a (mix) of solutions, and I think this budget reflects that, with all the small things we did, to try and take a balanced budget to the community and the council. This budget, like all budgets is based on assumptions (regarding revenues and expenses) in terms of projections. It\u2019s a fluid situation and we have to keep our finger on the pulse going forward. Having (planning and funding) systems in place for when things break, and they will, so that we don\u2019t have to hit the panic button. That\u2019s the challenge. I feel great about where we are at now, verses where we were at when I first got here. That being said there is always room for improvement.\u201d Rodriguez said.<\/p>

Regular meetings of the Madera City Council are held the first and third Wednesday of each month at 6 p.m. at City Hall, 405 W. 4th St. The public is invited to attend.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

There is good news for the city of Madera \u2014 the city\u2019s 2019-2020 budget is balanced \u2014 but that news must be tempered with cautious optimism, according to new City Manager Arnoldo Rodriguez. \u201cIt\u2019s a balanced budget and a step in the right direction, but it provides for immediate needs and not long-term needs,\u201d he […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":29,"featured_media":41354,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"elementor_theme","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_angie_page":false,"page_builder":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[19],"tags":[26,39],"class_list":["post-2072","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-business","tag-government"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/maderatribune.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2072","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/maderatribune.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/maderatribune.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/maderatribune.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/29"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/maderatribune.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2072"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/maderatribune.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2072\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/maderatribune.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/41354"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/maderatribune.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2072"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/maderatribune.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2072"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/maderatribune.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2072"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}