Officials brace for budget crunch
After the City Council gets an updated report Jan. 27 on where the projected budget gap stands for fiscal year 2009-10, the arduous process of cutting back on public services, staffing and other expenditures will commence.
Last year, the process claimed several public study sessions and hearings over the course of three months before the City Council eventually adopted a balanced $164.5-million general fund budget, which pays for the vast majority of city services.
At the time, city officials and council members alike said they had cut past the fat and into the muscle to close a $9.9-million gap, setting up a potentially more strenuous round of cuts this year.
City officials in December projected a budget gap of about $8 million, but that figure could change when a revised set of figures is released for the Jan. 27 special City Council meeting.
Whatever the final number, City Hall will have to work through the budget process under the glare of a municipal election season, where more than a dozen candidates are expected to enter the City Council race.
The economy is expected to be front and center during the campaign season, but Mayor John Drayman has said he intends to limit the amount of politicking that many expect to find its way into the budget process.
The city election takes place April 7, while a balanced budget must, according to the city’s charter, be adopted before the start of the fiscal year in July.
Grigoryan prepares for trial
Attorneys in the case against Ara Grigoryan, the Glendale man charged with murder in the 2007 hit-and-run death of 24-year-old Elizabeth Sandoval, will be getting prepared this year to go to trial.
