6 Things to Know About Your City's Budget

Earlier we posted an overview of what went down at South Pasadena's interactive budget meeting Thursday. 

Now Patch takes a a closer look. Here's what you need to know about your City's finances: 

Taxes Matter

Sixty-seven percent of the general fund comes from taxes. This is equivalent to $670 annually—or $1.66 per day—for each individual living in the City of South Pasadena.

"The taxes alone help us provide services, provide employees to manage other revenue sources," explained the City Finance Director Chu Thai. 

For every dollar that you pay towards property tax, the City gets .24 cents.

For every dollar that you pay towards sales tax, the City gets .01 cent.

For every dollar you spend on the Utility Tax, the City gets $1.

“It’s good to diversify our revenue streams,” said Thai.  

Part-Time Employees Save the City Money

The City currently has approximately 60 part-time employees and 140 full-time about employees. 

Nine positions are frozen—including city clerk secretary, police assistant, police clerk, two police officers, three firefighters and one librarian. 

"We have to supplement our full-time employees with part-time employes," said Interim City Manager Sergio Gonzalez. "... Full-time employee retirement costs are about 20 to 30 percent of their salary."

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Thai says the City is constantly struggling to find a balance between employee compensation and pension. “If we are not competitive, we will lose employees,” he said.

The City pays the following annually: $2.3 million towards retirement. $485,000 towards health insurance. $1.3 million towards insurance.

"Retirement and benefits are a big liability for the city," he admitted. 

The City Has Assets

The City owns several parks and various buildings around town from the to to the

Yet the buildings are old, and money is needed to keep them up and running: “We don’t have a mechanism to schedule this maintenance and these repairs, but we should,” said Thai. 

We've Got Checks and Balances

Both Gonzalez and City Treasurer Gary Pia stressed the fact that the City has several parties overseeing South Pas finances—in addition to City Council. 

"We have a great system of financial checks and balances," said Gonzalez.

"In South Pas, you have an elected City Treasurer, you have a hired City Finance Director—who is accountable—and you have an appointed finance committee," explained Gonzalez. 

"Audits are flawless, and that is due to City Council setting the tone," he added.