08.13.20 Budget Work Session - Laserfiche WebLink

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SAiVUXWZ0S City of San Marcos I& Meeting Minutes City Council Virtual Meeting Thursday, August 13, 2020 5:30 PM I. Call To Order With a quorum present, the budget work session meeting of the San Marcos City Council was called to order by Mayor Hughson at 5:32 p.m. Thursday, August 13, 2020. The meeting was held virtually. 11. Roll Call PRESENTATIONS 1. Receive a Staff presentation and hold discussion regarding the Fiscal Year 2019-2020 Financial Update and preliminary Fiscal Year 2020-2021 Budget, and provide direction to Staff. Bert Lumbreras, City Manager provided a brief introduction to the proposed budget for Fiscal Year 2020-2021. He stated that around the same time that we began planning for the upcoming fiscal year, we were faced with the pandemic and the uncertainty it brought. City staff acted quickly to reduce expenses. This included a managed hiring program, forgoing projects, and reducing supplies and contractual services budgets to lower what was once a $6.4 million shortfall. Without the belt -tightening, cost reductions, and more revenue than forecasted from online retail sales; we would be facing an even greater deficit before planning for next year. The next fiscal year is important because it lays the foundation for subsequent years in terms of how well the City recovers from the pandemic, how the caps implemented by SB2 will impact revenue, and the Comptroller's rule change regarding online retail sales. Mr. Lumbreras is proud of the balanced budget as it continues to fund vital City operations and services our residents expect and deserve. Mr. Lumbreras highlighted a couple of the recommendations: At the June 30 Budget Workshop, staff received direction from City Council to lower the tax rate to 7% above the no -new -revenue rate, or what used to be known as the effective tax rate. The budget includes a property tax rate of 59.3 City of San Marcos