CLEARLAKE — Budgets for Fiscal Year 2008-09 were passed in the city of Clearlake Thursday night. A $7.45 million budget was adopted for the city while a $ 5.1 million budget was passed for the Redevelopment Agency.
Both budgets passed on a 4-1 vote count with Councilmember Roy Simons casting the dissenting vote. Simons” apparent conflict with the budgets concerned funds appropriated through the Redevelopment Agency.
Discussion of the Redevelopment Agency appropriations led to a lengthy debate regarding Simons” interpretation of redevelopment laws versus those of City Administrator Dale Neiman. Simons and Neiman have had a longstanding disagreement in regard to the definitions of new construction, reconstruction and maintenance. Simons and Neiman also have conflicting viewpoints in relationship to applying requirements for the formation of assessment districts.
Another detail concerning the city budget that drew heated discussion was that regarding the travel expense budget, which was budgeted at zero. Councilmember Overton was adamant in putting the $5,000 in the council”s contingency account into travel expenses emphasizing a need to travel for staff and council training sessions.
With the exception of Simons, the remainder of the council agreed that the city could not afford to budget travel expenses this fiscal year. The contingency account, which the council normally uses to make donations to non-profit organizations or events, ultimately remained unchanged with the possibility of allocating those funds for travel.
Contact Denise Rockenstein at drockenstein@clearlakeobserver.com.
