On June 6, 2011, the San Leandro City Council unanimously voted to adopt the proposed 2011-12 budget for the upcoming fiscal year (July 1, 2011- June 30, 2012). City staff presented the first balanced General Fund budget since FY 2006-07 and noted that Economic Uncertainty reserves are not used to balance the budget. Acknowledging that the economy is recovering slowly, the 2011-12 budget reflects conservative revenue and expenditure estimates.

The new budget is balanced with limited program changes – no new programs or personnel have been added at this time, no wage increases are included, and additional cuts to departments were made as part of the process.  This also means that previous program reductions have not been restored. 

Council has directed staff to focus on a sustainable budget that lives within the City’s available revenue, so that future budget years can also be balanced.  The new budget is balanced thanks largely due to the support by San Leandro residents who supported Measure Z, the quarter cent sales tax increase, last November.  This infusion of revenue helped to reduce the need to make more drastic cuts in programs and services provided to the community, allowing the economy and the City’s revenues to slowly recover.

Over the past several years, the City Council has had to make very difficult fiscal decisions that included significant expenditure cuts and the use of Economic Uncertainty reserves.  San Leandro has suffered along with surrounding communities the severe impacts caused by the economic crisis.  While the new budget is not able to restore funding to previous levels, it is balanced in FY 2011-12 without the use of reserves and maintains services at the current level.