Spending Target Figure Raised

The Carson City Council, four months into the fiscal year that began July 1, again put off adopting a city budget this week but accepted $29.3 million as the target for the current year’s spending plan. The new budget figure is a $300,000 increase over previous proposals.

About $200,000 of the additional revenue is expected to come from an increase in business license fees that the council approved Oct. 16. The money had not been figured into previous revenue projections.

Carson officials also estimate that about $100,000 in additional sales tax revenue will be generated by a consultant the city has hired. The consultant has been asked to identify Carson businesses whose ZIP codes may have led them to pay their sales taxes to other cities, said Finance Director Lorraine Oten.

It is unclear whether the increased revenue projection will avert proposed cutbacks, said Mayor Vera Robles DeWitt. The most recent spending plan, the seventh proposed since May, would eliminate 84 job positions, 37 of which are vacant. A budget workshop will be held at 4 p.m. Monday.

At a workshop Tuesday, the council voted to continue a hiring freeze in all city departments. The freeze will remain in effect throughout the fiscal year, which ends in June, 1991.

In addition, the council agreed to fund a four-member graffiti removal crew with federal grant money. This option allows the city to cut general-fund expenditures by $150,000, Deputy City Administrator Scot Yotsuya said.