SIMI VALLEY : Forecasts Put Budget $68,000 in the Hole
Midyear budget forecasts project that by the end of the fiscal year the city of Simi Valley will run about $68,000 in the red on a $25-million budget.
When reviewing the midyear budget this week, the City Council increased expenditures to pay for $184,000 in police overtime and about $150,000 for a new public works building.
The city will dip into its $13-million reserve fund to pay for the increased expenses.
Councilman Paul Miller chided City Manager Lin Koester for not including the police overtime in budget forecasts last July, at the beginning of the fiscal year.
“We could have anticipated this,” Miller told Koester at a council meeting Monday night. “We know that these expenses are going to come up beforehand. They aren’t out of line with what other departments spend on overtime, and we should expect that.”
Koester agreed that the expenses were in line with past bills for overtime. But he added that the city purposely left out overtime in budget calculations to discourage its use.
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