Second Round of Glendale Budget Study Sessions Examines Current Programs, Possible Cuts
To begin making additional budget cuts, the Glendale city council began a second round of budget studies today.
This morning, the council heard reports from the city manager’s office, the Planning Department, the Parks, Recreation and Community Services Department, and the Finance Department. A budget meeting on the Glendale Redevelopment Agency was held today at 2:30 p.m. The presentations can be viewed on the city’s video archives.
Most of this morning’s meeting was taken up with reports from Planning Director Hassan Haghani and Parks and Rec Director George Chapjian, each of whom presented extensive (and impressive) lists of their departments’ responsibilities and community services. With 15 minutes to spare before adjournment, the Finance Department’s report took just 5 minutes.
Following Haghani’s presentation, Bob McFall told council members that staff are working on significant changes to cross-department procedures and coordination with Planning, Building and Safety, and Code Enforcement.
The Parks, Recreation, and Community Services presentation showed a current lack of funding for mini-park and tree maintenance. Also in the report: the department recently commissioned a study on how the Civic Auditorium could work with Glendale Arts to draw events and additional revenue to the site.
Early on, council member Laura Friedman commented – in response to Bob McFall’s emphasis on “green” investments – that the city should identify one staff person with experience in environmental issues to lead such initiatives across departments, instead of appointing staff members to this task in each department. Friedman’s comments reflected the meeting’s focus on improving staff efficiency.
Council member Ara Najarian commented that deciding the city’s “core mission” presented a huge challenge. “Each of us has a different understanding of the city’s core mission,” Najarian said. “The core mission for one neighborhood may be different from another neighborhood…In the lean years, its a daunting challenge.”
Everyone and Everything EXCEPT for SSP gets a CUT.
California gives SSI recipients an extra cash amount called SSP-State Supplemental Payments.
Almost every other state gives Food Stamps instead of cash, but
BROKE California has to give extra cash on top of the Federal SSI program.
No wonder California IS and WILL go further into debt.
They won’t CUT a penny from SSI or SSP. California could
save Millions each month just by transferring people from Cash
to EBT-Food Stamp DIGNITY Cards.
This is one of the reason’s Meth addiction is so high in California and you have people MIGRATING INTO California for
that EXTRA cash check!
And you know darn well Obama is going to LEGALIZE the Illegals.
Then the newly legalized former Illegals will finally be QUALIFIED to apply & qualify for SSI & SSP.
How’s Kalifornia going to be able to handle 20 plus NEW SSP recipients when they have to cut, fire and discontinue massive amounts of people and jobs to pay each months TAX FREE SSP recipients.
Sheesh, Kalifornia will NEVER LEARN until there’s absolute CRASH.
And, it WILL happen!
That’s why I bought a home further up into the PNW, and am very happy to get out of Kalifornia and NOT to pay anymore taxes to the State at least!
It does NOT take a genius to SEE that there could be alot of money saved just by converting SSP into Food Stamps like other states do!