Modesto’s new mayor plans line-by-line budget review
There will be lots of long days during the first 100 days of Ted Brandvold’s first term as Modesto mayor.
He plans to conduct a line-by-line review of the city’s budget to look for savings that can be used to hire police officers and firefighters. Brandvold is working out the details, but he envisions holding City Council workshops to review the budget with a committee composed of the council and community members that would be helped by staff. The meetings would be open to the public.
Brandvold got the idea from Turlock, where Mayor Gary Soiseth conducted a similar exercise when he took office about a year ago. “It worked out well for us,” Soiseth said, “and I think it will work out well for Modesto.”
Soiseth said the review allowed Turlock to make sure its spending aligned with its priorities. He said the review took one Saturday, as well as about a half-dozen council workshops of two to four hours in duration and a final, roughly two-hour presentation at a council meeting. That’s a much more in-depth public review than cities typically do on their budgets. Soiseth said some of the Turlock workshops drew crowds.
This was Brandvold’s first attempt at elected office, but he easily defeated incumbent Garrad Marsh in Tuesday’s mayoral runoff election. The results are not expected to be official until next week, but Marsh has conceded. The Stanislaus County elections office updated the results Friday, showing Brandvold with 58 percent of the vote to Marsh’s 42 percent. Brandvold is expected to be sworn in this month after the results are final.
He has said Modesto puts out confusing and hard-to-follow information about its budget. He said the Stanislaus Taxpayers Association and the Modesto Police Officers and Modesto City Fire Fighters associations tell him of waste in the budget. “Police, fire and the taxpayers association say there is money out there,” Brandvold said.
He said the line-by-line review is part of the different approach he will take as mayor. Marsh led efforts to put sales tax increases on the November 2013 and 2015 ballots. Though these were general sales taxes, Marsh and other city officials said they would spend much of the money on public safety to restore positions and services lost to budget cuts in the recession and its aftermath.
“He’s going to be on a learning curve (as a new mayor), but he’s going to find there is not a bunch of money,” Marsh said of Brandvold.
Brandvold said he believes the review will turn up money. He said even if it doesn’t, the review is a good way to start rebuilding trust by providing the public with a comprehensive look at the city’s finances. “I will show them the findings in an understandable way,” he said. “... If I don’t find it (money), I will tell the public.”
The mayor is responsible for preparing the city’s annual budget. The budget is reviewed during two workshops in May before going to the City Council in June for adoption ahead of the July 1 start of the fiscal year. Marsh had planned to start working with staff early next month on the city’s upcoming budget.
Brandvold said he will make sure his line-by-line review does not interfere with creating the budget and will look for ways to integrate the two efforts.
He also will form committees that will review the city’s operations over the first 100 days and report their findings. He envisions committees consisting of council members, community members and people who use the services being reviewed, such as a civil engineer being part of the committee reviewing planning. Brandvold said this review could take longer than the 100 days.
Kevin Valine: 209-578-2316
As new mayor ...
As Modesto’s next mayor, Ted Brandvold is poised to inherit some vexing, long-standing problems, including increasing troubles with some of the homeless, the economy and crime. Here is a snapshot on some of what he is proposing:
HOMELESSNESS: He wants to continue working with Stanislaus County on its Focus on Prevention effort to find solutions to homelessness. But he said there is growing frustration in the city over problems caused by some homeless people. He wants to look for opportunities where Modesto can make a difference sooner rather than later as long as those opportunities don’t harm Focus on Prevention.
THE ECONOMY AND CRIME: He said voters consistently told him the city was economically stagnant. He wants to promote economic development, such as by providing incentives to business. He also will start a red-tape-reduction task force to look at ways to make it easier for business to navigate City Hall. He said his line-by-line budget review is key. He believes it will find money to hire police officers and firefighters. He said businesses will stay in or come to a safer city.
Brandvold said he has been clear to voters, his supporters and others that he is not proposing quick fixes. “I’ve not promised anyone that it’s going to happen overnight,” he said. “... Most of them realize it cannot happen overnight. But we’ve got to start somewhere.”
This story was originally published February 6, 2016 at 4:02 PM with the headline "Modesto’s new mayor plans line-by-line budget review."