Modesto council meets over budget

The Modesto City Council will hold its second economic and financial sustainability workshop Tuesday after its regular council meeting. Council members are expected to discuss at the workshop, among other items, how to spend a roughly $5 million carryover from the city’s 2013-14 budget year, which ended June 30.

The agenda for the council meeting is light, consisting primarily of consent items, which typically are passed all at once with little if any council comment. One consent item concerns extending providing fire service for the Salida Fire Protection District from Jan. 1 through Jan. 15 at a cost of roughly $50,000.

Modesto has been providing staffing for one Salida fire station since July 1 at a monthly cost of $102,500. The city has been doing this as part of the June 30 breakup of the Modesto Regional Fire Authority, which the city, Stanislaus County and Salida formed in 2011. Salida plans to restart its fire service Jan. 15.

On Monday, the council’s Audit Committee will hold a special meeting regarding the Comprehensive Annual Financial Report for the city’s 2013-14 budget year. The committee meets at 3 p.m. in Room 2005 at Tenth Street Place, 1010 10th St.

The Tuesday council meeting is at 5:30 p.m. in the basement chambers of Tenth Street Place. The workshop will be held in Room B300 near the chambers.

This story was originally published January 3, 2015 at 3:45 PM with the headline "Modesto council meets over budget."