Elk Grove City Council Approves 2010 Budget

Elk Grove’s fiscal year 2010 budget was approved last night following a marathon session of the city council.

The $50 million budget that was presented and prepared by the city’s staff at last month’s city council meeting was largely left intact. The budget reflects a $5 million decrease from the 2009 budget.

The almost 10 percent budget reduction is the result of substantially lower sales and property tax revenues. Previously the city staff had recommended a combination of layoffs, employee pay reductions and various deferments to balance the budget.

The city council unanimously approved the plan.

Although the city council largely approved the budget as originally proposed (see EGN story), they did wrangle extensively over community grants. The wrangling produced some clear winners and losers.

The biggest winner was the Elk Grove Police Athletic league which got a large portion of grant money sought by the beleaguered Elk Grove Teen Center. The teen center sought $53,000 but was awarded $36,000 with the difference going to the athletic league.

The largest grant recipient was the Elk Grove Senior Center which received $100,000. The total grant pool is $300,000.

The new budget is effective July 1.