Denny’s Deficit Disappears by Phil Monroe
Last June, Councilwoman Denny posted an article with the title, “Confirmed: Coronado Passed Another Unbalanced Budget”. She stated that, “The built-in deficit in this current budget is $15,000,000.” She went on to tell the readers that they can see how the “deficit” is calculated by referring to her June 19th post. In bold letters she proclaimed that, “There is no surplus at all for FY 2013-2014.” Read her entire post here.
I wrote a rebuttal and appeared before Council to explain that Ms. Denny was not correct, and that she had totally mixed up General Fund Revenues with total City Expense Accounts. I included specific examples. The adopted budget was in fact balanced with a projected surplus of $695,238!
Well, if anyone cares, Ms. Denny was totally and completely wrong. If she had been correct, the mid-year review of this year’s budget reported at the February 4th Council meeting would have predicted a $15,000,000 deficit. Instead, our Director of Administrative Services, Leslie Suelter projected a year ending deficit of about $479,562. The projected number is a deficit rather than a surplus due to the fact that the Council decided to pre-fund an outstanding liability by advancing $1.8 million to the “Other Post-Employment Benefits (OPEB)” account. This action was not in the original budget for FY 2013-2014. Because our City is in such great financial shape, decisions like this can be made in order to save costs in the future.
Councilwoman Denny joined the rest of the Council and voted to accept the mid year financial report. Hey, Hey, Where did Denny’s Deficit Go?
Phil Monroe
28 Bahama Bend
Coronado, CA 92118
619 423-3118
