Revenue committee discusses fiscal goals
By JESSICA KELLER
ARGUS OBSERVER
Thursday, May 8, 2008 10:15 AM PDT
ONTARIO — The Ontario Revenue Committee revisited the question of how much revenue its ideas should generate at its regular meeting Wednesday night.
Committee member Bruce Hunter asked City Council Liaison Dan Cummings toward the beginning of the meeting if the council had determined a set revenue amount the committee should work toward when producing ideas to stimulate the city’s general fund.
“Because if we don’t have a goal that we’re shooting for then we’re just spinning our wheels,” Hunter said.
The committee agreed the idea was to correct the strain on the city’s general fund and prevent the city’s contingency fund from being depleted further each year. However, committee members had varying ideas regarding how much additional revenue the city needed to pull in each year to do that. Hunter said it would be nice to have a set amount in mind because if the City Council expected a lower amount that would only address current setbacks, the committee would not have to work as hard. If, however, the City Council expected ideas that would produce a large amount of revenue, the committee may not be working hard enough.
Some committee members thought the $1.5 million figure provided by the City Council regarding additional revenue the general fund needed was the goal. There was some dispute, however, whether that figure was named as the goal or whether the revenue committee members should be pursuing a higher figure.
The committee agreed to continue producing as many revenue-generating ideas as possible, with both larger and smaller net gains to the city, unless the council came back with a different directive.
They also agreed, it was not up to them to decide which ideas to use or how they would be implemented.
Ontario City Councilwoman Susann Mills, who attended the session as an audience member, cautioned it could be more difficult for the council to implement 10 different ideas that would total a large amount than one or two ideas that would generate the same.
The committee also agreed to ask the City Council at the next council meeting for a deadline extension of early July to present its final recommendations. Committee chairman John Breidenbach said the committee is expected to make its presentation the same night a public hearing on system development charges is scheduled, and he was concerned the council would not be able to give the committee’s ideas its full attention.
Both Breidenbach and Cummings cautioned the committee, in addition, to refrain from singling out people from Idaho or out of town as causes of problems, so as to not alienate anyone. The committee will meet again at 5:30 p.m. May 22 at council chambers.
