The coronavirus crisis may deplete Hayward’s $36 million in General
Fund reserves in one year unless spending slows and sales tax and other key
revenues improve from recent levels, city officials said Thursday.
So far, Hayward fire personnel including firefighters and
the city manager have agreed to give up planned pay raises. The mayor and
members of the City Council are reducing their salaries by 2 percent for the
next fiscal year and planning to cut their budgets for travel and other
expenses by 50 percent.
All told, the reductions will save the city about $500,000
in the new fiscal year that starts July 1.
But cuts in revenue due to the coronavirus crisis are
forecast to require the city to spend $17 million of its $36 million General
Fund operating reserve by the end of the current fiscal year on June 30.
The General Fund reserve is like a savings account, which
can be drawn on in times of an emergency. The General Fund pays for services
such as police, fire, 911 response, libraries, and among other services, the maintenance
of parks.
The agreed-upon cuts reached with the fire department, City Council,
mayor and city manager are the first following two proposals to city employee
bargaining groups asking all employees to forego pay increases on July 1 and
take 80 hours off without pay.
The proposals as well as pay cuts among unrepresented
employees would save the city about $2.5 million in the coming fiscal year.
Source: NBC Bay Area