Upside down: Sonoma City Budget includes a $2.9 million General Fund deficit

The Sonoma City Council will consider the city’s proposed budget on Wednesday night at its regular meeting. The budget, as proposed by City Manager David Guhin, includes a General Fund deficit of $2.9 million, nearly $2 million higher than last year.

Sonoma’s General Fund is its major operational fund, encompassing a budget for police, fire, public works, finance, and the entirety of city staff. Other funds, like the Water and Cemetery Funds, have their own budgets. Guhin proposes to use the city’s reserve funds, money set aside for this type of budget shortfall and/or emergency, to bridge the gap between revenues and expenses.

In his introductory letter to the council about the budget, Guhin notes:

“The proposed General Fund budget is $27,118,608, including transfers. General Fund revenues for FY 2024-25 are projected at $24.3 million and FY 2024-25 General Fund expenditures are expected to be $27.1 million.

It is important to remember that the proposed budget is a plan. The City Council can modify and adapt the budget as we proceed through the fiscal year. The FY 2024-25 Budget will be an active “plan” with proactive monitoring and review.

The FY 2024-25 proposed budget includes the five-year Capital Improvement Plan which outlines planned projects to maintain the City’s infrastructure and community assets and the potential funding sources for these projects.

The coming year is expected to offer economic challenges at the national, state, and local level and uncertainty prevails in predicting the depth of these challenges. Despite uncertainty, our goal as an organization is to provide an informed assessment for use in making financial decisions, to communicate transparently with our community, and to adapt as needed to continue to serve our residents and business within available resources.”

The entire proposed budget is available online. To view it, CLICK HERE.