MANTECA — Faced with an unknown city budget deficit for 2009-10, the Manteca Budget Advisory Committee on July 16 proposed that city officials should aim high with proposed employee salary cuts.

“The cuts have to be more than 10 percent,” committee member Bruce Bentz said. “Three to 10 percent is not going to solve the problem.”

He proposed a minimum of 20 percent in salary cuts after noting the city has to make big cuts to meet its future financial needs in addition to proposed furloughs.

On Tuesday, July 21, City Manager Steve Pinkerton said he didn’t anticipate implementing such high salary cuts. He said there were other ways the city could make reductions before dipping into employees’ salaries.

There are a lot of ways we can reduce expenses, he said, to seek their overall 30 percent cut in the general fund — about $2 million. He suggested the city cut salaries, reduce positions and reshuffle employees into positions that aren’t paid through the general fund.

Finance Director Suzanne Mallory said the city has yet to meet with the employee union bargaining groups because they’re waiting for solid numbers on the state budget.

Pinkerton said they anticipate getting accurate state figures by next week. He said they’re on schedule as previously predicted and plan to use August to make any additional adjustments before finalizing the city budget in September.

When advisory committee member Steve Timothy Keegan asked if the city were prepared to lay off people, Mallory said the city plans to do everything it can to avoid that alternative. Ultimately, she said, the decision would rest with the city manager and City Council.

She said the city has challenging times ahead and noted that the state’s fiscal numbers keep changing. She said officials have no idea what the final cost to the city will be, but suggested it will be significant.

“The writing is on the wall,” Keegan agreed. “The good times are over.”

City Clerk JoAnn Tilton said she hoped the advisory committee would give city officials a chance to review their salary reduction recommendation before it was implemented.

“I believe people are happy to have a job,” she said. “I would hope, my personal opinion, the numbers need to be studied and reviewed. I don’t think the staff can blindly jump into it without researching the pros and cons.”

Some reasons why the city is facing fiscal difficulties are the prediction of a 9.2 percent decrease in sales tax revenue and a 14.7 percent drop in property tax, Mallory said.

Since the advisory committee told city officials it was opposed to a utility tax, officials said they’ve been trying to address the committee’s cut recommendations. The city has since organized different study groups to review possible cost-savings measures while trying to keep city services intact.

The city also is considering use of volunteer groups, similar to those helping the police and fire departments, to save money. Mallory said they’re now considering such a group to help with landscape maintenance.

To help with some of the budget problems, Mallory said the city plans to leave vacant any open jobs and freeze department budgets at 2008-09 levels, and 14 employees have agreed to take a retirement incentive.

When committee member Joanna Jamerson asked how much the city saved with the retirements, Mallory said it was $2 million, but only $800,000 would be saved in the general fund. The remainder of the savings would be seen in other budget areas, she said.

As for the citizen impact, Mallory said Manteca residents would feel the changes in city services due to the cuts. She said her department and the city clerk’s don’t have enough people to answer the phones and the wait to respond to citizen inquiries is longer.

“All the departments are feeling the strain,” she said.