Friday Update on June 2 2017
All,
Items for the week:
City Council Agenda on Tuesday, June 6:
· Weed Abatement List
· Transition Plan for sidewalks
· Old Landfill- Environmental Monitoring
· Sound Permit for St. Anthony’s Fiesta- June 17
· Amendment to Sales Tax Monitoring Services
· Impact Fee Consultant Contract
· City-wide Assessment District Engineers Report
· Public Hearing on the use of tax exempt bonds for the Blue Mountain Terrace Senior Project
· Senior Services Plan Development Agreement with Yolo County
· Callahan Estates Parcel Map
· Futsol Court at City Park
· The City Council will also be recognizing mail carrier Richard Pitts on his 39 years of service to Winters and the US Postal Service.An update on a couple issues:
· The Winters Highlands Subdivision will kick off grading work. On Monday, the pre-construction meeting was held with a very large group of the contractors and City engineering and Public Works. Lot’s of activity is upon us.
· The Walnut/Grant Roundabout Project award has been delayed pending a review of a bid protest for the contract.
· Water and Storm Drainage Improvements in Newts Expressway are well underway and going really well. The contractor has 30 days and it is clear that they are going to make that. Well done by all parties so far.
· The picnic shelter is up at Walnut Park and you cannot miss it! I never saw where it was going to be safety orange, but the good news is that you will be able to find Winters a lot easier on Google Earth.
· Tomorrow is Elder Day in Winters from 2-4 at the Community Center. There will be a program recognizing over a dozen residents over the age of 90. Come on by for some cake and a program which will honor the nonagenarians! The program is sponsored by the Winters Senior Foundation one of busiest groups in town.
· Supervisor Don Saylor will be hosting a “Budget and Brew” event at Berryessa Brewing from 4-6 this Saturday, June 3. The Supervisor will be informing and listening to constituents about the County Budget. This is an incredible opportunity to meeting with Don, learn about Yolo County and do it within the context of a great Winters libation!
Finally, the City of Winters runs on a Fiscal Year (July-June) and the next twelve months are destined to be some of the busiest in the history of our town. Two hotels (Downtown and Freeway), traffic signal, roundabout, Starbucks, a remodeled Chevron, the opening of the PG&E Gas Training Facility, Putah Creek Renovations and the start of some of the largest subdivisions (Winters Highlands and Callahan) in the history of the community. And, much more………………
It is also going to be one of the tightest financial periods for the City. Typically, property taxes take almost two years to produce revenue, and hotels will not bring transient taxes until they are open. The bottom line is that the City is entering a period where the lag in revenues from taxes and permits will put the City is a time where our cash flows will be impacted and require a very frugal approach to how the City spends.
People always ask me “wow, you must be getting a ton of money from the new projects”? Not until the projects are done and while they are being built, we are equally spending a lot of money to coordinate and make them happen. City spending is going to be really tight at a time where we have some costs skyrocketing (pension costs especially).
I will share that we are preparing to freeze some positions expected in the next fiscal budget (new positions in Police and Fire) as well as pressing frugality amongst the City Staff. Belt tightening will be our mantra next year!
Our goal is to get all of the projected projects to the finish line when we will hopefully see new revenues to bolster our bottom line.
Have a nice weekend.
John