To meet our financial challenges, there are a number of efforts and programs we have implemented to reduce expenses and increase revenue, including:
- Hiring Freeze – A hiring freeze has already been instituted which will result in approximately $1.4 million in savings annually.
- Mandatory Furlough Program – The San Rafael City Council has approved a mandatory furlough program for non-safety employees which is expected to save approximately $700,000 this year.
- Voluntary Retirement Separation Program – The San Rafael City Council also approved Voluntary Retirement Separation Program which results in on-going salary and benefit savings to the City by not filling the vacant positions or restructuring around the vacancies. This program yielded approximately $586,000 in savings.
- Voluntary Work Hours Reduction Program – This program will depend upon the number and position of the employees participating and would lower that employee’s base annual pay for a period of time.
- Emergency Reserve – Following the Great Recession, the City has been able to build its Emergency Reserves from less than 3% to meet its policy of 10%. While a reserve figure of 15% or 20% would be optimal, the City Council agreed to reduce our reserve by a total of 5% (bringing it to 5%) through Fiscal Year 20/21.
Even with the above reductions, an additional $4 million is needed to meet the anticipated revenue losses. These additional budget reductions will significantly add to the negative impacts on city services.