| | Published May 27th, 2009
| MOFD Faces Possible Further Budget Cuts
| | By Lucy Amaral | | |
With the failure of the recent state propositions to pass, the Moraga Orinda Fire District (MOFD) is bracing for possibly more cuts to its own budget. At the Board of Directors Meeting, held May 20, Fire Chief Pete Nowicki said that the State of California might need to borrow eight percent of the MOFD property-tax revenue to help offset the state's deficit. That cut could equate to nearly 1.2 million dollars for MOFD's 2009-2010 fiscal year budget.
In a May 14, 2009 news release regarding California's financial concerns, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger said that if the proposition failed, the option of borrowing two billion dollars from local governments and special districts like MOFD would need to be added to the budget proposal to help shore-up the state's pending deficit. These borrowed funds would be paid back over the next three years.
"We are already reducing costs to bare bones," Nowicki said. "We will have enough in reserves to carry us through until we are paid back, but all operations will remain stagnant over that three year period until we receive payment."
The Board directed Nowicki to send a letter to the Governor on behalf of the Board indicating their displeasure with the Governor's decision to suspend Proposition 1A(2004), which protects District funding. They will also put a more formal resolution on a future agenda for possible adoption.
In other financially-related actions, the MOFD Board approved the 2009-2010 fire flow tax rate for the Moraga and Orinda fire zones, moving to maintain the current rate of 6.0 cents in Moraga and 6.0 cents in Orinda. The Board also declined the Orinda City Council's request to participate financially in the hiring of an independent consultant to further study the MOFD, as well as the District's proportionality and equity issues.
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Lamorinda Weekly, Moraga CA