SUNNYVALE BEGINS BUDGET REVIEW;
PUBLIC INPUT TO BE SOUGHT

SUNNYVALE, Calif. – Facing the reality of uncertain and reduced revenues to the City, Sunnyvale has begun its annual budget preparation. Under the direction of the City Council, however, the budget process is changing.

This year’s budget development includes new opportunities for public input very early in the process as the Council ranks service priorities and creates a community vision. The goal is to provide Council members with better information to assist them in making budget decisions for Fiscal Year 2004/2005 while maintaining those services deemed important to life in Sunnyvale.

In order to enable the Council to make the best decisions possible, a prioritization review of services will be conducted by the City Council in two public meetings. Each service will be examined in terms of cost and the type and size of the customer group it serves. Public comment will be sought to provide additional information to the City Council.

Two more public meetings will then be held at which time the Council will receive an unbalanced budget, discuss community vision and rank services. A key outcome of these meetings will be the development of a community vision which will help guide the Council as they work toward adoption of the new budget in mid-June.

The four scheduled public City Council budget meetings are slated for Saturday,

March 13 and 20 and Saturday, April 10 and 17. Each meeting will begin at 8:30 a.m. in City Council Chambers, 456 West Olive Avenue, and will be broadcast live on

KSUN-18, the City’s government access cable television station. In addition, the meetings will be rebroadcast by tape delay during the week following the meeting. Schedules will be posted on KSUN-18 and the City’s Web site at www.sunnyvale.ca.gov. Video tapes of the meetings will also be available at the Sunnyvale Library following the meetings.