This week at City Hall

The Raincross Gazette took a look at this week’s city meetings and some of the important items agenda items for you.

City Council

During today’s 1 p.m. session, Riverside City Councilmembers will discuss the approval of an employment agreement for Riverside’s new city clerk, Donesia Gause-Aldana.

Gause-Aldana previously served as city clerk for the city of Carson, California and her position with Riverside is set to take effect on the 12th of this month.

Budget Engagement Commission

At 5 p.m. on Thursday, the Budget Engagement Commission (BEC) will have their second meeting to hear departmental presentations as they prepare the city’s budget for fiscal year 2021-2022.

Over the course of three meetings, the first of which occurred on March 31st, city departments will present their preliminary annual departmental budgets to the BEC.

One of the city’s main goals is to formulate a contingency plan in the event that the General Fund Transfer from the Electric Fund is discontinued.

In the November election, Riverside voters may be asked to reauthorize a decades-old practice of transferring millions in utility payments to the city’s general fund, which the city calls the GFT.

The city has been able to transfer money from electric utility to a general fund since Riverside first established a city charter in 1907. Voters decided in the 1960s and again in the 1980s that the city could transfer 11.5 percent of the utilities’ total revenues. This translates today as $40 million a year that is transferred into the general fund, paying for services like 911 response, fire fighting teams, paramedics, police, street repairs, park upkeep and more.

On Thursday, the BEC will hear budget presentations from the Community & Economic Development Department, the public works, fire and police departments.