About 40% of the City of Cupertino's revenue comes from sales taxes. But with a state audit, the sales tax revenue is estimated to drop 73% this year, from $42.1 million to $11.4 million, a $30.7 million change. The City of Cupertino's budget will change from surplus to deficit. See staff report for details.
Below is a screen shot of the staff report.
The city offered three strategies: reduce fund, cut expenditure and increase revenue.
Below is a screen shot of fund reduction.
Below are screen shots of expenditure reductions.
Below are screen shots of increasing revenue.
The City of Cupertino is conducting a survey. How should Cupertino balance its budget?
Below are some ideas not offered in the city survey above.
- A hiring freeze while the budget is in deficit. The Staff per 1000 residents ratio is at all time high (3.40). How about scale it back to FY 14-15 level (2.62)?
Given the population is 60,869 in FY2023-24, we can save 47 to 52 positions. Each position costs about $186,000 per year (See Expenditure Reduction Strategies above). The saving is about $8,742,000 to $9,672,000 per year.
Note: Cupertino Budget At A Glance for FY23-24 shows 207 total staff for FY23-24, while page 42 of Cupertino Adopted Budget for FY23-24 shows 212 total staff. The Budget At A Glance shows 10% population reduction for FY23-24. I don't know whether this is accurate. So used previous year's population number for calculation.
- Freeze city staff salaries and benefit unless the budget is balanced or has a surplus. This will encourage city staff to pursue a balanced budget as well.
- Cupertino pays Santa Clara County Sheriff each year for law enforcement services. But cities like Sunnyvale (larger than Cupertino) and Campbell (smaller than Cupertino) have their own police department. Should Cupertino study the strategy to have its own police department?
Cupertino Reserving $56.5 Million to Repay Tax from Apple Sales
The related survey can be found here.