Dixon public information officer Madeline Graf will be the newly created Fiscal Sustainability Outreach Program liaison. Photo courtesy of the Independent Voice

DIXON, CA (MPG) - There is no longer an excuse to say the city budget is confusing here.

A newly created Fiscal Sustainability Outreach Program is now the direct conduit to the city budget process, which many call confusing. Public Information Officer Madeline Graf detailed the program before city officials adopted the plan involving community outreach, communications, and engagement.

The program comes after the nearly $2 million budget deficient reported for the Fiscal Year 2024-2025 noted in May. The Independent Voice reported that the council is considering placing a 1% sales tax increase on the November ballot.

If voters approve, the proposed tax could add approximately $3 million to the General Fund. Graf said the idea of creating a program began in 2023 when the city council had a goal-setting session.

“One of those goals was to build relationships and strengthen our public engagement,” Graf said. “In order to meet this goal, we have developed an outreach and education program that will focus on the city's fiscal sustainability.”

However, sustaining an understanding of fiscal sustainability is challenging. The new outreach program details the city's budget process, including the relevance of revenues, expenditures, enterprise funds, and reserves.

“They would learn about the budget process and how they can get involved,” Graf said. “I would work closely with our finance team to provide this information.”

The program comes with a cost of $75,000.

Along with videos, three informational brochures will be mailed to all Dixon residents. Graf said all graphic design, printing and mailing are contracted, with the city creating all the content in-house.

“Digital media would include infographics that can go on the website and also on our social media,” the public information said, adding a few short videos will also explain the budget process.

Graf used Texas as an example, showing how some areas of the Lone Star State break down the city finance numbers with Budget 101.

“It is a short video that explains that in the City of Dallas where their money comes from, and it is a little infographic and a short one-minute video in a way that people can understand it easily,” Graf said

Graf pointed to graphics including a $1 bill, with line markings breaking down how each part of the dollar gets spent. More “in-depth” graphic examples break down property taxes and offer pie charts explaining city department funding.

“I would like to note that nearly half of that budget is for the cost to print the mailers, so that is a pretty large portion if you are thinking it may be a little high, that's why,” Graf said.

“There is currently, I believe, $28,000 already in that budget for other projects that were already approved, so the amendment would be $75,000 for this project, leaving a total of $103,000,” Graf said.