United Way Community Resources Fair scheduled for August
Yuba, Sutter and Colusa counties are full of resources to assist community members in a variety of ways but sometimes it’s hard to know where to look when reaching out for services.
To bring all of those resources to one place, the Yuba-sutter-colusa United Way will host the eighth annual Community Resource Fair on Saturday, August 17, from 10 a.m. until 1 p.m. at Gauche Park, 421 C St. in Yuba City.
The annual event was originally scheduled in May but had to be postponed due to bad weather.
Over 60 non-profit and government organizations will be on hand to provide educational information about community resources and many will also have activities for kids of all ages.
“The purpose of the fair is to allow local residence to meet with organizations from the area to find out what low-cost or no-cost services are available in the area,” said Bob Harlan, executive director of the Yuba-sutter-colusa United Way.
While the organizations in attendance will be from Yuba and Sutter Counties, many of them serve residents of Colusa County, as well, Harlan said.
“There is an excellent cross-section of services available, which is extra valuable to the community,” Harlan said.
A barbecue lunch will be available free of charge to the first 500 people in attendance, plus there will be a kid’s fun run around the fund,” Brown said.
Marysville’s three main revenue generators – property tax, sales tax and Measure C (sales and use tax increase) – generated $16.10 million for the city to operate. All three of the revenue generators met expectations, even showing a few percentage points increase over the previous year.
That said, the city’s expected costs are projected to outpace those revenues for a total of $17.16 million in expenses. The additional expenses are due to the approximately $500,000 running deficit in the wastewater fund and a little more than $500,000 in the general fund for one-time expenses. Brown said the city expects an opportunity to recoup the difference in the next fiscal year because most of the expected costs are onetime expenses.
The city’s biggest costs park where participants will receive a ribbon and prize drawings every half hour.
“I believe this is an extremely valuable resource for families of all income levels but primarily low income families,” Harlan said. “Families are guaranteed to find out things they didn’t know about before.”
Harlan also said the participating organizations also benefit greatly from the event.
“The organizations get to talk to each other as well and that really strengthens the local network,” Harlan said.
For more information, contact the Yuba-sutter-colusa United Way at 743-1847 or visit www.yscunitedway.org. go toward salaries and wages, which make up 42.1 percent of its expenses. After that, capital projects take the next biggest chunk at 16.2 percent. Debt service makes up 12.7 percent of total expenses.
The approved budget does not project any cuts to positions, operations or departments.
“We did restructure some of the departments and the allocation of their expenses to create greater transparency and monitoring of true operating costs of all departments,” Brown said. “For example, the budget reflects new departments and funds including the city attorney, IT, human resources, homelessness and community sponsorship (to support special events). This does not reflect new monies being spent, rather a restructuring to show the money we’re already spending in the appropriate categories and disciplines.”
Brown said the city’s biggest concerns include a rising unfunded pension liability, large bond payments incurred by the general fund (e.g. B Street property); keeping pace with market rate salaries; rising health care costs; high commercial vacancy rates; real limits to city growth; changes and potential volatility of the economy; and the expiration of the Measure C sales tax in 2026.
Priorities moving forward, Brown said, include controlled spending, economic development, seeking revenue generating and cost-saving opportunities; re-evaluating and improving the city’s role and position in the cannabis industry; disposing of the B Street property; and driving down the cost of healthcare. Accounts Receivable ........ Classified Fax ................... adclass@appealdemocrat.com adobits@appealdemocrat.com adlegals@appealdemocrat.com
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