GARDEN GROVE : Water Department In for Hiring Freeze
The City Council has imposed a hiring freeze in the Water Department.
In a long and often acrimonious discussion, council members last week argued whether the city has overcharged the water operation to subsidize the general fund budget, or water rates were lower than the cost of supplying water to the city’s customers.
A motion proposed by Councilman Robert F. Dinsen and approved by the council 3 to 2 will cut $330,190 in overhead charges from the water budget.
Those funds will go into a special capital account for future building programs, such as for reservoirs.
“It’s incumbent on me to tell you that this makes the city budget about $330,000 out of balance, and the only way to balance it is to adopt a hiring freeze,” said City Manager George Tindall after the council’s action.
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