Editor, Manteca Bulletin,
I support the recommendations by the citizen committee to cut cost by reducing personnel cost which consist of 85% of the City of Manteca’s general fund. My support is the result of knowledge that the only way to bring the budget in line with money received by the city is to cut personnel or have personnel make pay and benefit concessions. But the cuts should be much deeper at the top wherein the largest wages are paid. The city manager, department directors, police chief, fire chief and assistants should shoulder a larger share of the cuts.

Moreover, I have submitted a couple articles to the Bulletin focusing on the same issues, but the Bulletin chose not to print them but were printed by the Sun Post. The articles were on target and of interest to citizens of Manteca. The reality is, the budget deficit affects us all and the pain should be shared equally especially by those that made the bad decisions. But tax increases are not the way to close the budget deficit. It is counter to economic principles. We citizens expect the mayor, city council and city manager to manage with fewer personnel but provide similar services. It can be done by prudent management of resources by department heads and supervisors.

Again, I commend you on the article but hope that in the future you print opinions that have different views but are informative in nature.