Springing Forward: Dublin to Deliver Another Balanced Budget; Prepares for St. Paddy's Day Celebration

City Budget 2012/2013 -- Delivering a Balanced Budget with No Layoffs or Reduction in Services

The City Council's budget planning process is underway. Newspapers are full of stories of the federal government's $14 trillion debt, the state's continued across the board cuts, and even our county government now faces a significant budget shortfall. Because of sound fiscal management, I'm excited to report that last year Dublin did not have a shortfall, rather we had a net of over $2 million from what was budgeted. We did this last year without cutting services, laying a single employee off and even had our own employees pay into our pension plan. This coming budget will be no different. I look forward to continuing to responsibly manage the taxpayers' money to provide a better quality of life and make measured investments in the future. 

Dublin Turns 30 -- St. Patrick's Day Festival Kicks off Year-Long Celebration

In 1982, a great town became a City. This year, the City of Dublin turns 30.  When I turned 30 a year ago, I didn't want to tell anyone. Dublin's birthday celebration will be much more public. It will start with our St. Patrick's Day Festival and 5K, the weekend of Saturday, March 17 and Sunday, March 18. Click here for more information about the weekend's festivities. Check out our blog later this Spring for information on Summer and Fall celebrations that will take place, including a fireworks show! Click here to read my comments and thoughts on Dublin's birthday.

Greening the Emerald City

Green technology is the future. It's the future of local job creation and the only way we can reduce our carbon footprint and dependence on foreign energy sources. I'm proud that our city council took a major step to greening our city in a partnership project with local LED-manufacturer Bridgelux and Chevron. This project will bring energy savings to the city, improve street-level visibility, and most important, there's no out-of-pocket cost to the city. Click here to read more about Dublin leading the way in green technology.

New Businesses/Jobs Coming to Dublin

We continue to attract new businesss and job-creators to town. Within a few weeks, will open near the new on Fallon Road. Also, the Ross corporate headquarters will re-locate to Dublin, bringing at least a thousand jobs to Dublin. Our council has worked hard to be flexible with our economic development policies during the economic downturn -- creative policies, like the sales-tax reimbursement program and sewer connection fee assistance have played a big role recently in moving our local economy forward.