It is now easier to connect to the City of Reno website. The City has changed its web address to “reno.gov.”   Why?   Simply put, shorter is better.

“Reno.gov” is easier read, type and remember!  Plus, the change is part of an overall cost savings measure that saves up to $40,000 a year.

Simply type “reno.gov” into your web browser and you will be connected to the City’s website where you can perform a number of transactions online saving gas or stamps and time! In addition to the domain change, the City’s email addresses are also changing to include “reno.gov.”

For now, you will still be able to reach the City website and email addresses using the old “cityofreno.com” address.   The new “reno.gov” address will be phased-in and added to all new printed materials as the old materials with the “old address” are used up in order to save money on printing costs!

Other cities have streetcars and light rail systems…is the City of Reno poised to have them too?   Work continues to make it happen!

The new head of the Washoe County Regional Transportation Commission told members of the Reno City Council a number of significant transportation projects are continuing to move forward including efforts to build a mass transit system along Virginia Street that could include street cars and eventually a light rail system. 

RTC Executive Director Lee Gibson said work continues with the area’s congressional delegation in Washington D.C. to secure as much federal funding as possible for the project.

 The Reno City Council has already approved a four phase concept to implement the plan as well as seven steps to move the project forward. 

The first phase of the project is underway with the introduction of Bus Rapid Transit in the downtown core.  The new RAPID buses began service in October of this year and Lee notes so far, the new buses have increased ridership by 10 % from downtown to the Meadowood Mall from a year ago.      

To learn more about this project go to the newsroom on the City’s website at www.cityofreno.com

Audits might not be the most exciting thing to talk about (unless you are the one being audited!) but in this case, the Comprehensive Annual Report, known as the CAFR, is pretty significant. Why? It ensures accountability and transparency on how the City of Reno is spending its money, managing its funds and handling its budget.

The Reno City Council officially signed off on the CAFR, for FY 2008-09 this week. The FY 2008-09 CAFR received a clean opinion from the City’s external auditors, Gallina, LLP.

For the past 26 years in a row, Reno’s Finance Department has received a Certificate of Excellence in Financial Reporting from the Government Financial Officers Association, which is the highest form of recognition in the area of governmental accounting and financial reporting. The FY 2008-09 CAFR will be submitted to the Association this month for consideration of this honor once again.

The Government Finance Officers Association of the United States and Canada is a nonprofit, professional organization serving approximately 15,000 government finance professionals.

The Reno City Council will meet again on January 8, 2010 at 1:30 PM in the Reno City Council chambers to discuss ways to shore up a projected shortfall of $3.6 million in the current Fiscal Year 2009-2010 budget. Another budget session is set for January 27, 2009 to deal with an anticipated bigger shortfall of $16 million in the following fiscal year, Fiscal Year 2010-2011.

In the first of what will be a series of budget workshops over the next several months, City Manager Donna Dreska and Finance Director Mary Ann Parrot told members of the Council today the projected shortfalls are the result of continued declines in revenues and that the City needs to implement long-term solutions to balance the budget in subsequent years.

Two of the topics to be discussed at the January 8, 2010 meeting are the continuing decline in development-generated revenues affecting the building department and the projected revenues for the Reno Redevelopment Agency based on numbers coming in from the assessor’s office.

Among the options presented today to balance the 2010-2011budget were a possible reduction in force and across-the-board pay cuts for City employees. To close the shortfall with a reduction in employees alone would involve from 160 to 180 positions citywide. The City has already reduced the number of positions by 200 over the past year and a half through attrition, early-out incentives, and freezing positions that become open. The current workforce has been reduced to 1,400 employees.

Council directed staff to continue talking with all employees, and to include the heads of the City’s bargaining units in future meetings on the City’s financial situation. The presentation provided by Dreska and Parrot noted the downturn in the economy is not temporary and any recovery could take a minimum of three or more years.