City administrators and council members came away from a Friday meeting on next year's budget with some good news and a good many questions.

The good news was that the city appears poised to finish the current fiscal year on budget, with no need for the sort of last-minute cost-cutting there has been in recent years past.

Most of the questions pertained to dealing with a 2012-13 budget shortfall projected at $2.6 million, and how to fund the "dedicated revenue stream" for low-cost housing that Mayor Bill Bell called for in his State of the City address last Monday.

"Something's going to give," said City Manager Tom Bonfield. "We haven't determined (what) yet."

It's still early in the fiscal year, but the city finance overseers expect a $2.44 million revenue shortfall for 2010-11.

That should be offset enough to balance the city’s books by budgeted salaries that won't be paid because the positions are vacant, Budget Director Bertha Johnson said Thursday.

The City Council spent its work session this afternoon picking apart the city's new Strategic Plan. It's a scheme of "Goals," "Initiatives, "Implementation Team Structure," "Dashboard Reporting Option," etc., etc., etc.

“We have identified initiatives we think will impact the results,” said Budget and Management Director Bertha Johnson, who presented the plan for council comment.

Most of the comments were favorable and the council members expressed appreciation for the work – which, City Manager Tom Bonfield said, involved “an incredible number of employees.”

Too, some comments were kind of pointed and pithy. After the “Mission Statement” and the “Vision Statement,” the plan lays out five Goals, among them “Stewardship of city’s physical assets.”

“It's one thing to have this system of asset management in place,” said Councilman Eugene Brown. “But how in the hell are we going to pay for it?”