After the first quarter of the fiscal year, city revenues are only about half of what was projected, but city finance officials said they aren’t ready to panic yet. The negative balance for the city budget is not just related to lower-than-anticipated revenues – a large part of the imbalance is due to greater-than-anticipated expenditures. The $812 million city budget is running negative at the moment – “typical” for the first quarter of the fiscal year, according to the most recent report from the city Finance Department. The first quarter financial report will be presented to the City Council Tuesday. Of the six main sources of revenue for the city – property tax, utility user tax, sa

 In an abandoned corner of City Hall that formerly housed the planning department, four auditors are digging for information about the city’s rules and finances. Jorge Oseguera, the new city auditor, has narrowed down the top four areas of municipal government he will investigate first: the city’s health benefits, citywide policies, revenue collections and the vehicle fleet. In addition to those audits, he has four more in the hopper. The next set of audits will cover the city’s 311 information center, purchase cards, fire inspection fees and the city’s sidewalk repair process. The City Council gave Oseguera permission to move ahead with the audits in June. Oseguera said his goal is to