Oakdale City Council members approved the final Fiscal Year 2018-2019 budget with a healthy reserve, showing the General Fund growing by $209,335, closing out the current year with a 44 percent reserve at $5.3 million.

According to City Manager Bryan Whitemyer, the positive increase has managed to maintain the City Council’s reserve goal of 40 percent, thanks in large part to the contributions of Measure Y.

Measure Y is a half-cent sales tax measure that provides revenue for the city. More than 90 percent of Measure Y funds are used to fund public safety services, such as police and fire.

Measure Y enables the city to maintain and/or improve services to the people, officials noted when reviewing the final budget numbers at the Monday night, Oct. 21 council meeting.

A breakdown of Measure Y is as follows: 58 percent, police; 33 percent, fire; 4 percent, street lighting; 2 percent, street sweeping; 2 percent, community center; and 1 percent, senior center.

Voters in Oakdale will be asked to vote on extending the half-cent sales tax – renamed as Measure H – during the Tuesday, Nov. 5 election.

Additional hires in police, fire and public works were represented in the final numbers as well.

Cannabis sales helped feed the General Fund with a solid $485,000.