DIXON – The city’s proposed budget doesn’t look much different from past years, despite the massive fraud with which its fired comptroller is accused.

As far as the interim comptrollers can tell, they said, qualifying their statements as only opinions, the city’s savings were drained over the years while operating expenses were affected to a much lesser degree.

The City Council hired Stan Helgerson and David Richardson after the arrest of Rita A. Crundwell, 59, who, federal prosecutors say, misappropriated $53 million in city funds over 2 decades.