Budget Advisory & Financial Planning Committee

Tuesday, May 9, 2023 6:00 p.m.

Police Emergency Operations Center, 403 Highland Avenue, Piedmont

A broadcast of the meeting will not take place. Minutes are not kept of the meetings.  The public can attend the meeting and, if desired, may make visual and audio recordings of the meeting. 

No meeting materials, such as the Budget and Financial Plan, were publicly distributed with the meeting announcement. Materials should be publicly available at the meeting.

Regular Agenda

1. Fiscal Year 2022-2023 Financial Update

2. Review Proposed Fiscal Year 2023-2024 Budget and Consideration of FY 2023-2024 Budget Report

3. Review Long Range Financial Plan

4. Review of Public Safety Dispatch Staffing

Announcements, old business and consideration of future agenda items .

Materials related to an item on this agenda submitted to the Budget Advisory and Financial Planning Committee are available for public inspection in the Finance Department during normal business hours.

QUESTIONS  CONTACT:

Michael Szczech
Finance Director
City of Piedmont
(510) 420-3045

Any member of the public who needs accommodations should email the City Clerk at cityclerk@piedmont.ca.gov or call (510) 420- 3040 who will make their best efforts to provide reasonable accommodations to provide as much accessibility as possible while also maintaining public safety in accordance with the City procedure for resolving reasonable accommodation requests. Information about reasonable accommodations is available on the City website at https://piedmont.ca.gov. Notification at least two business days preceding the meeting will enable the City to make reasonable arrangements to ensure accessibility to this meeting. [28 CFR 35.102-35.104 ADA Title II]

In accordance with G.C. Sec. 54954.2(a) this notice and agenda were posted on the City Hall bulletin board and also in the Piedmont Police Department on Friday May 5, 2023. 

Last week, Piedmont elementary school kids enjoyed multiple sessions of P.E. class on the Linda Beach pickleball courts.  In this photo, local kids are learning pickleball from volunteer instructors from the Piedmont and Oakland communities.

The Linda Beach courts are currently available for pickleball use by the schools and the public during a several month trial being conducted by the Piedmont Recreation Department.  At the end of the trial, the Piedmont Recreation Commission and City Council will decide whether the use of the Linda Beach courts exclusively for pickleball will be made permanent.  Use of the courts by Piedmont school kids will continue throughout the trial and, hopefully, become permanent.

Pickleball is the nation’s fastest growing sport.  The International Federation of Pickleball currently has at least 70 member nations and is striving for inclusion of pickleball as an Olympic sport, possibly as early as 2028.  According to the Sports Fitness Industry Association’s 2022 Pickleball Report, a third of pickleball players are under age 25.  The current number one rated pickleball players in the world are Ben Johns, a now 24-year-old who converted from tennis to pickleball at age 17, and Anna Leigh Waters, a now 16-year-old who went pro at age 12.  Both are reeling in substantial tournament winnings and endorsement deals.

Former Piedmont High School and professional tennis player, Brad Gilbert, recently told ABC News, “I do see the sport [pickleball] growing because of how much quicker the learning curve to play.”  Brad Gilbert coached the former tennis great Andre Agassi, who has now become a pickleball convert.  Agassi, Michael Chang, John McEnroe and Andy Roddick recently played in a pickleball event with a million dollar purse.

According to a recent article on Parents.com, part of the huge rise in pickleball participation is due to the increased inclusion of pickleball in schools’ athletic curriculums and at summer camps.  In another referenced Parents.com article, soccer star Alex Morgan rued the decline in kids’ interest in sports, noting that 70 percent of kids in the U.S. stop playing sports by age 13.  Morgan urged the prioritization of funding for municipal infrastructure allowing for low-cost participation by kids in sports that are “fun.”  Pickleball meets both criteria.  Municipalities across the nation are racing to meet the growing demand for pickleball facilities.

The Piedmont Pickleball Committee hopes that one or more of these happy youngsters enjoying pickleball at the Linda Beach courts will become a star on a future Piedmont High School Pickleball Team and/or the next Ben Johns or Anna Leigh Waters.  At the very least, they will learn a sport which is low cost, fun and can be continued throughout their lifetimes.”

by Jeff Trowbridge, Piedmont Pickleball Committee

City staff  seek community members to help create a plan for electrifying
Piedmont’s residential buildings.

The City staff of Piedmont is soliciting letters of interest from community members willing to serve on a task force that would help develop a plan for how to electrify Piedmont’s existing residential buildings. 

Submit letters of interest by Tuesday, May 16th

ElectrificationTaskForce@piedmont.ca.gov

The Building Electrification Strategy Task Force, appointed by the City Administrator, not the City Council, will work with staff to better understand existing barriers to home electrification and create a strategic framework for equitably moving Piedmont’s building stock off of natural gas.

Residential building electrification essential for meeting Climate Action goals
Transitioning Piedmont’s existing residential buildings from natural gas to clean electricity as
soon as possible is crucial for meeting the ambitious emission reduction targets established by
the City’s Climate Action Plan.

Despite substantial investment in climate action work – which has earned a Beacon Spotlight
Award for Sustainability Best Practices from the Institute for Local Government for two
consecutive years – Piedmont is not presently on track to meet its greenhouse gas emissions
reduction goals.

Most emissions come from gas gas furnaces and water heaters.

The gap is largely due to natural gas use in residential buildings, which accounts for roughly half
of Piedmont’s in-territory emissions. Because much of Piedmont’s housing stock is old and
large, heating and cooling these homes requires greater than average energy use. For each year
between 2017 and 2020, annual emissions just from residential buildings exceeded Climate
Action Plan targets for total emissions in Piedmont by 2050. Most of these emissions came from
natural .

The City is now seeking to draw on the wealth of expertise within our community to create a
strategic plan for expediting this transition. The Task Force will be charged with developing an
Existing Building Electrification Strategy that will guide future policies and programs related to
residential building electrification.

Staff have approached several community members who have previously engaged with the City
on electrification and sustainability initiatives about their potential interest in serving on the task
force. To ensure that the task force incorporates diverse perspectives and wide-ranging expertise,
we are also soliciting interest from the community at large.

If you think you can help, send an email to ElectrificationTaskForce@piedmont.ca.gov letting us know:

• Why you’re interested in serving on the task force
• What unique skills, experience, or perspective you would bring
Submit your letter of interest by Tuesday, May 16th. The City anticipates making task force
appointments by the end of May.

For questions about letters of interest or the Electrification Task Force, contact Assistant City Administrator/City Clerk John Tulloch at jtulloch@piedmont.ca.gov or (510) 420-3040.

“Piedmont has a spending problem, not a revenue problem.”

Piedmont Budget Advisory and Financial Planning Committee report

Some highlights from the April Budget Advisory and Financial Planning Committee  (BAFPC) meeting:

Four Year Capital Improvement Program: 

Estimates to replace/renovate Essential Services facilities, City hall basement and Recreation Building:     $16, 450,000. – 52,585,425.

STAFF INCREASES:

Proposed FY23-24 will include a part-time Facilities Project Manager:            $100,000/year

Increase in Planning Department Part-time staff:                                           $180,400

Increase in Planning Department Supplemental and Consulting service:       $519,000

Consulting for Moraga Canyon Specific Plan:                                                  $700,000

2 new dispatch positions Police Department:       $282,000, 5-year cost = $1, 518,000

TAX INCREASES:

2 new dispatchers would require a 11% increase in the parcel tax.

TAX REVENUE:

Property taxes receipts were 8% above the previous year (well above expected) and the real property transfer tax for 20222/23 was projected to come in at $4.7M, almost $1M above estimates.

For more details email Finance Director Michael Szczech, mszczech@piedmont.ca.gov.

In year’s past, City Council would have the assistance of two citizen committees to assist in reviewing these spending and tax increases.   The Municipal Tax Review Committee (MTRC) would meet every two years prior to the parcel tax being put on the ballot for renewal. The MTRC held public meetings and met with all department heads to review service levels and department needs.

The Budget Advisory and Financial Planning Committee (BAFPC ) has replaced the MTRC but is not conducting the comprehensive review of city departments the prior committee once did. With the addition of the Measure UU assessments, the likely increase in the parcel tax, and a possible new bond for essential service buildings, the BAFPC should revisit its 2018 study of taxes in comparable cities to assess the long-term impact of these new tax adoptions on Piedmont.  That study found Piedmont’s tax levels acceptable based on comparison with Hillsborough.

The other committee was the Capital Improvement Projects Committee (CIP) which reviewed staff and citizen proposals for capital improvement projects.  With Piedmont’s conservative budgeting, there’s always a surplus in city revenues at the end of the year and CIP annually met to review proposals for capital projects from staff but also from residents.  Residents filled out a form and presented to the committee. The Indian Road, Ronada/Ramona and Kingston traffic islands all were initiated through the CIP process.  CIP seems to have been disbanded after COVID – the committee is no longer listed among the city’s commission and committees.  In my experience, the CIP provided a good reality check to staff proposals.  For example, in response to a question from a BAFPC committee member, staff said the primary criteria for CIP is safety and that is true.  This year’s top CIP project is the Piedmont Park – Guilford stairs at the cost of $388,000.  That project was initiated by a fall on the stairs and what could have been addressed with a handrail has morphed into a major beautification project.  Has this project diverted funding from other safety projects like Park Way and Highland where a pedestrian was hit by a car? A CIP committee asking these questions earlier in project development would provide significant cost savings.

The opening line of the first BAFPC report was: “Piedmont has a spending problem, not a revenue problem.”  That was speaking to the payroll and benefits obligations of the city at the time.  Piedmont is receiving record tax revenue and should reconvene the CIP and MTRC committees so it doesn’t slip back into a spending problem.

Garrett Keating, Former Member of the Piedmont City Council

Editors’ Note: Opinions expressed are those of the author.

 On Tuesday May 9, The Budget Advisory & Financial Planning Committee (BAFPC) will meet again at 6:00 pm in the EOC (Emergency Operations Center  of the Piedmont Police Department at Highland and Vista Avenues.)

The important BAFPC meetings, unlike Piedmont Commission meetings, are not broadcast or video recorded by the City. Minutes are not kept of the Committee meetings, although required by the City Charter.  The public may attend and participate in the meetings with a right to obtain all materials distributed to the Committee members. The public has a right to make audio and video recordings of the meetings.