A PCA Editorial urging the Council to videotape budget and CIP meetings and consider funding priorities with all residents in mind

Every year the Piedmont City Council goes through a budget approval process to determine how Piedmont taxes will be spent. Instead of being held in City Council chambers in City Hall, the pivotal initial budget “workshop” meeting will be held on Saturday, May 21, at 9:00 am in the Piedmont Police Department Emergency Operations Center  (EOC) on Highland Avenue.  Meetings held outside of the City Council chambers are rarely videotaped or broadcast.  The only way that Piedmont residents can see and hear the  workshop discussion is to attend the meeting.  (Two prior CIP Committee meetings held in the EOC were not videotaped, as well.)

At the workshop, Department heads and the City Administrator will present their budget requests and respond to questions from the Council.   Capital Improvement Projects (CIP) recommendations will also be discussed.   Further information, direction or explanation of specific expenditures may be requested by the Council from staff.  The public may address the Council or raise questions on a limited basis during the workshop.

Due to previous major events impacting the City’s finances, this year’s budget is important.  Various items having an impact on the budget include: > Click to read more…

Capital Improvement Projects (CIP) Committee- May 16: The CIP Review Committee will hold a tour of the 801 Magnolia “education wing” on Monday, May 16 at 6:30 p.m.  (Meet in front of City Hall.)  At 7 pm, following the brief tour, the Committee will meet in the Emergency Operation Center (EOC) in the Police Department to review the draft priority funding list and funding recommendations to City Council. (No telecast or video)

Pool Fees – Wednesday, May 18:  The Recreation Commission will hold a public hearing on the revised pool fee schedule which projects a 50% taxpayer subsidy of pool operations at City Hall on Wednesday, May 18 at 7:30 p.m.  The public is invited to attend or send comments to the City Council, 120 Vista Avenue, Piedmont, 94611 or send an e-mail to the City Clerk at jtulloch@ci.piedmont.ca.us.

City Budget Workshop – Saturday, May 21: Piedmont’s proposed FY 2011-2012 budget will be discussed in detail at a City Council work session in the Police Department conference room on Saturday, May 21, 2011 beginning at 9:00 a.m.  (No telecast or video) On June (6 & 20) preceding Budget consideration, the City Council will hold public hearings in City Hall on expenditures and estimated revenues for the FY 2011-12 Budget with final approval scheduled on June 20.

Following are highlights of anticipated issues which may be raised at these meetings: > Click to read more…

The  Piedmont Capital Improvement Program (CIP) Review Committee will be touring the “education wing” of the former Christian Science Church building at 801 Magnolia on Monday, May 16, 2011.   The tour will begin at 6:30 p.m. in front of City Hall.  It is open to the public.

Staff has proposed the education wing of 801 Magnolia Avenue become a childcare facility.  This may include moving programs out of the Recreation Department location at 358 Hillside Avenue, allowing staff to expand its offices.  Other uses for the space raised by Piedmont residents and mentioned in the General Plan Survey have not been proposed by staff.

The CIP Committee is charged with, “Develop(ing) procedures for encouraging and seeking citizen input into the capital budget process.”  However, due to limited funding no public input was solicited this year.  A list of pending projects and highlights from staff’s “wish list” of proposals from the CIP staff report are provided below.

Following the tour, the CIP committee will review the draft CIP priority list and its  CIP recommendations.  These recommendations will be considered by the City Council at 9:00 am on Saturday, May 21, 2011 in the Emergency Operation Center (EOC) of the Police Department.   It will not be videotaped.

The CIP fund represents the largest amount of discretionary spending by the Piedmont City Council.  Due to CIP funding being utilized to satisfy Piedmont Hills undergrounding cost overruns, the CIP budget has been reduced.  It is now $573,000.  New funding is not anticipated for 2011-12.

> Click to read more…

A PCA Editorial: The City has taken over operation of the Piedmont Pool at taxpayer expense.

A Piedmont asset that was built and operated for half a century at no cost to taxpayers has begun to drain funds from the City budget at a rapid rate. City operation of  the pool will exceed the costs borne historically  by a group of volunteers. Numerous assumptions have been made regarding pool usage without adequate operating data.  The only certainty is that swimmers will now be subsidized by Piedmont taxpayers, rather than swim club members. > Click to read more…

Recently released pool use proposals and budget numbers hold a number of surprises for Piedmont taxpayers and swimmers:  Piedmont taxpayers will begin providing a 50% subsidy of pool operating costs starting July 1st.

• Piedmont taxpayers will pay pool costs of $380,000 while the City hopes swimmers will generate $377,000 in fees, to cover a total estimated pool budget of $757,000.
  
• An additional $108,000 in transition costs will be paid in FY 2010-11
• An additional $600,000 in proposed capital improvement funds  (CIP staff report)
• The currently proposed fee structure offers daily swimming privileges to residents and non-residents at the same low rate.
  

The annual estimated $380,000 taxpayer subsidy exceeds the City’s prior estimate of this amount:  $127,000 to $327,000 per its Aquatic Study in 2006. The City’s operating costs of $757,000 are higher than the most recent financial information from the Piedmont Swim Club:  $650,000 per year.  The CIP staff report includes an additional $600,000 in capital improvements for the pool. > Click to read more…

An Opinion on PUSD Administrators’ Salaries and Benefits from Martha Jones, Board of Education Trustee

I would like to offer a few comments on the topic of public employee compensation.

1.     Transparency concerning public employee salaries and benefits is very important.  Taxpayers need to know which services they are paying for and how much these services cost.  Efforts to make some of these figures more easily available to the public have taken various formats, including searchable databases for the salaries of state employees (http://www.sacbee.com/statepay/), local city, county and special district employees (http://www.sco.ca.gov/compensation_search.html) and public employees in the bay area (http://www.mercurynews.com/salaries/bay-area), > Click to read more…

“Rethinking Plastics,” an informative program sponsored by Piedmont CONNECT on Sunday, May 1, 2011, while acknowledging that plastic is ubiquitous (found in everything from clothing to car parts), also illustrated numerous ways we can reduce the wasteful and dangerous use of plastic in our daily lives. > Click to read more…

Discussions of Piedmont’s 2011-2012 Proposed Budget are beginning.  The best time to ask questions and provide input will be at the Budget Workshop on Saturday, May 21st at 9 a.m. At the Workshop the proposed budget will be presented in detail by the City Administrator and department heads.  The public is welcome to attend and ask questions at the workshop.  City Council Members use the opportunity to make inquiries and request additional information of staff in an informal setting. The workshop will take place in the Police Department Emergency Operations Center and will not be videotaped nor on KCOM; attendance is necessary in order to participate in this important process in the development of the budget.

Two additional City Council hearings on the budget will follow the Workshop on June 6 and June 20.

The City Administrator noted that significant pressure on the City’s finances will come from inadequately funded reserves, together with significant new costs, including:

• demand by Oakland for $665,000 – almost double prior voluntary contributions for library services of $350,471 – despite its threatened closure of 15 of 19 libraries.

• pool costs of $380,000 due to the City takeover from a former private volunteer-run organization – despite prior estimates of $127,000 to $327,000.

• sewer replacement fund deficit of $2.8 million ($300,000 from the Crest Road collapse and $2.3 million from new EPA demands) to pay for phases IV, V and VI over the next 3 years.  (Phase I, II & III of the 7 phase project have been completed; final phase VII costs have not been shown in the budget.)

• artificial turf installation/replacement for existing and new City sports fields

For questions regarding the budget contact Mark Bichsel, Finance/HR Director, via email at mbichsel@ci.piedmont.ca.us or by phone at 420-3045.  See the 2011-2012 Proposed Budget

A letter addressing whether rent and other provisions are similar in the two leases

Editors,

At the May 2 City Council meeting, the City Administrator said at least twice that the handling of the 801 Magnolia property was consistent with the handling of the pool decades ago.  As I understand it, his point is that, like the Magnolia lease, the original 1964 pool lease did not involve cash rent, because at the conclusion of the original lease the improvements (the pools and changing rooms) became the city’s property and thus served as “in-kind” rent.

However – the lessees of the 801 Magnolia property are not building an expensive new facility on vacant City-owned land at their own expense, as the Swim Club did – > Click to read more…

A number of citizens appeared before the Piedmont City Council on April 18 to endorse the idea of having an arts center in Piedmont.  The Council was swept up in the new proposal and eager to turn over city property for $1 per year to a new group,  The Piedmont Center for the Arts, which is likely to acquire nonprofit status before the end of 2011.

On April 23 all homes in Piedmont received a letter from the group announcing itself and requesting that tax-deductible contributions be sent to its Center at 801 Magnolia Avenue.  A mailing processor was paid to manage the mailing on its permit and standard bulk rate mailing rates were paid.  Once certified as a nonprofit corporation, the arts group can acquire nonprofit mailing permit, saving money for equipment, art shows, children programs, possibly book reviews, community meetings, etc.

What will the program for the arts center be?  It would be nice to invite all Piedmont citizens to contribute ideas for arts activities and other uses for the publicly owned property. To inform citizens about the building, a public walk through might be included on some of the days City Staff provides access to the new group.  Plans for the “newer” portion of the building (the Sunday school rooms not part of the Arts lease) could be opened for community discussion as part of this process.

Is the enthusiasm for an arts center causing the City to skip over normal steps?  Since Zone B section 17.6.1 requires use of the building only by governmental or nonprofit entities  compatible with their surroundings, why not wait until a certified nonprofit organization has had the benefit of wide citizen input and put together a comprehensive proposal of use, fees, and time allocations to school and recreation programs known to benefit the community as a whole?  The arts center would be even more welcome after the community has been consulted and feels ownership of the idea.  Shall we slow down in order to have a better planned arts center and other uses for all portions of the City-owned property at 801 Magnolia Ave?

The terms of the lease require careful thought. Improvements will be accomplished through community donations and/or community fees, while the lease requires the City to pay the group for costs not amortized at termination.  Water, sewer, garbage, landscape and sidewalk maintenance will be provided by the City.

A long-term lease was required by the Swim Club in order to operate on a public/private basis, but it was a known program that had been developed and operated for almost 50 years.  In the case of the Arts Center, a long-term lease is proposed without knowing the particulars. What Arts Administration expertise and credentials does the group have to run it in a professional manner, a past prerequisite for City owned public benefit property?  While everyone anticipates the facility will enhance our community in many ways, it seems prudent to ensure the Council retains ultimate control over fees and use.

If the arts program is as successful as all hope and anticipate, it could generate significant revenues. These revenues would appropriately be shared with the community by keeping fees as low as possible for residents and providing free use to certain community groups, as the pool did.

In speaking before the Piedmont City Council on April 18, one Art Center Board member and founder confirmed:  “We want this to be used. Our pricing structure for using it is geared toward being always used.” Although this represents a strong commitment to maximizing use, the lease is missing any provisions to keep fees as low as possible, revenue-share with the City, or ensure ongoing reporting and oversight by the City Council of this newest public-private partnership in our town.

Undergrounding problems, the costs of the pool takeover, and the recent League of Women Task Force Report have made citizens more aware and attentive to the potential costs and risks presented from insufficient information and incomplete processes.  The City needs lease provisions which enable appropriate oversight of use, revenue-sharing, fees, and maintenance, while relying on this dedicated volunteer group of arts supporters to manage the facility at great cost savings to the community.

Detail:  Zone B (government zone) requirements per City Code: 17.6.1: Intent.  Zone B is established to regulate and control development of public facilities which are compatible with the character of existing and proposed surrounding uses. (Ord. No. 488 N.S., 10/87)  City Building, Veterans’ Building, or other public agency building, and accessory structures located on the same lot of parcel, for use by governmental entities or other nonprofit entities as allowed by the City.”  (Emphasis added.)

The Council is scheduled at the May 2 Council meeting to take final action on the ordinance approving a lease.