On the other hand, the city has a long list of “unmet needs.”
The city staff report for tonight’s budget workshop says:
“While the growing list of unmet needs – both one-time and recurring – remains a significant concern, current economic and budgetary realities suggest that emphasis should be placed on securing existing revenues over seeking new revenue sources that could, potentially, jeopardize revenues relied upon to provide existing City services.”
The general idea at this point, and it was shared by Finance Director and Assistant City Manager Paul Navazio, is that the city recognizes at this time that hey cannot ask for additional revenues. Last year they were proposing and exploring a number of new taxes to deal with some of the growing list of unmet needs. However, that is largely off the table now.
The staff report reads:
“At this time, staff is suggesting that the highest priority related to future ballot measures should be the renewal of the ½ Sales Tax (Measure P), approved by the voters in June 2004, with a 6-year sunset provision. This measure currently provides roughly $3 million in General Fund revenues to the City.
Secondly, priority should be given to options for renewing or replacing the Parks
Maintenance Tax (Measure G), which was re-authorized by the voters in June 2006, with a 6-year sunset provision. This measure provides roughly $1.3 million in dedicated funding in support of park maintenance activities. In the past, some concerns have been expressed over the appropriateness of assessing this tax on the basis of a flat $49 tax on parcels within the City. Staff has previously been directed to explore alternative funding mechanisms, to the point where the text of Measure G provides that the measure would be repealed in the event that the City secures an alternative means of funding parks maintenance activities.”
In other words, right now the city will be focusing on renewing rather than expanding the existing revenue base. That puts a tremendous strain on city resources and city services. One of the keys will be the round of negotiations that the city has to engage in this year with most of the city employees’ bargaining units.
There will be a tremendous pressure on the city and the bargaining units to simply punt on these negotiations. Meaning that they would simply negotiate the same agreement as before and extend the current contract. The hope by the employees would be that in a year or two the economy will have improved and then they can negotiate a better contract.
However, many recognize that the current trajectory is not sustainable. At some point we will have fuller discussion of the retirement system, but the strain on PERS may necessitate changes in who funds the retirement pensions and the breakdown of employee payments to employer payments into PERS.
The city at this time would be better holding fast to the negotiations and go to the mat for changes even if that process takes two years and requires a de facto rather than a de jure extension of the current contract.
From our standpoint the biggest problem right now are the growing list of unmet needs. The growing list was concerning last year. The fact at that point was that the city separated this list of needs from the budget, meaning that it appeared we had a fund balance with a reserve. But that fund balance was an illusion. It belied the fact that the city lacked the resources to meet these needs.
These needs include infrastructure upgrade and repair, basic road maintenance, and a whole host of other short and long term needs. Allowing these to go unaddressed means more cost down the line.
Now the city finds itself in an operating budget deficit that will grow to large proportions in the next two fiscal years. The city cannot rely on the taxpayers to pay more during these very difficult economic times. So the city is in a real jam.
The city has really put itself into a tight place by being overly generous with salary increases and retirement pensions that occurred during better economic times. The city lacks the revenue now to be able to address serious needs and they also recognize that the taxpayers lack the resources and probably the inclination to vote for tax increases during these challenging fiscal times.
Where does that leave the city? We will have to watch as the council tries to grapple with these kinds of issues. It would have helped if a year ago, the council had been more upfront about the tenuous nature of the city’s fiscal situation it was touting during the council elections of 2008.
The Vanguard has been warning about this impending problem for some time. The council is just now considering looking into it.
—David M. Greenwald reporting
It’s time that the City started buckling down like everyone else is in this economic climate. We already approved Measure W. I WILL NOT pay any more taxes. Davis officials will need to make the hard decisions, like everyone else.
perhaps city staff sould take two days a month off like the state or cut the fire dpartment by 10% like chico just did-at some point someone is going to have to say the emperor has no clothes and argue that the city can no longer afford to pay its employees at the level it does-just an example-a park maintenance worker costs the city about $90,000 a year or 43 an hour. can you imagine the private sector paying that? The city will be lucky to keep their exisitng taxes. Why should someone in the private sector who is subject to massive layoffs and who make significantly less than public employees pay more to keep those public employees employed. The comparison should be with the private sector not other public sectors
It looks to me that if the Davis Enterprise stopped producing a paper today , that would mean that Blog Boy would have to come up with stories on his own .That looks like a daunting task for him , unless he is typing with his free ink, and Bashing the community with his usual cyber gossip .
Other than referencing the story at the beginning, how does he rely on the Enterprise at all from this story. Maybe it would be more accurate to say, if the city stopped producing staff reports, he’d have no story since the last several stories have come from staff reports.
DPD,Why don’t you put up a poll asking whether the posts of Anonymous …Blog Boy… should be deleted without comment? The blog community can then decide if these posts add any value to the discussion.
I kind of take it (along with all criticism) as a compliment.
…The fact at that point was that the city separated this list of needs from the budget, meaning that it appeared we had a fund balance with a reserve. But that fund balance was an illusion. It belied the fact that the city lacked the resources to meet these needs….In my opinion this tactic is nothing more than creative bookkeeping, and is misleading to the public. To put it bluntly, I consider it fraud. What say you, Paul Navazio? Silent thus far…How about the city employees earning $75,000 and up taking a big fat paycut? It is either that, or the city faces bankruptcy, and a judge will renegotiate the city staff’s contracts.This is entire mess is like a runaway freight train, headed for a wreck. Speaking of Measure W, as in the first post, notice how the School District took our Measure W money, and is spending it on 1) a big fat raise to Bruce Colby; 2) improvements to the high school stadium; 3) developing five new courses, one of which will be …Baroque Chamber Music…. The fiscal irreponsibility in this town is outrageous! Why do taxpayers keep allowing the powers that be to get away with this? Stop voting for tax measures, and force the City/School District to start budgeting like the rest of us have to.
…It looks to me that if the Davis Enterprise stopped producing a paper today , that would mean that Blog Boy would have to come up with stories on his own….Jealous are you? Envious? Pathetic, definitely! Try engaging in the topics, rather than calling names like a little kid. Neener, neener, neener doesn’t become you! If this blog bothers you enough to engage in name calling, try abstaining from reading it for a week or two, or are you addicted? Or perhaps a Davis Enterprise plant?
I wouldn’t worry about it too much- I think Anonymous Blog Boy has limited access to his mother’s computer, and thus can’t waste too much of people’s time.No new taxes in Davis. The city needs to dramatically cut its employee costs through out-sourcing (which would eliminate the whole ridiculous retirement costs) and turning the Fire Department all-volunteer.I agree with Anonymous 7:09 that the comparison on pay rates needs to be with the private sector, and not a bunch of profligate other public agencies.
Again, I have to correct the characterization of the big fat raise for Colby.He had signed a three year contract with the district startin at $150,000 or so, it included a 5% increase per year. This is a renewal of that contract, it starts at $173,000 which is a five percent increase from his last year salary.As I have stated in the past, this was not the right time to get a raise for the No.2 guy in the district. But it’s not a big fat raise.
Take it as a compliment David. If the turkey who logs on and always starts out …blog boy… had anything of value to add to the discussion and didn’t have so much free time they might make a contribution.I remember you addressing this looming crisis with the city budget. Again, the Vanguard was the only local media source talking about it. Now again, the Vanguard talks about it. I tell my friends, …if you want to know what’s going on in Davis log on to the Vanguard…. Keep up the good work and ignore the turkeys.
Anonymous 7:09 am – Public employees provide a service to the city. So if they are laid off or their days are cut then the city services will be cut. Parks won’t be taken care of. Permits will be processed even slower. Revenue will be collected more slowly..etc.Also, the governor is ATTEMPTING to unilaterally make the decision for two furlough days per month. He cannot do that legally. There is something called a …contract… between the state and the employees and the state must adhere to it and bargain in good faith. He is attempting to circumvent the process. Meanwhile driver’s license’s are not being updated and issues resulting in more unsafe drivers on the road and less revenue being collected. Other safety concerns to the public include: maintenance and upkeep of streets, bridges, levees, checking on nursing homes, timely processing of unemployment claims so that families making money who lost their jobs in downsizing don’t end up on the street with their children and families, disability claims being processed so that those who need services get them, and the list goes on.The city does need to look at the top income earners (managers and department heads) to see where there is waste and leakage. I’m sure they can trim the budget their. They should not take steps that would harm the average worker.
It looks to me that if the Davis Enterprise stopped producing a paper today , that would mean that Blog Boy would have to come up with stories on his own .That looks like a daunting task for him , unless he is typing with his free ink, and Bashing the community with his usual cyber gossip.Cute, flippant comments. But if this comment represents the views of the Enterprise staff, then I am afraid for the Enterprise. I have liked the Enterprise, but the Davis Vanguard makes me feel more connected with local issues.The Enterprise has a particular weakness of not being as friendly a public forum. Unless things have changed recently (or I’m just ignorant about this), a person must pay the subscription fee before posting comments to stories/topics.Letters to the editor is fine, but terrible if you want to carry on a discussion in something closer to real time. The Enterprise has limits in length and number of comments it will take in Letters to the Editor.It would be a very helpful exercise for the Enterprise to explore how its business would survive if it eliminated its print edition. NPR’s Fresh Air carried an interesting interview yesterday with the editor of the Christian Science Monitor, which will eliminate its print/paper edition this spring and rely solely on its online edition.Of all people at the Enterprise, Bob Dunning seems like at least one person whose content would work well in a blog format.
…They should not take steps that would harm the average worker….Many private sector workers are being laid off and are taking furloughs. It is obvious that we have allowed government to get too large and that needs to be changed. Certainly, services will be impacted but maybe too many services are required (too much regulation). Keep in mind the government works for the taxpayers/people and not the other way around.
Lay off a bunch of city workers. The city should also negotiate hard and get the size of those contracts down for those that stay. Cut city services. Volunteer firefighters. Volunteer park caretakers. If people care about this city like they say they do, there will be volunteers to do this.
D. Greenwald: …(Bruce Colby) had signed a three year contract with the district startin at $150,000 or so, it included a 5% increase per year. This is a renewal of that contract, it starts at $173,000 which is a five percent increase from his last year salary….The new contract is not …a renewal,… because the old contract still had one year full left on it. Colby began working for the district in November, 2006 for $150,000; and they increased his compensation in December, 2008.According to what Jeff Hudson wrote in The Davis Enterprise when Colby was brought on board, the contract specified that Colby …will have to pay his health insurance premiums if he chooses to participate in the district’s medical, dental and vision plans….If that deal had a 5 percent inflator, his current income should be $165,375* this year. However, the new deal gives him $173,644, right now, plus full medical, dental and vision care (worth approximately $20,000 a year). Therefore, Colby’s cost to the district has increased from $150,000 per year to $193,644 — an increase of $43,644 — which is not a trivial amount in such a short time frame. When considered in the context of declining enrollment in the DJUSD, widespread unemployment among school district administrators in California, declining home prices in Davis, rising taxes and declining funding from the state to the DJUSD, it makes no sense to me that Colby (or anyone else in the district) should be getting more money.The school board was irresponsible in increasing the amount it pays Colby, especially since they will be handing out a large number of pink slips in a few weeks to much lower paid teachers who, frankly, have a lot more impact on kids than a business administrator does.If it can save the jobs of needed personnel, I think the school board should be looking into temporarily decreasing the wages of all of its staff (save maybe the lowest paid), faculty and administrators.—-* $165,375 = $150,000 x 1.05 x 1.05. (Note that a 5 percent annual inflator is too high, unless the understanding was that $150,000 to start was sub-market, which I highly doubt.)
Rich:I’d have to re-check. Bottom line is that I agree that this should not have been done now, it sends the wrong message and it also reduces future flexibility, they are holding open two positions to accommodate the increases between Colby and the increase to health plans for admins. They may regret using the money for that in two years should the economy continue to go south.
Saw a story the other night: City of Roseville(no.11 in all of CA in sales tax revenue by the way)is $4.5 million in the hole….How do you think WE are really doing in light of our sales tax stream that is nothing more than a trickle? Just be very critical of any rosey picture they(our city officials or council members) try to paint. Drop that cell and keep your hand on your wallet!
…Saw a story the other night: City of Roseville(no.11 in all of CA in sales tax revenue by the way)is $4.5 million in the hole….How do you think WE are really doing in light of our sales tax stream that is nothing more than a trickle?…Fast,I don’t know any details about Roseville’s budget, but I would guess — because it has a lot of more retail than Davis — Roseville’s municipal income has declined by a greater percentage than Davis’s has. In other words, a perverse benefit of Davis having so little in the way of big-ticket shopping (other than autos) is that Davis is less dependent on sales tax revenues than cities like Roseville….In trying to get some numbers on Roseville, I stumbled across this story from the Bee: DAVIS POLICE SEEK ROBBERY SUSPECT.The robbery occurred on Sycamore Lane near Cornell Drive, when the robbers drove up to a pedestrian and robbed that person at gunpoint, Waltz said. They then fled in the car. Shortly thereafter, police pulled over two suspects on West Covell Boulevard at Cataline Avenue, Waltz said. One fled on foot, and the other was arrested.Scary. Near my house, but I had not heard of it.
Rich:Colby does not get full medical, in fact no employee in the district does, that's one of the problems. Colbdy also doesn't receive any H&W contributions from the district. If he chooses to particpate he pays for them himself.The current contract expires in June, it is for $165.375 as you calculated. The new contract starts at $173,644, a 5% increase and starts July of 2009. It also has a tax deferred contribution towards a 403b retirement account.
Thanks for the explanation, David. I assumed (apparently incorrectly) that the new contract took effect right away, in place of what you deemed its third year. I didn’t realize that the board would give him a new deal which does not begin for almost a year out. I would think normal practice would be to wait another half year to see where the districts’ finances stand."Colby also doesn't receive any H&W contributions from the district. If he chooses to particpate he pays for them himself."That was his original deal. However, in Jeff Hudson’s Dec 21 story, he wrote: …… the Davis school district board voted to upgrade the health and benefits package for district administrators, giving them a level of coverage similar to what teachers in the district are already receiving. … On the health and benefit package, the board voted unanimously to upgrade the coverage for district office administrators and their secretaries, as well as other high level positions. The health and benefits package for teachers was upgraded last year ……
…The new contract starts at $173,644, a 5% increase and starts July of 2009….Not counting the owners of businesses, how many people who work for private employers in Yolo County do you think make $173,644 a year? That’s more money than most attorneys and doctors make who are not partners in their businesses. That’s more than a top veterinarian or CPA makes. There are some people in business who make more than Bruce Colby. But businesspeople take risks. If they don’t make a sale, or don’t win clients, they lose their income. Private businesspeople work 80-100 hours per week, 52 weeks a year in order to put themselves in the highest income category. What bothers me about a …public servant… making more money than 99% of all working people in Yolo County is that Bruce Colby doesn’ have to work nearly as hard or as much as a top-flight salesperson or a corporate executive, and his income is not at risk. (I remember the case of Mr. Murphy, who failed at his job for the schools and got all his money despite that.)I don’t know when these salary and benefits packages for …public servants… got so large, but they are WAY WAY too high. If a Bruce Colby wants to take home that kind of money, let him go to work in industry, where he will have to work twice as many hours in a year and he might go broke. If he wants to be a public servant, he deserves half as much at most.
Start addressing the city budget crisis with getting rid of the …dead wood… like canning Katherine Hess, the most incompetent planning director in the history of Davis. One of her most memorable screw-ups is that a few years ago she allowed the developers of a south Davis project to sell the affordable units to his relatives. This was a huge embarrassment to the city and it was only as a result of this scandal that she was pulled off of affordable housing.She is beholding to local developers and is political as all get-out in her city planning recommendations. And for all of this incompetence, the city is paying her well over $100,000 per year. After canning Hess, then we need to get a real planning director in who knows what the hell they are doing to do some good city planning. Katherine Hess is a complete loser!On another note, since Bill Emlen (who is Hess’s superior as city manager) apparently allows all of this incompetence by Hess go on and on. HE better shape up or we need to can him too and save ourselves another $100,000+ per year. How on earth did these people ever get hired?
…I don’t know when these salary and benefits packages for …public servants… got so large, but they are WAY WAY too high….FYIThere are 2,000 people making over $100K at UCD.
…There are 2,000 people making over $100K at UCD….For a top-level scientist or even a leading social sciences professor, a $100,000 per year salary does not seem excessive to me. Unfortunately, people who are not leaders in their fields make up many of the highest paid employees. For example, UC pays up to $120,180 a year (plus benefits and retirement) for a Licensed Clinical Social Worker. I guess this is important work, but it surprises me how much that job pays. No wonder taxes are so high.
GET RID OF THE UNIONS AND THAT WILL DECREASE YOUR TAX BURDEN!
Put a large tax on the, …Peoples Vanguard of Davis…, blog. This will generate enough funding to pay for coffee for the firefighters so they would’nt have to sleep it off at the taxpayers fire station. Thanks rose conroy.