Budget/Fiscal Archives - Page 44 of 70

NRC Approves Water Conservation Plan Designed Demand by at least 20% over 7 years

By uptownstudiosJuly 2, 201217 comments

By Alan Pryor

Davis Historical Per Capita Water Use and Future Targets

One cannot directly compare total per capita usage by some cities with that of Davis because many cities (e.g. West Sacramento) have a far greater percentage of industrial vs home users. That said, Davis has roughly equivalent use patterns seen in other local cities for single-family homes and multi-family apartments (which doesn’t include UC obviously)

Davisites used an average of about 200 gallons per capita per day (gpcd) from about 1990 to 2007. Over the past 5 years, though, consumption in Davis has steadily dropped each year to about 155 gpcd in 2011.

Sunday Commentary: A Community-Based Approach to Budget Cutting?

By David GreenwaldJuly 1, 201226 comments

This week the Davis City Council passed a budget that, with very little attention or fanfare, made huge in-roads into making this community more sustainable.

The new budget proposes perhaps as much as eight million in cuts, in order to deal with increased costs for pensions and OPEB (Other Post-Employment Benefits), to shore up infrastructure expenditures, and to deal with future hurdles that will come our way.

Woodland Takes Full Regional Water Option Off the Table

By David GreenwaldJune 30, 2012151 comments

In a memo the Vanguard received, sent from Woodland City Manager Paul Navazio to Davis City Manager Steve Pinkerton among others, it becomes clear that the Davis-Woodland-West Sacramento regional option for water is off the table.

The memo sent on Thursday, June 28, from the former acting Davis City Manager says: “We understand that the Davis Water Advisory Committee has an important meeting this evening, and that the agenda includes an update on the various options for partnering with West Sacramento.”

Commentary: Slow Down on the New Revenue Talk

By David GreenwaldJune 29, 2012112 comments

No sooner has the city proposed a realistic austerity budget that starts cutting into the type of city services that the residents have come to expect, but we hear talk about new revenues.

“Given that 84 percent of us voted ‘yes’ on a tax that needed just two-thirds approval, it’s clear the city didn’t ask for nearly enough money from residents who dearly cherish their parks and greenbelts and vast urban forest that stretches from one end of town to the other,” Davis Enterprise columnist Bob Dunning wrote on June 14.

Despite Assurances from City Manager, Public Concerned About Loss of Tree Trimmer Position

By David GreenwaldJune 28, 201219 comments

On Tuesday evening, numerous members of the community came forward to speak to council about their concerns about the city cuts to tree trimming positions and the potential impact on the city’s urban forests. Despite assurances from City Manager Steve Pinkerton that the level of service will be maintained through this move, city council has requested that consideration of the tree trimming positions and related issues come back to them at a future meeting.

Mayor Pro Tem Rochelle Swanson’s motion asked for staff to be “bringing back a full staff report regarding our urban forest, specifically options for an ordinance that would allow our citizens to be able to hire certified arborists.”

Retiree Health Care Commitments Crippling City’s Budget

By David GreenwaldJune 28, 201222 comments

The public has focused during this budget cycle, to the extent that they have focused at all, on the impact of the nine layoffs of DCEA (Davis City Employees Association) employees and, in particular, the tree trimmers. However, while the council unanimously moved forward with a heavily austere budget, the most alarming piece of news was on the OPEB (Other Post-Employment Benefits) front.

For some time, the city has been working to deal with its $60 million unfunded liability on retiree health care benefits, after new accounting practices under GASB-45 showed that the city’s liability, by simply paying for the benefits as the bills come due, would push the city heavily toward bankruptcy by 2030.

Missing the Forest Through the Trees on the Budget

By David GreenwaldJune 27, 201254 comments

It was an odd night, going late into the evening, when the Davis City Council in the last meeting with Stephen Souza and Sue Greenwald almost reluctantly passed a budget. It was a budget that puts the city on the road to sustainability, but the public’s comments focused largely on the elimination of tree trimming positions.

Councilmember Dan Wolk, in his final meeting before becoming Mayor Pro Tem Dan Wolk, voted for the budget but admonished his colleagues while playing to the crowd that “we can do better than this.”

Vanguard Analysis: Cafeteria Cash Out Cap’s Disproportionate Impact

By David GreenwaldJune 26, 201212 comments

One of the focal points of the structural reform that the city of Davis is looking to do is to update its policies on the cafeteria cash out.

The city offers every employee health care. In cases, where the city employee is otherwise covered under a spouse, they can opt to take their benefit in the form of cash. Prior to the last round of collective bargaining in 2009 and 2010, the city allowed those employees who needed no health benefits to have the full worth of the health care policy.

Commentary: Vanguard’s Latest Analysis on the Water Ballot Measure and Assessment on Election Timing

By David GreenwaldJune 26, 20128 comments

The Vanguard has avoided taking a clear position on the water situation up until now, primarily because we really do not feel like we have all of the facts at this time. In fact, the more we have learned in the past week, the more complex it has become.

This column is an effort to clarify where we are and where we can go. At the start, there are those who believe that our goal is delay. Actually, our goal is a transparent and open process.

Water Measure: No Silver Bullet (Update)

By Matt WilliamsJune 25, 201230 comments

by Matt Williams

The following is a personal opinion of the author.

Let’s start by saying that this isn’t worth doing if it isn’t done right. Anyone who has attended or watched the WAC meetings, knows that the WAC is committed to doing this right.

Staff Recommends Against Binding Vote on Water?

By David GreenwaldJune 25, 201221 comments

Last week we reported that the WAC (Water Advisory Committee) by a 6-4 vote recommended a binding vote on water. However, this week’s staff recommendation by City Manager Steve Pinkerton seems to move away from that recommendation and back toward an advisory vote.

This week’s staff report notes, “At the June 12th City Council meeting, staff presented a request from the committee asking for an extension of their project recommendation date to August 21st and rate recommendation to September 18th. Council granted this extension, but also asked the committee to review the ballot language that needs to be finalized by July 10th, and return to Council with a recommendation on June 26th.”

Commentary: Why Rush the Budget? Let the New Council Handle It

By David GreenwaldJune 25, 20124 comments

City Manager Steve Pinkerton is recommending that the city council enact an Urgency Ordinance adopting the budget for fiscal year 2012-2013 on Tuesday night. The question is why that is the case, as just three weeks ago he indicated that there were no statutory obligations to pass the budget by the end of June.

This budget represents the fifth consecutive year that require budget reductions in order to maintain the city’s General Fund operating budget, as well as to address further reductions in funding levels from state and federal sources supporting transportation and social services programs.

Sunday Commentary Part Two: Water Measure Needs to Be Done the Right Way

By David GreenwaldJune 24, 201247 comments

Back on June 9, the Vanguard warned that the proposed surface water ballot measure had some flaws. The main flaw is that the timeline to put the water measure on the ballot is so tight that the Water Advisory Committee (WAC) has asked for additional time to weigh in on their evaluation of the various project proposals before us, and we do not have water rates, and we do not know what the project even is and may not know until September at the earliest.

Since that time, the WAC, which has done commendable work, has agreed that the ballot measure will be binding rather than advisory. A smart move.

Making Sense of a Complicated Labor Negotiation Picture

By David GreenwaldJune 22, 201223 comments

When the city announced the layoff of nine city employees, plus the cutback of three additional positions, many cried foul, even after the city subsequently lost their PERB (Public Employment Relations Board) appeal and were ordered to make back payments of roughly 800,000 dollars to these employees.

At the same time, many accused DCEA (Davis City Employees Association) of essentially throwing nine of their employees under the bus rather than accepting concessions. The Vanguard spoke with DCEA President Dave Owen at the time, and he put forth the argument that DCEA wanted to preserve those positions, but he wanted those position to be worth having and it was their view that the city’s proposed cuts were too steep.

Commentary: The Real Cost of the Art on the Water Tank Might Stun You

By David GreenwaldJune 22, 201270 comments

For quite some time a columnist in this town has been beating the drum about a 75,000 dollar expenditure for art on the East Davis Water Tank. Now, given the magnitude of the city’s fiscal problems, this criticism seemed a bit out of proportion. After all, not only are we talking about “only” 75,000 dollars, but we are talking about one-time money.

Back in October, the columnist wrote, “Yes, I’ve been critical of this outlay of public money. Sure, it’s not much, but with the city likely facing layoffs, $75,000 might save someone’s job and benefits.”

Laid Off City Employee Speaks Out (Updated 5 pm)

By David GreenwaldJune 21, 201222 comments

City Rejects Deal to Restore Laid Off Employees in Exchanging For Forgiving PERB Rules Backpay –

Chris Kassis, 54, has been working since he was 16 years old. In November of 2008, he decided to get out of a very lucrative position, owning his own construction company, and came to work for the city at a somewhat lower rate of pay.

Like many, he was recruited to work for the city.

Commentary: Is it really all gloom and doom?

By David GreenwaldJune 19, 201236 comments

The column on Sunday generated a lot of attention – it was meant to be a stark and eye-opening exposé on what went wrong from 2008 to 2012. For some, the truth proved to be highly valuable – a way for the public to understand the enormity of what we have to do.

It is perhaps unfortunate that some strategic missteps have ironically enough not allowed the public to see the forest through the trees. The decision to lay off nine city employees the day after the election, an election where the public passed a parcel tax to fund the city’s parks that everyone knew would be insufficient to fund parks, has diverted the attention.

Commentary: No Such Thing As Halfway Democracy – WAC Makes the Right Call

By David GreenwaldJune 18, 201225 comments

We’ll borrow from a popular song a few years back and say that just as there is no such thing as halfway crooks, there is no such thing as halfway democracy. That’s what an advisory vote on water would have been – halfway democracy.

The message would have been, while we value your input, we just don’t trust you to make the right decision. And what kind of message is that really?

Commentary: Slow But Measurable Progress with City Governance

By David GreenwaldJune 18, 201216 comments

As I told people yesterday, if there is one article this year you read in its entirety it needs to be yesterday’s Sunday Commentary which tracks not only the 2008 to 2012 history, but shows how we got in the mess that we are in.

Anyone who believes we can reduce seven to eight million dollars in one budget without pain is fooling themselves. The next month or so is going to be just as contentious as the elections.

Sunday Commentary: Past Council Majorities Failed to Deal Adequately with Budget Crisis

By David GreenwaldJune 17, 201241 comments

Despite Rhetoric to the Contrary They Did No Favors to City Employees

The public has focused its attention on this point about nine layoffs by the city manager of employees in the DCEA (Davis City Employees Association) bargaining group. Some have focused squarely on the layoff of a tree trimmer.

One can question the timing of this decision. One can question whether it should have been a tree trimmer. But what one needs to understand is that this has been a long time in coming.

By Alan Pryor

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