Budget/Fiscal

Ratepayers Paying Nearly $300,000 in Two Years For Communications Firm To Sell Water Project to Public –

In a series of documents obtained by the Vanguard recently, it is seen that the Clean Water Agency has contracted with Kim Floyd Communications, Inc. to engage in outreach efforts that can better be characterized as public relations in nature.

Davis got its first view of its new city manager, Steve Pinkerton, on Tuesday night, and we could already see a huge change in the nature of the fiscal analysis coming out of city hall.  Gone were the days of rosy projections and papering over serious problems.

Last night for the first time, Davis got to watch its new city manager, Steve Pinkerton, at work.  At this budget workshop, there would be no rosy and hopeful projections, only straight, hard facts.

Back on June 28, the Davis City Council passed, by a narrow 3-2 vote, a budget that started to fix what had been decade-long fiscal mismanagement of the city.  Over the course of the last decade, the city council has allowed total compensation, salaries, benefits, other post-retirement benefits (OPEB) and pensions to become unsustainable.

I was reading an excellent piece from Jonathan London’s op-ed in the Davis Enterprise, “War on the Poor.”

Ordinance Number 2381 was attested by the City Clerk after hours on Thursday, September 22, 2011.  Therefore, the official day of attestation shall be Friday, September 23.

Last week, the Davis City Council pushed the September 30^th deadline back.  They will now begin with a Budget Workshop, which appears focused on reviewing the current status of unfunded liabilities related to the City’s pension and retiree medical benefit plans, along with unfunded liabilities related to major infrastructure components including streets, sidewalks, bikepaths, parks and city facilities.

Davis public officials, including three members from the Woodland-Davis Clean Water Agency, on Wednesday held a question and answer session about the new water project and the accompanying rate hikes associated with the project.

It did not end at 3:30 am, and it did not have a long line of public comments. In fact, no one from the public spoke, but on Tuesday night, the council took the next step in raising residents’ water rates by adopting a five-year plan of rate increases and pledging to return next year in order to pass the sixth year.

Councilmember Dan Wolk has tried to play the swing vote on a number of issues early in his tenure as a Davis city councilmember.  In the process, he has had to cast some tough votes, like the deciding vote on the budget.

Back in July, the Finance and Budget Commission was asked to weigh in on possible avenues by which the city could reduce its personnel costs by 2.5 million.  Instead of doing that, they “expressed concern over what they viewed as an unnecessary reduction in services, before other alternatives had been considered.”

Sunday Commentary: Did City Staff and Paul Navazio Sabotage Budget Cuts?

On Tuesday’s Davis City Council agenda, City Manager Steve Pinkerton has asked council to postpone the September 30^th deadline to cut 2.5 million from the budget.

That the council approved water rate hikes on September 6 has not diminished the amount of contention over the issue of water in Davis.  Earlier this week, a group of citizens announced they would be filing papers to put the water rate hike to a vote of the people.

By E. Roberts Musser

Since the surface water project has been front and center in the local news lately, it would seem an article on how to read your city utility bill would be quite timely.  The Dept. of Public Works held a seminar on the subject at our most recent Davis Senior Citizens Commission meeting on Sept. 8, 2011.  It proved to be an interesting discussion.

A diverse group has come together to fight the water rate hikes, as anti-tax conservatives join forces with liberal progressives in Davis seeking to overturn the five-year water rate hikes of 14% passed by the Davis City Council on a 4-1 vote last week.

The Vanguard has made its position on the water rate hike very clear over the past few years, including in the last month.  However, as a 501c(3), the Vanguard cannot advocate for or against any electoral matter.  Therefore, the Vanguard can only report on facts – what is happening, what will happen, and also we can examine claims made by either side, so long as we are not encouraging or advocating anyone to vote a particular way.

The Vanguard is disappointed that both Mayor Joe Krovoza and Councilmember Sue Greenwald left a one-year compromise on the water deal on the table Tuesday night (see Wednesday morning’s article).

Back in June, the Davis City Council by a narrow 3-2 vote passed its budget, which reflects 2.5 million dollars in personnel cuts to be due by September 30.

There are so many different moving parts on the water discussion, that it is likely to be impossible to capture them all.  I will start this discussion on a positive note. In years past there would be a sense of bitterness in a vote like this. However, on this council, I can honestly say that there are five people who, agree or disagree, did what they thought was in the best interest of the people of Davis.

As has already been reported, Westlake Market is operating in the red and the current owners, the DeLanos, are looking to sell.  What has not been widely reported is that the landlord is making a deal with the Dollar Tree to come into the adjacent store space that has been vacant during the nearly two years of operation for Westlake Market