May 11, 2006

Budget forum held for District 10 residents

Few residents turn out to give their input on city budget priorities

By Daniel DeBolt
Staff Writer

Every year the city council engages in the monumental process of creating a city budget, making difficult decisions that effect everyone in San Jose. That is why local activist David Fadness was disturbed that only 10 of the 86,000 people in District 10 showed up at a budget forum last week to tell Councilwoman Nancy Pyle how the city should spend its money.

The city council is engaged in the monumental process of creating a city budget, making difficult decisions that effect everyone in San Jose.

“There’s maybe 10 people here,” Fadness said. “That’s real unfortunate. More and more decisions are being made by fewer and fewer people.”

Those who did attend voted for major city service categories. Public safety got no votes to cut or increase the service, while city staff and equipment got one vote to improve and two to cut. Transportation services got six votes for improvement and no votes for cutting the service. Environmental and utility services got nine votes for improvement and seven to cut. Community and economic development got two votes for reduction.

People were able to submit notes with their votes. One person wanted BART brought to San Jose. Another said we shouldn’t be wasting money on land for a Major League Baseball stadium for a team that doesn’t exist yet. Another wanted the Vista Park bathrooms to be open seven days a week and one person wanted to make sure there was staffing and maintenance for community centers. One person felt traffic problems at the airport needed attention. Another wanted code enforcement to be cut.

Pyle and Deputy City Manager Mark Linder answered questions about the city budget. Fadness asked if it was wise to develop in Coyote Valley before the city’s existing infrastructure was rebuilt and maintained at acceptable levels.

As a member of the Coyote Valley Task force, Pyle answered. She said it was a myth that the project’s triggers were voted out by the council. Coyote Valley development is supposed to pay for itself and its commencement is more than ten years away, at least, she said.

The cost of the new Almaden Library was also discussed at the meeting. The library was funded through a voter-approved bond measure, but one meeting attendant felt like he was misled when he voted for the bond.
“I was thinking of newer communities that needed libraries,” he said.

The new library in Almaden is larger and more in proportion with how many readers there are, Pyle said. School librarians have been cut and more kids are using public libraries now, she said. And the cost of maintaining an older building versus the cost of a new one was also a consideration.

Before the open discussion there was a quick overview of the $2.6 billion city budget from Deputy City Manager Mark Linder. The city budget in its entirety is over five inches thick, so a line item budget isn’t available to the public, Linder said.

For the first time in years, there are additions to critical city services in the 2006 to 2007 budget. Two new fire stations will be built and 28 new fire-fighting positions will be added. Police will also see six more data specialist positions to handle a backlog in records management. Libraries will receive 32.5 new positions and $1.9 million for new facilities. Parks and recreation will get 22.5 new positions and $1.4 million for new facilities.

Before the valley’s economy went bust, there were as many as 7,400 city employees. There are now 6,750, but the city plans to ad 53 more positions next year.

The budget takes into account modest growth in sales tax and the transient occupancy tax (hotel tax) and the risk that sales tax could go down and the real estate market’s bubble could burst.

There has been a “structural deficit” over the past few years and the general fund is expected to slowly recover over the next decade. General fund debt is projected to be at $39 million in 2007-08, drop to $11.4 million in 2008-09, then rise to $15 million in 2009-10 and drop to $5 million in 2010-11.

Linder mentioned that street improvement to Branham lane were in the budget as well as improvements to Almaden Lake Park.

To balance the budget, cuts were made to many different services including crossing guards and other community safety programs.

Pyle is expected to use the information brought by forum participants to help her in her work on the council to create the city budget.