What Measures Are Council Members Proposing To Balance The Budget?
In past Tasty Pastries we’ve tried to show that the city’s fiscal situation is pretty awful, and that our ability to provide an adequate police force really is in jeopardy. And there’s plenty more you can read on this subject here, here, here and here, and all of it tells you the same thing: there is a serious systemic problem, it will get worse every year, and the City has to take dramatic action now.
We are now less than three weeks from the start of the next fiscal year, we officially have a deficit in excess of $31 million, the real structural deficit for the coming year is at least $10 million more than that, and in the coming years, that deficit is going to climb rapidly to nine figures. So what are City Council members proposing? A whole bunch of things, some of them good, some of them bad, some with real, demonstrable savings, some without. Here’s a sampling:
Cost reduction and revenue measures proposed by both Council Members De La Fuente and Brunner (the projected savings and revenue figures come from the council members, and if the council members have different estimates, we provide both):
|
Revenue Measure
|
Projected Revenue
|
|
Sell Chabot and Montclair golf courses. (It likely would take several years to complete and recognize revenue from this measure).
|
CM De La Fuente estimates the one-time revenue from selling the acreage permitted to be residentially developed would be $35 million. Pres. Brunner makes no estimate. Saving from no longer operating: unknown.
|
|
Sell Henry J. Kaiser Convention Center.
|
CM De La Fuente estimates $11 million in one-time revenue. Pres. Brunner estimates $7 million. Projected savings from no longer maintaining the facility: Unknown.
|
Council Member De La Fuente has advocated the following additional cost-reduction measure:
Cost Reduction Measure
|
Projected Savings
|
|
Two-tier retirement plan, with higher retirement age and lower accrual rate for new sworn and unsworn employees.
|
Unknown
|
Cost reduction proposals and proposed revenue measures from Council President Jane Brunner (again, the projected savings and revenues are her projections):
Cost Reduction Measure
|
Projected Savings
|
|
10% cut from all non-union employees making more than $100,000.
|
$179,000
|
|
Reduce senior center hours by 20%.
|
$264,000.
|
|
Eliminate funding for some non-city programs, including a day laborer program, AIDS prevention efforts and the city's contribution to the Cypress Mandela Training Center.
|
$470,000
|
|
Reduce Park & Recreation by 10% (primarily management)
|
$1,223,237
|
|
Reduce information technology by 10%.
|
$874,653
|
|
Reduce administration by 15% (Ideas proposed: 25% reductions to Public Ethics Program, Citizens Police Review Board, Equal Opportunity and Equal Access Programs, elimination of Federal lobbyist and 10% reduction to budget office)
|
$1,074,428, but “ideas” total $674,475.
|
|
25% reduction to offices of all elected officials. Substantial amounts of this (City Attorney’s misdemeanor prosecution and neighborhood law corps) moved from general purpose fund to Redevelopment Agency.
|
$2,452,010
|
|
Reductions to arts grants, Asian Cultural Center, Children’s Fairyland (Council has previously considered and rejected these).
|
$330,000
|
|
10% Reduction to Police Budget Division.
|
$144,204
|
|
Reduce or relocate employee parking benefit.
|
$365,000
|
|
Eliminate contract for labor negotiations.
|
$400,000
|
|
Reduce finance staff.
|
$370,000
|
|
Eliminate general fund funding of literacy programs
|
$152,750
|
|
Unspecified, negotiated reductions in fire fighter cost
|
Unknown
|
|
Share Alameda County’s new crime lab in Oakland. CM Brunner indicates Oakland crime lab “criminalistics” costs $3.276 million.
|
Unknown
|
|
Coliseum Redevelopment Area takes over City’s Role/Pays Fair Market Value for City Stake in Coliseum– Use funding from Coliseum Land Acquisition Fund ($67.9 Mill)
|
Unknown
|
|
Reduce Measure K (Kid’s First) Baseline by amount (apparently $4 million) spent on maintaining 739 police at Measure Y Level (requires City Council Ordinance to Change Police Spending from Discretionary to “Required”).
|
CM Brunner says “TBD” but appears to be $4 million.
|
|
Other, fund shifting without savings
|
$1,030,000
|
|
Other, actual savings
|
$147,500
|
|
Revenue Measure
|
Projected Revenue
|
|
Sub-let office one floor of Frank Ogawa Plaza President Brunner’s revenue projection assumes immediate rental at $36 per square foot. Unknown if this has been validated by real estate professionals based on current downtown vacancy and rental rates.
|
$864,000
|
|
Add 500 additional parking meters.
|
$712,000
|
|
Additional billboards
|
$1,000,000
|
|
½ cent sales tax increase
|
$8 million for half year, $16 million for full year
|
Council Member Quan has described a number of possible measures in her newsletter, and has specifically advocated for the following:
Cost Reduction Measure
|
Projected Savings
|
|
Reorganize and merge some services.
|
Unknown
|
|
Expand the concept of combining programs and sharing facilities with other government agencies such as the new 81st Avenue library.
|
Unknown
|
|
25% reduction to Animal Shelter, Peralta Hacienda, Jack Long Aquatic Center and Asian Cultural Center.
|
Unknown.
|
|
Revenue Measure
|
Projected Revenue
|
|
Increase the number of billboards along the major freeways on a radically different basis than before, generating on-going royalties.
|
“Several million”
|
|
Expanded cannabis dispensaries and “licensing plants” for producing medical marijuana. CM Quan acknowledges most money probably would not be realized this fiscal year.
|
“Several million”
|
|
Better marketing and expansion of the business tax and other opportunities in Oakland.
|
Unknown
|
|
Considering the use of "local currency" --paying in "currency" that must be spent in the local Oakland economy.
|
Unknown
|
The next two Tasty Pastries on budget matters will be out tonight and tomorrow, with some proposals the Make Oakland Better Now! board thinks the City Council should seriously evaluate. From Wednesday through Friday, we’ll open a survey so you can tell us what you think. And on Saturday, June 19 at 3:00 p.m., Rockridge branch library, we’ll meet and decide.
But first, please enjoy one of these buttermilk donuts from Pizzaiolo.
What Measures Are Council Members Proposing To Balance The Budget?
In past Tasty Pastries we’ve tried to show that the city’s fiscal situation is pretty awful, and that our ability to provide an adequate police force really is in jeopardy. And there’s plenty more you can read on this subject here, here, here and here, and all of it tells you the same thing: there is a serious systemic problem, it will get worse every year, and the City has to take dramatic action now.
We are now less than three weeks from the start of the next fiscal year, we officially have a deficit in excess of $31 million, the real structural deficit for the coming year is at least $10 million more than that, and in the coming years, that deficit is going to climb rapidly to nine figures. So what are City Council members proposing? A whole bunch of things, some of them good, some of them bad, some with real, demonstrable savings, some without. Here’s a sampling:
Cost reduction and revenue measures proposed by both Council Members De La Fuente and Brunner (the projected savings and revenue figures come from the council members, and if the council members have different estimates, we provide both):
|
Revenue Measure
|
Projected Revenue
|
|
Sell Chabot and Montclair golf courses. (It likely would take several years to complete and recognize revenue from this measure).
|
CM De La Fuente estimates the one-time revenue from selling the acreage permitted to be residentially developed would be $35 million. Pres. Brunner makes no estimate. Saving from no longer operating: unknown.
|
|
Sell Henry J. Kaiser Convention Center.
|
CM De La Fuente estimates $11 million in one-time revenue. Pres. Brunner estimates $7 million. Projected savings from no longer maintaining the facility: Unknown.
|
Council Member De La Fuente has advocated the following additional cost-reduction measure:
Cost Reduction Measure
|
Projected Savings
|
|
Two-tier retirement plan, with higher retirement age and lower accrual rate for new sworn and unsworn employees.
|
Unknown
|
Cost reduction proposals and proposed revenue measures from Council President Jane Brunner (again, the projected savings and revenues are her projections):
Cost Reduction Measure
|
Projected Savings
|
|
10% cut from all non-union employees making more than $100,000.
|
$179,000
|
|
Reduce senior center hours by 20%.
|
$264,000.
|
|
Eliminate funding for some non-city programs, including a day laborer program, AIDS prevention efforts and the city's contribution to the Cypress Mandela Training Center.
|
$470,000
|
|
Reduce Park & Recreation by 10% (primarily management)
|
$1,223,237
|
|
Reduce information technology by 10%.
|
$874,653
|
|
Reduce administration by 15% (Ideas proposed: 25% reductions to Public Ethics Program, Citizens Police Review Board, Equal Opportunity and Equal Access Programs, elimination of Federal lobbyist and 10% reduction to budget office)
|
$1,074,428, but “ideas” total $674,475.
|
|
25% reduction to offices of all elected officials. Substantial amounts of this (City Attorney’s misdemeanor prosecution and neighborhood law corps) moved from general purpose fund to Redevelopment Agency.
|
$2,452,010
|
|
Reductions to arts grants, Asian Cultural Center, Children’s Fairyland (Council has previously considered and rejected these).
|
$330,000
|
|
10% Reduction to Police Budget Division.
|
$144,204
|
|
Reduce or relocate employee parking benefit.
|
$365,000
|
|
Eliminate contract for labor negotiations.
|
$400,000
|
|
Reduce finance staff.
|
$370,000
|
|
Eliminate general fund funding of literacy programs
|
$152,750
|
|
Unspecified, negotiated reductions in fire fighter cost
|
Unknown
|
|
Share Alameda County’s new crime lab in Oakland. CM Brunner indicates Oakland crime lab “criminalistics” costs $3.276 million.
|
Unknown
|
|
Coliseum Redevelopment Area takes over City’s Role/Pays Fair Market Value for City Stake in Coliseum– Use funding from Coliseum Land Acquisition Fund ($67.9 Mill)
|
Unknown
|
|
Reduce Measure K (Kid’s First) Baseline by amount (apparently $4 million) spent on maintaining 739 police at Measure Y Level (requires City Council Ordinance to Change Police Spending from Discretionary to “Required”).
|
CM Brunner says “TBD” but appears to be $4 million.
|
|
Other, fund shifting without savings
|
$1,030,000
|
|
Other, actual savings
|
$147,500
|
|
Revenue Measure
|
Projected Revenue
|
|
Sub-let office one floor of Frank Ogawa Plaza President Brunner’s revenue projection assumes immediate rental at $36 per square foot. Unknown if this has been validated by real estate professionals based on current downtown vacancy and rental rates.
|
$864,000
|
|
Add 500 additional parking meters.
|
$712,000
|
|
Additional billboards
|
$1,000,000
|
|
½ cent sales tax increase
|
$8 million for half year, $16 million for full year
|
Council Member Quan has described a number of possible measures in her newsletter, and has specifically advocated for the following:
Cost Reduction Measure
|
Projected Savings
|
|
Reorganize and merge some services.
|
Unknown
|
|
Expand the concept of combining programs and sharing facilities with other government agencies such as the new 81st Avenue library.
|
Unknown
|
|
25% reduction to Animal Shelter, Peralta Hacienda, Jack Long Aquatic Center and Asian Cultural Center.
|
Unknown.
|
|
Revenue Measure
|
Projected Revenue
|
|
Increase the number of billboards along the major freeways on a radically different basis than before, generating on-going royalties.
|
“Several million”
|
|
Expanded cannabis dispensaries and “licensing plants” for producing medical marijuana. CM Quan acknowledges most money probably would not be realized this fiscal year.
|
“Several million”
|
|
Better marketing and expansion of the business tax and other opportunities in Oakland.
|
Unknown
|
|
Considering the use of "local currency" --paying in "currency" that must be spent in the local Oakland economy.
|
Unknown
|
The next two Tasty Pastries on budget matters will be out tonight and tomorrow, with some proposals the Make Oakland Better Now! board thinks the City Council should seriously evaluate. From Wednesday through Friday, we’ll open a survey so you can tell us what you think. And on Saturday, June 19 at 3:00 p.m., Rockridge branch library, we’ll meet and decide.
But first, please enjoy one of these buttermilk donuts from Pizzaiolo.