The long-promised conversation with the community over beefing
up the city
’s general fund, possibly through raising taxes, will start at
Wednesday’s City Council meeting.
The long-promised conversation with the community over beefing up the city’s general fund, possibly through raising taxes, will start at Wednesday’s City Council meeting.
A recent survey of 400 residents selected randomly from voter registration polls showed that residents are generally satisfied with the level of city services but did not approve of any new taxes or fees to support these services.
However, that could change, according to Jack Dilles, city finance director.
“Even though most people said they didn’t favor new taxes, there was enough support to make us feel that with education, the public might feel differently,” Dilles said.
The three-part plan would educate and invite public conversation; explore options interactively and try to develop a consensus.
The Council has determined that, because of an expected $1.2 million deficit in next year’s budget, either services must be cut to a level that citizens will truly notice or more money must be found to continue the current service level. City staff has spent three years cutting department budgets but reports that they can’t go further without affecting the public or laying off employees, which the council said it wants to avoid.
Expected general fund revenue is more $18 million, but expenses could cost almost $20 million next year. Although the council will cover the spending gap with reserve funding, it doesn’t want to deplete the account entirely. The General Fund finances police and fire protection, recreation services, park maintenance and some city administration.
The Finance Policy Committee, composed of Councilmen Steve Tate and Mark Grzan, City Treasurer Mike Roorda and Dilles as a staff liaison, has studied the need for higher general fund revenue for more than a year and compiled a list of directions that might prove lucrative.
The committee considered a 911 fee (as other cities and counties are doing), raising the sales tax, setting up a Mello-Roos district to pay for operating city facilities and a utility tax, among others.
Some would require a two-thirds approval from voters; others would require no vote at all.
Mello-Roos, Dilles said, is similar to an assessment district in which property owners in new developments underwrite the sale of bonds to pay for specific things. In Morgan Hill such a district could cover costs to operate city facilities, which can be built but not maintained with Redevelopment money.
“It would be the vote of property owners or possibly the developer,” he said. “He would have to disclose the Mello-Roos district when the houses were sold.”
City Manager Ed Tewes said the 20-minute survey, conducted by John Fairbank of Oakland-based Fairbank, Maslin, Maullin and Associates, asked open-ended questions about what the subjects thought about local government and specific issues. Subjects were asked how much they understood state and local budgeting and if they supported new revenue.
The city paid Fairbank less than $25,000, Tewes said. The survey also collected basic information on age, income level and how long the voters had lived in town.
If council follows the staff report, it could assign an additional $100,000 to the “conversation,” $25,000 each for a second survey and for “materials needed to engage the conversation” and $50,000 for a consultant to help the process along. Half is reserved in next year’s budget; the other half is not.
Council will also hold a hearing on next year’s draft budget, available at City Hall, the library and on-line. The public will be invited to speak on these and any other issues.
City Council and/or the Redevelopment Agency meets at 7pm. most Wednesdays in City Hall Chambers, 17555 Peak Ave. Details: www.morganhill.ca.gov or 779-7271. Council meetings are broadcast live on cable access channel 17.
Carol Holzgrafe covers City Hall for The Times. She can be reached by e-mail at ch********@*************es.com or phoning (408) 779-4106 Ext. 201.
