Dear Editor, I have followed Morgan Hill’s financial situation
and decisions for years and have opinions that I believe need to be
discussed and thus far have not been made part of the City’s
Community Conversation.
Dear Editor,
I have followed Morgan Hill’s financial situation and decisions for years and have opinions that I believe need to be discussed and thus far have not been made part of the City’s Community Conversation.
The Aquatic Center and Community and Cultural Center (“Centers”) are not breaking even. Built with funds from the Morgan Hill Redevelopment Agency (“RDA”), the Centers are operating at a loss. Thus, the City has to spend money on the Centers that would otherwise go to support services, of which, police and fire costs are the vast majority.
The City doesn’t want to increase the Centers’ fees because fewer people would be able to afford to use the Centers.
The City’s solution is to increase taxes to pay for police and fires services, or without a tax increase, cut services.
Increasing taxes that the public pays will also result in fewer people able to afford to use the Centers.
Are there other solutions to keep the Centers’ fees low and have additional funds for police and fire services without raising taxes? Yes. Cut expenses and redirect existing revenues.
Here is a list of a few possible solutions the City is not presenting to the public in its Community Conversations.
n Dissolve the RDA. Additional property taxes will flow to the City.
n Require city employees to pay more of their health care benefits. Most of the public is facing this unfortunate reality.
n Convert city employee’s retirement from fixed, guaranteed payments to payments based on investment returns. Again, most of the public is facing this unfortunate reality.
n Have city employees contribute to their retirement instead of the city making the payment. Yet again, most of the public is facing this unfortunate reality.
Sadly, our City Council used RDA funds to build part of the problem we now face.
During the debate in 1999 to extend the RDA, Mayor Kennedy, Councilmember Tate, and Councilmember Sellers promised to build Centers that would not operate at a loss, and they said the RDA would not raise taxes. So much for those promises; now they want to extend the RDA again and you will NOT get to vote for or against their decision.
To the detriment of every current taxpayer, and all future taxpayers, the City continues to allow the city employee unions to win substantial benefit increases without any community debate. Competitive pay coupled with generous and guaranteed retirement benefits, not enjoyed by the public, are a burdensome combination for the taxpayer.
I only wish they had not spent $100,000 for the Community Conversations that are staged to mislead the public by suggesting the only solutions are raising taxes or cutting police and fire services.
Pat Eldridge, Morgan Hill
