Contentious battle brews over city services Contentious battle brews over city services (May 07, 2003)

Budget hearings begin this week

by Bill D'Agostino

Beloved city programs will be pit against each other starting this week, as potentially controversial budget hearings begin.

With numerous "Friends of" groups behind many Palo Alto programs, upcoming hearings conducted by the City Council's Finance Committee could turn into a battle between residents fighting for their favorite programs.

"I'm afraid that is what's happening," Mayor Dena Mossar said.

Already, residents have sent more than 100 postcards to the city asking the council to hire a director of libraries. The position is frozen in next year's proposed budget. And the President of the Palo Alto Professional Fire Fighters union sent out a letter to members of PANDA (Palo Alto Neighborhood Disaster Assistance program) asking them to wear their vest and helmet at the hearings to protest cuts to the firefighters' budget.

Overall, the city is attempting to make $7 million in permanent cuts and $3 million in one-time trims from last year's $125 million budget. All city departments were asked to cut 5 percent from their budgets over the next two years. The need to squeeze is primarily due to reductions in sales and hotel tax revenues, increased expenses in health care and retirement benefits, and a proposed $3 million state take-away.

So far, no layoffs have been proposed, although more than 30 positions would be eliminated through attrition and a hiring freeze.

The city manager also proposed no cuts to the $6 million the city pays the school district for a combination of leases to school sites, or to the city's $20-plus million reserves.

A number of other high-profile items have escaped proposed cuts, including the CityWorks infrastructure improvement program and traffic calming.

The Finance Committee's budget hearings will continue for the following three weeks, on Tuesday and Thursday nights. The council is scheduled to approve a budget on June 16.

The Finance Committee is made up of council members Jack Morton, Bern Beecham, Yoriko Kishimoto and Hillary Freeman. Due to differing political and philosophical discrepancies separating the first two and the second two, there is likely to be some disagreements amongst the members as well.

"They're a microcosm of the larger council," Mossar said. If they can't agree on budget decisions, she said, the council won't either.

The following is what cuts would be most visible to Palo Alto residents if Benest's proposed budget -- unveiled last week in a 500-plus page report -- was approved by the City Council.

Proposed cut: Libraries Potential impact: Terman Library, one of the six library branches, would close. Two other branches -- College Terrace and Downtown Library -- would only be open four days a week. Main Library would also close one additional night a week. And the library director, which has been vacant since Mary Jo Levy retired in August, would continue to be unfilled for the next two years. Total savings: $279,169 Date the cut will be discussed by the Finance Committee: Tuesday night, May 13
Proposed cut: Pro-active noise enforcement Impact: The police would no longer assign a non-sworn officer to roam the city looking for violators of the city's noise ordinance, particularly loud leaf blowers. Savings: $37,586 Date: Thursday night, May 8
Proposed cut: Maintenance of fields, tennis courts, trails, golf course Impact: The city's and school district's fields, tennis courts, trails and golf course would all experience less frequent maintenance. Although the change would not become immediately apparent, over time the fields and courts would deteriorate, according to Community Services Director Paul Thiltgen. Cubberley Community Center would also be maintained less, with turf being mowed, tennis courts cleaned and equipment replaced less often. Savings: $150,756 for fields maintenance, $40,000 for tennis courts, $15,000 for trails, $71,512 for golf course, $48,894 for Cubberley Date: Tuesday night, May 13
Proposed cut: Special events and concerts Impact: Most of the city's special events -- including the Black and White Ball, Halloween Haunt, Hippity Hop Easter Hunt, and Winter Festival -- would be cut. Only the May Fete Parade and a few smaller events would remain. The Twilight and Brown Bag summer concerts would also likely end, unless non-city sponsorship is found for either. Savings: $106,921 for special events, $21,000 for concerts Date: Tuesday night, May 13
Proposed cut: Art Center hours and public arts subsidy Impact: The Art Center would close for the entire day on Sundays and also on Monday evenings. Also, $5,000 would be trimmed from the $60,000 the city spent last year on public art and $5,000 would be cut from the maintenance of existing public art. Savings: $20,500 Date: Tuesday night, May 13
Other proposed cuts:

Some recreation classes would be eliminated (saving $50,000), hikes led by naturalists in the Foothills and the Baylands would be cut ($7,893), the Children's Theatre would no longer have a costumer supervisor ($73,916), the swimming pool at Jordan would be closed over the summer ($10,000), the Medics on Bikes program would end ($10,332), the emergency preparedness program would be reorganized ($168,258) and CityPages would be printed three times a year instead of four ($10,000).

Also, the city's unions are being asked to approve a three-day unpaid leave for each of their employees, saving the city $1 million. If they don't, layoffs are threatened.

Bill D'Agostino can be e-mailed at billd@paweekly.com