June 30, 2004

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Palo Alto Online

Boost for Downtown Library?

by Bill D'Agostino

A library may reopen on weekends, but the average monthly utility bill will spike to $207.13 due to rising costs.

That's the good and the bad news out of the city's budget approved by the council Monday night.

The council signed off on the $116 million spending plan for 2004-2005 in a 7-1 vote, with Councilwoman Hillary Freeman voting against it and Councilwoman Yoriko Kishimoto absent.

The plan calls for few cuts in the vast array of city services Palo Alto offers. However, summertime concerts will need outside funding to continue, something the concert's organizers are hopeful they can raise.

The city was also able to avoid layoffs this year, despite facing dramatically rising pension costs and slightly declining revenues. Officials avoided layoffs and heavy service cuts by primarily restructuring the organization around dozens of retirements and other vacancies. Next year, the city plans to cut $600,000 from its general fund through such methods.

At the last minute, the City Council found a small, new pot of money for its libraries. Approximately a dozen speakers living near downtown asked the council to spend money to reopen the Downtown Library on weekends. Last year, the council agreed to close the library those days to save money.

The council earmarked an additional $35,000 to spend on libraries, in the hopes it would reopen the library on Saturdays. That's on top of the $5.2 million already assigned for the city's five libraries.

The Library Advisory Committee, though, will first study how to best spend the new money. Library Director Paula Simpson warned that reopening the library on weekends might not be the best use of scarce library funds.

The new $35,000 came from money that had been earmarked for La Comida -- a program that gives lunches to seniors -- to help cover an anticipated cut from Santa Clara County. However, at the last minute the county's Board of Supervisors decided not to cut the program.

The council also approved a $218.7 million budget for its utilities. Included in that is an 8.4 percent raise in the rates residents and businesses pay -- a combination of rises to the electric, water, gas and refuse rates. Palo Alto is the only city in California to offer all these services to residents.

Although the rates will rise, budget director Charles Perl told the council that Palo Altans pay 11.7 percent less than residents in nearby communities, who rely on PG&E and other private companies.

The approved rate increases -- which will start on Jan. 1, 2005 -- are primarily tied to expensive improvements to the services the city wants to build in the coming years, as well as increases in the wholesale rates the city pays for electricity.

During the three council discussions of the budget, Freeman unsuccessfully floated numerous ideas for changing and examining the budget. For instance, Freeman wanted to move $500,000 allocated for a new computer system to upgrade the city's storm drains. That was defeated, but the council will discuss how to pay for improvements to the storm-drain system later in the year.

Staff Writer Bill D'Agostino can be e-mailed at bdagostino@paweekly.com

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