Live Coverage: City Council Tackles the Budget

Piedmont City Council and city officials met Saturday, May 21, to take a first look at the 2011-2012 budget. The discussion at the workshop unfolded as follows:

9:10 a.m. City Administrator Geoff Grote says the city is endeavoring to continue 12-month operation of . "Whether or not that's going to be possible, history will tell," Grote says. The city won't be charging the school district for use of the facility in its first year under city management.

9:13 a.m. Piedmont is currently over a new library services contract. Grote says Oakland is asking Piedmont to make the same per capita contribution that Oakland does, which would come to $596,000 a year. Piedmont's proposed 2011-2012 budget includes $350,000 for library services. "We are just shy of a quarter million dollars apart," Grote says.

by Oakland Mayor Jean Quan's worst-case scenario budget proposal. Grote says models where Piedmont's contribution would be calibrated to keep branches Piedmonters use open were discussed during talks this week.

Another idea would have Piedmont making a baseline payment and Oakland selling library cards to Piedmonters. Grote says that is similar to the fee-for-use model Piedmont has gone to for its recreation programs in recent years. But when it comes to the library, "There are some legal issues with that," Grote says.

9:29 a.m. Recreation Director Mark Delventhal says the proposed 2011-2012 fee schedule for rental of city facilities is the unchanged from the current year, except for the Tea House, which has been and is getting a .

"I told the staff that means we have to be really cautious with expense and really aggressive in terms of bringing in revenue. They said they can do that," Delventhal says.

9:32 a.m. "Our financial model for Schoolmates has really become a problem for us that we've been trying to get a handle on," Delventhal says.

"When we have kids on buses going back and forth to Emeryville, they're not going to Schoolmates," Delventhal says, explaining how the hourly service has taken a hit while Piedmont's elementary schools have been under construction.

Grote says Schoolmates takes about an additional $20,000 hit each year a kindergarten class gets canceled. And Schoolmates is now facing competition from school district enrichment programs.

9:47 a.m. Based on their role in providing recreational opportunities for the community, Delventhal says the Recreation Commission is, "going to come down on a ," instead of an operation model that would be more similar to a private club."They're in favor of a bit more walk-up use, ... but they don't want to do it with the outcome that the pool has to close two months a year."

Delventhal reports that Jon Sakol, a Piedmont Swim Club board member who's been helping the city come up with a financial plan for the pool, says. "the degree to which it's a public pool, we sell less ," which are key to keeping the pool open.

"We've been juggling this," Delventhal says. "We want to maximize safe use of the pool by the community and minimize the subsidy."

Delventhal says the Recreation Department will be promoting the pool to residents of nearby Oakland neighborhoods including Montclair and Rockridge to bring in more revenue.

10:18 a.m. Several regular lap swimmers and Swim Club members step up to support the for the pool.

"I would encourage you to [adopt the proposal] and enable the Recreation Department to start selling those passes, ... otherwise we have already started shopping around," says one lap swimmer. "The hills clubs, ... they're coming after us."

10:43 a.m. Piedmont resident Liz Schultz objects to the fee schedule and the 50 percent general fund it suggests. "Normally, user fees cover operational costs [for city recreational programs]. This is a large exception to that general policy and maybe a first-time exception. … I would urge the city to keep working toward maintaining its policy of costs ... primarily as an issue of equity. ... There really shouldn't be this huge suck of money to one particular sport or activity."

10:47 a.m. Police Chief John Hunt proposes a new $50 fee for child seat installations. An officer had alerted the chief that most of the dozens of people who have been using the service, which can take up to an hour to fulfill, have been non-residents.

"This free service is being taken advantage of," says Hunt. A fee he says will cut down the demand. "We'll get some revenue out of it, but we'll keep the officers on the streets." The fee would be waived for residents.

10:53 a.m. The Police Department is deferring replacement of its fleet for another year, even though the captain's vehicle alone already has more than 100,000 miles on it. But Chief Hunt is asking for a new copier. The current one was purchased in 2003 and Hunt says it's run off more than a quarter million copies. "You can see the toll on the quality that's coming out that machine," he says. $28,000 is budgeted for a new one, but Hunt doesn't think it will cost that much.

11:22 a.m. Fire Chief Ed Tubbs is asking for a new fire engine and ambulance. He says the current reserve vehicles are well past the typical lifespan, and it's beginning to make it difficult to get parts when something breaks. The department had to switch out the wheels on one of their vehicles this year because the tires are no longer made.

11:45 a.m. Schultz questions the Fire Department's seven-man per shift staffing, noting that Albany, with which Piedmont now , operates on six-man shifts.

Tubbs says even eight people per shift, which was the staffing level in Piedmont was in recent years before several retirements, is below industry standards.

"We have two people on the ambulance and pull over one more ... If we have a vehicle accident that has two patients we are beyond typically what we can do."

Tubbs says with six-man shifts in Albany, that department is back-filling with overtime almost every day.

11:55 a.m. Valerie Matzger presents the recommendations for capital improvement projects:

• the installation of a fire hydrant at the corporation yard;
• a landscaped traffic triangle at the intersection of Ronada and Ramona, which Matzger says could be paid for by the neighbors and the Piedmont Beautification Foundation if the city gets it started;
• $75,000 in initial funding for the rehabilitation of the education wing of 801 Magnolia Ave, which the Recreation Department has suggested could be used as a childcare facility;
• replacement of the stucco wall in the City Hall courtyard, which Matzger says is leaning at a precarious angle;
• a drainage system at Hampton Playfield, which currently can't be used in the rain.

Matzger says the committee has had a hard time deciphering how much money is in the capital improvement fund from the paperwork provided.

Whatever money is there, she says, "We request respectfully that if there's leftover funds or deferred project that that money will be kept in the CIP fund. ... We hope CIP funds will not be used for maintenance issues."

Marjorie Blackwell asks how much money the city has spent on the proposed development of Blair Park. Finance chief Mark Bichsel says it's $220,000 in city funds and $261,000 in private funds to date (Grote clarifies that the $220,000 in city funds includes costs associated with proposed upgrades to Coaches Field which were included in the same environmental impact study).

Aaron Salloway questions whether converting the education wing of 801 Magnolia into a child care center serving about 20 kids is a "reasonable expenditure per capita."

12:37 p.m. A settlement with the EPA is saddling Piedmont with huge sewer maintenance mandates.

"We need a minimum 50 percent increase in the sewer service tax ... [to cover] the EPA costs alone," Bichsel says.

1:04 p.m. The proposed city budget includes $275,000 for street resurfacing in 2011-2012.

"Are we under investing in our streets?," asks Councilman Jeff Wieler.

"Yes," Bichsel says.

"In that respect I will be pursuing state and federal grant money," says Interim Public Works Director Chester Nakahara.

"I've noticed that Oakland is repaving Grand and 51st. I always used to brag that our streets were the finest around, I'd hate to see anyone catching up," Wieler says.

1:18 p.m. "Fifteen percent of the budget are new costs starting last year. ... One that is ... a voluntary payment is the library payment. ... You've got a $400,000 [annual] sewer fund shortage. ... I think the council has to make some hard choices about where it wants to put its money," says Schultz.

1:20 p.m. "We're not going to get to administration. ... We'll put [the budget proposal for that department] over until the next regular meeting of the council, which is Monday June 6," says Mayor Dean Barbieri.

"We're adjourned."