2012-13 Budget, Part II

In my last column/blog I talked about our City’s budget issues and the challenges ahead. In this edition I want to back up a bit and examine things from a larger prospective. One of the things that our Interim City Manager has suggested to Council is a re-examination of the service levels they provide our citizens. The thought behind this is that once the Council determines the service level then they can adjust the budget accordingly.

I would agree with this methodical and reasonable course of action. Too many times we see government agencies simply take an action without taking into account the full scope or knowledge of their actions. The City Council has not reviewed these service levels in years and it is extremely important to do so after all our economy has been through.

Let’s look at a few examples. In 1977 the Marina Fire Department had 14 firefighters, covered 5 square miles and handled some 600 calls annually. Today the Marina Fire Department has 15 firefighters, covering 10 square miles and handles some 1700 calls annually. Is our Fire Department right sized for our community? We should talk about this extensively.

Another example; the City has several economic development projects on deck. These range from a new Hampton Inn hotel to the new Theatre at the Dunes. We also know we will have the new Veterans’ clinic and other projects coming fairly soon. Currently we do not have enough staff to review the plans for these projects in a timely manner. What are our options at this point? How can we help facilitate the projects that will bring new revenue to our City and help our budgets in the future?

Finally, our Community has several public facilities that the City is responsible for maintaining, including our beautiful new library. The care and maintenance of these facilities is important to make sure they are there for our Citizens use. Right now our staffing levels and budgets make it very difficult to fulfill this obligation. What are our options here and how can we make sure these facilities remain available to all of us?

These questions really need to be answered sooner than later. Yes, we will draw from our reserves during this discussion time but that is why they are there. Our Citizens deserve to have the services they voted on maintaining when they approved Measures M & N in 2010. Nothing has changed since that time which is really the issue.

We all deserve an adult conversation that explores all of our options that focuses on the level of service we want, a conversation that looks at the things our local government can do and should do. This is a conversation that should cross all party and ideological lines that is unique to our Marina community. This is something we can accomplish if we work together as a community. Let’s make it happen.

More later

2012-13 Budget, Part I

Well, here we go again! Our City Council has the duty to work on and approve the 2012-13 annual budget between now and June 30^th. Let the games begin.

As part of the annual budget process the Interim City Manager Doug Yount has provided a 20 page budget message. It is a well thought out and detailed document that explains Marina’s overall financial situation, our staffing issues and his recommendations for what he calls a “status quo” budget.

What is even more important, Mr. Yount has asked the City Council to review the level of services that the City provides its citizens. This would include our police and fire protection, our recreational services and our public works services such as pothole repair, building maintenance, etc. If the Council decides to make cuts in the overall budget, he has asked that they decide on what services they wish to eliminate.

The document is very clear that there is just no more excess in the budget, and that any cuts made will directly affect the level of service that the City can provide. The document is also very clear that our City staff have been incredible stewards of our City’s funds. They have done their best to save monies where possible. Unfortunately, some of these savings were due to a lack of staffing that made it impossible to get some important things done in key departments such as finance and planning.

Another part of the document outlines the importance of Measures M & N to our City budget. It shows that the Citizens of Marina stepped up to cut the City’s overall budget deficit in half by passing the measures in 2010. Unfortunately, this also means that our City Council majority has essentially done nothing to narrow the revenue gap since then.

There will be a series of public meetings over the course of June (June 9, 12, 13, 19 and possibly the 20^th) to discuss the budget and to hear your input. I would ask that you pay attention to the process, add your input to the discussion and let your Council know what level of service you want from your City.

There will be much discussion over the next month and I will weigh in with some very specific ideas and solutions to our current situation. One idea that needs to be a part of any discussion going forward is to consider a two year budget cycle. We just simply do not have the staffing to stop everything and take almost two full months every year to approve our budgets. A two year cycle with 6 month updates will be far more efficient and allow our staff to focus on the services the City needs to provide our citizens.

More later…

Ft Ord National Monument

I took the opportunity yesterday to attend the dedication ceremony for the new Fort Ord National Monument. It was a beautiful morning some 6 miles deep in the Ft Ord back country. While Marina was covered in the morning fog, the dedication area, and much of the Ft Ord area was full of bright sunshine.

As I heard speaker after speaker talk about the virtues of the Ft Ord National Monument you could hear the sounds of the Ferrari’s racing around Laguna Seca sometimes making it hard to hear the words. It was a reminder, spoken by Congressman Farr, that Ft Ord means different things to different people. His example was the Ferrari’s and the mortarboards representing the morning’s graduation ceremonies at CSUMB.

Many may not know but Laguna Seca was at one time part of the Ft Ord base but was gifted to Monterey County as a Park in the early 1960’s. Since then it has provided millions of dollars to our area’s coffers in tourism and service revenues. The Ft Ord National Monument may also add to our regions revenues over the years but that’s not really the point. The point is that the lands that make up Ft Ord are for everyone.

There are lands for recreation, from racing to hiking, biking and more. There is land for education as represented by CSUMB, MPC, Chartwell, York and others. There are lands for development like The Dunes, Marina Heights, the Highlands and more. What do all of these areas really mean for the region?

Jobs - jobs that left our local economy when Ft. Ord closed. They could be jobs in recreation, education, research, medicine, manufacturing and in areas that we have not even thought about or considered. Jobs that will help to stabilize our local economy, perhaps even diversify it so that we are not as dependant on the cyclical nature of tourism.

So we celebrate the dedication of the Ft Ord National Monument as it sets aside forever, over half of the former Ft Ord lands that can and will be used by all of us. We also celebrate the other lands that make up Ft Ord as they represent the economic opportunities needed to sustain our areas economy.

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Appreciation

It was Albert Schweitzer that said “At times our own light goes out and is rekindled by a spark from another person. Each of us has cause to think with deep gratitude of those who have lighted the flame within us”. In my mind this is the definition of appreciation and it is with this thought in mind that I look forward to the next couple of weeks.

First on the list is my father’s birthday. It’s the perfect time to say the things I don’t necessarily say throughout the year. It’s his day and the time to let him know how much I appreciate all the things he has done for us over a lifetime.

In Marina, we have others that we get to acknowledge over the next couple of weeks starting with our Teachers. For many, many years the Marina American Legion has held an event, unique to our area that is designed to recognize the great job our local teachers do within our community. After all, who among us can’t think back to a teacher that somehow helped change our own lives? We as a community want to thank those that are changing the lives of our children today and Teacher Appreciation Day is our way of expressing our gratitude for a difficult job well done.

A bit later in the week, we as a community get the honor of acknowledging our Public Safety Officers. The annual Marina Public Safety Appreciation dinner again, is our community’s way of recognizing the often thankless job our Public Safety Officers do, day in and day out. So often we take for granted those that answer the call for help and those that protect us – this is Marina’s way of letting them know that we appreciate all that they do for us.

That will bring us to Mother’s Day. Here, not unlike the thoughts I expressed for my Dad’s birthday, we have the opportunity to appreciate all the things Mom has done for us. We thank them for the countless, thankless hours doing the things that Mom does each and every day that help and support their families. It also lets us pause and remember those Moms that we have lost but that we never let go from our hearts.

I am sure that there are many people in your own life that you appreciate but do not always acknowledge. Perhaps you can take a moment or two over the next couple of weeks and show them just how grateful you are that they are a part of your life.

More later

Springtime

Now that the taxes are done, Easter is over, the late season rains are giving way to flowers and baseball season is finally underway - it’s clear, springtime is here. Perhaps it’s time to take a brief break from all things political and look around our community.

It’s really not hard to see that there is far more that we have in common than what drives us apart. Springtime represents new beginnings, new starts and new growth so let’s celebrate those things.

Let’s take a moment and…

watch the kids playing baseball and softball and remember the spring days we played.

walk around our yards, gardens and neighborhoods to see what’s new this spring.

participate in the community events that bring us together like Earth Day and the Wind         Festival.

It is easy to get caught up in the day-to-day struggles and not see the things around us that bring a smile to our faces. It may seem a bit corny or silly to remind us to stop and smell the roses but if we don’t take the time now, when will we?

There is plenty of time to comment on politics, on who is doing what and who is not but maybe, just maybe, if we remember the lessons of spring we can reduce the divide just a bit, mend a fence or two and discover that we really do have more in common than we think.

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Time for a dialog

The next few months will be very important for the City of Marina. We have heard comments like this before but what happens in relation to our City’s budget over these months is critical to our future. Our City budget must be approved by the end of June which means we have three months to get it right.

We know that two years ago the citizens of Marina voted to tax themselves to maintain the current level of service within our community (Measures M & N). That successful vote cut our structural deficit in half. Since that time our City Council has done nothing to narrow the remaining gap with new revenue. As a result they will have several difficult decisions to make this budget cycle - mainly on the level of service we as citizens want and/or demand going forward.

This is the time to open a major public dialog within our community to define what we as citizens expect from our City government. Let’s be clear. This has to go well beyond our Police, Fire and Recreation services. This dialog must also include:  the services our Public Works department does to maintain our streets, parks and public facilities; our City’s Finance department; our Planning, and our Building departments.

It takes a lot of departments to run a City, regardless of its size - and that means people. Over the past few years the City of Marina has shed many of these people to the point where we are, by most estimates, at the bare minimum of service we can provide our citizens. If that is the case, what services must we cease to provide in the future?

If we as a community decide that we cannot eliminate any of the programs and services that are currently provided, then what steps are needed to properly fund them? What can, or must, our City Council do to shore up our City’s balance sheet to provide the services for all the citizens of Marina?

This is the dialog we must have from here. I for one will be very interested in hearing what you think and what services and/or level of service you want to see from your City. It is important to share these thoughts with our City officials because this budget cycle may well define what Marina looks like for years to come. So I urge you to write letters to the editor and to your Council members, go to City Council meetings, or simply talk to your Council members when you see them, and let them know how you feel. Now is the time for this dialog - not after the decisions are made.

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FORA Extension

The extension of FOR A is on a lot of minds lately. Since the last Council meeting where the City Council debated the contents of a long letter to the State legislature, the bill extending FOR A was passed out of committee in Sacramento and could be approved as soon as Thursday out in the Assembly.

I thought it important to repeat a few of the points I brought up before the City Council because many of them have to do with issues beyond the extension of FOR A.

First, let’s remember that the former Ft. Ord is about the size of San Francisco City and County, 28,000 acres. Of that acreage, a bit over 18,000 acres have been set aside as permanent natural habitat through agreements with FOR A  and the Sierra Club. Now it appears some 14,000+ acres of that land will be designated as a National Monument to secure its natural status forever.

The remaining acres include all of CSUMB, parts of Del Rey Oaks, Monterey, Seaside, the County of Monterey and Marina. These areas are represented by the Highlands and Bayonet Golf Course in Seaside, the East Garrison project in the County and the Dunes, the Marina Airport, MPC and Marina Heights in Marina plus various other areas.

Next, the blight that we are so concerned about is all within someone’s current jurisdiction. In Marina, most of the blight we see is owned by the City of Marina at this point. There are areas that are entitled for development but the land itself is still owned by the City till the developers have enough interest in building to actually purchase the land and demolish the buildings. The same is true in Seaside, the County and CSUMB. It should also be noted that it is the proceeds from the land sales that fund the demolition of the old buildings.

In fact, Marina had a chance to remove all the blight in the Cypress Knolls area but Councilman Brown changed his mind after choosing a developer, causing more delay’s that could last for years. In the meantime, the blight is not only an eyesore but both an environmental and public safety hazard.

Finally, the purpose of FOR A was, and is, to replace the jobs and the economy that was the Army before the base closed. That means some 34,000 jobs and the housing that goes along with it. FOR A, the Cities and the developers have been working to fulfill this mandate but they have weathered challenge after challenge plus an ever changing economy just to get where we are today. Has everything been accomplished since they began? Of course not. Are there challenges and issues that should be resolved? Yes, but these are local issues and they need local input, not solved on a State level.

So I support the extension of FOR A and I hope the State legislature agrees and gives FOR A the 10 year extension that Assemblyman Monning along with his co-signers, Assemblyman Alejo and Senators Blakeslee and Cannella have proposed. Then let’s all get back to the serious work of bringing jobs to our community.

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