In my last commentary (“Reality check,” Jan. 16), I tried to explain how the city of Lompoc wound up with a substantial budget deficit even though one councilman is in total denial.
To try and mitigate the impact of this deficit, the City Council approved placing a temporary (15-year) 1-percent sales tax measure on the March 2020 ballot. But what will happen if it doesn’t pass? How will the city address the revenue shortfall?
According to the information on the City Clerks webpage, “Without Measure I2020, the city will have to make additional reductions to general city services. These reductions include community and recreational services, park facility upkeep, police and firefighter services, and street repairs. Currently there are no other funding sources available to maintain these services.”
To put this in perspective, we all have “needs” and “wants” in our daily lives; we “need” food, water, and a warm, dry place to live. We “want” electronic devices, money for entertainment, flashy cars, and toy haulers.
Many people feel that the city must “live within its means”; that seems to be a responsible position until you need or want to use one of those services that was cut because there was a revenue deficit that could have been aided by passage of the tax. Besides, the city has consistently lived within the budget approved by the City Council; that seems to be living within its means.
Others complain that the proposed tax is just to pay for retirements. The retirement “contributions” to CalPERS are an obligation that must be paid no matter what else happens. Some of the sales tax revenue will go for retirement payments, but the added funding will also be used for retaining day-to-day service capability.
The city labor unions have already stepped up to the plate to do their share. The 2019-21 budget states that “through successful bargaining negotiations, employment agreements have been modified to require all employees [to] contribute the entire employee share of CalPERS retirement contributions.” This will help with future costs.
The employee groups also accepted changes to their retirement formulas that increase the eligible age of retirement and decrease the retired pay they are entitled to.
So, you can see that labor is trying to do their part to help solve the problem; but, the budget also warns that “caution is further warranted in light of the proposed increases in employee benefit contributions being imposed upon the city by the CalPERS system for possibly as long as three decades.”
So, what would be the impact if voters don’t support the tax measure? As far as your needs from city government are concerned, you need police and fire protection and well-maintained roads, alleys, and sidewalks.
If the council majority continues to honor the need to “support public safety” as their No. 1 priority, then the cuts would have to come from things you want like recreational services, park facility upkeep, library services, and street repairs.
Let’s look at these one at a time.
Recreational activities require a two-year budget of $3.9 million and maintenance of the venues they use (park facilities) require another $4.7 million. We already know that our parks are in poor condition despite the efforts of the small staff authorized for maintenance. Any reductions to this budget could mean that some park facilities simply would no longer be maintained.
Proposed grant allocations from the state would be for one-time upgrades, not sustained maintenance.
If the tax isn’t approved, the only way to maintain the status quo, which is arguably well below what most communities want, could only be maintained by raising user fees to generate more revenue. This means that event organizers, such as the Flower Festival, Kennel Club, youth/adult sports clubs, and Spring Arts Festival, would have to raise the fees to exhibitors and guests in order to rent the venues.
The library is only open for 36 hours a week; hours were reduced by previous budget cuts, and there is a maintenance backlog. The library is arguably the most visited venue operated by the city, and further cuts would deny many people a highly desired service.
Our streets are already in bad shape even though there is a $4.3 million two-year budget. The people who maintain our streets are stretched to the limit and still can’t keep up. Some, well several, streets haven’t been repaved in decades, and interior streets and alleys running through neighborhoods are in poor condition.
The proposed sales tax increase will generate approximately $9.6 million every two years. The general fund unfunded liability was $7.5 million in the 2019-21 two-year budget; the projected unfunded liability for the 2021-23 budget cycle is $9.5 million—which means that the CalPERS contribution will increase about $2 million.
So it appears that there could be about $7.6 million left of the new revenue to help maintain service levels. If it doesn’t pass, then they’ll have to cut an additional $2 million in services.
The needs and wants citizens ask for are not excessive; this temporary tax measure is essential to preserving the services we have come to expect from our local government.
Ron Fink writes to the Sun from Lompoc. Send your thoughts, comments, and opinionated letters to letters@santamariasun.com.
This article appears in Jan 30 – Feb 6, 2020.
