The last edition spotlighted the Need for Guard Rails. This edition highlights DEEP DENIAL: More than Guard Rails Needed.
El Cerrito Council members have already missed and plan to miss future opportunities to address community challenges because they opted for an abbreviated summer schedule.
According to the National League of Cities, local legislators and councilmembers are responsible for and responsive to the citizens who elected them. Depending on the City’s charter and state laws, they may perform the following functions:
- Review and approve the annual budget.
- Establish long- and short-term objectives and priorities.
- Oversee the performance of the local public employees.
- Oversee the effectiveness of programs.
- Establish tax rates;
- Enter into legal contracts.
- Borrow funds.
- Pass ordinances and resolutions.
- Modify the City’s charter.
- Regulate land use through zoning laws.
- Regulate business activity through licensing and regulations.
- Regulate public health and safety.
- Exercise the power of eminent domain.
- Communicate policies and programs to residents.
- Respond to constituent needs and complaints; and
- Represent the community to other levels of government.
City Council members are in deep denial, acting as if attending grand openings for new businesses, adopting proclamations, and attending special interest events, photo ops, and junkets to schmooze with high-ranking electeds is sufficient for their reasonable service.
Workshops, Town Hall meetings mean nothing if the public comments do not influence leadership decisions. It’s just window dressing and attempts to pretend that the public’s needs matter. Sometimes public comment doesn’t feel great, but it’s an opportunity to prioritize in a way that improves resident’s lives
These efforts have a place in City government. Still, these efforts do not absolve Councilmembers from governing and addressing City issues. A host of topics should and could be addressed:
- How to handle the $1.5M in planned expenditures left out of the FY24 budget without using reserves.
- Having a meaningful discussion of optimistic Real Property Transfer Tax revenue and what happens now that revenue estimates have not been realized.
- The City indicated that Measure V funds would be used for community services. Yet, in 2020, the City quietly paid for overtime, balanced the budget, and could not highlight any meaningful service increase.
- The City has a pension liability in the tens of millions of dollars yet focuses on establishing a Trust for FUTURE liabilities. How about paying off the existing debt first?
- The Pavement Condition Index (PCI), an evidence-based metric, fell from 84 to 70.
- Safety on the Ohlone Greenway
- Economic Development as Measured by Taxable Sales.
FAB Recommendations
- FAB recommended $1M in general fund savings, yet FY24 has no actual savings and may experience a deficit.
- FAB recommended monthly financial reporting. The Council agreed to quarterly financial reporting. The result is no documentation, vague reporting, and no forecasts.
- FAB requested a waterfall approach to general fund reserves, but the City Manager argued for a flexible approach. As you know, the current City Manager was either Assistant City Manager or City Manager during the entire downfall from 2014 to the present mismanagement. Still, Council members continue to laude her expertise and blindly trust the recommendations.
- FAB requested 33% reserves, but that didn’t happen.
Until El Cerrito develops a long-term fiscal plan that responsibly meets the resident’s needs, the City doesn’t deserve any new money.
El Cerrito residents, the City needs you. Please attend the monthly Financial Advisory Board meetings in person. Council meetings are both remote and in-person. City leadership is much more careful with the future when you attend.
The next FAB meeting will be on August 22nd. The schedule is here.
The City Council meeting with be on August 15th. The schedule is here.
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El Cerrito Committee for Responsible Government (ECCRG) 