On Tuesday night, the council by a 4-1 vote decided to push back consideration of the General Plan update until at least July as the city grapples with a serious budget deficit. The lone dissenter was Mayor Pro Tem Saylor.
Saylor spoke as though he were in a different time from the rest of us.
The Vanguard was pleased to see the Davis Enterprise reporter Claire St. John on Wednesday run a story which highlighted the 100K Club of Davis for 2008, updating the work the Vanguard did on August 5, 2008 with 2007 data.
Davis Enterprise Columnist Rich Rifkin also ran an analysis in his column on the Davis Fire Department.
One of the big questions that often arises is whether Davis should continue to outsource their City Attorney Services to the law firm of McDonough, Holland & Allen who employ City Attorney Harriet Steiner.
The Vanguard engaged in extensive analysis through a series of public records requests. In the fiscal year of 2004-05 Davis paid its City Attorney and law firm $514,154.10. In 2005-06 it was $535,664.50. In 2006-07 it was $641,025.70. And in 2007-08 it $464,145.50.
Move Smacks of Political Retribution Rather Than Sound Fiscal PolicyRemember, the firefighters pumped in $30,000 into the last campaign to reelection Councilmembers Don Saylor and Stephen Souza.
At last night’s council meeting, Finance Director Paul Navazio looked toward an aggressive cost savings plan as the city faces an immediate deficit, a longer-term structural deficit, and an impending problem of unfunded liabilities for health care and pensions.
Despite the rosey picture that City Manager Bill Emlen attempted to play at the outset, these projections may actually represent a best-case scenario as became clear as the conversation and discussion progressed.
We have been talking about this for months, but the Enterprise is starting to see the light of day on the issue of city contract talks with six of the employee bargaining units with the city.
One of the big questions that will need to be determined is the extent to which this process will have transparency. Often what has happened in the past is that the first time either the council or the public knows about the contract is after the city’s “negotiators” usually the city manager, HR person, and finance director reach agreement with heads of the employee bargaining units.
On January 13, 2009, the Davis City Council listened to investigator Bob Aaronson and City Manager Bill Emlen discuss very different interpretations of the Mr. Aaronson’s investigation into allegations present in the June of 2008 Grand Jury Report.
It was a report that the elected members of the Davis City Council did not get to read in full. The Vanguard subsequently filed a California Public Records Act Request for both the full unredacted report and a redacted report. The city of Davis, as expected has denied the Vanguard access to the full version of the report.
Back on February 3, the Vanguard made a bit of splash by invoking the spirit of Bush I circa 1988, saying “Read My Lips… No New Taxes.”
In truth, despite how it sounded, it was not a declaration against taxes, or even new taxes. It was suggestion that Davis gets its fiscal house in order.
Davis FireOne of the big questions facing the Davis Fire Department is the issue of staffing and the issue of whether or not the fire department needs a fourth fire station. Data presented by the Davis Fire Department has often shown that Davis has a relatively low number of fire fighters per thousand people, a high population per station, and a low cost per capita.
The Vanguard’s analysis largely confirms those findings that would seem to suggest that davis is in need of more fire staffing, an additional fire station, and that it is run relatively cost effective.
City of DavisThe city of Davis now faces a large and growing budget deficit. Due to the continued decline of the economic conditions in Davis, the current year’s budget deficit is projected to grow from the November estimate of $1.54 million to $2.37 million. Next year the budget deficit will range from between $3 million to $3.6 million depending on the city’s negotiations with the employee bargaining units.
From the city staff report for Tuesday’s City Council meeting:
At the risk of sounding somewhat well… Republican, there is something to this at least from the standpoint of local government. It is really not that I am opposed to new taxes, it is that there needs to be some incentive for the city to negotiate hard this with the various bargaining units. Let us back up a few steps first here.
City of DavisA year ago the city basically identified around $13 million in what it called unmet needs. These were needed projects in a variety of departments that the city needed to undertake but lacked the available money to pay for them. As the Vanguard has mentioned previously, some of these are quite basic road repairs and other vital services.
Right now the city is projecting a growing budget deficit for the foreseeable future. It begins at close to $1.5 million for the current fiscal year and doubles to $3 million next year.
City of DavisIn a letter from Mayor Ruth Asmundson pasted on the city’s page for the Golden Heart Awards this year, it reads:
“As a result of the death of Andrew Mockus in April 1992, the City of Davis Recreation and Park Commission expanded its commitment to the youth of our community. Forums were held throughout the community to discuss the problems of youth and to brainstorm on how the community could do more to meet the needs of youth.
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