Did You Know.....

• That the consultant hired by the City to produce the surveys, messaging and ballot measure cost us, the taxpayers, $384,250.00.  This consulting firm, Clifford Moss, does this for Cities and Government entities, they create the spin for the public to make them feel that if they don't pass a tax the public will suffer. 
• At the Weekly's Mayor and Council Member Forum on September 5th, 2024 Karla Brown stated "$10,000 is not a minor expense to close the streets" when discussing Weekend on Main.  BUT this same City Leadership has allowed the upkeep of the Century House rose garden and park area, which is closed to the public and has been closed to the public since 2014. Did you know that the cost to keep up the rose garden and the park area costs the City over $46,000.00 per year? If these are fixed annual costs it could have cost the City almost HALF A MILLION dollars to keep a park up that no one can enjoy. It is closed to everyone. How many rose bushes could be planted for that amount of money if and when the Century House is ever opened up again?

• Our City Manager in July 2024 signed a contract with Santa Cruz Mountain Trail Stewardship as the contractor to provide trail maintenance services. In this contract, Exhibit A is a fee schedule. Our City will be paying an apprentice/laborer a whopping $137.00 per hour regular time/$163.00 per hour overtime. Now the CM only has authority to sign contracts valued at $100,000.00 total, so the way around that is the agreement is spread over two budget years. Let's just calculate what $137.00 per hour equals per year.  $285,000.00 per year for an apprentice! Is it becoming apparent why we have a budget issue? Don't just take our word for it, you can click here to view the contract with pay rates.

• What is our City Manager's recent background? Gerry Beaudin was previously the Assistant City Manager for Alameda City where he introduced a city tax measure that brought Alameda City up to 10.75%. Sound familiar?
• That the budget created by City Staff has underestimated its revenues and that assumptions matter? Check out this side-by-side of the City Assumptions vs. Historical Reality here...