Once again, cannabis and a final decision on an emergency demolition permit for two historic buildings are on the Benicia City Council agenda for Tuesday.
The council will discuss requesting the Department of Justice (DOJ) to approve of conducting background searches of city employees would deal with applicants for commercial cannabis uses. At the Feb 6. meeting, the council approved the introduction of ordinances related to cannabis business activities. It was also determined by the City Council a scoring criteria was necessary to evaluate commercial cannabis use applications depend on whether the council adopts the four other cannabis ordinances on the consent calendar. If the ordinances are adopted Tuesday, they would take effect on March 22, according to a staff report by Community Development Director Shawna Brekke-Read. Brekke-Read noted that the ordinances would affect the city’s budget in three ways: additional staff time would be needed to process the applications, enforcing the regulations would generate a cost to the city and a tax measure would be placed on a ballot in the June or November elections asking to assess an excise tax on cannabusinesses, per the council’s request. The deadline for the council to compelte the process steps and submit a resolution for the June 5 primary ballot is March 9.
“Given the staff work necessary to meet this deadline, staff is recommending the measure be placed on
the November ballot,” Brekke-Read wrote. “The deadline for the November ballot is in early August.”
The council could also consider adding 1.75 employees who would deal with processing cannabis use applications. An updated timeline of processing cannabis applications and preliminary fee information will be provided by city staff as well.
Staff has recommended the council take the following three actions: adopt the resolution, which would authorized staff to request the DOJ’s approval to conduct backgrounding of applicants, authorize the addition of 1.75 full-time equivalent staff to address the additional workload necessary to implement cannabis ordinances and application processes, and provide direction regarding scoring and evaluation criteria.
In other business, the council could make a final decision on the emergency demolition permit for the Foundry and Office Buildings at 678 East H St. The two buildings, once the home of the Pacific Mail Steamship Company and Yuba Industries, have been part of a battle for more than a year over whether or not they should remain standing or should be demolished. At the Jan. 16 meeting, the council heard testimony and considered various options. After the public hearing was finished, the council directed staff to prepare and return with a resolution for approval. The agenda item was pushed to Tuesday’s meeting after numerous delays.
The council has two options: they can grant the appeal and deny the permit or deny the appeal and uphold the permit. Staff recommends the council review and approve one of the proposed resolutions.
The council will meet at 6 p.m. Tuesday in a closed session to discuss legal matters. The regular meeting will start at 7 in the Council Chambers at City Hall, located at 250 East L St. A live stream of the council meeting can also be found online at ci.benicia.ca.us/agendas.
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A proven positive economic plan is launching next week without a lick of support from our boards and commissions tasked with advancing our economic health and quality of life. One group wanted to impose a per plant fee for personal cultivation guaranteed by state law. Another believed they needed to “put the brakes on” the City Council “going too fast” on regulated cannabis activity. There is no prescribed or modeled timeline to follow for implementing regulations. Staff has repeatedly cited the numerous meetings and outreach efforts during the last year of discussions, and the fact is other cities in Solano County are revisiting their policies in following our example of steady progress.
“…significant increase to the City’s tax revenues.” says the staff report. I guarantee the vote to put the tax measure on a ballot will fly at 4-1 since all but one member have previously indicated support for regulated activity. This creates quite a challenge for Rejectors that may be eyeing continued or newly-elected office this November while burdened with a history of anti-cannabis sentiments. You will be on the spot to take a position on regulated cannabis and the forthcoming tax vote as you launch your campaign. Cannabis will be the premier topic at the forums, and pro-cannabis candidates will have an enormous advantage. If you flip on regulated/taxed cannabis, it will viewed as a politically expedient shift rather than a sincere evolution of principles.
There will be no significant increase to city revenue., Cannabis will not be the main topic. The city financial crisis and sewer/water rates will be the big issue. Any candidate that comes forward with a solution to the city financial crisis will run away with the election and pull another candidate with them A pro cannabis candidate will get lost in the shuffle with their ONE TRICK PONY approach. Cannabis is settled. The city will settle on a very low rate after approval of the tax issue. Believe me it will be about 2/5%. It is not an issue because it does not bring in needed revenue at the rate this city needs. This city will need an additional 5 mil by the next two year reviews of budgets . The years covered will be 19/20 and 20/21. By then the city budget will be out of control. Sorry SG cannabis is a dead issue.
Benicia Water rates are comparable to other local agencies like Martinez CCWD and Vallejo, and are well below some, for example San Jose. Unfortunately with the 24% decrease in water use just reported the rates are not covering needed capital costs. Sewer rates on the other hand are much higher than other local agencies like Vallejo and CCCSD ~$500 compared to ours at ~$850/year.
But sewer rates cover needed capital costs which are only about 12%of current costs. So there is no room to reduce rates unless you want to borrow from the future by either borrowing money so you can have a rate decrease now or putting off capital projects which is just a different form of borrowing and is always more costly in the end. Not smart financially and risky in terms of potential catastrophic failures from deferred maintenance. Not covering costs or deferring projects will just repeat the mistakes of the past: deferring rate increases just leads to big increases later.
The big issue will be paying for the other debt: unfunded pension liability which the entire state faces.
I do not disagree with what you say. The big difference is we live in Benicia not in another town. We do not care about other areas. We are concerned about our costs in Benicia. They could have chosen the other options which were both lower. When you have had over fifty years of poor management by the council on water/sewer rates what is a few more years. The residents are reminded every two months how much they are paying. They are not happy. The best thing to do is add another 1% sales tax to the November ballot. You could get 5 million from it. Use the money for water/sewer 2.5 m and roads 2.5 mil The other 5 mil from Measure C at 1 % goes to the the city budget which it very shortly all will used for any way.. Put a 10 year sunset on it. That way it gives you 10 years to get something going on the Seeno property and other economic development issues. The one thing you do not want to do is cut services or out source/contract out our services. Any candidate that uses this approach will win very easily. Cannabis is off the campaign issues.
If I understand you, your solution to the current rates is either:
1) continue to charge below cost for several years (that is continue what you call mismanagement). Other than kick the can down the road and cost more in the long run, what would that accomplish?
or
2) raise sales tax and use it to subsidize the water system. That is fraught with problems: what is the nexus between commercial sales and water costs? When someone new connects to the system, where do the connect fees go–to the water fund or back to the general fund and in what proportion? Why should sales tax subsidize the water system at all? Will this open the door to the water system subsidizing the general fund?
We went a long time with no rate increases, and collecting less than was needed for the system. We all got a break for years. Eventually, you have to pay the piper.
By the way Greg I am a very low water user and my sewer maintenance cost is about $1200 a year. That does not include consumption costs. Again I could be called the poster boy for water use. To get to $850 you would use little if any water. .
Sorry Greg you are correct I used a six months basis and it should have been 12 months.. So you are correct. As a low user I am way below your $850 figure.
the $850 per year is SEWER ONLY, That charge is $97 for 2 months plus a use fee of $2.85/ccf, capped at 18 ccf per 2 months. Maximum for a high user would be $890/year for sewer. That is higher than other comparable rates nearby (Vallejo is $93 for 2 months, no use fee). So if you are below $850 for both, yes, you are a low water user!
My sewer bill averages about $90 for the last three bills for maintenance and $25 for consumption. Using the six billing cycles my average bill for both is $115 or $690 for the year. Yes I am a low water user. Thank you. ,
Yesterday evening’s public comments included cannabis business representatives indicating possible seven figure investments in our city and hundreds of jobs processing cannabis to selective oil formulations for a rapidly expanding demand for concentrates. These folks spoke of around the clock operations at BIP. The City Council will only define hours of operation for retail storefronts, but everyone else can work three shifts or whatever making money. I encourage Benicia’s younger residents to keep learning about cannabis as a career, because it will be here for the rest of your lives.