■ Panel approves outline of spending for anticipated revenue

Benicia’s government, from staff to elected officials, hopes residents will approve Measure C on Nov. 4, increasing the city’s sales tax by a penny.

Though the measure is a general purpose tax, city employees recommended Tuesday that City Council indicate how the money would be spent during the next two years, even if the official commitment of the funds wouldn’t be made until the next two-year budget is approved in 2015.

“This is to provide voters guidance where the money would be spent,” Economic Development Manager Mario Giuliani said during the Council meeting.

The Council learned from interim Finance Director Brenda Olwin that the city is expected to end the current fiscal year $1.5 million shy of a balanced budget.

Giuliani said that in the city’s 10-year fiscal forecast, even the most optimistic alternative shows the city’s revenues failing to keep up with expenses. “It necessitates some sort of action,” he said.

The 1-cent increase in sales tax will be decided by voters in the fall election, and Giuliani said, “Measure C is one way to address that (shortfall).”

The city has pursued other ways, cutting staff by 12 percent, saving $11.2 million every year. Its lease income is up 275 percent, bringing in $65,000 in new money every month, Giuliani said.

But sales tax has dropped, he said. Benicia Industrial Park is 90 percent occupied, but many of the new or expanded businesses are warehouse types that don’t generate sales tax, he said.

In the past four years, the city has issued 10 residential construction permits and no industrial ones. That’s a significant drop from the 1980s and 1990s, when Southampton homes and businesses were being built.

“That won’t happen in the future,” Giuliani said, explaining that the city can’t “grow” its way out of its deficits. That’s why staff recommended, and the Council approved, putting the sales tax increase on the ballot.

In anticipation of encouraging voters to approve the tax, Benicia conducted a community survey in June, testing a sample of 400 to see if residents might support the tax instead of watching city services get cut.

Of the responders, 84 percent put response to emergency calls at the top of their priority list. Another 72 percent found reducing police patrols and reducing crime preventive services as unacceptable.

Of those polled, 70 percent disagreed with cutting youth programs and reducing pothole repairs, and 67 percent objected to any reduction in street repairs.

In addition, 70 percent wanted the city’s 31 parks maintained, 68 percent agreed that Benicia needs to be funded so it would remain a full-service city, and 67 percent urged the city to fix its streets and sidewalks.

Of the $3.7 million the new penny tax is expected to raise annually, Giuliani said city staff has recommended $1.7 million should be used to maintain existing services. The remaining $2 million should be used on unmet needs, he said.

The $2 million would just be a start, he said. Benicia has an estimated $100 million in unmet needs.

Giuliani recommended, and the Council concurred, that if voters approve Measure C the initial $2 million the city expects to spend on unmet needs should be spent this way:

• Outdated police and fire computer-aided dispatching and record management systems should be replaced, at $400,000;

• A Type III Wildland fire engine should be bought to fight grass fires, at $292,000;

• Obsolete playground equipment at Community Park should be replaced, at $200,000;

• Southampton Road from Panorama Drive to the frontage at Benicia Middle School to Hastings Drive should be repaired and given an asphalt overlay, and safety crossings should be improved, at $500,000;

• Engineering plans should be developed for a portion of Industrial Way in the Benicia Industrial Park, at $50,000;

• Sidewalks and street surfaces in the city’s downtown business district should be repaired, at $100,000;

• Another 250 potholes should be repaired, at $200,000; and

• The city should develop a Storm Water Management and Flood Mitigation Plan, at $100,000.

All together, the projects would cost $1,992,000, Giuliani said.

The next year, the city would act on the Industrial Way plan, and $1 million would be dedicated to those repairs, he said.

In addition, the city would spend $80,000 to replace Benicia police radios; $448,491 on a new Type 1 fire engine; and $400,000 to repair the pool deck and restrooms at the James Lemos Aquatic Center, for a total of $1,928,491, Giuliani said.

The voters could turn down the measure, he noted, in which case the city would need to find $1.5 million in short order to combat the budget deficit. The rest of the items would be delayed until the city found other revenue sources.

While Councilmembers Mark Hughes and Alan Schwartzman called the recommendations a “good list,” Mayor Elizabeth Patterson asked why the accompanying resolution didn’t mention the panel — the Finance Committee — that would have oversight to assure the new money would be spent appropriately.

City Attorney Heather McLaughlin said the committee would be mentioned when the new budget is adopted, or the city could amend the Finance Committee’s resolution to add this to its duties.

Despite her concerns, Patterson joined the rest of the panel in endorsing the spending plan.