The introduction of priority-based budgeting and confirmation of strategic results is the only agenda item for the City Council’s short Tuesday meeting.
According to a staff report by City Manager Lorie Tinfow, Benicia’s budget has been described as “fragile.” This fragility, Tinfow wrote, is caused by expense growth outpacing revenue increases, and future challenges associated with pension costs, workforce retention and attraction, and aging infrastructure.
” We need new tools to understand these circumstances ourselves and develop response strategies and to explain them to the public,” Tinfow wrote. “Priority-Based Budgeting creates a tool that can help us achieve these objectives.”
Priority-Based Budgeting (PBB) is an approach that allows local governments to match available resources with community priorities, provide information to elected officials to inform their decisions and engage citizens in the budgeting process. One of the founders of the method, Chris Fabian, will provide an overview to the council to detail how the process works.
“As we look ahead to the city’s financial future, we need new ways of understanding it, talking about it and making decisions,” Tinfow wrote. ” PBB will help.”
The city has contracted with budgeting software company Resourcex for services associated with the proposed budgeting, Tinfow wrote. No budgetary implications are attached to this agenda item.
City staff recommends that the council accept the report and presentation, then discuss and finalize results for use in the Priority-Based Budgeting process.
The council will meet an hour earlier than usual at 6 p.m. Tuesday 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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“future challenges associated with pension costs”. The common thread of unpopular candidates last election was the endorsement of police, fire, and labor. Pension costs are burdening many cities, and I believe voters cast a wary eye at anyone endorsed by these groups. This is not to criticize labor unions, as I have been blue collar all my life.
It is not the unions fault. It is the fault of CalPers mismanagement of the fund.
The meeting is not at all about budgeting. It is about something that is not new. Every household, business does budgeting. The only problem with this city council and for sure the mayor is they are very far left leaning Socialist Progressive Democrats with the exception of one or two. We know who they are and they do get it right. The FLLSPD do not want a Republican on the ballot in a non-partisan election. That is your problem. Wake up residents/voters in Benicia. It is your city.
OK, you live in Benicia. You have an opportunity every so often to boot out the liberals (and be honest, Socialist Progressive Democrats would find living in communist Russia under Lenin comfortably within their metier). You won’t do the boot, though, simply because conservatives would rather not become vocal–you know what happens to a brown monkey in a black monkey cage, after all. When you are a minority, it is best to bow your head and say, “Yes, Massa!”. Don’t get me wrong, Benicia is a wonderful place to live as long as you can pinch your nose to avoid the stink of the local politicians.
The latest data from the Registrar of Voters indicates Benicia is 49% (D), 23% (R), and 23% NPP. It is unlikely anyone with an (R) after their name can overcome this disadvantage, especially if they are pulling baggage cars from last election.
The Dems did not endorse Feinstein for re-election. Her nearest challenger for the anointing was state Senate leader Kevin de Leon, who missed securing enough delegate votes.. Feinstein did not support Prop. 64 and the party’s official position has been for regulated adult-use since 2010’s first attempt to legalize cannabis. If you are (D) running for office and are like Feinstein, bye, Felicia.
OMG! The whole world revolves around weed and a politicians views on weed!
Let it go man! The world is not about weed!
Believe it or not there are many, many, many more important issues than weed.
This is getting funny.
The city elections for council/mayor are non-partisan. No ID behind your name. Now that said that does not mean that the new local Socialist Progressive Democrats will not bring party ID. In their mind Republicans are not welcome.
Seriously, I gotta laugh at this article and the “news”. Two sentences in the second paragraph that says the city spends more money that it has. Third paragraph describes PBB as a method of flim-flamming the public so the city can continue to “tax and spend”. So, instead of reducing staff and spending, they are SPENDING MORE to purchase software to help explain why they can’t make ends meet. Seriously, you have to see the amusement factor. Waddaya bet they decide to adopt the CA model and mortgage our grandchildren by floating a municipal bond or two. I’d be OK with that approach if they give Benicia residents first crack at purchasing the bonds without having to go through a broker. Maybe I can get some of my own back…
I know exactly how you feel.
Here is the major cause of financial disaster for Benicia and every city in CA: (city mismanagement also a cause)
http://www.sacbee.com/opinion/editorials/article199693069.html
The Benicia city council is guilty of gross mismanagement as the mayor sees global warming in Benicia as the leading cause of every problem. She also cannot understand that a ledger has two sides: revenue and outlays.
The mayor only sees revenues (taxes) and never considers outlays (cost savings and cuts). Now pile on the CalPERS looming disaster…. Bingo! Financial disaster.
Everyone thinks the water bills were bad … wait until the tax man comes for CalPERS deficits.
If you want a preview of the “presentation” on PBB (it has been around a long time), take a look at this presentation provided to Kalamazoo 3 years ago…bet it won’t be much different than what you’ll see on Tuesday.). Some of my family is in Kazoo; none have reported any improvement in city governance as a result of PBB. https://www.kalamazoocity.org/docman/priority-based-budgeting/1301-center-for-priority-based-budgeting-rad-tool-presentation-september-14-2015-pdf/file
Most of Benicia’s lack of revenue streams is due in large part to the lack of businesses in the industrial park (drive around to see how many “AVAILABLE” signs you see). Then trace those vacancies back to the city’s ATTITUDE about businesses (ie, tax them to tears until they leave).
I believe the big issue is lack of economic development. The Seeno property is #1. The BIP has a good occupancy but some or many do not bring in sales tax. Cannabis is not the answer. The Seeno property is. You then move to a very council that does not seem to understand econ dev. For sure the Mayor and Vice Mayor. That type of leadership is your mane problem. Vote them out and you will see progress. But not until. The Mayor must go.
Thom come to the council meeting Tuesday night. It will be eye opening. You will see the Mayor and Vice Mayor at their lack of understand the issue at their very best. I sure hope I have another Red Blazer event. Loved the last one.
No thanks. I don’t want to waste my time listening to a presentation on BPP that I’ve already seen; I don’t want to hurt my nose by pinching it so I can be around the stench of local politics. As a conservative in a liberal area, my vote and voice is moot. As you’ve said, nothing can be done to rid ourselves of these communists; so we might as well ignore them.
“According to 2015 crop reports, the yield per acre in Sonoma County for wine grapes is approximately $8,500 per acre, and the yield per acre for vegetables is $24,000. The estimated yield for cannabis per acre is $8,200,000, or two orders of magnitude greater than wine grapes.” – Cathy Huyghe, Forbes
The Seeno 500+ acres would be a gold mine in our back yard, and provide revenue to the Seeno family in perpetuity.
500 acres? You need almost 3000 acre-feet of water per year. More than 2/3 of the municipal use in Benicia.
Sure using all 500 acres to grow cannabis is probably impractical, but a smaller grow would not be. For instance, a 10 acre grow would produce $86 mil worth of flower alone. (For the doubters, I used present DEA info on cannabis crop yield per square foot x current market value of an ounce of high potency flower in California. The water comparison means nothing if the water is from secondary treatment sources. All the water consumed here by residents or industrial processes ends up back in the river. We get little residual value from the water we consume in our homes other than improved landscaping, such as it is. The rest of it ends up in a pipeline to the treatment plant, then discharged into the river. Same with industrial process water. Back in the river after it is treated.
Some cultivators have overcome their water needs by using tankers to deliver it from sustainable sources external to their local water provider. The water that is presently discharged back into the river here can be tapped to fill tankers to carry it to a grow site at Seeno or on our own properties north of Lake Herman Road. The water can then be used a second time to produce a high value commodity instead of being wasted. If we were to assess a 1% (or more) “host fee” on all cannabis grown at Seeno, a 10 acre grow would bring us $860k annually.
I believe the Seeno family would much rather make millions of dollars annually from their property instead of a one time profit from home sales, and won’t blink if they have to let us wet our beak a little to make it happen. Keep in mind that Napa and Sonoma grape cultivators are adding or switching to cannabis cultivation because it is several orders of magnitude more profitable.
We are down to 10 acres to grow $86 million worth? So 12o acres would be $1 billion worth? 20% of the total California expected sales coming from 120 acres in our little town? https://www.thecannifornian.com/cannabis-business/californias-cannabis-growers-staying-shadows/
10 acres would need about 50-60 acre-feet pf water (including the required drainage water, which has to go somewhere). Secondary treated would not be sufficient, it would need more disinfection and filtration, and more if contaminated with dissolved pollutants that you would get from a refinery (or even household products that go down the drain).
50 acre-feet is 16 million gallons, or about 10 tanker trucks per day over a 6 month growing season (not the little kind, the big kind you see rolling out of Valero). People on East 5th, Military East and East 2nd are not going to be thrilled with that traffic.
I toured the wastewater treatment facility a few years ago and saw freshwater fish swimming in a tank of treated water before it was to be discharged into the river. Basically a canary in the coal mine Flintstone technology level of verifying quality. I think that you are under-informed on water processing and just want to dispute everything I say, as you have demonstrated now and in the past.
Accordingly, for you,
Banned!
I am sorry you think I dispute everything you say (actually I don’t, just the stuff that is wrong). I am glad you took a tour of a wastewater facility. I have over 40 years experience in hydraulics and water resources including water treatment and I am familiar with regs on recycling.. I don’t think I am under-informed on this.
And by the way, the fish are indicators of acute toxicity (like for instance, if they over chlorinate).
They are not indicators of whether the water is safe for crops that are consumed. or whether the water is sufficiently treated so it will pass through irrigation systems, or whether it meets Title 22 regs for recycling.
Basically, we would be selling the same water allotment twice plus get revenue from the product of the second sale. There are folks in this town that could have us a handshake deal by sundown if the Seenos wanted to go this way, and why wouldn’t they? The Mondavis are doing it. This would also take the suspense out of the fate of the Seeno property. There are members of our community that are eyeing it for new homes, another one time harvest for developer fees or whatever then it becomes a cost burden over time. Forget about building anything there, let’s grow there! I want to give our employees a raise and knock down our water rates for starters. I would lease three hybrid Lincolns for the City Manager, Police and Fire Chiefs, in green, black, and white/red/gold.
The same model could be applied to a 10 acre or whatever section of our properties north of Lake Herman Road, situated at the same latitude as the Hindu Kush, said to be the origins of cannabis. I believe Benicia could claim an appellation for cannabis due to that factor, exactly the same thing the Napa Valley cannabis growers are targeting. “…the best cannabis in the world” they say. Flatlanders! We have the Kush! The same cultivator could manage both sites. There are people that would jump at the chance to grow outdoors here. This would double or better our take of filthy lucre from cannabis. It’s that simple.