DEAR BENICIA RESIDENTS:
I am writing to update you about Measure C, Benicia’s measure to maintain our quality of life. As you know, Benicia — unlike many cities of similar size in the Bay Area — is a full-service city, equipped with its own city-run police, fire, park and water services. But now, because of years of reduced state and federal funding and a changed economic landscape, the city of Benicia is facing tough fiscal and service delivery challenges.
Since 2008, Benicia has been weathering the effects of the Great Recession, taking the necessary measures to preserve, as best as possible, both the quality and quantity of desired city services. The city has been working diligently to structurally reset its General Fund and Enterprise Fund operating budgets in order to provide a sustainable future for city operations and ensure continued service delivery to the community.
The efforts to achieve this goal have not been easy or without sacrifice. Over the last six years the city has implemented employee salary and benefit concessions, with employees agreeing to 10-percent reductions in compensation, including contributing considerably more toward health care and retirement costs. The city has reduced its full-time workforce by 12 percent through employee layoffs and freezing positions. Over the last four years these efforts have decreased employee-related expenditures by approximately $11.2 million.
Unfortunately, further action needs to occur to ensure the city can continue to provide the quality of service expected by our residents. To that end, Benicia City Council unanimously placed Measure C on the November 2014 ballot. If enacted, Measure C would generate locally controlled funds for local projects and services, with money that could not be taken by the state. Without Measure C, the city will be forced to consider cutting back on locally controlled city services.
Measure C is a 1-cent-on-the-dollar tax on purchases sold and/or consumed in Benicia. Presently the sales tax rate in Benicia is 7.625 percent. Of that amount, 6.5 percent goes to the state of California, 1 percent is returned to Benicia and .125 percent supports libraries in Solano County.
Maintaining Benicia’s financial viability as a full-service city and protecting our small-town quality of life is the key purpose of Measure C. This measure will improve public safety and city streets, maintain parks and trim trees, and fund programs to support our historic downtown and community events, as well as attract new businesses.
Additionally, Measure C will address the many streets in Benicia with cracked or buckled sidewalks or no sidewalks at all, as well as the many roads with potholes. Funding is needed to address these conditions and maintain 94 miles of city streets and roads for motorists, pedestrians, buses, cyclists and police and fire safety vehicles. Measure C will also ensure that our 31 local parks are properly maintained as safe spaces for children to play and families to visit.
We will continue to keep you informed about Measure C. For additional information, visit www.ci.benicia.ca.us.
Brad Kilger is city manager of Benicia.
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