Title
Staff Report for Resolution Approval Establishing the Composition of the Citizen Oversight Committee Related to Measure Z and Defining the Scope of Responsibility of the Committee
Staffreport
RECOMMENDATIONS
The Finance Committee recommends the City Council approve establishing the composition of the Citizen Oversight Committee related to Measure Z and defining the scope of responsibility of the committee.
BACKGROUND
At the Municipal election in November 2010, San Leandro voters approved the ordinance putting in place a Transaction and Use Tax at the rate of 0.25%, the sales tax measure referred to as Measure Z.
The ordinance stated that at the time, local revenues were down $11.6 million over a 4-year period. As a result, the City had drastically reduced spending, including reducing staff by almost 20% over the prior two years (95 full-time positions), freezing most employee salaries, implementing a two-tier retirement system, furloughing employees, closing City offices once a month, and using a significant portion of the City’s reserves. Without additional revenue, further significant cuts would have been necessary to address the budget shortfall.
Additional budget impacts would have been necessary to balance the General Fund budget if Measure Z was not approved by city voters. These included:
· 10 positions eliminated.
· Police reductions such as Crime Prevention Office, 2 Traffic Officers, and School Resource Office.
· Fire ladder truck and 9 firefighters eliminated.
· Critical service cuts:
ü Neighborhood police patrols and gang suppression.
ü Dramatically reducing street repairs.
ü Close library branches and reduce library services and reduce senior adult and youth recreation programs.
To insure that Measure Z revenues would be spent only on local services, the ordinance requires independent audits, an independent citizen oversight committee, and a 7-year sunset to ensure that funds are only efficiently and effectively used for community p...
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