Oakland budget crisis

By Clinton Killian

As your city councilperson I will anaylize our city expenditures and not just raise taxes

As your councilperson I will propose and work for costs saving measures before we consider any new taxes. With 18%unemployment and residents losing their homes, I will not ask Oakland voters to raise their taxes without cost saving and other revenue ideas tried first.

The Police Department is the largest Oakland budget item. I will propose a complete audit of police and all department spending. With a $1.1 billion budget, about $310 million goes to public safety. However, of that amount, $210 million are for police services, and around $100 million is for the Fire Department.

I will push to conduct a full audit of the largest city departments to identify its expenditures and potential costs savings. There has to be a full review of the work budget to find ways to provide police services more efficiently. There will be a stronger review of decisions made by the City in terms of its expenditures.

I will push to explore new technologies that will make the department more productive and provide better safety for our citizens. I will propose the City Auditor conduct a full, independent audit of our largest budget expenditure, and start now to identify cost savings, not the end of the budget cycle to force any type of cost saving discussions.

I will push to explore a program currently used in San Francisco in which well-trained civilian police employees investigate non-violent crimes. This would free up police officers to respond to violent and immediate crimes.

I will stop the cycle of the City spending more and more money while providing fewer services. I will work to end the City's dependence on real estate transfer and property taxes as a disportionate share of it revenues and to diversify its income.

I will search the Bay Area for alternative revenues. We sit in the fourth largest economy in the country. The Bay Area is the hub for a whole raft of emerging industries, including green technologies. These new businesses will need space, an educated workforce, and a city government willing to collaborate for mutual benefit. We will bring these jobs to Oakland, so we can rebuild our city and neighborhoods with quality services like schools, and clean safe streets. As your councilperson, working together, we will make Oakland a major part of California's recovery from the Great Recession.

From the economic wreckage, I want to build a city where our children receive a good education, can afford housing, and find good jobs. To make that a reality, I need your help to place Oakland in the next economic wave.