What are my thoughts regarding the council's proposed $6 million in new taxes for 2011-12, including the proposed increase in TOT hotel tax?

By Barbara Arietta

Let's take the whole 5-Year Financial Plan into consideration. The TOT hotel tax is but one element of it, but a necessary one as are restructuring the Utility Users Tax and utilizing a Public Safety Assessment Tax are... And why is it so necessary to follow the recommended 5-Year Financial Plan that Pacifica has just developed? The answer is that Pacifica is at a serious economic crossroads.

We are on the verge of bankruptcy and possible disincorporation because of our multi-million dollar structural deficit. And that is our number one problem...eliminating our structural deficit in order to avoid bankruptcy and disincorporation. It is uncharted territory.

On August 29th, Half Moon Bay reported just what they think it will be for them if they don't get their proposed sales tax on the November ballot passed...It will be a loss of assets, but not of liabilities, which means that the County will take the monies coming in and leave the bills behind for the parcel owners to pay with potential liens against their parcels. It will mean that the county will take over public services. It will also mean fewer services and more charges for those same reduced services by the County personnel.

As a member of the 2008-2009 Civil Grand Jury, I studied the budgets and the structural deficits of every city in this county and also that of the County itself. It was an education that money can't buy. We were looking for structural deficits in each and every city in the County. We talked to Municipal Finance Directors and City Managers all over the County in our quest to find out the truth concerning the financial health of their cities so that the cities of San Mateo County don't become another statistic on the 11pm news, as some cities in Solano County already have.

This 5-Year Financial Plan that we are just getting into now has been a matter of practice for the other cities in our County for years and years...I ask, "Why didn't we have a 5-year plan already in place a long time ago?"

Could it be that we might have wound up in a better place financially today if we had had such a plan as the one that we have just developed now? But, whatever the answer to that question is, the reality remains that we are in a very, very serious spot with an expected $14 million shortfall over the next five years.

In order to survive this, we need to pass these three taxes, in addition to asking all employee labor groups, in their appropriate negotiations, to make adjustments which will lower anticipated salary and benefits costs over the next five years.

These adjustments may include a freeze on wages and a freeze in the City's contribution rate to retirement benefits. It is estimated that these two alone will save about $8.5 million over the five-year span. Between the taxes and the labor negotiations, we shall be able to gain $14 million and put our city on a sustainable financial path.

If we fail to pass any of these taxes or fail to negotiate the required $8.5 million from the labor groups, we shall have to do mandated percent reductions in departments.

If the first two options do not achieve the needed structural deficit reduction, then the option of last resort takes place, which targets specific city jobs to be eliminated by the City Manager.

The actual positions from the list to be eliminated will be developed in response to the evolving budget situation. So, yes I shall actively campaign for these taxes and negotiations, for they are the lesser of two evils and most importantly because our financial life and city's future depends upon it.