Walnut Creek Council Accepts Fiscal Task Force Report

With some comments pointing toward future City Council decisions, the council on Tuesday night accepted a detailed task force report on its finances.

and its chairman, Bob Pickett, presented the 48-page report.

There was one public comment from a local politico with a withering criticism of the City Council's spending habits.

"We must stop the bleeding," said Justin Wedel, who ran unsuccessfully for council last year. "We can no longer afford to spend on a whim." (More about Wedel's comments later.)

The task force recommended the city shore up its long-term budget shortfall by adding a half-cent sales tax.

Mayor Cindy Silva asked whether the city should pursue a general tax measure or a special tax measure targeted at designated purposes.

"We didn't make a choice," said Pickett. "We're leaving that up to the City Council."

Any tax measure would come before the council in the form of an ordinance, said City Manager Ken Nordhoff. A general sales tax measure would by law need to be during a general election, he added.

After a decision is made to pursue a general tax measure, council members and city staff would be generally precluded from advocating for it, Nordhoff said.

The task force considered the business impact of a half-cent sales tax hike and felt it would not be detrimental, Pickett said.

Pickett said the task force believed the council should pave the way for a sales tax increase by implementing other task force recommendations, thus demonstrating seriousness in facing fiscal problems. Also, he said, the task force favored a community survey about a sales tax increase.

Silva said the task force recommendations could be implemented in the 2012-14 budget cycles.

"I'm looking forward at some point to having spirited discussion about the 38 individual recommendations in the report," said Council member Kristina Lawson.

All council members thanked the task force for its hard work. "It was a privilege," said Pickett, who was backed by about 10 task force members who attended the council meeting.

Earlier in the meeting, Wedel gave a public comment and said he was representing a new group, the Concerned Taxpayers of Walnut Creek.

Silva asked if it was a bona fide group. Wedel said it was, "established recently to address city tax measures."

The task force report was flawed, Wedel said, due to "a lack of analysis on council missteps" on the journey from a healthy surplus 14 years ago to a shortfall in long-term capital project funding that resulted in a call for a sales tax increase.

"Due to council overspending, general fund spending has exploded" to more than $1,000 per capita, more than twice as much as nearby communities, Wedel said.

"Why did it take till 2011 to have a long-term financial plan in place?" Wedel asked rhetorically.

He cited as wasteful expenditures the free trolley that takes riders from BART to downtown shopping and this year's establishment of a city Economic Development Division.