CC 05-17-2023 Late Communications CC 05-17-2023
Written Communications
Item #1
Initial Study Session on Fiscal
Year (FY) 2023-24 Proposed
Operating and Capital
Improvement Program
Budgets
From:Rhoda Fry
To:City Clerk; City Council
Subject:5/17/2023 City Council Budget Session
Date:Wednesday, May 17, 2023 4:01:09 PM
Attachments:City Employment.pdf
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Dear City Council,
Regarding the survey, I think that if people had been asked about whether they supported increasing
TOT in parity with other cities, the response would have been YES and naturally, increasing
parcel/sales tax would have been NO. I don’t think that we had enough granularity here.
The budget is not proposing a soft-landing. It looks more like landing on a featherbed than on a
futon. In taking a deeper dive into the budget, the gluttony of the past and present is shocking.
Draining our resources for a decade and likely more, is not a solution.
Recommendations:
1. Sell Byrne now while the weather is good – this is prime time to get it on the market. Do not
delay. It costs the City to maintain it and sadly, it is causing blight in the neighborhood.
2. Do not sell Water or Blackberry Farm golf course, these were paid for explicitly by our taxing
ourselves. Water in 1960 and Blackberry in 1990 with the initiation of the UUT (utility user
tax).
3. Consider enhancing the Business License tax in parity with other cities – also known as a head
tax (Sunnyvale, Mountain View, Los Gatos etc…) or consider square footage (as is done in East
Palo Alto). We need to put head tax / square-footage tax on the table.
4. Remodel the City Hall / Annex now. City Hall has been known to have seismic issues since
2005. Yes, the old building can be made to be zero-net energy. Studies without
implementation are draining our resources.
5. Employment and Benefits are huge contributors to the budget. Per attached, employment has
exploded in our City. Not filling 14 jobs is not a cut. Right now, there are 5 fulltime job
openings. 2 admins, 1 public works project manager, 1 plan checker, 1 communications
officer and even more part time jobs. The reductions are insufficient. It is like saying instead of
eating 5 desserts, you’ll only eat 3 and instead it should be cut to 1 or 0. We need to go on a
diet after all!!!
6. We need a full understanding of cost centers. There are multiple places where we have
money going out to the Senior Center, Pool/Picnics, Rotary, Chamber of Commerce etc… The
cost centers for these are spread out – we need transparency. In the past, the Chamber got
free use of rooms, free festivals, and money. What are these numbers now? Please run
wholistic reports on these so that we can make educated decisions. We need to make sure
that our public money is benefitting us Cupertino taxpayers. With respect to the Historical
Society, the donation should be removed because the executive director left – funding should
be removed until a new executive director is working.
7. The supplemental report is alarming. Doing more development won’t help our City’s financial
situation long term. One-time development fees do not pay for additional ongoing costs. And
if we don’t have good retail, doing more development will not increase our sales taxes.
Getting good retail in our City that attracts purchases from neighboring cities will help our
bottom line. Please, don’t be fooled.
8. Please take a look at the AFCR report – and frankly, I don’t see how we can move forward on
the budget until the AFCR errors are corrected. And by the way, Admin has more than
doubled, why?
9. Look for other opportunities for savings. Don’t study anything that won’t be implemented
within 5 years. The parks and rec catalog is printed on nicer paper than in the past. Send out
postcards and ask people to opt in/out. If it costs less to send a 4x6 postcard than a 5x7
postcard then please do that.
10. We can’t dip into savings forever. Please make the budget more realistic.
Thanks,
Rhoda Fry
From:Peggy Griffin
To:Kirsten Squarcia
Cc:City Clerk
Subject:5-17-2023 CC Mtg ITEM1- Peggy"s Slide
Date:Wednesday, May 17, 2023 6:37:37 PM
Attachments:Peggys Slides.pdf
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Hi Kirsten,
Could you please display this when I speak.
Thank you,
Peggy
PROPOSED 31% INCREASE IN CRITICAL PRIORITY 1 RESPONSE TIME!
Over 1.6 minutes longer!
ACFR Page 128 of 131
ATTACHMENT J – Law Enforcement Page 5 of 12