pages: CityCouncil/2011-03-29.pdf, 13
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CityCouncil | 2011-03-29 | 13 | the community needs to understand and support impacts; it comes back to: need to have, want to have and what the community will accept. The City Treasurer stated some fixes, like changing the system for new employees, will not help in the short term; as far as what the City do today, stop the defined benefit plan tomorrow; buy everybody out; the bill would be huge and money would have to be borrowed, but the bleeding would be stopped; that he is not sure whether the idea is legal or would be accepted by the unions; public safety has to be discussed because it is the lion share of the budget; the City has a specific amount of money and cannot create a lot more; the City can try to bring in business and revenues, but has a finite amount of money; services require a certain staffing level; all City employees, including public safety, are in tune with providing high quality services to the citizens; there is a finite amount of money, which should be divided amount the number of employees desired to meet a certain staffing level; the calculation is pretty easy; hopefully, employees and service will not have to be cut. Mayor Gilmore stated the Auditor's and Treasurer's input is always welcome, valuable and appreciated. Councilmember Johnson inquired what the proposal will be on the OPEB issue, to which the Acting City Manager responded right now the City is doing pay as you go and is not contributing to buying down its liability; a capital improvement discretionary fund has about $2.7 million; some portion could be used to start funding the OPEB liability; that she does not have a plan for really chipping away at the $75 million and growing liability; she is focusing on the $6 million budget hole, which is to the detriment of long term needs; the City has both an OPEB and deferred maintenance problem; the matter should have been addressed when the City was in a better financial situation; an alternative would be to cut more and put more toward OPEB; the City does not have unlimited resources to spread around and start buying down long term liabilities. Councilmember Johnson stated the City needs to discuss the matter; no year is a good year. Mayor Gilmore stated more community input is needed when the discussion is held; encouraged citizens to participate; really difficult decision will need to be made that will impact everyone; the Council wants to hear from people before making decisions. Councilmember Johnson stated the City has had budget difficulties for many years and will continue for many years to come; the City needs to start doing something about long term obligations; the City has obligations and needs to ensure what it commits to is sustainable and there is enough money to pay. Councilmember deHaan stated the start of the fiscal year is only months away; it is too late to get the public to come up with solutions; it is time for the Council to make hard decisions; getting feedback from the public will take months. Special Meeting Alameda City Council 13 March 29, 2011 | CityCouncil/2011-03-29.pdf |