pages: CityCouncil/2014-06-03.pdf, 14
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CityCouncil | 2014-06-03 | 14 | The Assistant City Manager concluded the presentation. Mayor Gilmore stated that she appreciates the presentation including historical perspective and useful facts, and making the budget easy to understand. Councilmember Chen concurred with Mayor Gilmore, stated the budget's structure is easy to follow; inquired how the culture of online purchases affects the City's goal of achieving balance with sales tax. The City Manager responded that staff would come back to the Council with a sales tax revenue strategy; stated Alameda may favor a scenario of centralized collection and distribution of sales tax, and not accept variety retail; Oakland chased a downtown enclosed mall with four department stores that are no longer in business; Alameda has to be smarter and open to what comes. Councilmember Daysog inquired why Alameda does not continue to hold down position vacancies in the five-year projections chart. The City Manager responded vacancies happen naturally due to understaffing in Human Resources; refilling of positions will continue to be slow; staff is requesting an additional $40,000 to help with recruitments; at the next two-year budget, Council can determine whether or not they are satisfied with the level of service given the level of vacancies; the budget cannot be achieved only through cuts, revenue needs to be raised. Councilmember Daysog stated Alameda already has the skill set and experience to retain vacancies if necessary, or remove vacancies from the books altogether. Councilmember Tam suggested looking at juxtaposing the performance measures against the vacancies and level of service. The City Manager concurred with Councilmember Tam; stated the performance measures will do exactly that. Mayor Gilmore stated past Councils had the same opinions about keeping the budget balanced with very little impact on the public: grow revenue or cut expenses; that she is not suggesting reducing the workforce, but there will be a time when Council will have to make a decision that would impact service to residents. The Finance Director stated the five-year forecast is done so there are no surprises. Mayor Gilmore thanked the Finance Director and staff; stated Alameda was supposed to be broke by 2011 but currently has a healthy fund balance. Councilmember Tam moved adoption of the resolution. Joint Meeting Alameda City Council and Successor Agency to the Community Improvement Commission 5 June 3, 2014 | CityCouncil/2014-06-03.pdf |