[Editor's Note: Below is a short article about a proposed new Alameda sales tax. Please find live notes from Thursday night's City Council budget meeting below it. To read the notes in chronological order, go to the bottom of the article and read up from there.]

Alameda's City Manager John Russo laid out a plan late Thursday night for a half-cent, 30-year sales tax to fund public safety equipment and infrastructure as well as a new swim center and the reopening of the Carnegie Library as a home for the Alameda Museum.

The proposed special tax would require approval of two-thirds of Alameda voters and would be placed on the June ballot.

Russo said a detailed report on the tax, in accordance with new open government guidelines, will be posted on the city's website on Wednesday, in advance of a proposed March 7 meeting for a City Council vote.

Polling data presented to City Council Thursday night indicated Alameda voters are most concerned with public safety and parks. 

Russo said the proposed tax, which is projected to raise $54 million over 30 years, would fund deferred maintenance, facilities and equipment for public safety, as well as a new emergency response center, which is currently located in the lower floor of the police station.

"These critical items don't really have a constituency because they're unseen or they're unused until you really need them," Russo said.

Russo said putting sales tax dollars into infrastructure would free resources for other city expenses. He said crumbling infrastructure undermines the city's ability to provide public safety services.

Council members expressed concerns about the use of the money, the passability of the tax, and the other demands on city resources.

"I sort of see a disconnect," said Vice Mayor Bonta, between the polling data presented to council and the measure being proposed. 

Alex Evans, of EMC Research, which conducted the poll of likely Alameda voters in late January, said he was confident that a measure like the one suggested by Russo could pass. 

"I'm optimistic that we can put together a measure that meets the voters' priorities," Evans said. "There's of course a challenge in meeting the two-thirds threshold at any time."

"If you don't do the buildings, and you don't have the vehicles then you can't do the patrol," Russo said. Voters polled indicated they valued having regular police patrols extremely highly.

"I'm worried that this is going to be viewed as more like [supporting] infrastructure than public safety," Council Member Beverly Johnson said.

LIVE NOTES FROM THE CITY OF ALAMEDA FEB. 23 BUDGET MEETING

Meeting adjourned.

10:23 p.m Council discussed the merits of the tax and the likelihood of it being passed by two-thirds of the voters. "This to the voters — I'm not sure how compellingly this will come across," councilmember Johnson said. 

"It's not a tax that directly buys the service," said Russo. "But what this does is it does keep patrols going ... I do believe that the Alameda public will be able to follow this and understand the critical importance of maintaining public safety infrastructure."

10:18 p.m Tam says she wonders about how the voters' views, as presented to council in the polling report, would support, by a two-thirds majority, a tax for the items as presented to Russo. Russo says that using tax dollars for deferred maintenance would free up money for what voters said they most care about: public safety and parks. "I'm confident the Alameda public can understand this," Russo said.

10:18 p.m "You want broad questions or broad reactions," asked Tam. "I'm happy to have broad question and broad reactions," said Russo. "As long as they're not broad sides." Laughter!

10:12 p.m. Russo said the money from the tax would also go to fund a new swim center in Alameda. He also says $3.5 million will be used to reopen the Carnegie Library, which could also serve as a home base for the Alameda Museum. 

10:08 p.m. Russo laid out a plan for a half-cent, 30-year sales tax to fund deferred maintenance, facilities and equipment for public safety, including a new emergency response center, which is currently located in the lower floor of the police station. "These critical items don't really have a constituency because they're unseen or they're unused until you really need them," he said.

10:04 p.m. Russo discussed in general terms a new tax. A staff report on the proposed tax will be released next Wednesday, he said. City Council will be asked vote to put it on the June ballot at their March 7 meeting. "We have to go forward with a special tax because under our rules only special taxes can be presented in June," Russo said.

9:57 p.m. Nancy Hird of the Alameda Citizens Task Force. Hird said that when she was called for the survey she said she was not likely to vote in June and so she was not surveyed. 

9:54 p.m. Kurt Peterson addressed council. He said there isn't value in surveying people who aren't informed. He said that you could entirely close down the Recreation and Park Department and still not close the budget gap.

9:51 p.m. Alamedans value public safety patrols and "maintaining clean and safe parks and recreation facilities. "We thought we were looking at a roads measure," the Evans says (explaining why there was not much polling on other issues).

9:43 p.m. Ninety-five percent of those polled said the city’s quality of life is excellent or good."It's not a situation where people are unhappy and this [the services funded by new taxes] is going to make them happy," said Evans. "It's a situation where they're happy and this will continue to make them happy."

9:37 p.m. Councilmember deHaan asks the Evans from EMC Rearch if he has seen a shift in public receptiveness to new taxes in the last year. Evans says he is seeing in other cities what he has found in Alameda: an openness to new taxes if they're to fund desired services.

9:28 p.m. Twenty-two percent of Alamedans polled describe themselves as being "tax adverse" — which means that passing a tax that required two-thirds of voters would not require winning over that demographic

9:24 p.m. The top problem facing Alameda? The top answer was schools: 19 percent said schools and education were the biggest issue.

9:22 p.m. A special tax on the June ballot would require a two-thirds majority. The poll looked at the receptiveness of Alamedans to a new tax for road repair. Survey says? Such a tax is not likely to pass.

From the poll results: "Passage of a general tax measure to fund all city services, including police and fire services, parks, maintenance, and library hours and services, may be feasible given these voter priorities."

9:19 p.m. Presentation on the polling results from EMC Research, Inc. by Alex Evans. The survey was a phone survey of 400 residents in late January. "While some anti-tax sentiment exists, a majority of voters are wiling to support taxes when they fund valued services and are spent responsibly," the poll found. (The full report is here.)

9:12 p.m. Public comment. Gretchen Lipow says that there may be a proposal to increase sales tax state-wide, which would impact the response of Alamedans to a local tax. She also asks for information about the cost of health coverage, bond debt, and the impact of the elimination of redevelopment on the city.

The start of public comment

9:09 p.m. Councilmember deHaan says that the city must be very specific what they're going to do. "This to me is a crossroads right now and if we can make the right decisions and have a little bit of luck with the economy we could stabilize this," he said.

9:08 p.m. Councilmember Johnson says that library and recreation services should be considered essential services.

9:06 p.m. "I think we should definitely be exploring some new revenue options — new taxes," says Vice Mayor Bonta. He also says that fees for services should at least recover the costs for those services. Bonta also says he'd like to see management cuts before street level service cuts.

9:05 p.m. Council and staff discuss the timing of a ballot initiative for tax increases. Only special taxes can go on the ballot in June. A November tax would compete with state and county measures.

9:02 p.m. A sales tax increase of between .25 percent and .5 percent could raise between $930,000 and $1.86 million annually for the city. A utility user tax increase could raise $300,000 to $900,000. An increase in a hotel tax could raise $100,000.

8:57 p.m. Councilmember Doug deHaan says he's looking for staff to make recommendations about what needs to be done and that he's looking for more detailed budget information from staff. 

8:56 p.m. Tam said across the board cuts don't make sense. She said her first choice would be raising taxes. "I don't think we can absorb more cuts in this community frankly," she said. "I would look more at finding ways to increase revenue then finding more ways to make cuts."

8:52 p.m. "What we want to have happen is that when this council is done with this budget this year ... everyone will have reassurance that we've got the budget balanced," Russo said.

8:50 p.m. Council discussion of timing of budget cuts and the challenge of projecting exactly what revenue the city will have in the coming years.

8:37 p.m. Tam notes that Alameda has larger reserves than Oakland. Many people laugh. "I don't think we want to compare ourselves to Oakland on any metric of fiscal sustainability," Goldman says. She says that some cities, notably Sunnyvale, have reserves that are as high as 50 percent of their annual budgets.

8:35 p.m Tam asks how Alameda's reserve policies compare to other cities and how reserve funds impact the city's bond rating. Controller Marsh: "We're definitely not on the high end. We're more on the middle to low end." Marsh says revenue varies and the fund balance helps to buffer the city through those ups and downs. 

8:34 p.m. Goldman asks council to weigh in on what their budget priorities are. "We've already talked about how use of the reserve is not a good idea, and we're not going to be recommending that to you," she said.

8:30 p.m. Goldman says that the loss of redevelopment in Alameda only meant the loss of one employee for the city. She says close to three full-time positions were funded through those dollars, but the city was able to find other funding for two of them.

8:17 p.m. Assistant city manager Goldman says that increasing sales, hotel and utility taxes could raise as much as $2.86 million for the city. (Slide 23 of the budget presentation.)

8:15 p.m. Councilmember Beverly Johnson asked Russo what the areas are that he thinks fees should be kept the lowest in the region. Russo says that areas like sprinkler installation and other fire-related safety provisions are important to keep affordable, so costs are not too high when businesses go to make improvements. "Those fees really start to add up," Russo said. 

8:14 p.m. Tam says that the city should recover the costs of services through fees. Russo says that will be city council's decision. "If council wants to push the envelope a little further [on raising fees] that is absolutely council's perogative," he said. 

8:12 p.m. "You want to remain the lowest even when it means we're not recovering costs?" Council member Lena Tam asked. Russo said that for now he wants to charge the lowest fees in the region. "But not the lowest by much," Goldman said. "We want to be five or 10 percent below everyone else," Russo said.

8:10 p.m. Russo says that fees for services in Alameda are often well below the fees in surrounding cities. "That is a really important piece of the puzzle in trying to get this budget to balance," Russo said. "Any place where we're the lowest we intend to stay the lowest. In any case we're not the lowest, we're going to leave those untouched."

8:06 p.m. Goldman runs through what across the board five and 10 percent budget cuts would look like for each department. You can find those projections in the budget presentation, starting on page 15. 

8:02 p.m. The Alameda Budget Challenge, launched last week, is a way for Alamedans to learn about the budget and also to let city leaders know what city services they value most.

8:01 p.m. Russo says that the current negotiations with Alameda Municipal Power employees are focused on saving money through increasing employee contributions to retirement and health care costs. 

7:59 p.m. Goldman says the city's management team has already taken a five percent cut, including four furlough days. 

7:57 p.m. Goldman says the city needs to cut a $4.4 million dollar gap. Changes the city is looking at: focusing on providing only core services, sharing services with other entities, and cutting some services entirely. They are also looking at changes to compensation and benefits. (See slide 13 in the city's budget presentation.) 

7:53 p.m. Lisa Goldman, assistant city manager, is describing the changes that have already been made to reduce spending. The outsourcing of the Alameda Animal Shelter is saving the city $600,000 a year, she says. 

7:47 p.m. Alameda City Manager John Russo says the city's reserves are necessary and that city staff will never recommend a budget that cuts them. They are needed, says Russo, in the event of an emergency and also in order to allow the city to seek financing if needed.

7:43 p.m. Marsh says the current budget projections also assume an increase of health care costs of 14 percent a year and anticipates an increase of 2 to 3 percent in other costs for inflation.

7:41 p.m. Marsh says that without cuts the city will continue to run a deficit. The current budget forecasts assumes no salary increases through the fiscal year 2015-16, Marsh says.

7:39 p.m. Marsh says the budget forecast reflects continued weakness in the economy and housing market, which means fewer tax dollars for the city.

7:38 p.m. The city's controller, Fred Marsh, begins the presentation on the city's budget.

7:35 p.m. Vice Mayor Rob Bonta calls the meeting to order. Mayor Marie Gilmore is still out sick.

7:30 p.m. The meeting is yet to be called to order. Chief of Police Mike Noonan, Fire Chief Mike D'Orazi, several folks from the city manager's office, and a handful of other city staffers are also here. There are very few people from the general public.

---
The council will meet at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 23, at City Hall, 2263 Santa Clara Ave.

Attached to this article you can read the city's report on the budget and also the results of a recent survey of Alameda voters.  

---
Follow Alameda Patch on Facebook and Twitter or subscribe to the Alameda Patch newsletter.