During the past several weeks, the Goleta City Council made a cascade of significant decisions to close out the 2011 budget year.
We opened the Cathedral Oaks Bridge, adopted budgets for the next two years, amended the Cabrillo Business Park development agreement to enable Deckers Outdoor Corp. to construct its headquarters, purchased a four-acre parcel for an active park in Old Town and awarded a contract for the San Jose Creek Flood Control Improvement Project.
After years of planning with Caltrans, the Santa Barbara County Association of Governments and others, the new Cathedral Oaks Bridge is open, aligning access from Cathedral Oaks Road to Hollister Avenue. The overcrossing replaces an unsafe bridge of reactive aggregate with a well-constructed bridge that will be in use for many years to come. As a bonus, it has some of the most fabulous views in the city — south across the Sandpiper Golf Club to the islands; and north to agricultural foothills and the mountains.
After a month of wrangling, the City Council adopted a two-year budget on June 21. The budget for the 2011-12 year will continue to be pretty lean and uses about $1.4 million in unassigned reserves.
There will be limited new initiatives and one significant reduction. The Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Department contract for police services proposed an increase of nearly 11 percent while anticipated city revenues were increasing by less than 2 percent. The majority of the council saw this as unsustainable. We voted to limit the contract increase to 5 percent, which resulted in the need to reduce two deputy positions. We are committed to maintaining public safety and are still hoping that negotiations between the county and the Deputy Sheriffs Association will allow us to mitigate this reduction.
City employees have not received a raise in three years, so this budget includes a 2.5 percent increase in both 2011-12 and 2012-13. In addition, our employees will begin paying into the retirement system. Over the next four years, employees will pay an increasing amount up to the 7 percent limit set by the California Public Employees Retirement System.
The 2012-13 budget offers a little more flexibility with a revenue bump of about $2.7 million from the return of all bed tax and 20 percent of sales tax that has been going to the county through the incorporation revenue neutrality agreement.
This has enabled us to move ahead with some important initiatives.
The City Council was able to add $500,000 from the general fund for road maintenance, an important priority since the beginning of the city.
For the benefit of both applicants and staff, the City Council approved funds for document imaging and permit tracking software to facilitate planning and permitting, so that all information will be accessible online. Shelves full of rolls of plans will be a thing of the past, and this will enable the city to reduce the need for storage space. With a pent-up demand for project processing, temporary counter staff and an attorney are being added.
One such project, Deckers, was given the go-ahead recently for its new headquarters with some minor amendments to the Cabrillo Business Park development agreement. We are delighted that this thriving, international company has chosen to make Goleta the site of its headquarters.
After much negotiation, an agreement was reached for the purchase of a four-acre park on Kellogg Avenue in Old Town. This was the only site of a size suitable for active recreation north of Hollister Avenue, where most of the Old Town families with children live. We have applied for a state grant to develop the park and have already held one public meeting to gain input on what people would like to see there. This is an important acquisition that will enhance the quality of life for Old Town families, many of whom do not have transportation to get to other active recreation parks.
Finally, the council/Redevelopment Agency awarded a contract for $18 million to address flood control problems with San Jose Creek. Flooding in Old Town has held up many other projects to upgrade the area. It has taken a long time and many revisions to get to this point, and now, in addition to flood control, there will be a fish passage to enable steelhead trout to negotiate the creek up to their historic breeding grounds.
It will take about two years to widen the creek and then another two years to replace the Hollister Bridge, which, like the Cathedral Oaks overpass, also has reactive aggregate and has to come down.
Much of the funding comes from the Redevelopment Agency. After Gov. Jerry Brown proposed eliminating RDAs, the city sold bonds to protect funding for the project. When it is completed, it will mean that most residences and businesses in the area will no longer have to carry flood insurance.
A number of business owners near the creek are concerned that the construction will have negative impacts. The work will begin at the southern end of the creek, and staff believes that many of the problems can be worked out and alleviated before it reaches the businesses at the upper end of Kellogg. There will be open communication throughout the project, and every effort will be made to mitigate and compensate for any problems. No one likes to live or work next to a major construction site, but when it is done it will be a major improvement.
Just about every one of these projects has required city staff to put in long hours and make herculean efforts to get them done on time. We are fortunate to have people working for us who are dedicated to the success of the city. It has been a busy few months, and the Council, at least, will be taking a break with only one meeting each in July and August.
The sun has finally come out. Enjoy the summer, everyone!
— Margaret Connell is serving her second term as mayor of Goleta.
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