The Daily Journal (San Mateo), Heather Murtagh, 6/13/13. "Mayor: Community at core of Millbrae's success."
 |
Millbrae continues to work on economic development
and cost savings for their city |
"
This year, the city worked with $18.6 million in revenues in general
funding. After costs, it was able to put money aside. An achievement
that took many people, Papan said. For example,
Millbrae employees
helped shoulder the burden by accepting a 4.3 percent to 5 percent
reduction in their salary. In addition, shared services have been
important to creating new opportunities to cut back costs without
sacrificing service — those partnerships will continue to be important
in the years ahead, Papan said.
“If we stand up and commit to funding our needs, we will be
even greater than we’ve ever been,” she said.In March, the
San Mateo
County Sheriff’s Office took over offering Millbrae police services. The
cost-savings move resulted in a 17 percent drop in crime and a
37-second decrease in response time, Papan said. This has been in
addition to reducing costs while improving training, she said.
Millbrae is one of four Peninsula cities — including
Burlingame, Hillsborough and San Bruno — which has been researching
sharing
fire services. Specifically,
Millbrae and Burlingame are
considering sharing a station. The temporary station has been postponed
until later this year. Even with those savings, Papan made a plea to the
public to again support the fire safety tax, which will sunset next
year. It brings in $1.2 million in revenue annually and, if approved, it
will be the third time voters back the safety tax."
Read article.
Reference - City of Milbrae, City-Data.com, "population 21,567 (2011)". Note: Graphic above from the
Burlingame Millbrae Yellow Cab Company.
Posted by Kathy Meeh
42 comments:
!8 Million operating cost? Ours is over 20 Million. WTF?
5% wage cuts? Our employees gave up a couple of holidays.
Crime is down with the Sheriff taking over? We need to do this NOW.
Come on Pascifica grow a couple.
Drive down El Camino Real in Millbrae and see which city looks nicer:
Pacifica or Millbrae
Notice the shopping district with Trader Joes and Safeway.
Which look nice Millbrae or Palmetto Avenue.
Some cities can and do, Paicifica only wishes and dreams.
For the last 4 years city staff and council have focused on ways to increase taxes rather than take pay cuts. A new report/study done by a paid consultant has given staff and council new hope for raising taxes rather than cutting compensation and it only requires a simple 50% majority plus 1.
After 4 years of these games it's become more than abusive. Abusive to the revenues the city has, abusive to the people who live here and abusive to those city employee's who have been let go so senior staff et al can keep their paychecks stable rather than feel the pain of recession.
4 wasted years looking for a silver bullet. It's so utterly cowardly.
more hubba dubba bubba
We got ours and the hell with you suckers! Ooops, that just popped out. I mean you shouldn't worry because we're the new kind of city council and we rely completely on reports and polls and consultants. We can find a consultant to tell us anything we want. And another consultant to tell us how to sell the scam to you. And another one to tell us we had no choice. And another....
"4 wasted years looking for a silver bullet."
Bray, you mean we got werewolves in Pacifica, too? This is too much. Bloodsuckin' undead city council is one thing, but werewolves?
Yeah, Pacifica missed the boat with the sheriffs. Anybody believe we got the truth from city hall on that issue? They made sure it looked like a poor option. Failure guaranteed.
Pacifica just can't catch a break. Millbrae gets Gina Papan and we get, yeah, what the hell did we get?
So much for Pacifica supposedly being the lowest paid in the Bay Area.
average city employee wages in 2011
$48,133 Pacifica
$43,868 Brisbane
$44,023 SSF
$47,988 San Carlos
$45,860 Menlo Park
$42,612 Newark
$38,377 Campbell
$37,184 Cupertino
$39,293 Morgan Hill
$42,612 Newark
http://publicpay.ca.gov/Reports/Cities/Cities.aspx
I agree 12:45.
I hope it's not too late to go with the sheriff. Everybody wins. Our PD will have more job security and better tools to fight crime. The public is safer and better protected. The city saves a bundle.
Oh yeah, the meth dealers that have been operating with impunity probably will lose though because the sheriff has the recourses to take them down.
I mean you shouldn't worry because we're the new kind of city council and we rely completely on reports and polls and consultants.
Look at this, this way. When the city council has to vote on bankruptcy they can blame the reports, polls, and consultants.
Do you mean the talk in closed session. Or the attorney/client privilege, due to the city attorney ordering the consultants report. Or the argument if there was a report. Or 3 of the council members not being willing to release the report.
The city employees get the gold mine and the taxpayers get the shaft, once again.
Check the city website for that phone poll of a group of likely Pacifica voters by Godbe (consultant) which indicates 60% support for a modification to the UUT tax. So it would seem our troubles are over! Reading the fine print, it seems there's no sunset on a UUT tax increase. Changing it back would require, wait for it, another vote. BTW the poll also indicated a healthy approval rating for council. Just in case you wondered.
@121 This is a smart council. Alums of Hoffa U w/top honors. Mega magnas.
You just gotta hear their rousing chorus of the school song, Hide-that-Hoffa, at the end of every closed session.
@1252 golly. how much of that do we owe to the effect of cafeteria cash on total earnings? you know, that really cool feature where an employee can actually give themselves a big bonus in lieu of benefits? thousands of extra dollars each year that shows up in total earnings but not in the salary quoted in a city job description. not every city does it and certainly not every city council shares in it, but Pacifica has for years. only recently have they started to chip away at it--not eliminate, just reduce the haul. wonder how long that horrible hardship will last?
Does the poll count as the vote? Or does this now go to the council? Or before the people?
You know that Loeb was a big proponent of the utility tax right?
Hutch, it's never too late for any one of us to, uh, "go with the sheriff". They can always squeeze in a deserving individual. As far as cities go, as mentioned by Supervisor Carole Groom at some meeting, space and resources are limited. That must be a comfort to some folks with an investment in the status quo.
The only poll call I have recieved was the call about the bond measure for the library.
I was chuckling and so was the lady doing the poll, when I asked her if she was really in Las Vegas.
Coming to a city near you:
Eventually the money runs out. Much of America was shocked when the city of Detroit defaulted on a $39.7 million debt payment and announced that it was suspending payments on $2.5 billion of unsecured debt, but those who visit my site on a regular basis were probably not too surprised. Anyone with half a brain and a calculator could see this coming from a mile away. But people kept foolishly lending money to the city of Detroit, and now many of them are going to get hit really hard.
Detroit Emergency Manager Kevyn Orr has submitted a proposal that would pay unsecured creditors about 10 cents on the dollar. Similar haircuts would be made to underfunded pension and health benefits for retirees. Orr is hoping that the creditors and the unions that he will be negotiating with will accept this package, but he concedes that there is still a "50-50 chance" that the city of Detroit will be forced to formally file for bankruptcy.
But what Detroit is facing is not really that unique. In fact, Detroit is a perfect example of what the future of America is going to look like. We live in a nation that is rotting, decaying, drowning in debt and racing toward insolvency. Already there are dozens of other cities across the nation that are poverty-ridden, crime-infested hellholes just like Detroit is, and hundreds of other communities are rapidly heading in that direction. So don't look down on Detroit. They just got there before the rest of us.
The following are some facts about Detroit that are absolutely mind-blowing...
1 - Detroit was once the fourth-largest city in the United States, and in 1960 Detroit had the highest per-capita income in the entire nation.
2 - Over the past 60 years, the population of Detroit has fallen by 63 percent.
3 - At this point, approximately 40 percent of all the streetlights in the city don't work.
4 - Some ambulances in the city of Detroit have been used for so long that they have more than 250,000 miles on them.
5 - 210 of the 317 public parks in the city of Detroit have been permanently closed down.
6 - According to the New York Times, there are now approximately 70,000 abandoned buildings in Detroit.
7 - Approximately one-third of Detroit's 140 square miles is either vacant or derelict.
8 - Less than half of the residents of Detroit over the age of 16 are working at this point.
9 - If you can believe it, 60 percent of all children in the city of Detroit are living in poverty.
10 - According to one very shocking report, 47 percent of the residents of Detroit are functionally illiterate.
11 - Today, police solve less than 10 percent of the crimes that are committed in Detroit.
12 - Ten years ago, there were approximately 5,000 police officers in the city of Detroit. Today, there are only about 2,500 and another 100 are scheduled to be eliminated from the force soon.
13 - Due to budget cutbacks, most police stations in Detroit are now closed to the public for 16 hours a day.
14 - The murder rate in Detroit is 11 times higher than it is in New York City.
15 - Crime has gotten so bad in Detroit that even the police are telling people to "enter Detroit at your own risk".
16 - Right now, the city of Detroit is facing $20 billion in debt and unfunded liabilities. That breaks down to more than $25,000 per resident.
As Detroit Emergency Manager Kevyn Orr noted last week, it took a very long time for Detroit to get into this condition...
“What the average Detroiter needs to understand is that where we are right now is a culmination of years and years and years of kicking the can down the road,” said Orr, adding that his proposal should not be seen as a “hostile act” but as a step in the right direction
@200 Apparently Loeb is not alone in his support of a UUT increase. Expect at least 4 of 5 current council will embrace this idea as the "people's will". How do they know it's the "people's will"? The consultants told them so. So well planned! And the timing? Talk about a golden moment. The Pacifica City Council has an approval rating!! And it's a favorable one.
We'll all get to vote on it--Mr. Loeb, too-- just as soon as council puts it on a regular election ballot. Looks like a winner!
What has Loeb, done for the city of Pacifica. Besides cost it millions of dollars in lost revenue?
I don't understand why some people are so against outsourcing the police. HMB & Millbrae are extremly happy. The cops are happy. The citizens are happy. And the budget is happy.
Be happy!
"What has Loeb, done for the city of Pacifica."
Everyone is entitled to their own opinion, and the fact that he was mayor, councilman, and I believe a planning commissioner as well might not be worth much to those who disagree with his point of view. But the fact that he has been the president of the Fog Fest for the last decade or so should be enough alone to give him some credit. The Fog Fest is undeniably Pacifica's most successful event, and brings in a tremendous amount of revenue and prestige. Under his leadership it has continued to grow and improve. So to answer your question, he has done plenty.
@344 Pacifica suffers from a time/space abnormality called the Dome of Stupid. Clearly visible over City Hall.
We are the Bermuda Triangle of San Mateo County. That's all you need to know about this town.
At least Loeb stayed. The anon doing most of the sniping about him only spent about three years in Pacifica before cutting and running.
@214 are you crazy or do you think everyone else is?
"Coming to a city near you: Eventually the money runs out."
Buy GOLD!!!
3:57 was the butler
and guns
"Anonymous 12:45pm
Yeah, Pacifica missed the boat with the sheriffs. Anybody believe we got the truth from city hall on that issue? They made sure it looked like a poor option. Failure guaranteed."
Did you attend any of the meetings, read the report? I did. Clear that the savings did not pan out for the long run and were only created through a lower level of service and less local control.
"Anonymous 12:52pm
So much for Pacifica supposedly being the lowest paid in the Bay Area. average city employee wages in 2011"
Need to look at more than the average wage. What are the positions and how many of each. Pacifica has reduced a significant number of positions in the last several years. There is still room for looking at salaries, but the review should include more data than this.
Loeb doesn't do crap for the Fog Fest. Just a figure head. There are dozens of hard working volunteers that have made the FF what it is and Pete Loeb is not one of them. In fact FF attendance has been down over the past few years since they got rid of the classic cars.
Try again.
Hey Anon 8:56. We do not have a 1.5 M surplus. And I read the analysis and $650,000 a year in savings by switching to the sheriff is great. Why is it good for Millbrae but not little Pacifica?
And I don't know what you mean by "a lower level of service" every city that has switched to the sheriff has said they get better service. Our PD right now can't even clean up the drug houses all over town. They don't have the resources.
Our guys will have better job security and we will get better service, all while saving hundreds of thousands a year. It's a no brainer.
856 you been had along with this town. outsourcing was doomed no matter what the benefits because council saw it early on as a politically unpopular move. not an easy fit with Pacifica's rogue-state mentality. Rhodes knew what it was worth. so did some on FCSTF. the savings weren't there? what a joke.
@910 Peter Loeb has done plenty for FogFest for a very long time. You've got an axe to grind that prevents you from being fair.
Yeah a bunch of great people put on the Fog Fest but to give Loeb credit for it's success is a misplaced honor. They are a voting committee. Loeb is just one vote.
This is like giving Sneaky Pete Dejarnatt, credit for the city not being bankrupt on his watch.
Anonymous said...
We are the Bermuda Triangle of San Mateo County. That's all you need to know about this town.
June 18, 2013 at 4:49 PM
Yep, even East Palo Alto knew when to ask for help. Pacifica is the new East Palo Alto.
Anonymous 9:21pm. "Hey Anon 8:56. We do not have a 1.5 M surplus. And I read the analysis and $650,000 a year in savings by switching to the sheriff is great. Why is it good for Millbrae but not little Pacifica?
And I don't know what you mean by "a lower level of service" every city that has switched to the sheriff has said they get better service. Our PD right now can't even clean up the drug houses all over town. They don't have the resources.
Our guys will have better job security and we will get better service, all while saving hundreds of thousands a year. It's a no brainer."
Ah. So you didn't attend the meetings that were held with open question and answer sessions, or you would know that the savings did NOT continue into future years. Near term savings aren't a sound approach for a city that is trying to develop a long-term sustainable future.
The report shows that the number of officers "on the beat" are less. Hence, decreased level of service.
Not saying that the Sheriff wouldn't do a good job. It's just not a decision that should be made for a couple of years savings and loss of control.
Anon 1:00 The savings decline you stated is just ONE theory based on what pay and costs will increase over time. Costs WILL go us weather we keep police in house or farm it out.
And as far as "decreased level of service" Maybe we don't need 10 captains and seargents making $170K+.
The sheriff has 10 times the resources as tiny little Pacifica PD. From helicopters to lie detectors to psychiatrists to under cover investigators and more.
Millbrae & HMB are extremely happy they switched and are actually saving more than expected with BETTER service.
So I'm glad you attended the meeting but I don't think you were paying attention.
@1:00 did you have a beverage at the meeting?
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