city budget

City leaders to consider pricier parking, layoffs to bridge budget gaps

Michele Ellson
Monday, April 15, 2013 - 12:05am

Visitors to Park and Webster streets could soon be dropping a few more coins in the meters in order to help balance Alameda’s budget in the coming years.

Pricier parking – and parking tickets – are among the proposals city officials are offering to close a combined $7.1 million budget deficit spanning the next two years, a list that includes reduced library hours, fewer building renovations and layoffs. Read more >> about City leaders to consider pricier parking, layoffs to bridge budget gaps

Council okays balanced budget, prepares for future deficits

Michele Ellson
Thursday, June 28, 2012 - 12:05am

Alameda’s City Council okayed a fresh budget which council members hailed for its lack of impact to community services, though they also acknowledged that much more work needs to be done to steady the city’s shaky finances over the long term.

“Is the work over? It’s absolutely not over. Is there more progress to be made? Absolutely. But there’s been progress made,” said Vice Mayor Rob Bonta, one of four council members who voted in favor of approving the budget. Read more >> about Council okays balanced budget, prepares for future deficits

San Jose report details pension plan breakdowns

Michele Ellson
Friday, June 22, 2012 - 12:05am

A 2010 report on the sustainability of the City of San Jose’s pension system offers a detailed look at how the costs of that city’s pensions outpaced its ability to pay for them, to the tune of $2 billion in unfunded pension liabilities that year. Read more >> about San Jose report details pension plan breakdowns

City limited in efforts to trim pensions

Michele Ellson
Thursday, June 21, 2012 - 12:05am

The failure of the Measure C sales tax initiative brought a trickling of residents into Alameda’s City Hall on June 12 who said they think city leaders should pursue a different strategy for attacking the city’s persistent budget deficits: Cut city workers’ pensions and salaries.

But the city’s leaders are limited in what they can do to address rising pension costs, particularly for current employees and retirees, interviews and documents detailing the rights of pension holders and recent efforts by other cities to cut pension costs show. Read more >> about City limited in efforts to trim pensions

Council plots path after Measure C failure

Michele Ellson
Thursday, June 14, 2012 - 12:05am

Alameda’s City Council held a wide-ranging discussion Tuesday night about how – or if – the city could pay for facilities, vehicles and equipment council members had hoped to fund with money from the Measure C sales tax initiative.

“I have to say that all the issues that were still facing us before we envisioned the campaign for Measure C are still here after the campaign for Measure C, so it’s sort of like a reset,” Mayor Marie Gilmore said at the start of the nearly three-hour hearing. Read more >> about Council plots path after Measure C failure

City budget: "We're going to do less with less"

Michele Ellson
Wednesday, May 30, 2012 - 12:52am

In what has become an almost perverse annual ritual, city leaders discussed how they plan to address a projected $5.1 million deficit in next year’s general fund budget and bigger deficits in the years to come.

City staffers on Tuesday outlined a series of cuts that included layoffs and plans to close the city’s jail. City Council members, meanwhile, sparred over the Measure C sales tax proposal, which voters will consider through Election Day on Tuesday.

“We’re going to do less with less,” Councilwoman Lena Tam said. Read more >> about City budget: "We're going to do less with less"

City seeks community's help in providing services

Michele Ellson
Monday, March 19, 2012 - 12:05am

When city leaders announced plans to contract Alameda’s animal shelter services out to another city to save money, animal lovers here quickly mobilized to stop them. But instead of fighting opponents of the outsourcing plan, the city decided to hand them the Alameda Animal Shelter’s keys.

Sixty-five days later the shelter’s new director, Mim Carlson, said she’s busy managing a staff of nine and training what she hopes will ultimately be more than a hundred volunteers – and finding ways to raise the nonprofit that now runs the shelter’s half of its $600,000 annual budget. Read more >> about City seeks community's help in providing services

Tax opponent launches campaign

Michele Ellson
Wednesday, March 14, 2012 - 12:05am

An opponent of a proposed half-cent sales tax increase launched his campaign against the tax Tuesday.

Alameda activist and blogger David Howard said the proposed Measure C sales tax increase that’s due to appear on the June 5 ballot was pushed through without adequate public input. Read more >> about Tax opponent launches campaign

Sales tax increase would cover unfunded needs, proponents say

Michele Ellson
Tuesday, March 13, 2012 - 12:05am
Police Chief Mike Noonan in the city's Emergency Operations Center.

Alameda’s high school swimming pools are on life support, masters swimmer Barry Parker said, and the city and school district are unlikely to continuing paying to keep them open. But $5 million gleaned from a half-cent sales tax increase could build a new, Olympic-size pool that could be used by high school swimmers, young children and adult swimmers alike, he said. Read more >> about Sales tax increase would cover unfunded needs, proponents say

SALES TAX INCREASE HEADED TO JUNE BALLOT

Dave Boitano
Thursday, March 8, 2012 - 12:45am

Voters will go to the polls in June to decide the fate of a half-cent sales tax measure approved by the City Council on Wednesday night. Read more >> about SALES TAX INCREASE HEADED TO JUNE BALLOT

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