The Cupertino Courier

News

City budget includes expanded hours for the library

By Cody Kraatz

Flush with several million dollars in reserves, Cupertino's 2007-08 budget includes money to open the vastly popular Cupertino Library seven days a week.

The library is currently closed on Mondays, but the Santa Clara County Library system, which manages its operation, said it could have the library open on Mondays at a cost of $240,000 per year.

The Cupertino City Council is currently reviewing and taking public input on the budget and is expected to approve it on June 19. If passed, the budget would secure library hours for the coming year.

"Beyond that, we're less certain we'll be able to cover those costs. The only thing we know about good years is that they tend to be followed by bad years," said city manager Dave Knapp, a 37-year veteran of city budget balancing. Currently, the budget shows about $4 million in reserves.

"Your reserves policies look quite healthy with this budget. We are actually in a good position," said Knapp. "It's a happy time to be a council member here in Cupertino because you can make choices of what to do with that money."

Knapp proposed a 5- to 25-cent entertainment tax on tickets sold at venues such as AMC 16 Cupertino Square and the Flint Center to offset the extra library hours. The city aims to put such a tax, which would not specifically earmark the funds it generates, on the November ballot.

The city said AMC brings about 3,000 to 3,500 people to the mall each day but gives the city no sales tax besides what those visitors spend at stores in the mall. With about 1.6 million tickets sold in the city each year, a 25-cent tax could mean as much as $407,000 each year.

The city will conduct a phone survey of Cupertino voters to gauge support for the entertainment tax and how much they would be willing to pay. The data would be available by July 3, said Carol Atwood, director of administrative services.

The survey will also determine how voters feel about a ballot measure closing loopholes in the city's utility users tax that could allow phone companies to stop paying taxes for customers who abandon their landline for a cell phone, a growing trend. The city could lose $400,000 per year if phone companies get their way.

The city continues to seek new ways to secure continuous revenue streams. Software company Insight Solutions joined Hewlett Packard and Apple, Inc. as one of the city's top sales tax generators, pouring $1.3 million per year into the city's coffers.

The city is entitled to the sales tax from these companies because the point of sale for their products is within the city limits. Sales tax made up 18 percent of city revenues last year. The city also secured $1.35 million in property taxes that the state had not distributed fairly before, Knapp said.

The council on June 5 moved to give $55,000 to the Cupertino Veterans Memorial, which is in the midst of a Father's Day fundraising drive, to offset city fees and pay for part of the project's landscaping.

"We have 55,000 residents in the city, and I think it's well worth a $1 per resident investment," said Councilwoman Dolly Sandoval.

The budget may also include $250,000 to be spent on red light-running prevention and traffic congestion problems in such trouble spots as the tri-school area near Monta Vista High School.

After bids for the Mary Avenue Bicycle Footbridge came in at around $12 million, double the city's estimate, Ralph Qualls, director of public works, is working to make that project more affordable. He said he would return to the council in August or September with an explanation and a more accurate estimate. He said similar projects in the area, such as renovations to the Golden Gate Bridge, had drawn "wacky" bids as well.

To learn more about the Cupertino Veterans Memorial or the Mary Avenue Bicycle Footbridge, visit www.cupertino.org.