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Tax equity money, city commissions top list of topics at council retreat

By Shannon Burkey

Saratoga City Council members met for their annual retreat on Feb. 2 where their discussions centered around the $785,000 in Tax Equity Allocation money the city has just received and on bringing back the city's now defunct commissions.

Council members spent eight hours discussing such issues as how to spend the TEA money, staffing, community outreach and bringing back the commissions.

Although no decisions were made at the retreat, it was a good time for the council, which has two new members, to get to know where everyone stands on the issues.

"We're basically just working with each other, throwing ideas out there to see what the response will be. We're really just prioritizing what we would like to see in the future," Councilwoman Jill Hunter said. "I think it was a good beginning as a new group of five working together, and I can see that we will all work well together in the future."

In 2005, five of the city's commissions where disbanded due to budget cuts. Since that time, residents have passionately advocated for reinstating them.

"We have a community here with brilliant people who are movers and shakers. They can really make a contribution when appointed to a commission," Saratoga resident Cheriel Jensen said to the council. "It's partly the council choosing the right people--people who will be proactive and get things done--but they are here in the community."

Council members discussed the future of the arts, finance, library, parks and recreation and public safety commissions. While all members agreed the parks and recreation commission should be reinstated, the future of the others remained unclear.

"I'm not sure the purpose of the library commission is clear, and I don't think we necessarily need it right now," Councilman Chuck Page said. "I don't feel a finance commission is needed in the way it was in the past."

Councilwoman Kathleen King said the city should start out slowly and work its way up to all five commissions.

"I recommend just starting back with the parks and recreation commission. We should get it up and running really well, then maybe add the arts and some of the others."

But Hunter, who made a campaign pledge to try to bring back all of the commissions, did not agree.

"I'm for commissions--the more the merrier," she said. "The more people you bring into the process and make them feel a part of the process, the more rewards you'll have."

How the city should spend the TEA money it recently received, after the signing of AB117 in September 2006, was a frequent topic. The bill restored property tax money to Saratoga, Cupertino, Los Altos Hills and Monte Sereno, with all four cities receiving extra revenue each year.

"Now that we have a little extra money, we were presented with several ways to spend it," King said.

Some of the options presented to the council were to make five temporary city staff positions permanent, to add an additional traffic officer in the city and to bring back the city's commissions.

Capt. Terry Calderone of the Santa Clara County Sheriff's Department addressed the council about why an additional traffic officer should be in place.

Because of budget cuts, a late-shift traffic position was cut a few years back. Since then, Calderone said, the city has experienced an increase in traffic-related accidents, DUI accidents, numerous calls from residents requesting traffic enforcement and an increase in calls involving juveniles and alcohol and drugs.

With his office trying to do more with less, the staffing issue is becoming a concern. Calderone requested $383,000 in additional funds so that he could be better equipped to meet the needs of Saratoga.

"The service I am trying to provide in the city is becoming more difficult," Calderone said. "Calls are increasing, and the response time is continuing to rise. Without the extra traffic unit it's becoming more and more difficult to handle the calls."

Council members made no commitments, though, and want to prioritize the options presented to them before deciding where the extra money should go. The council will meet again March 2 for another retreat to discuss the issues in more depth.

"It's amazing how quickly $785,000 could be spent," Page said. "But I felt we had really good discussions and there are a lot of opportunities to move things forward in Saratoga."