Saratoga News

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Kao participates in League state of cities forum held in Los Gatos

By Jason Sweeney

Three local mayors and one vice mayor assembled in the Los Gatos Town Council Chambers on April 5 for the State of Our Cities Forum sponsored by the League of Women Voters of Southwest Santa Clara County.

Los Gatos Mayor Joe Pirzynski, Saratoga Mayor Aileen Kao, Monte Sereno Vice Mayor Erin Garner and Campbell Mayor Dan Furtado briefed a crowd of about 25 people on their respective jurisdictions and then fielded questions. Garner was filling in for Monte Sereno Mayor David Baxter, who was attending to a family matter.

Some common themes of the forum were a recovering fiscal situation following the dot-com bust, collaboration between jurisdictions on such matters as public safety issues and street maintenance, and police services being the largest budget expenditure.

Pirzynski told the crowd that Los Gatos has a population of 28,989 with 175 full-time time employees and a total budget of $50,515,503.

Furtado told the crowd that Campbell has a population of 39,000 with 16,000 dwelling units, half of which are apartments. His city has 183 full-time city employees, an operating budget of $46.6 million and revenues of $47.4 million.

Alluding to the fact that Monte Sereno and Saratoga are both low-tax, low-service cities that operate on far smaller budgets than Los Gatos and Campbell, Garner said, "Aileen and I are still trying to recover from the dizziness of those numbers."

Garner said that Monte Sereno is a residential-only city of about 4,000 people with no commercial base. He described Monte Sereno as a bedroom community that was essentially one large neighborhood association. The city has 11 full-time employees and a general fund of $1.8 million.

Monte Sereno was set up to operate on a surplus each year, Garner explained. Property taxes were up by 16.8 percent this year due to the passage of a bill that returned tax equity allocation payments that the city was paying to the county.

Garner said that the biggest sources of income for Monte Sereno were property taxes, permitting fees due to frequent home remodels and gas taxes.

Tax equity allocation reforms were also a boon to Saratoga, causing property tax revenue to rise from 4 percent of revenues to 5.4 percent, Kao explained. She said that Saratoga residents pay more than $88.25 million in property taxes, but less than $5 million of that goes to the city of Saratoga. Saratoga has a general fund of about $11 million.

The cost of the sheriff and public safety takes up the largest portion of expenses for Saratoga at 33.6 percent. The public works department is next, consuming 29.4 percent.

Kao said that Saratogans had much to celebrate, including greater unity and community spirit among its residents after the 50th anniversary of the founding of the city last year.

One member of the audience asked about the difference in sales tax revenue for the four jurisdictions. Furtado said Campbell generated about $10 million last year in sales taxes. Pirzynksi said Los Gatos generated $7.6 million. Garner said Monte Sereno generated zero, while Kao said Saratoga generated about $700,000.

League of Women Voters Southwest Santa Clara County president Fred Armstrong said the purpose of the State of Our Cities Forum was to provide an opportunity for interaction between elected officials and the public. "The League has many functions, one of which is to promote democracy," he said. Armstrong is the only male League of Women Voters chapter president in California. He said the League is about 20 percent male.