| | Published November 2nd, 2016
| PRO vs CON Measure C
| | public forum | | | |
Measure C Supporters Hold a
Positive Vision for Lafayette
By Budd MacKenzie, Teresa Gerringer and Anne Grodin
Two years ago, with the new Lafayette Library and Learning Center completed and the road repair program funded, the Lafayette City Council conducted a series of community conversations throughout the city to hear from families about their 20-year vision for Lafayette.
More than 700 residents participated, and they said that the city's top priorities should be to preserve open space, enhance public safety, improve parking and traffic, and revitalize the Park Theater. And so the council placed Measure C, a one-cent-sales tax increment, on the November ballot.
Since that time, hundreds of people have come forth to support the measure and work on the campaign. Measure C's endorsers are community leaders who hold a positive vision for Lafayette. They're people who won't be dissuaded by the critics and their fabricated "facts" and conspiracy theories. They're residents who know that Lafayette is well managed, recalling that the city:
Has no pensions or pension obligations;
Has a large emergency reserve;
Has a AAA rating from Standard & Poor's
(the highest possible rating);
Efficiently contracts for most of its services;
Was recently ranked by Transparent California as among
the top 10 percent of California's most efficient cities.
Residents know about the city's aggressive crime prevention efforts, and how Police Chief Eric Christensen has used technology and community policing techniques in innovative ways to solve the crimes that do occur. Last year, Lafayette's police solved 60 percent of the residential burglaries - a figure unheard of in other cities.
And they've seen how the city even gets the little things right - like the new reflective street name signs that give paramedics and fire fighters clear direction to our homes in the event of a true emergency.
This is a city council that has delivered, time and again, on its promises.
And so residents can take City Council members at their word when they pledged, unanimously and unambiguously, to use Measure C proceeds for these and only these purposes:
Open Space
More and better parking
Improved traffic
Enhanced policing
Downtown parks, and
A revitalized Park Theater.
To quell any remaining doubt, remember, too that Measure C orders that an Independent Citizen's Oversight Committee will monitor expenditures to ensure that the city is in full compliance with the ballot measure.
Orinda did it, Moraga did it, and now it's Lafayette's turn to capture the sales tax cap before a regional agency does. If you don't think BART, MTC, and Contra Costa County aren't eyeing future tax measures, think again.
Stay positive! Vote YES on Measure C!
It's the best way to keep our money local, get the projects we want, and make Lafayette the very best it can be.
Budd MacKenzie is Founder, Trust in Education and 2004 Citizen of the Year; Teresa Gerringer is a member of the Lafayette School Board; Anne Grodin, is a former mayor and council member, 1999 Citizen of the Year and Founder of the Lafayette Community Foundation.
Vote No on C - No Restrictions on Expenditures
By Mike Griffiths
The Lafayette City Council proposes a 1 percent sales tax to raise $3 million a year for 29 years, at least $87,000,000. As a general tax it can be spent on any governmental purpose.
The ballot statement promises "priorities" will be open space, reducing congestion, police, parking, parks, the Park Theatre, and that all sales tax "will stay in Lafayette." The city's ballot statement does not disclose plans to fund a sales tax revenue bond up to $58 million and build a new civic building.
On Feb. 8 and July 11 the council considered a "Scenario 2 - Completely bonded; 30-year bond against 100 percent of the annual revenue stream" to borrow $58 million in principal, and using "bond proceeds from sales tax measure $13 million" to acquire a site for a "Civic Building." On July 25 the council confirmed a "Sales Tax Revenue Bond" would be used. Another July 11 memo, citing polling results, states that although mentioning a civic building "as a means of increasing transparency is understandable...there is a risk that including such language could cause some voters to vote no on the measure." That same day the words "including a civic building" were removed from the ballot statement.
Emails on July 13-14 between the building site owner and the city negotiating an agreement end with "better for us to wait to see if the sales tax measure passes on the November 2016 ballot." Clearly, this civic building site remains under consideration. That July 11 civic building memo shows $17.25 million for site acquisition and $9 million for construction costs. The memo states the cost of the building itself would not be covered by sales tax proceeds, but this is accomplished by shifting $4.25 million of other city funds to site acquisition, and another $6 million to construction.
Measure C would be used to replenish that $10.25 million - essentially a shell game. And the ballot statement promising "all" of the sales tax will stay in Lafayette will not be true if used to repay a Sales Tax Revenue Bond up to $58 Million. Tens of millions of dollars in interest and fees will leave the city. The $26.25 million for the civic building, with 28 years interest at 3.4 percent, amortizes to close to $40 million over 40 percent of the $87million Measure C revenue over 29 years.
This information should not be withheld from Lafayette voters. The Editors of the East Bay Times called the 1 percent increase "too much" and the 29 year term "a ridiculously long time for a tax that could be used for any governmental purpose." The Contra Costa Taxpayers Association declined to support Measure C.
Mike Griffiths is President of Save Lafayette, a city government watchdog group he founded in 2015, and has been a resident of
Lafayette since 1989.
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Lamorinda Weekly, Moraga CA