Last night, after years of a declining economy, months of bad decisions, weeks of crunching numbers, days of negotiation and hours of debate, the Oakland City Council passed the most painful budget balancing proposal in the city’s history by a minimum 5-3 vote. 

We're All in This Together (Or, "It's the Economy, Stupid!")

Though blame was thrown around from the police, to the council, to the mayor and back to the police, most accepted that we’re not alone in this crisis. “This is nobody’s fault. This isn’t the fault of the police. It’s not our fault. It’s just the economy,” said District 2’s Pat Kernighan to some tense shuffling in the audience.

Mayor Ron Dellums, who gave an impassioned speech in support of spreading the responsibility around all departments, said, "The only solace in this moment is that every other city is facing the same decisions you are. Draconian cuts devastate municipal services, while domestic violence is on the rise."

It’s true that despite the blame game, most cities in the country are facing deficits that are comparable to, or even worse than ours. Unfortunately, as with the City of Oakland, most city governments were unprepared for these difficult times. In this town, the economic recession accounts for about $20 million of our problem. So what of the rest?

Proposal Basics and the Measure Y Fix

The original budget proposal was submitted on Monday, June 21, and yesterday many were relieved to see 3 amendments introduced. The proposal leaves more funds for IT services, saves funds for several Parks & Recreation programs such as pools and libraries, and returns some funding to public works. The basics of the proposal and the upcoming ballot measures are as follow: 

• Layoff of 80 police officers, keeping the community policing positions.
• A Measure Y “Fix” amendment to be put to a 2/3 majority vote in November to suspend the requirement for the magic 739 number of sworn officers on the police force for the next 3 years, thus allowing essential Measure Y violence prevention programs to continue, while the city recharges its economic battery.
• A parcel tax ballot measure also up for a 2/3 vote in November.
• If neither the Fix, nor the ballot measure pass, 122 more officers will be laid off in January 2011, pushing the total number of police layoffs past 200 officers.
• If the Fix passes, but the parcel tax does not, 27 more officers will be laid off in January 2011.
• If both the Fix and the parcel tax pass, the 80 laid-off officers will be returned to service, though this combination is highly unlikely. 

Even with this proposal, the budget is still not balanced. The city is still in negotiations with the police union over pensions that police officers do not pay into. This enrages speakers and councilmembers alike. “Pensions of over $100,000 per year, after the age of 50, and without an individual contribution are simply unsustainable,” said District 4’s Jean Quan.

Police Pensions Arouse Passions 

Police layoffs seem unavoidable, but don’t tell that to the Make Oakland Better Now! citizen coalition which has been working on a budget proposal for several months and presented their version to the council. Cruise on over to their website for Tasty Pastries, helpful and easy-to-read explanations of the city budget.

Among others averse to any police layoffs were the Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce and the Oakland Chinatown Chamber of Commerce.“The restaurants are empty because people don’t think that it's safe to come to Oakland. We cannot lay off police.” said Carl Chan, a boardmember of OCCC. 

Jeffrey Jensen, a resident of North Oakland named off shocking crime statistics comparing Oakland to the rest of California. He was countered by Janet Hall with her own set of gasp-inducing numbers, such as the high average salaries of police officers in Oakland, as compared to other cities in the U.S. 

Proposal Not All That?

The straight talk of the evening came from District 6’s Desley Brooks who challenged many parts of the proposal and called it “smoke and mirrors”. Among items pointed out by Brooks were yet to be secured funds, the potential sale of the Henry J. Kaiser Convention Center which is currently in debt exceeding its current market value, and cutting IT services that are necessary for implementation of other proposals.

”I am not voting for this budget tonight,” she said firmly, “This isn’t simply the economy -- it’s the way we do business. Nothing in this budget addresses how we’re going to change that.” Almost every council member stated agreement, and commended her for speaking up about these issues, but only Reid and Kaplan joined Brooks in voting “no” on the proposal. 

Stay tuned for updates on the police union negotiations, which again can change the future of the ballot measures and the outcome of the unfortunate financial mess that Oakland is in.