Oakland city employee unions issue budget plan --see what the proposals are here

Susan Mernit Thu, 24 Jun at 7:18pm

The Professional & Technical Employees, Local 21 - Service Employees International Union, Local 1021 issued a press release about their budget "plan" today. It's republished below.

10 PM: Update: After I asked for more info--and published the note below--Rachel Richman, Political and Policy Director, IFPTE Local 21, sent me a note saying she could not send me the plan, but tat she could send me the individual proposals the wrking group cobbled together, all of which were vetted for viability.

We're thrilled to have these, Rachel, so thank you!   OL welcomes comments from community members on these proposals; we know hard work went into these plans. It looks like some of these proposals can definitely general more revenue and resolve some issues--but I'd (Susan) still like to know why pay cuts aren't on the table as well in this proposal. Your thoughts?

 

 

Revenue and efficiency options to save city services and jobs

 

 

 

Revenue &

Savings

Shorter Term (1-2 years) Revenue and Efficiency  Proposals

 

AUDIT all City revenue sources and collection systems

·         Collect on the fees, taxes, etc that are owed the city.  Invest staff in the auditing process.  Ensure that all eligible businesses are being billed for taxes due, and that delinquent taxes are collected. 

·         Preliminary research by employees shows that in the business tax classifications of Rental Residential and Rental Commercial alone, in 2009 the City may have collected as much as $10 million less tax than was due to the City.   

·         Businesses in other classifications may not being billed or delinquencies adequately collected.  A top to bottom review will ensure that covered businesses are receiving bills and that the follow up is efficient.

·         Recognizing that many smaller businesses are also struggling in the economy, we recommend that the City institute a repayment program for businesses that owe back taxes or a one-time amnesty for penalties – or both. 

$3-10+ million

 

(depending on phase in, final figures, amnesty)

 

Franchise agreements

·         Staff is aware that a number of utility companies like railroads, Comcast, PG&E are using public rights-of-ways to move their goods and services and are operating under franchise agreements with the City but not paying the franchise fees as staff is not assigned to monitor or agreements or collect fees   

Up to $500,000 per year

 

Settlement Income

v      Share of sale of affordable condominiums at the Pacific Renaissance Plaza per lawsuit settlement

$570,000 - $855,000

 

Sale of City Property

·         Sale of Kaiser Auditorium or, if practical, a long term lease.

·         Consider short term easy to get permits for ‘pop up’ stores and other short term uses.

$7-$11 million

 

Taxes

·         The City is considering a number of taxes for the November ballot including a parcel tax, a broader utility tax, a 911 tax and an increase in the sales tax.

·         While we believe this should be the last resort, priority should be given to the revenue option(s) that will generate enough money to bridge the gap, be short term - 3-5 years and have the smallest impact on Oakland’s lower income residents.

$8-30  million

 

Measure Y changes

·         Modify the measure to retain Police positions, Fire funding and violence-crime prevention programs by allowing more flexibility

Saves Police Officers, Violence and crime prevention programs

 

Workforce contributions 

·         Police pick up employee share of retirement

 

 

 

$10 Million

 

Total

$29.7 million - $62.35 million

Longer term options to explore

Business Cooperation Agreements

·         Business Cooperation Agreements with companies that purchase large amounts of sales taxable items have the option of declaring Oakland as the home base for reporting sales tax.  For example: Economic Development and Revenue staff are collaborating to approach Kaiser Permanente to identify Oakland as point of sale for all of their purchases resulting from construction and future business operations.  Staff will programmatically work with larger businesses to craft agreements with them to designate Oakland as the hub where all the sales tax is generated and paid to.  

TBD

  Earlier post, prior to getting the info above--

2 PM: Can someone less brain-dead than I am at this moment tell me whether their plan actually offers any new solutions or is just a cloaked way to push back against cuts to their members?

 Here's the release--which went out with NO PLAN attached.

“All for Oakland” Budget would Preserve City Services, Public Safety

(Oakland, CA)  A coalition of Oakland city employee unions (Professional and Technical Employees, Local 21 and Service Employees International Union, Local 1021) has presented a comprehensive plan to balance Oakland’s budget designed to protect services for the entire city of Oakland and eliminate the need for many of the cutbacks and layoffs.

The “All for Oakland” budget proponents invite the Mayor and City Council as well as other city employees and the community to join them in supporting a budget that shares the pain fairly, gets the city through the immediate budget crisis, and retains and grows services for Oakland residents and businesses in future budgets.

Audit and Collect Revenue

The “All for Oakland” budget proposal includes significant revenue achieved through an immediate audit of all city revenue sources and collection systems.  Preliminary research by city staff shows there may be as much as $10 million a year that is not being fully collected.  The audit should include examining business taxes, franchise fees; payment for right of ways, etc. to ensure that there is a level playing field where all businesses meet their responsibility to pay their fair share.  The city must act to collect those funds through better billing and enforcement and, where appropriate, amnesty programs.

 Funds from Housing Sales and Franchise Fees

The budget proposal lists another $1-$1.3 million that could be recovered from unpaid charges to franchise agreements and the city’s share of sale of affordable condominiums at the Pacific Renaissance Plaza per lawsuit settlement.

 Sharing the Pain

Up to $10 million can be saved in workforce contributions if Oakland Police Officers pick up their employee share of retirement, as all other city employees do now. 

Property Sales, New Revenue

The proposal assumes $11 million for the sale of the Kaiser Auditorium and $8 million -$30 million in new revenue from measures being considered for the November ballot. “While we believe this should be the last resort, priority should be given to the revenue options that will generate enough money to bridge the budget gap, sunset in 3-5 years and with the smallest impact on lower income residents” said Dwight McElroy, President, SEIU 1021-Oakland.  

 
THINK before cutting services and economic development

To further protect city services, creators of the “All for Oakland” budget call upon the city to take a more strategic approach to layoffs. For long term financial stability, efforts must be made to protect those programs that generate revenue and promote economic development and jobs.  The same is true for employees who keep Oakland safer for residents and attractive to businesses including fiscal and budget employees, IT staff who keep essential services functioning, streetlight and street repair employees, recreation leaders, senior services employees and civilian crime prevention staff.

The city is seeking $30.5 million in savings and revenue to balance the 2010/2011 FY budget.  An even larger deficit is expected next year.

“Despite significant cuts and givebacks by our members, we need to look at the entire budget and not just a piece here or there in isolation,” says Jeff Levin, Vice President, Professional and Technical Employees, Local 21.“We must begin by putting our own City of Oakland house in order and the All for Oakland budget does just that.  This proposal spreads the sacrifice fairly and evenly among all city workers to meet a funding crisis that has followed the greatest economic downturn since the Great Depression

 City Employees Took 10% Pay Cuts Last Year, not Police and Fire

Last year librarians, janitors, the people who manage the city computer systems, write and account for federal and state grants, run recreation programs and make sure the city’s bills get paid stepped up and made major concessions.  Since July 2008, the City has cut 237 civilian jobs and employees have given back 10% of their pay each year, yielding annual savings of around $25 million to the General Fund and $15 to $20 million in other restricted city funds.

As a result, the take home pay of these employees is less than it was 5 years ago. Police and Fire stepped up with some concessions, including a delay in a 4% pay increase for Police. However, at the end of the day, most of them took home the same paycheck.

Of the $400 million in the general fund, 85 percent is spent on Police and Fire Departments once debt service is accounted for. While compensation for most city employees is less than it was five years due to cuts and givebacks, Oakland Police are getting 12% more.

“Everyone in Oakland is facing the same crisis together; this budget helps us find a way out of it together,” says Jeff Levin of the Professional and Technical Employees.  “By combining sacrifices by all city employees, elected leaders and Oakland residents, we can preserve baseline services for the City of Oakland.”

What is the real agenda?

Here's what the Local 21 web site had to say about the budget cuts on June 11:

Local 21 members, especially those who live in Oakland, are strongly encouraged to share OUR budget priorities at upcoming City of Oakland Community Budget Forums:

    * Cuts must be equitable and everyone (including Police and Fire) should share the pain
    * In considering how to shield public safety from cuts, consider that public safety is more than Police - it includes crime prevention and neighborhood organizing and programs that keep children, youth and seniors safe
    * Raising revenue must be part of the budget solution. We cannot cut $30 million from $50 million in discretionary funding


Sounds pretty selfless, eh?

 

About Susan Mernit
Susan Mernit is the founder of Oakland Local. She is also a circuit rider for The Community Information Challenge, a program of The John S and James L Knight Foundation, and a consultant to non-profit and community organizations. Susan lives in North Oakland, near the Santa Fe school, with her partner, her housemate, a rescue dog named Cazzie, and a yard full of ants. She is an aspiring gardener, a long-time blogger & entrepreneur, and a recovering journalist who's found home in Oakland.
Len Raphael commented Array ago
Conclusion: doesn't contribute anything new to the discussion. confusing because internally inconsistent recommendations. Starts off giving us hope they found 30Mill of new revenue, but turns out to be conjecture about maybe 10mill and the rest are seeds and stems. That's when it either gets schizod or just misleading. I'm thinking it was written by a committee with unresolved differences which they didn't try to reconcile. Heart of their contradictary proposals is recommending surgical cuts to preserve core functions as in " protect those programs that generate revenue and promote economic development and jobs", and i the next breath "spread the sacrifice fairly and evenly among all city workers" . Then it looks like the across the board cutting wage faction won, because they go on to say cops and fire (that's a refinement of just hitting on cops) have to match the 10% cuts by non public safety workers. They do a nice little move to smooth over their own contradictions by defining public safety to include virtually every social service the city provides. Interesting that they don't call for social service cuts to first be made to outside service providers. No surprise at the end, they want to raise taxes. No mention anywhere that all these proposed budgets will not save our ship from sinking under the weight of the retirement benefits we have promised all city employees including city council members and our mayors. -len raphael temescal
Len Raphael commented Array ago
i could be wrong, but my understanding is that SEIU's statement "City Employees Took 10% Pay Cuts Last Year, not Police and Fire" is referring to the ongoing unpaid furloughs. Yes those cut total gross pay and pension contributions, but not hourly pay. It did not cut any benefits other than those tied to gross pay. I don't know if it cut paid vacation and sick leave accruals. Despite SEIU's statement that we can't cut service, that is exactly what those furloughs did to us residents. if the cops take a 10% cut, we're talking a cut in their hourly rate so that they have to work the same number of hours but for less money. if you don't cut their hourly rate, then the city will make them work OT which is even more costly.