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Four months after a tax revolt stopped plans to ask property owners to dig a little deeper, the City Council will have to decide yet again just how much it wants to test taxpayer largess. 

Tonight (March 23), City Manager Phil Kamlarz—armed with the latest tally of a $10 million looming General Fund deficit for fiscal year 2004-05—will recommend at a 5 p.m. special meeting that the council “strongly consider” placing ballot measures in November. The proposed ballot measure is expected to seek as much as $4.9 million in city services at a cost of $122 per year to the average homeowner. 

The council is scheduled to discuss and possibly vote on Kamlarz’ recommendations at its regular 7 p.m. meeting. 

Although neighborhood groups have already voiced opposition, some on the council didn’t wait for the latest budget report to hit their desks to call for new revenues. 

Mayor Bates, along with Councilmembers Miriam Hawley, Linda Maio and Kriss Worthington want the council to consider a November ballot initiative asking voters for $800,000 to fund youth services expected to be cut from the General Fund.  

The trio are still working out the details with the Berkeley Unified School District, which is considering renewing a tax measure of its own—The Berkeley Schools Excellence Project—that raises $10.5 million for school music programs, libraries and one out of every six teachers. At a meeting on the proposed school district tax measure Wednesday, the vast majority of participants favored going to voters for more money this November. A decision to put BSEP on the November ballot could sway the city to forgo a youth services ballot initiative, Worthington said. 

If either initiative reaches voters’ touchscreens this November it might have plenty of company. With the General Fund too deep in the red to dish out subsides to other parts of the budget, the City Council could ask voters to foot the bill for keeping those other city funds solvent. Among the council’s considerations include $1 million to maintain paramedic services, $700,000 for street lights, $1 million to maintain storm water drains, and $1.2 million to preserve library services. 

That would be too many new taxes and not enough time for public input, the Berkeley Association of Neighborhood Organizations announced Saturday. In a statement issued to the council, the group pledged to fight any new property taxes with the same ferocity they showed last November against a failed $7 million parcel tax. 

“So long as our taxes remain so high and since your work with respect to the wealthy nonprofits and the city employee contracts is not satisfactorily completed, we will oppose and work to defeat all of the new tax measures you are floating, even though we may like some of the services they are intended to support,” the statement read. 

Taxes are only part of the city’s strategy to reign in its deficit. At the 5 p.m. working session, Kamlarz will also present a plan to raise revenues as much as $2.6 million per year with a series off fee hikes. The biggest money maker would be a 911 surcharge for all telephone landlines and possible cellular phone lines, netting the city between $1.5 and $2 million. Other recommendations include eliminating the option for citizens to perform community service for parking fines, rescinding seismic fee waivers for building permits and implementing a $2 fee for paying city fines over the Internet. 

Kamlarz stressed taking a multi-year approach to tackle the deficit which, if not reigned in, is projected to hit $19.4 million in 2009. In addition to calls for new revenues, Kamlarz is recommending the city use $1 million of its reserves for the upcoming fiscal year and cut general fund programs by $7.2 million.  

Time is of the essence for both the council and staff. Tuesday’s discussion will guide the staff in presenting the council with a proposed budget by May 4—the third meeting after the council returns from its spring recess. Public hearings will follow on May 25 and June 25. The final budget is scheduled for adoption on June 22 and the deadline to approve ballot initiatives for November is scheduled for July 20. 

The flurry of proposed ballot initiatives is not limited to taxes. At its 7 p.m. regular meeting tonight, the council will discuss a proposal from Councilmember Worthington to align mayoral elections to presidential elections, a period when voter turnout is highest. To align the two elections, Worthington proposes granting only a two-year term to the winner of the 2006 mayoral election. 

The council will also consider changes to its own rules of procedure. After the agenda committee struck some of their more controversial proposals last month, including denying free council packets to the media, the council will consider a series of reforms. Among them are holding lengthy public hearings on Thursdays, granting the city manager “ministerial action” for urgent matters when the council doesn’t meet for two consecutive weeks, and granting the council more leeway in expanding or shortening public comment time. 

Councilmember Dona Spring offered a competing proposal that would allow any councilmember who attended agenda committee meetings to have a vote. Currently only Mayor Bates and Councilmembers Maio and Hawley are voting members of the committee. 

In an agenda item listed as “time critical,” the council will hear an appeal to the use permit granted to Library Gardens—a planned 176-unit housing and retail development slated to rise just west of the main library.  

Steve Geller contends that by designating 105 parking spaces to residents, when zoning rules requires the developer provide them with just 59 spaces, the complex runs contrary to the city’s goal of transit friendly development in the downtown.