Features

The Berkeley City Council meets today (Tuesday) with a single-minded focus on how to deal with the city’s estimated $7.5 million deficit. 

As part of Mayor Bates’ strategy for attacking the deficit, every month until June the council will devote one full meeting a month solely to the budget, with the first such meeting this week. 

No city manager’s report to the council was available at press time Monday. City Manager Phil Kamlarz’s recommendations, as listed on the meeting agenda, include authorizing one-day-a-month closure of non-essential city services and beginning talks with city unions about layoffs and other strategies to save money. Last year, the city compelled most of its unions to give back a portion of their scheduled raises to help close a $10.3 million deficit. 

With $3.5 million in unanticipated revenue, mostly from higher than expected revenue from a city tax on property transfers, Kamlarz is proposing that the council approve using the money for capital improvements like repairing roads and one-time expenditures such as a new police dispatch system. 

Kamlarz is also seeking the council’s permission to allocate reserves from the city’s general fund to offset negative balances in special funds, and is asking for feedback on a proposal to streamline city boards and commissions and reduce the staff support they receive.  

Last week, in preparation for finalizing the budget, councilmembers ranked their top 25 priorities and projects in a paper poll. The non-binding results, compiled by Deputy City Manager Lisa Caronna, showed that the four highest vote getters, with votes from several councilmembers, included affordable housing, business retention, rebuilding the Center Street garage and updating the West Berkeley Plan.  

Receiving six votes apiece were the proposed downtown hotel and convention center, school-linked health services, creating an arts district in South Berkeley, improving the streetscape of San Pablo Avenue, increasing support for environmentally friendly buildings and improving the city’s ability to collect fines for parking violations. 

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