TO CHARTER OR NOT TO CHARTER

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On May 16, the town held a study session to discuss converting Los Altos Hills to a charter city.

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You can find an excellent comparison of charter cities and general law cities in this document, prepared for the City of Berkeley by their (then) City Attorney, Manuela Albuquerque:

   https://www.law.berkeley.edu/files/Albuquerque4_-_General_Law_City_v_Charter_City.pdf

 

The stated reasons in favor of converting LAH from a general law city to a charter city are:

 - More land use control

 - Opportunity to enact a real property transfer tax (to increase revenues)

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There are also examples of charter cities that went bankrupt or became dysfunctional due to leadership conflicts. We would do well to learn from their mistakes if we were to venture down this path. See:
    https://www.city-journal.org/article/the-problem-and-promise-of-charter-cities

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Re: land use control, a recent court ruling suggests that charter cities may be exempt from SB9. However, that case is likely to be appealed by the State. Still, this offers a potential advantage and merits consideration.

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The other argument is that the town needs more revenue. Which brings us to:

BUDGETS

The public safety budget for 2023-24 was $2.939M. The budget for 2024-25 is $3.695M, an increase of 26%.

The administration budget for 2023-24 was $4.405M and the budget for 2024-25 is $4.706M, an increase of 7%.

 

But budgets are just projections. Let's look at what we actually (will have) spent by the end of 2023-24.

 

The expected public safety expense for the full year 2023-24 is $3.3561M. So the $3.695M 2024-25 public safety budget is under 4% higher than what we actually (will have) spent in 2023-24.

In contrast, the administration expense for the full year 2023-34 is $3.347M. So the $4.706M 2024-25 administration budget is 41% higher than what we actually (will have) spent in 2023-24.

 

Thus, the argument that public safety is driving the need for increased revenue falls apart when we look at actuals as the baseline. But "public safety polls well" so that's the mantra for teasing out a tax increase.

 

Of course, there's another side to this. The town has suffered a lot of turnover (hmm...) so the administration expense is artificially low because we are not at full staff. True enough. But the town has spent a lot of money hiring consultants to compensate for reduced staff. Apparently, that has resulted in savings. In addition, much ballyhoo was made about LAH being one of the first towns to adopt an AI policy. Well, AI is supposed to make many tasks much more efficient. So it would seem that this is an opportunity to increase efficiency.

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While that is easier said than done, it merits a robust discussion:

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What would we do differently with half our current budget?

With one quarter?

Would we find more efficiencies?

Should we use Zero-Based Budgeting?

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Food for thought.

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The City Council tied 2-2 on the question of putting the Charter City Resolution on the 2024 election ballot. (One Council member was not at the meeting.) So the motion did not pass. However, it is likely to be considered for the 2026 election.