Millbrae Community Workshop

February 6, 2009 · Terry Birt

Last evening I attended a Millbrae NOW Community workshop. The meeting was open to the public and hosted by our city staff. The purpose of the workshop was to inform the community of its economic status, and what methods can be used to raise revenue for Millbrae’s’ vital services.

After hearing all the presentations, the conclusion was that the city does not have enough revenue to maintain its current services and is not building a surplus in our infrastructure which could be a huge liability if there was an emergency.

They were able to illustrate what cuts have been made by providing data on the sources of revenues and how it is distributed. It was demonstrated how the city was able to cut costs by sharing services, staff, and program budgets, such as fire and police with other cities, without impacting public safety.

There were three Balancing Budget Scenarios provided:

1. No New Revenues

2. Renew Fire Assessment

3. Combine increases in revenue by; Renewing the Assessment, Increase Hotel Tax and

Increase Business Licenses Tax

The last scenario would maintain the services (currently at its minimum), allow minimal infrastructure repairs, (currently Millbrae’s street condition is 2^nd from the bottom in the county) and provide emergency reserves.

There is a third workshop on Saturday, February 7^th at 9:00am at the Chetuci Room. These items will be discussed at the Millbrae Council meetings and on June 23^rd the council will decide on placing these matters on the November ballot.

What can you do? These items will be further discussed on Saturday, and your comments and suggestions are encouraged. All three workshops will be televised on MCTV channel 27 on Sunday, February 8^th starting at 1:00 pm.

You can also view the workshops online at http://www.mctv.tv under video demand.

There is a link on city website which posts all the data and scenarios in detail. http://www.ci.millbrae.ca.us/index.aspx?page=294

You can also view the questions raised, and you can email your comments and suggestions to the city on how they can raise revenues. After all, this is your city, and you owe it to yourself to keep informed and support your town.

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Filed Under F A Q, Important Thoughts, Local Trends, Neighborhood News, Real Estate in the News, Real Estate on the Web

Tags: budget, business licenses, channel 27, Community, community workshop, council meetings, economic status, mctv, Millbrae, millbrae ca

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Comments

8 Responses to “Millbrae Community Workshop”

Michael Monozon on February 6th, 2009 7:02 pm

Terry, it is a sad state of affairs for most cities, this has been building for years and has no where to go in the near term except from bad to worse as the sales tax, property tax and other revenues drop in most cities. Very difficult times
catherine on February 6th, 2009 7:27 pm

hello
catherine on February 6th, 2009 7:28 pm

hello terry tks for meeting info
Brian Boisson on February 9th, 2009 10:04 am

Terry,

It’s a very challenging era for not only governments, but businesses and individuals also.

Brian
Jean Joh on February 9th, 2009 10:47 am

Terry, thanks for the information & also for reminding me of the Millbrae NOW mtg on Saturday. I attended the Saturday session and was glad to see that the Chetcuti room was full. It’s so important that we all stay informed on the needs and issues in our community. As someone who lives in Millbrae and also specializes in the buying & selling homes here, I can see how crucial it is that our city continue to be an attractive place in which to live. It seems like everyone is working hard to think of ways to maintain the city despite the difficult economic times all around, and here’s to hoping for the best.
Larry Franzella on February 9th, 2009 6:33 pm

All cities are facing tough times, especially smaller cities that do not have the abilty to possibly shift funds from project to prjoect to keep things goind. I am sure that you will be seeing less hours of service at libraries and City Halls jsut as you have with the State offices.
Shokoofeh Nowbakht on February 9th, 2009 9:06 pm

Terry, thank you for the great information. I am hopeful that the community will show its support and we will see these matters in November Ballot.
Adam Chinn on February 16th, 2009 2:26 pm

Thanks for the information Terry. We all hope that times do get better. I’m glad to see that people are trying their best to discuss the items at hand.