Burlingame's Budget Challenges

By Terry D. Nagel

Despite budget shortfalls since 9/11, our city is well run and fiscally responsible.

Before 9/11, we were spending $10 million to $12 million each year to maintain our city's infrastructure. The dramatic loss of revenues following 9/11 forced us to cut our budget across the board, and the amount spent annually on infrastructure maintenance dropped to $1 million. This year we have increased that amount to $2 million, but it's still not enough.

Protecting Against Floods

Burlingame's flood control system was built more than 75 years ago and needs a major overhaul. Each winter we live in fear of catastrophic flooding, but we simply do not have the revenues available to upgrade the system. The current City Council takes this responsibility very seriously, and we asked voters to approve a bond measure that would have provided funding for flood control upgrades last fall. It narrowly missed the two-thirds vote needed for approval.

We are considering several options for funding this necessary work. One is a Senate Constitutional Amendment, SCA 12, that must pass the state Senate and Assembly with a two-thirds vote before going before all California voters for majority approval. It would allow us to fund necessary work on a pay-as-you-go basis. We might try to win approval for another bond measure, or we might form a utility district that charges users according to the surface runoff of their properties. There is also hope that we will be able to pay for some improvements through the higher revenues generated by new projects and higher sales taxes due to the rebounding economy.

Funding Sidewalk Repairs

The current City Council is unanimously committed to finding a way to fund sidewalk repairs rather than require property owners to pay for fixing the sidewalks in front of their homes. Although most cities in the county require residents to pay for sidewalk repairs, Burlingame places a high value on mature trees that provide a green canopy over our streets. It doesn't seem fair to make citizens pay for the cracks that these trees cause time after time. One way to pay for sidewalks would be to raise the transient occupancy tax (TOT), which is paid by guests of hotels, from 10 percent to 11 percent. (In comparison, San Francisco's TOT is 14 percent.)

Community Center

Until we can take care of our infrastructure needs, it is not responsible to think of funding a new Community Center that would cost at least $27 million. Once we identify a way to fund the flood control upgrade, we can begin to turn our attention to nice-but-not-necessary projects like the Community Center.

It is unusual to have a City Council that is committed to the unseen needs of a city, such as flood control infrastructure. It's much more fun to build a new building that people can see and enjoy. But the current council believes that it is critical to upgrade the underlying systems in our city to guarantee the safety and welfare of Burlingame citizens.