In my on going attempt to make Long Beach city government as open and transparent as possible I would like to share with you three important documents just received on my desk (with links to the full documents):
1) The City of Long Beach is projecting a $3.6 million surplus for the coming budget year. This means we need to restore funding to the police and fire services and staffing that were drastically cut for the past several years and have left both departments scrambling to respond to calls for services. The projected budget surplus comes from a combination of pension reforms we enacted through negotiations and the fact that once redevelopment was dissolved by the state, 42% of Long Beach's property tax increment was restored -- resulting in $11 million in revenues.
http://www.scribd.com/doc/130201964/Fy14-16-Fiscal-Outlook
2) You might soon receive a notice of a water increase. Well it isn't coming from the City Water Department. It is coming from the WRD. Never heard of WRD? Most people haven't. This agency provides groundwater and groundwater replenishment and the City Water Department pumps 60 percent of its water from their sources -- which are charged. WRD is increasing their charges which get passed along to you.
http://www.scribd.com/doc/130201966/Why-Long-Beach-residents-are-getting-water-rate-increase-noticesÂ
3) The state dissolution of redevelopment is a complex story. Basically the city placed 42 percent of the city into a redevelopment area which then locked up the tax increment that could only be used for redevelopment. The state legislature abolished redevelopment last year so that the state could realize more property tax revenue. Well, the side story is that the dissolution produced a restoration of $11 million dollars in property taxes for Long Beach! http://www.scribd.com/doc/130201969/Redevelopment-Agency-Dissolution-and-Impact
Thanks for reading these documents.
Please free to send me your comments at district5@longbeach.gov.
Gerrie
Councilwoman Gerrie Schipske