Menlo Park: City staff cuts threaten needed programs, critics say Menlo Park: City staff cuts threaten needed programs, critics say (April 14, 2004)

By Renee Batti
Almanac News Editor

Everyone seems to agree with City Manager David Boesch that "these are tough times" for the city of Menlo Park, and that a hard look at city services and spending is in order.

The disagreement lies in how serious the impacts will be to certain programs -- most notably youth services in Belle Haven and shuttle services heavily relied upon by local seniors -- if Mr. Boesch's proposed spending cuts are approved by the City Council for the next fiscal year.

In preparing to draft the $27 million budget for the fiscal year that begins July 1, City Manager David Boesch presented a plan to the City Council last week that includes elimination of 10.75 full-time positions; less staffing at the community center and the senior center in the Belle Haven community; reduction in community policing; and other spending cuts.

The cutbacks are necessary, Mr. Boesch said, to make up for a $2.24 million shortfall in this fiscal year, and to continue to weather a severe revenue decline.

The council endorsed Mr. Boesch's plan to encourage voluntary resignations through enhanced "separation" benefits, and to lay off employees if the number of resignations is inadequate. The goal, he said, is to have the staff reductions in place by July 1, which means that layoff notices, if they are necessary, would have to be sent out by May 15.

Although the proposed number of eliminated positions totals 10.75, the total number of employees affected by staffing changes -- reclassifications, reductions in hours and total cuts -- is about 21, Mr. Boesch said.

The staffing changes should reduce costs by $1.1 million, city staff estimates. The remainder of the shortfall would be made up by increasing revenue by $406,000 through higher fees for services, and a transfer of $725,000 from the city's $27.8 million reserves to the general fund.

Of the $2.24 million budget shortfall this fiscal year, $1.4 million was the result of the city's settlement early this year of a lawsuit related to flood damage sustained during the 1998 winter storms.

The plan endorsed last week by the council would allow the city to begin the next fiscal year with a clean slate. But the budget that will be proposed next month, while balanced, will not reflect salary increases that the city is likely to face later this year as most employee contracts expire.

Appeal for reserve funds

The city's willingness to use $725,000 in reserves to help bridge the gap between revenue and spending was applauded by several speakers at the April 6 council meeting. But they urged council members to use still more of the reserves to save certain services and the employees who provide them.

"The loss and reduction in hours of certain positions identified by the city, especially in community services and transportation, will have a serious negative effect on youth and senior services, especially in the Belle Haven neighborhood," said Roberta Roth, the city's outreach librarian and a steward with Service Employees International Union (SEIU) Local 715.

In the end, the council endorsed most of Mr. Boesch's plan, drawing the line at proposed cuts to library hours and elimination of special events in the community. Mr. Boesch had proposed closing the library on all three-day holiday weekends, for a savings of about $4,000; and dropping community events such as the Fourth of July celebration and Halloween event, for a savings of about $22,500. The council rejected those cuts.

The council also asked Mr. Boesch to look at entire services that could be eliminated for a significant cost savings, and to report his findings at the May 18 council meeting, when the budget will be discussed again.

Belle Haven services

Matt Henry, president of the Belle Haven homeowners' association, questioned Mr. Boesch's assertion that, although some staff will be cut at the Onetta Harris Community Center in Belle Haven, youth programs will not suffer.

Saying that the community center's programs "are one of the few things the youth in Belle Haven have," Mr. Henry warned that what might appear to be cost-savings today could result in higher costs in the future. "The negative results of slashing youth programs are never apparent immediately," he said.

And citing the planned decrease in community policing coupled with "the increase in kids with nothing to do," he said, "I see trouble there."

Mr. Boesch said later that the city will collaborate more with the Boys and Girls Club in Belle Haven for a "coordinated approach" in providing youth programs. The community services staff on May 18 will present to the council its plan to reorganize staff and "to provide services in a cost-effective manner with minimal impact to the Belle Haven community," according to a report issued late last week.

Aaron Johnson, director of the Onetta Harris center, said that an earlier effort to collaborate with the Boys and Girls Club "just didn't work out." He said that he hadn't been told about the planned coordinated effort between the city and the nonprofit youth club, and said he was "really totally frustrated" by the plan.

"It's like they're going to shut down the program here to do something else, and this is a very successful program," he said, adding that the center has a "strong, viable after-school program for 5- to 13-year-olds." About 80 children come to the center most days, he said.

Mr. Johnson told the council last week that he and other staff members at the center put in many hours of unpaid overtime to keep programs alive. He said later that cuts to staff over time, including the full-time program coordinator position that was eliminated last year, have seriously affected how the center can provide programs.

Shuttle service

One staff position targeted for elimination is the transportation management coordinator -- a planned cut that is leaving some scratching their heads.

"I am truly befuddled by the decision to eliminate the three-quarter-time TSM coordinator," said Ms. Roth, the outreach librarian. One reason for the bewilderment is that most of the funding for TSM coordinator Debbie Helming's salary comes from outside sources.

Ms. Helming, who runs the city's shuttle service, makes about $60,000 a year, nearly $51,000 of which comes from the San Mateo County Transportation Authority's Measure A funds, and for which up to $41,000 more is available through another agency's funding.

Mr. Boesch said, however, that the city pays up to $20,000 annually toward her salary.

Although her position is on the chopping block, her duties will be distributed among other staff members in the transportation department. There will be no decrease in shuttle service, but the job cut could result in longer waits for callbacks for people seeking information from the department regarding shuttle service, Mr. Boesch told the council.

The plan to have other staff members absorb Ms. Helming's duties has some people worried, including Ms. Roth and Paul Wirthlin. A longtime resident of the Crane Place senior community in downtown Menlo Park, Mr. Wirthlin said about a hundred residents at Crane Place as well as numerous other seniors throughout the city use the shuttle regularly. Without it, he said, it would be difficult for them to go shopping, visit the library, and to take care of such basic needs as going to the doctor.

"If her job is funded by outside sources, what's the point in letting her go?" he asked. He said he is concerned about the plan to spread Ms. Helming's job around among others, whose time and energy in some cases are already spread thin.

"Getting rid of Debbie could undermine the system," he said, adding that if the program begins to function poorly for lack of a coordinator, it could be an excuse for the city to eliminate it entirely.

Mr. Wirthlin, who is confined to a wheelchair, said he is preparing petitions for signatures to present to the council to try to save the coordinator's position.

Figures for March indicate that mid-day shuttle service provided about 1,910 rides that month. The latest available data on the "peak hour" commuter shuttle, which travels from the train station to the city's industrial park, shows a ridership of about 3,630 in February.

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