** About 140 people attend first community workshop on $2.9 million budget shortfall.
By Rory Brown
Almanac Staff Writer
Members of Menlo Park’s Belle Haven community have been very involved in the city’s budget process, and judging by attendance at the city’s first budget workshop, they’re not losing interest.
About 140 people filled Belle Haven School’s gymnasium February 9 to have their say about how the city cuts services or raise taxes and fees to eliminate a projected $2.9 million shortfall in the coming fiscal year.
The Belle Haven meeting was the first of three workshops. About 40 people attended a workshop at the Burgess Recreation Center on February 11, and the final workshop is set for February 15 at La Entrada School’s Jensen Hall.
Participants in the first workshop, many of whom were Belle Haven residents, were divided into 15 “mini city councils,” and each group took a shot at balancing the budget.
Groups were provided a list of options — service reductions and fee and tax increases — and information on the impact of each measure. The list was crafted by city staff, and based on results from a community-wide survey conducted in September.
People in the mini-councils voted on whether to approve each measure, with the goal of cutting expenses or increasing revenue to within $100,000 of the city’s projected $2.9 million shortfall for the coming fiscal year.
Belle Haven residents have expressed great interest in the budget process since city staff produced a list of cost-cutting options that included replacing the community’s child care program with a “drop-in recreation” program.
Belle Haven, a lower-income neighborhood with large minority and immigrant populations, constitutes about 20 percent of the city’s population, but only about 5 percent of the survey responses were from the area.
At the workshop, the sentiment of protecting the community’s programs was clear, as many participants — almost a third of whom sat at Spanish-speaking tables — opted not to cut Belle Haven services.
“I don’t want to see [Belle Haven] programs cut — that should be a last resort,” said Karen Valiasek to her group.
“No cuts for Belle Haven programs — that was the message we wanted to get across,” said Marcia Dore-Perez, an East Palo Alto resident with a child in the Belle Haven child care program.
Ms. Dore-Perez, a leader in trying to keep the program as is, has distributed fliers to people in Belle Haven and East Palo Alto, alerting them to the workshops.
She said the “mini-council” group she participated in balanced the budget by enacting a 1.5 percent tax on utility bills, and avoided cuts to Belle Haven programs entirely.
Comment from the three workshops will be contained in a March 16 report prepared by the San Francisco-based consultant Community Focus. The report will be presented to the volunteer budget advisory committee, a group of 14 residents who helped structure the survey and workshops.
Menlo Park City Council members say they will take the report into consideration during budget discussions in May, and when they make decisions in June.
“This is not the usual public hearing,” said Councilman and Mayor Nicholas Jellins at the workshop. “It’s critical to consider the community’s input in this process.”
City Manager David Boesch called the big turnout in Belle Haven “extraordinary,” and commended residents and city staff for taking on the budget-balancing process.
During the workshops, department heads were available to answer questions, but only spoke when asked to answer a question. They weren’t allowed to make recommendations about what services and programs residents should or should not cut.
INFORMATION
** The descriptions and potential impacts of suggested service reductions and fee increases are available online. Go to menlopark.org, and click on the “Your city/ Your decision” logo.** The last budget workshop will be held from 6:30 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. Wednesday, February 15, at La Entrada School’s Jensen Hall, located at 2200 Sharon Road. Child care and translators will be available onsite.
