MP council set to OK $18.8 million in projects

The city of Menlo Park is looking to winnow a projected $2 million deficit, but city officials don’t seem inclined to do it by delaying capital improvement projects.

The City Council looks poised to approve a series of projects Tuesday (March 24) for the fiscal year beginning July 1, including $2 million in infrastructure spending from the city’s capital improvement fund.

Though the council decided to hold off on several major infrastructure projects in a scramble to narrow a budget deficit for the current fiscal year, a majority of council members seem to agree with City Manager Glen Rojas’ assessment that the city shouldn’t put off those projects in order to weather a tough economic climate. The capital improvement fund is separate from the general operating fund, and does not directly affect that fund’s budget. But the city backs infrastructure projects indirectly through a transfer from the general fund.

The council looks set to sign off on spending $18.8 million in all for 24 projects at its meeting on Tuesday, March 24. The bulk of the money $17.2 million would go toward four major efforts: the construction of a new gymnasium at Burgess Park, a renovation of Kelly Park, street resurfacing, and a new water pump station in Sharon Heights.

Most of the funding would come from purses that don’t contribute to the city’s ongoing budget operations, such as bond measures, water usage rates, state redevelopment funds, and cash for mitigation efforts from development projects. A total of $100,000 would come from the city’s general fund.

A majority of council members asked city staff to tack on four projects to the 20 recommended by City Manager Glen Rojas. New restrictions on smoking, a project to maintain street trees that are in bad health, sidewalk design for Santa Cruz Avenue, and consideration of a bike lane on Middle Avenue are in.

The city also plans to refurbish the gym floor at the Onetta Harris community center, a project it had delayed. But improvements to the library Web site would be sidelined for at least another year.

A project to remove and replace dying street trees would be discontinued, as would a program to buy carbon-emission offsets through PG&E.

Work would continue on 39 projects that had been funded in previous years.

Too many projects?

While a majority of council members said they were satisfied with the projects recommended by city staff, Councilman John Boyle argued that they should have been more cautious in approving projects. The economy is shaky, he said, and he is concerned that some of the city’s dozen funds won’t be “replenished” at their regular rate. Besides, the city’s practice of paying for long-term projects out of one fiscal year’s budget is imprecise, and creates unrealistic expectations.

“We need to look at the list and say, ‘Which of these projects need to be done?'” Mr. Boyle said at the meeting. “I’d love to see us do all of them, but I don’t believe they all need to be done.”

Public Works Director Kent Steffens said that many of the projects are, in fact, urgent. The city is $15 million behind in street resurfacing, the Sharon Heights pump station is 40 years old, and the city’s water supply is being threatened by an aging roof, he said. He argued that delaying those projects would only cost the city more in the long term, and might become safety hazards.

The city should think twice about more routine maintenance projects, Mr. Boyle said, such as $25,000 in repairs to a fence in the Civic Center, and $175,000 to keep up city buildings. But his fellow council members were apparently swayed by Mr. Steffens’ warning about the danger of delaying such projects.

“I am pretty well satisfied that staff is in a strong leading position on everything we do regarding projects,” said Councilman Andy Cohen.

The city has a “fiduciary responsibility” to complete many of the projects funded by bond measures or rates; the money is there to be spent, Councilwoman Kelly Fergusson said in an interview.

But “it’s still money,” Mr. Boyle said. “In a tough time, we need to be a little more cautious about what we commit to, and the expectations we set.”

The project list the council will vote on March 24 is the first phase in the budgeting process. It will be able to amend the list when it makes its final decision on the 2009-2010 budget.

The meeting will begin at 7 p.m. in the council chambers in the Civic Center complex.