24 Things the Mayor Wants You Know About Concord

On Feb. 6, Concord Mayor Laura Hoffmeister gave her annual presentation to the Chamber of Commerce. Coming off a successful re-election campaign and the passage of Measure Q—the half-cent sales tax initiative—she took the opportunity to talk about city funding, the importance of Measure Q and the future of business development in the city.

She also explained at length about the threat to the city posed by the governor’s budget proposal to eliminate redevelopment agencies. (See )

The occasion of the annual report, given at the Hilton Hotel, is used as a fund raiser for the chamber. Community activist Edi Birsan was on hand as a Patch correspondent.

Here are the top 24 issues Hoffmeister covered:

1.  The city gets 33 percent of its General Fund from sales tax and 32 percent from property tax, other contributors are 9 percent city service fees, 6 percent franchise fees (mostly garbage, then power and phone), 4 percent business license, 3 percent hotel tax and 13 percent “other.”

2. Beginning in April, the city will receive 1.25 percent of the 9.75 percent of the sales tax revenue (it was getting .75 percent but Measure Q passed and the increase will go into effect in April).  The state cannot take away the additional .5 percent.

Previously, Concord's car sales fell substantially and retail sales dropped 4 percent. It is believed that the decline has leveled off.

3. The city still receives $8.90 of every $100 in property taxes. The impact of a possible re-evaluation of commercial properties was not specified.

4. The top employers in the city are

• Mount Diablo Unified School District at 4,200
• Bank of America 3,100
• John Muir Health and Wells Fargo, each at 1,500
• Chevron at 1,396

Then it drops substantially to 666 for BEI and several with 500 each.

It was noted that the school budget problems combined with a substantial drop in school enrollment is causing MDUSD to close schools, which will negatively affect city employment. Smaller families and the fact that in a recession people tend to delay having children does not make it likely that there will be more school jobs soon.

5. City unemployment is more than 12 percent and tracks with the state. It is slightly higher than in the county.

6. Recovery was expected to be slower than previous recoveries in the last 40 years. The prior prediction of recovery to 2006 levels was 2015 and is now 2018, so we can expect seven more years of hardship.

7. The average salary of a resident is $48,117 and the household income is $60,458.

8. Since fiscal year 2008/09, the city has reduced staff by 24 percent to 394 people. Employees are contributing $4.2 million to the General Fund deficit relief through pay and benefit changes.  The budget is about $66 million compared with $86 million just a few years ago.

9. The mayor thanked the voters for passing Measure Q and said she viewed it as showing that voters value the services the city provides.

10. The “New Normal” is described as a smaller organization with a status quo budget that even with Measure Q will not allow the city to restore cuts to staff and salary or relieve the pressure for pension and health-care reform.

11. The mayor made a pitch for people to sign up for the Measure Q oversight committee.

12. She gave a brief rundown on new businesses that came to the city in Sunvalley Shopping Center, noting that she shopped at the Jessica McClintock clothing store, which has returned to the city, when she was a  teenager.

Expected soon is a Fresh & Easy , Chipotle Mexican Grill and a Lexus expansion.

13.  The mayor said that the city was redoing some of its regulations under the topic of “Readying for Recovery.” These plans included the new Development Code with a change in Zoning Ordinance, a Climate Action Plan and updated Housing Element and the Base Reuse Project.

14. The Base Reuse Project will be discussed at the Planning Commission on March 8 and 22. The fiscal impact of the project on the city during the recovery period through 2018 was not given.

15. The Base Reuse plan is to add 28,000 people to the current population of 123,900. A chart showing the growth of the city for the last 100 years appeared to de-emphasize the growth from the base, especially compared to the soaring growth from the end of World War II to the 1970s.

16. Some playground additions were featured, including an update of Cambridge Park for children of all abilities.

17. The city is promoting its eNews online and people can sign up here. 

18. The Commerce Avenue Bridge that will link Metroplex and Waterworld over the canal area to Concord Avenue by Highway 242 is going into production this year.

19.  The city received a grant for 12 Nissan Leaf electric cars as part of a prototype demo project.

20. The city’s green initiative is designed to reduce the city’s gas/electric bill of $1.8 million by replacing 32 thermal units, using solar panels to power the pool’s pump and using induction lighting, with the cost of the project to be paid by energy savings. This was an indirect reference to a recent contract with Chevron.

21. There is concern that the change of population in the 2011 census will force a change in the board of supervisor's boundaries that may result in a division of Concord as it did in Walnut Creek. The mayor said she hoped this would not occur.  

22. There was an appeal for Volunteer Opportunities with the Chamber of Commerce listed first (it pays to be the host), followed by the Volunteers in Police Services (VIPS) and on down a list of 19 operations that use volunteers.

23. The mayor said she is convinced that we are at the bottom of the recession and that things will improve.

24. She said she believes there are innovations that will help the economy and listed streaming TV, 3D TV, 3-D movies and “more aps.”

Edi Birsan is a longtime Concord resident and finished fourth in the City Council race in November.