WRITTEN PUBLIC
COMMENTS RECEIVED
CAUTION: External Sender
Use caution when clicking links or opening attachments
From: Thomas A. White
To: City Clerk
Subject: Today"s City Council Agenda Item A-1
Date: Monday, March 18, 2024 2:29:05 PM
TO BE READ ALOUD
Dear Mayor and Council –
Nothing takes the place of prudent, restrained spending, and good judgment in the preservation of taxpayer revenue and assets. The Council has a track record of record of impulse and unjustified spending, giveaway fee waivers and a consistent lack of measurements tools to verify any reasonable correlation between an approved expense and any benefit to the community or public interest.
Thomas White
Chairman, Board of Governors
The Municipal League of Beverly Hills
CAUTION: External Sender
Use caution when clicking links or opening attachments
From: Steve Mayer
To: City Clerk
Subject: Agenda Item A-2 (Blue Ribbon Committee): Public Comment Date: Monday, March 18, 2024 9:32:26 AM
Some people who received this message don't often get email from . Learn why this is important
Note to City Clerk:
This is NOT to be read into the record, nor summarized
Steve Mayer
Honorable Mayor, Vice Mayor, and Councilmembers:
Please permit this communication to provide public written comment about Agenda Item A-3 “Report and Recommendations by the Blue Ribbon Committee on Long-Term Strategic Financial Planning.”
There are a number of observations as generated by this report that do not seem to be addressed.
(1)The Sky Is Not Falling: First, the City is not teetering on bankruptcy.
Except for several forecasted years, the typical deficit is only 1-2% of Total Revenues ($3-$6 million). While not quite a “rounding error,” it still does not achieve Zero-Based Budgeting.
The main reason the City is in its forecasted financial problem, is that the Council has approved expenditures in excess of its traditional financial model. (2)Inefficiency: In a $1/2 billion organization, inevitably there is inefficiency. That was not addressed in the Blue Ribbon Committee report.
The question is whether the inefficiency is 1%, 5% or 10% of the Total Revenues, ($3 million, $15 million or $30 million). How can the inefficiency be reduced? (3)Budget Enhancements: The Blue Ribbon Committee report touched on “budget enhancements” are being one of the reasons for the deficits. Let us examine two “budget enhancements”:
Private Security: $6 million is being spent annually on a line item that did not exist several years ago. The bottom line, however, is that the constituents still do no feel safe. Are there any metrics that show this program is effective in reducing crime? Supportive Housing / Unhoused Assistance: This program makes no sense.
Previously all services were handled by existing departments with existing budgets This is not to diminish the problem and its impacts, but the simple math states that $2 million will be spent annually on “39 unsheltered homeless individuals living in Beverly Hills.” That translates into spending $50,000 per person annually.
Granted, that understates the case, but the optics are horrible. If the City was fully reimbursed from the County and State funds, there would be no argument, but that is not the case.
Between the “Private Security” and “Supportive Housing / Unhoused Assistance” programs alone, the City is spending more than it has, compared to five years ago. (4)Historical Perspective: While the forecast was important, it is equally important to know from whence one came.
A city dynamically changes and can be best assessed by how it has performed historically.
Where was the 5-year historical spreadsheet? Where was the 10-year historical spreadsheet?
(5)City Real Estate Portfolio and Property Management: Much discussion centered upon improving efficiencies related to City’s property portfolio.
There were two performance audits recently completed. The first in 2016, and the second in 2020.
The situation has not improved, yet the Blue Ribbon Committee did not address such ills.
In such light, the recommendations were, quite frankly, not well considered.
A case in point was the lease termination by Google.
In April, 2021, Google extended its lease for 5.8 years. As part of the negotiation, Google was allowed an unlimited right to terminate the lease with 9 months notice. It exercised its right in February of this year. This City lost close to $3 million. (6)Fare Share: In the past two weeks, there have been two special events, the “Vanity Fare Post Academy Awards Dinner Event” and the LA Marathon for which the City did not collect what was established in the “Schedule of Taxes, Fees, and Charges.” Between Vanity Fare and the LA Marathon, over $1/2 million was not collected.
In addition, there has been no confirmation of the financial benefits that were espoused by Vanity Fare nor a record of contributions to Beverly Hills non-profits by the LA Marathon.
There are surfeit of other examples where the City is not collecting “full freight.” Why were they not addressed?
(7)Future Obligations: One aspect that the financial forecast did not include was forthcoming obligations.
One example is the Climate Action and Adaptation Plan. Every aspect of the City could be impacted with that adoption.
I would suggest that another Blue Ribbon Committee be established with a special emphasis to recruit former Climate Action and Adaptation Plan Community Advisory Committee Members Peter Ostroff, Wendy Nystrom, Alissa Roston, and Myra Demeter be recruited.
And as an adjunct, a Committee led by Nooshin Meshkaty should be established to determine what future technologies should come (and/or will come) to Beverly Hills.
Lastly, I recommend Mark Elliott and Kory Klem lead a committee to address the mobility / public safety issues regarding the La Cienega Metro station. ==============
In closing, the adjacent cities of West Hollywood and Culver City raised their sales tax rate to 10.25% in 2020.
How in the world did the City of Beverly Hills not do the same? The Council-led Measure RP was not what was needed in 2020.
Now the Blue Ribbon Committee is informing the City, that a measure cannot be placed on the ballot until 2026.
Based upon the Blue Ribbon Committee report, that means that $150 million ($25 million+ per year) in sales tax revenue was lost by the city from 2020 to 2026.
A sales tax increase measure could have been placed on the ballot last month. The Blue Ribbon Committee met on November 2nd and 14th. There was sufficient time for the Council to propose the measure.
Who was asleep at the wheel?
Steve Mayer
CAUTION: External Sender
Use caution when clicking links or opening attachments
From: Thomas A. White
To: City Clerk
Subject: Today"s City Council Study Session Agenda Item A-4 Date: Monday, March 18, 2024 2:51:36 PM
Some people who received this message don't often get email from . Learn why this is important
TO BE READ ALOUD
Dear Mayor and Council –
This proposed art acquisition is a perfect example of frivolous, negligent, absurd and completely irresponsible spending. Nothing less than an unjustified giveaway of public funds. It should occur to at least some of you that your fiduciary duty is to Beverly Hills residents, voters and taxpayers – not to the staff or Board of Directors of The Wallis, for whom an expenditure of $5.5 million of “other people’s money” would not induce the sale of even a single performance ticket, let along recoup to loss to taxpayers.
Your support for the proposed acquisition would be an admission of your disqualification to make such tone deaf, unrestrained and selfindulgent decisions.
Thomas White
Chairman, Board of Governors
The Municipal League of Beverly Hills