DATE: May 3, 2023
TO: Council Budget and Finance Committee
FROM: Director of Finance
SUBJECT: Facilities Needs Assessment and Potential Funding Options
RECOMMENDATION
That the Committee receives this report on the needs assessment related to City owned facilities and facility improvement needs around the City, as well as consider potential ways to fund these needs.
SUMMARY
This report provides an overview of identified existing needs to update or build new facilities around the City. The facilities and capital needs mentioned in this report are also currently without a specified plan or source of funds to complete them. Staff would like the Committee to consider completing a community survey and outreach process to identify potential new or continuing revenue sources that may make resources available to fund these needs.
BACKGROUND AND discussion
In April 2022, the Committee requested staff provide information from preliminary polling results from the Resident Satisfaction Survey. The Committee received a presentation of the final results of the survey and discussed the consideration of placing a tax measure on the 2024 ballot. The survey was conducted in October 2021 by FM3 Research. The results of the survey indicated that the majority of Hayward-voters support a parcel tax to fund homelessness and mental health response projects, programs, and services. The survey indicated that 59 percent support a $79 per year parcel tax ($3 million annually), with 55 percent supporting a $109 per year parcel tax ($4.1 million annually). However, this parcel tax would not generate enough revenue to fund the City’s unfunded capital projects. The Committee determined at that time it was not interested in making a recommendation to place an annual parcel tax measure on the 2024 ballot. The Committee did, however, ask staff to begin an initial exploration of a potential extension of Measure C to address and create funding plans for identified facility needs throughout the City.
At the time of this report, the City has more than $500 million in projects that have been identified in approved City policy documents as needed or desired but for which there is not currently funding in the City's Capital Improvement Program. The overwhelming majority of these items are related to necessary updates to current facilities or the creation of new needed facilities. The facilities identified and amounts associated are included in the City’s Capital Improvement Program for fiscal years 2024-2033 in the “Unfunded Needs” section of the report. Not included in the “Unfunded Needs” list is the Weekes Branch Library, a satellite library site in South Hayward. A facilities assessment is currently underway. A funding plan for improvements to the Weekes Branch Library has not been identified at this time.
While the City thus far has chosen not to add a parcel tax to a ballot recently, it did offer valuable feedback from the community and informed the Council that voters may support future measures. Staff recommends that we continue to engage the community and gain survey information to understand what, if any, of the needs they prioritize and those that they may be willing to support in a potential future ballot measure. At this meeting, staff will present information about the funding opportunities available from an extension of Measure C, an overview of possible survey questions and methodology, and a timeline if the Council determines to move forward placing a measure on the November 2024 ballot.
FISCAL IMPACT
There is no fiscal impact associated with this information report.
NEXT STEPS
With direction from the Committee, staff will work to advance efforts and facilitate a community survey to inform a potential discussion with the full Council to help prioritize facilities supported by the community and identify viable funding options to provide resources to support the facility upgrades.
Prepared by: Dustin Claussen, Assistant City Manager
Nicole Gonzales, Director of Finance
Chuck Finnie, Public Information Officer
Recommended by: Nicole Gonzales, Director of Finance
Approved by:
__________________________________
Kelly McAdoo, City Manager
CITY OF HAYWARD - File #: RPT 22-038 (legistar.com)
https://stories.opengov.com/haywardca/published/a2pQ_RSCP35