Email the City Council
Please note that all emails submitted through this website will be shared with all Councilmembers and certain City staff members. These emails are considered public records under the California Public Records Act (Govt. Code Section 6250, et seq.) and are available for public viewing.
Name:
Street Address:
City*
Phone Number:
Email:*
Subject:*
Question or Comment:
Upload File Attachment here no file selected
* indicates required fields.
View any uploaded files by [www.phillca.gov/MyAccount]signing in and then proceeding to the link below:
http://www.phillca.gov/Admin/FormHistory.aspx?SID=19187 The following form was submitted via your website: Email the City Council Please note that all emails submitted through this website will be shared with all Councilmembers and certain City staff members. These emails are considered public records under the California Public Records Act (Govt. Code Section 6250, et seq.) and are available for public viewing.:
Name:: melissa j hagen
Street Address:: 506 maureen lane
City: pleasatn hill
Phone Number:: 925 250 7837
Email:: [email protected]
Subject:: NO NEW TAXES
Question or Comment:: oh lord please. no new taxes! how about a tax CUT? my little 1263 sq ft house pays just over $10,000/yr in taxes. thats crazy. my friend in AZ, same house, pays only $1200/yr
so something is wrong here. proponents of more taxes are not getting creative. you are not looking out for the little guys. stop spending other people's money! Upload File Attachment here: No file was uploaded
Additional Information:
Form submitted on: 9/20/2026 11:16:44 AM
Submitted from IP Address: 73.202.136.123
Referrer Page: No Referrer - Direct Link
Form Address: http://www.phillca.gov/Forms.aspx?FID=137 Email the City Council
Please note that all emails submitted through this website will be shared with all Councilmembers and certain City staff members. These emails are considered public records under the California Public Records Act (Govt. Code Section 6250, et seq.) and are available for public viewing.
Name:
Street Address:
City*
Phone Number:
Email:*
Subject:*
Question or Comment:
Upload File Attachment here no file selected
* indicates required fields.
View any uploaded files by [www.phillca.gov/MyAccount]signing in and then proceeding to the link below:
http://www.phillca.gov/Admin/FormHistory.aspx?SID=19183 The following form was submitted via your website: Email the City Council Please note that all emails submitted through this website will be shared with all Councilmembers and certain City staff members. These emails are considered public records under the California Public Records Act (Govt. Code Section 6250, et seq.) and are available for public viewing.:
Name:: Randy Barisof
Street Address:: 2845 Madeira Way
City: Pleasant Hill
Phone Number:: 925-708-3327
Email:: [email protected]
Subject:: Tax increases
Question or Comment:: Dear Members of the Pleasant Hill City Council, I am writing to respectfully urge the City Council not to increase sales taxes or property taxes at this time.
I understand that the City has financial responsibilities and that maintaining essential services is important. However, residents are also facing higher costs for housing, food, utilities, insurance, transportation, and everyday necessities. This is a difficult time for many households, and adding another tax burden—whether through a sales-tax increase, a propertytax increase, or both—would place additional pressure on residents who are already struggling to keep up.
Before asking residents for more money, I believe the City should take a hard look at its existing spending and prioritize needs over wants.
Essential services and public safety should come first. Necessary maintenance, infrastructure, and other fundamental responsibilities deserve attention. But discretionary projects, enhancements, expansions, and other expenditures that are not truly necessary should be postponed. Wants can wait.
The City should approach its budget the same way many Pleasant Hill households must approach their own finances: distinguish between what is essential and what would simply be nice to have. When families have to make difficult choices because their budgets are stretched, government should demonstrate the same fiscal discipline.
This is not an argument against funding necessary services. It is an argument for responsible prioritization and spending restraint before increasing taxes.
I respectfully ask the Council to:
Reject any proposed increase in the sales tax at this time.
Reject any additional property-tax burden on residents at this time.
Conduct a thorough review of City spending and identify opportunities for savings.
Prioritize essential services and public safety over discretionary projects and enhancements.
Defer nonessential expenditures until residents are in a stronger financial position.
Make every effort to live within existing revenues before asking residents to provide more.
There will always be worthwhile projects and desirable improvements that the City could pursue. But good fiscal management requires recognizing that not everything that is desirable is necessary right now.
This is a terrible time to place one or both of these additional tax burdens on Pleasant Hill residents. I urge the Council to listen to its residents, exercise fiscal restraint, and make the difficult choices necessary to control spending rather than automatically turning to taxpayers for additional revenue.
Please put the financial well-being of Pleasant Hill residents first and hold the line on taxes.
Thank you for your service to our community and for your consideration of this request.
Sincerely,
Randy Barisof (28 year resident)
2845 Madeira Way
Pleasant Hill, California
Upload File Attachment here: No file was uploaded
Additional Information:
Form submitted on: 9/15/2026 5:16:11 PM
Submitted from IP Address: 174.217.37.198
Referrer Page: No Referrer - Direct Link
Form Address: http://www.phillca.gov/Forms.aspx?FID=137 From: Shereen <[email protected]>
Sent: Wednesday, September 23, 2026 8:21 PM
To: Irion B-P <[email protected]>
Cc: City Council <[email protected]>
Subject: Re: Comments on Budget Shortfall
CAUTION: This email originated from outside of the organization. Do not click links or open attachments unless you recognize the sender.
lol . I love your idea of a swear jar!!
Thanks for the write up.
Sent from my iPhone
On Sep 23, 2026, at 6:24 AM, B-P Irion <[email protected]> wrote:
I listened to the meeting on the city's budget shortfall and generally agree with the way the City Council was leaning.
While the city should continue to look for ways to trim expenses and improve efficiencies, further cuts to staffing risk public safety and services residents rely on.
No one asked if unfilled positions are causing excessive overtime that would justify filling one of those positions.
I agree increasing sales tax is the least objectionable way to fill the budget shortfall
I agree the city should look for ways to increase revenue especially looking to attract new businesses to the city. I am opposed to the idea of paid parking. It is a hassle and creates an impediment to shopping which is already being hit with a sales tax increase. Better to looking at more speed enforcement which, as was brought up at another of your meetings, would have the benefit of improving public safety.
Do not touch Measure K. This was sold to the public as a way to fund infrastructure improvements and like all public promises, that promise should be honored.
I agree you should be looking to do more public education and outreach. While you only had one public comment on this topic, you can be sure you will have dozens of people complaining they were not notified if a new tax is imposed. And maybe part of that education outreach should be to remind people that staying connected and informed is a public obligation of democracy in action. The city has plenty of avenues it uses to keep a concerned resident informed of issues. There are no "secret meetings" or back door deals. And as a revenue generating idea, how about instituting a "swear jar"? The next time someone swears they were not notified, have them put a dollar in the city swear jar!