Council Candidates Talk UUT, Public Safety at Forum

City council candidates met with residents and tackled questions on the Utility Users Tax, the Kensington project and public safety during Sunday afternoon's candidates forum at the Memorial Park Hart House. 

, , , , and attended the forum, which will be the Each candidate was allowed to make opening statements, then fielded several questions on written cards from the crowd of dozens. All of the candidates spoke of their love of the area and the need to preserve its small-town character, while also laying out the skills they would bring to the table. 

Taxes, expenses and UUT

The first two questions asked the candidates about the prospect of raising taxes, cutting city expenses and the UUT.

Goss reiterated his support for ballot measures 12-1 and 12-2, which will be on the upcoming April ballot and, if approved, will extend the Utility Users Tax increase. Under current law, City Council members have the ability to set the UUT rate. It can be collected at a rate up to 12% until the end of June 2014. Currently the Council has the UUT set at 10%. If Measures 12-1 and 12-2 pass, the UUT would be set at 10% until July 2013, when the max collection amount would rise to 12%. The council could choose to collect it at 12% until 2018. They could also choose to set a lower rate (like they currently do). 

"But I wanted to qualify that, some people seem to think I'm in favor of raising our taxes," Goss said. "I'm not committed to the idea that it should automatically kick up to 12 percent. My view is, if I'm on the council for the next year, I would hold administration's feet to the fire and see if we could find some cuts to see if we can make up that 2 percent. However, I'm not making any promises, I'm a realistic individual. If we can't find those cuts, then it would have to kick up. I'm not wedded to any kind of ideology or any preconceived notions about what the appropriate taxation is in this city. We need what we need." 

Braudrick and Capoccia also while also stressing the need to examine where cuts could be made. Capoccia, who is against the ballot measure, emphasized that the need doesn't exist for UUT to be extended now, and that the council should be given a chance to cut down expenses. Braudrick suggested a hard look at all departments, saying there should be no "sacred cows" when the issue of potential expense cutting is discussed. He also mentioned the possibility of new revenue streams, such as a non-residential library card, where a fee would be charged.

"We can't afford to lose revenue," he said. "We can't afford to let our UUT sunset."

Harabedian said that the city is cutting expenses right now, "so for anyone to stand up here and say we're not cutting expenses and that we're just raising taxes is just not true. The city in the short term is going to be cutting expenses, and the UUT extension is not a tax increase. It will actually will extend the 10 percent into July of 2013. There's a lot of misinformation out there and I think people really need to read the ballot measure." Harabedian said that the council can decide in 2013 whether or not to bump up the 10 percent to 12 percent.

"We need both revenue and to cut costs, that is the answer," he said. "There is no magic bullet here, but we need to do both."

Koerber said the Sierra Madre "doesn't have a revenue problem, it has a spending problem." He also disagreed with Harabedian on his remarks regarding the UUT. 

"The tax will go to 12 percent without city council action in 2013," he said. "The new city council can sit there and not do a thing, and when it goes to 12 (percent), they can run in the next election and say, 'We never raised taxes.' That's not right." 

MacGillivray agreed with Koerber's understanding of the UUT extension, and also said the community is committed to the UUT.

"But the question is for how much, and how long," she said. She mentioned her city council experience in the mid to late 1990s,  where the first UUT was implemented. It was a step-up tax, same as now, she said, with a baseline of 6 percent. The idea was to eventually sunset the tax back to zero. That didn't happen, she said, so the baseline is now at 6 percent. 

"If we extend this tax out as far as we're talking about and we get used to spending that much money for that long a period of time, our baseline won't be 6 percent … we'll be lucky if it's 10 percent," she said.

"I think it is prudent to sit back and absorb the hit from the CRA (loss of $800,000 due to the CRA's dissolving), the recent budget cuts that we have been through, take a very hard look at our revenue expenditures, and then decide how we're going to go forward," she added. "We will not cut paramedics, we will not cut police and we will not cut fire. So the misinformation about cutting public safety is wrong, so what we will have to cut later, if we have to cut, citizens should have the opportunity to decide what that is."

Harabedian contended that public safety will indeed have to endure cuts, and "if we want to ensure that public safety isn't cut in the long term, then we need to extend the UUT." He also called it "disingenuous to think that public safety will survive if revenues go down and costs stay the same. That's why the UUT is so important."

Braudrick said he wanted everyone to "have all the information and all the facts" about the UUT.

"If we fail to pass it this time, it creates future uncertainty of revenues," which he said can injure the city's bond rating. 

The Kensington Project

The candidates were then asked if they thought the proposed assisted living facility (called the Kensington Project) across the street from city hall should be built. Talk of the facility has Braudrick, Capoccia and Goss declined to offer an explicit opinion on it, as Braudrick noted that doing so could lead to long-term issues. 

"If we end up getting elected, we may have to make decisions on it, and we'd be a quasi-judicial panel. If we say we're against it, and then we turn it down, we could be open for a lawsuit," Braudrick said. "As a legislator, I have no business voting on anything that could threaten Measure V." He noted that it was a "great idea" that still had some issues that needed to be resolved. 

Capoccia and Goss both talked about encountering loads of support for the Kensington's completion when meeting hundreds of residents on the campaign trail. 

"We have an aging population in Sierra Madre. Many of our residents have lived here their entire lives, and they feel it'd be nice to have a place to move to when they can't cook for themselves anymore or need a little bit of assistance in their day-to-day living," Capoccia said. 

Harabedian spoke out in favor of the facility, calling it a "socially noble and worthy" project that's been long overdue to arrive in the city. He expressed his desire for the project's developer to be a good corporate partner with the city by finding ways to pay the city back for the resources being diverted to the project.

Koerber, who has been a mainstay at Planning Commission meetings, also spoke in favor of the Kensington in principle as long as it fell into the parameters of Measure V. He was pleased with how MacGillivray touted the efforts of the Planning Commission in examining any issues regarding the project, and that the developer is working to define the project clearly enough so that voters can make a more informed choice.

Public safety

Candidate's thoughts on contracting out public safety services were next, and the question was met with every candidate stating that either they or the community would be against the idea, with several on the panel stating the fact that Sierra Madre having its own is part of its identity. Others also discussed the fiscal impact of the police department.

"There's a lot of banter in the community right now about the police department, because, after all,  it does consume 53 percent of our budget," MacGillivray said. "I think the community wants its own police department, we've always had it, it's always been a major chunk of the general fund, and we've always managed it. I think the problem is the perception of the service that's being delivered. I don't think we have a good barometer or a good way to measure whether that service is being delivered to the extent that people want it."

Koerber also spoke of support from residents in favor of keeping the police department while also seeking ways to measure if the city is getting the best "bang for the buck." But he also mentioned what he saw as a brewing conflict of interest among several candidates who have secured endorsements from the Police Officers Association, especially when the time comes to negotiate pay raises and contracts.

Harabedian, Goss and Braudrick all have the support of Police Officers Association, with Harabedian mentioning that he is proud that "the people who walk the streets and keep you safe at night are supporting me." He also mentioned that if elected to a four-year seat, he'll work to establish a public safety commission of citizens and volunteers. Goss said he would "never" support outsourcing public safety services and that an "active, visible police force is the top deterrent of criminality" that needs to be maintained. 

Braudrick said that in every city, "no matter where you're at," the police department accounts for more than 50 percent of general fund money, and 75 percent if you combine police and fire. For Sierra Madre, the combined figure accounts for 60 percent, which in effect dissuades the notion that the city is bloated with public safety.

Farmer's Market

All of the candidates were asked for their thoughts on the Farmer's Market, with all of them speaking in support of it. Braudrick called for more local support for the market, while Harabedian and MacGillivray calling for a real supermarket such as Howie's or Trader Joe's. MacGillivrey mentioned that she's actually spoken to Trader Joe's representatives about a store in town to no avail, at least for now. 

Last words

The candidates made their final statements to the crowd. Koerber mentioned his accomplishments as a citizen. MacGillivray spoke about her experience, while Capoccia talked about his years of leadership activity. Goss pitched himself as a lifelong problem-solver, and Harabedian spoke of himself being the sole candidate who has offered solutions. Braudrick eschewed the sell on himself and instead called on the crowd to take the time to examine each of the candidates before them and make an informed decision.  

"Get to know all of us," he said. "Learn about us."