Budget is steady in Redwood City

During a budget study session Monday, City Manager Melissa Stevenson Diaz outlined her proposed plan for spending the city’s $340 million budget with a focus on the $165 million General Fund.

“This budget continues the financial best practices that this council and previous councils have endorsed and it advances the city’s strategic plan and the council’s top priorities as well as the pandemic recovery strategies,” Stevenson Diaz said.

Substantial portions of the city’s budget will go toward operating costs, employee salaries and paying down the city’s more than $300 million pension and retiree health liabilities. The city has experienced some savings during the pandemic by instituting a hiring freeze but Stevenson Diaz is now proposing an end to that freeze in an effort to bring relief to strained city staff.

Among the vacant positions the city would be looking to fill would be an administrative clerk, five of the nine vacant police officer positions, a landscape gardener, three management analysts to implement new anti-displacement policies and the city’s cannabis program and three permit technicians. All vacant decisions are expected to be filled by the fiscal year 2023-24.

“The last two years have undeniably been a stressful time for our community members, for our employees and for all of us,” Stevenson Diaz said. “We believe we’re now on a stable path toward a recovery that will benefit all in Redwood City.”

Councilmembers shared high praise for city staff who have worked to provide increased services to the community, who city officials say have reported not feeling the strain of reduced staff.

In addition to supporting an end to the hiring freeze, some councilmembers echoed public calls to bolster staffing in public safety departments, including the police department which has been tasked with responding to increased illegal behavior in Courtyard Square while also being out of contract.

“I hope that we can fill many of those positions, particularly as we’ve done in the fire department we need to do that with the police,” Councilmember Jeff Gee said.

An additional $7.88 million will go toward advancing council priorities of children and youth, transportation and housing. Some top funding areas include a $1.53 million one-time contribution to support capital improvements, another $1.3 million for improving playgrounds and parks, $850,000 for analytic support, $550,000 for library improvements and $500,000 for sidewalk improvements.

And housing ranked as another top concern for residents and the council which backed plans to staff a housing department tasked with implementing the city’s anti-displacement strategies. In total, the council will have directed more than $4 million in one-time funding toward housing initiatives after accounting for the $700,000 proposed for homelessness initiatives in the next fiscal year.

Mayor Giselle Hale argued that by encouraging greater housing development, the city helps address many other equity issues. While she touted the city’s success in welcoming the greatest amount of housing development compared to other cities in the county, she also recognized more could be done to alleviate housing strains.

“We know it’s not enough. We know it’s not enough to be the only city doing that so we’re always encouraging our peers to step up as well,” Hale said. “We as a city have to challenge ourselves to solve all of those problems so the real innovation is looking for the solutions that solve most of those problems at once and that is what our staff has done exceptionally well.”

Of the $1 million allocated to the city’s new People’s Budget program, an initiative calling on the community to decide what programs should be backed with city dollars, $250,000 will be going to the new City Housing team budget. An additional $250,000 will fund a free shower program for unhoused residents.

The largest chunk of funding, $460,000, will go toward installing protected bike lanes along El Camino Real, while the smallest chunk, $40,000, will fund a 10-week youth peer mentorship program addressing drug and alcohol use. Assistant City Manager Michelle Poché Flaherty noted that other ideas raised by the community could be adopted and implemented by departments.

“The projects that don’t get funded this year don’t just evaporate,” Flaherty assured the public and council.

The formal adoption of the proposed budget is expected to occur during the council’s next meeting June 27.

sierra@smdailyjournal.com

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