Latest news with #PSVS
Yahoo
29-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Proposed city budget sparks debate on use of PSVS money
A presentation over the city's proposed budget turned into a debate about the use of Measure N funds Wednesday, as Bakersfield City Council members alternately decried or defended how the city spends the tax dollars. Council members were presented with a proposed budget of $850.2 million for the 2025-26 fiscal year, a $46.4 million reduction from the previous year. City Manager Christian Clegg attributed the reduction to minimal or no growth in tax revenues amid a larger economic slowdown. The proposed budget includes a $5 million reduction in operations and hiring freezes for most vacant positions for the first quarter of the fiscal year. 'The city has taken a much closer look at discretionary operational expenses with many departments reducing those budget line items with the understanding that more challenging financial circumstances lie ahead,' Clegg wrote in his introduction to the proposed budget. But the city's budget was only balanced using a $12 million allocation from the city's Public Safety and Vital Services fund, a 1% sales tax narrowly approved by voters in 2017 as Measure N. That was never the intended purpose of the money, according to Ward 3 Councilman Ken Weir, who said voters approved the measure with the understanding that the funds would be put toward new expenditures with a focus on public safety. 'Voters approved PSVS on the condition that we would not spend money that has already been on our books; it would be allocated to new things,' Weir said. 'The public was told we won't use the money for the expenses in the original general fund.' Ward 6 Councilman Zack Bashirtash was similarly critical of how PSVS funds were being spent, particularly on services for the homeless. "I don't believe that homelessness has gotten better or stayed the same. In my opinion, it's getting worse," Bashirtash said, noting the substantial amount of money the city provides to homeless service organizations. "We're talking about giving millions of dollars to organizations that have already received tens of millions of dollars," Bashirtash said. Clegg and other council members defended use of the funds, arguing the city had been able to shelter hundreds more people a year and has moved more than 400 into permanent housing. Ward 2 Councilman Andrae Gonzales noted PSVS funding had allowed the city to hire roughly 80 police officers and make several other improvements across the city. "When we approached the voters with Measure N, it was to preserve and enhance vital services," Gonzales said. "We had experienced two decades worth of cut after cut, cutting core services to the bare bone." Ward 1 Councilman Eric Arias listed several projects in his district funded by PSVS money and pointed to programs created by the funding he said increased quality of life. "I can't talk enough about how great the park rangers have been for our community, keeping our parks safe," Arias said. Arias noted that the city had seen a 57% reduction in homicides and a 60% reduction in shootings, which officials attributed to the work of a city-funded intervention program. Still, Weir and Bashirtash maintained the city's PSVS money was being ill-spent. "We know what the solution is for criminals, but we're spending money on not the solution," Bashirtash said. "At what point in time are we going to stop feeding the problem and actually start feeding the solution so that taxpayers are getting what they're paying for taxes?" Weir said calling the budget balanced by using PSVS dollars was misleading. "This year we've used $12 million of money that we should not have used," Weir said. "Now, I'm not going to argue about who spent what or anything else. I'm telling you we did a disservice to the people of this community, and we owe them $12 million." The city's budget will be formally introduced at the council's next meeting June 11. The city's fiscal year starts July 1.
Yahoo
20-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
City tells committee PSVS money increasingly dedicated to personnel
Bakersfield city leaders are looking at a harsh reality: More and more of the city's annual Public Safety and Vital Services dollars are going to dedicated costs each year, leaving the city with less money to spend on discretionary items. On Thursday, city staff presented a recommended $114.9 million budget to the Public Safety Vital Services Measure Oversight Committee, noting that amount of dollars in the budget was allocated to pre-dedicated costs. "We've seen increases in insurance, we've seen increases in workers' compensation. We've seen increases in vehicle equipment, other equipment and technology," City Manager Christian Clegg told the committee. "We've seen dramatic increases that are actually many instances greater than the typical (Consumer Price Index) percentage that is driving costs in a way that's becoming a challenge for us." Personnel expenses make up 54% of the budget at $62.2 million. Other expenses include $9.6 million in non-discretionary costs, $22.9 in discretionary expenses, $1.2 million for capital projects and $11.9 in transfers to the General Fund to cover operational needs. At the meeting, several committee members expressed concern about the use of the PSVS money, saying the city should be more conservative with the tax dollars. Members said PSVS dollars weren't being used as advertised in the ballot language and expressed particular concern about the amount of non-public-safety staff the city had hired. "Then you're talking about new parks and all this. It just seems like the concern about tightening up, it's got to be broad-based," said member for Ward 6, Cathy Abernathy. "I'm concerned that there's a whole lot of staff; that's staff, that's health care, that's pensions." Clegg told the committee hiring freezes were implemented in several departments and the city was investing in better data analytics tools to identify efficiencies. Staff did reduce discretionary spending by 14%, mainly from economic and community development. The proposed budget also includes an additional $7.8 million reserved for capital projects to be approved by the Bakersfield City Council. The total discretionary allotment for the PSVS money, including the amount for capital projects, represents just 26.7% of the PSVS budget. Ward 3 member Clayton Campbell said that because Measure N's ballot language stated the purpose of the tax was to raise $50 million, particularly for public safety, any additional PSVS tax collected by the city should be moved to savings. Meeting materials said 374 staff positions were funded by PSVS dollars, the majority of which were in public safety. When asked by committee members at the meeting, staff estimated about 175 of those positions, only 46%, were in public safety. "We've consistently spent almost all of that money every year, transferred some to the general fund because the general fund couldn't be balanced otherwise, hired a huge number of people," Campbell said to Clegg. "So, the majority of the $62 million that is, as you term, non-discretionary, using the PSVS money, that's money that we're hiring other people that are not public safety." The city later provided staffing information to the Californian which said 216 positions funded by PSVS were in either the police or fire departments. According to the city, staffing positions covered with PSVS dollars include 189 positions in the police department; 27 in the fire department; 46 in development services, including code enforcement and homeless encampment clean up; 40 in parks, including 21 park rangers; 22 in technology services; 16 in economic and community development; 13 in public works; 12 in the City Manager's office; five in human resources and two in finance. Committee members repeatedly expressed concern that PSVS dollars were not being used as advertised to voters. The text of the 2018 Measure N ballot measure read: "To prevent cuts/improve 911 emergency response, police/fire protection, anti-gang/drug units, neighborhood police patrols; rapid response to assaults, robberies, gang violence, home burglaries; crime prevention; address homelessness; retain, attract jobs/businesses; unrestricted general revenue purposes; shall the measure be adopted approving an ordinance establishing a one-cent sales tax providing $50,000,000 until ended by voters, requiring independent audits, citizens oversight, all funds for Bakersfield?" Major capital projects on staff's recommended budget include $4 million for street improvements along 18th and 19th streets and $3 million for improvements on H Street. Several other smaller projects are recommended at several city parks and fire stations. This year's recommended budget is a 1% increase from last year, even as the actual share of sales and use tax money going to the fund went down. The increase in the budget is due to a $17 million savings rollover from prior years being allocated for budget expenditures, Finance Director Randy McKeegan said. Revenues from sales tax have either remained flat or declined across several industries, McKeegan said, and the city was looking at a roughly $6.5 million decrease in tax revenues as a result of county residents incorrectly paying taxes to the city for the past two years. The budget will ultimately be approved by the city council, but the oversight committee will have the opportunity to give its own recommendations at its next meeting Thursday.
Yahoo
20-02-2025
- Yahoo
BPD: Riverbed operation clears 24 encampments
City teams cleared homeless encampments from the Kern River on Wednesday in an operation covering several miles of the riverbed between Calloway Drive and the 24th Street overpass. According to a news release from the Bakersfield Police Department, the operation cleared 24 encampments, arrested 23 people, cited three people and took 19 dogs into temporary custody. "The Bakersfield Police Department recognizes the impact these quality-of-life issues have on our community and are committed to collaborative efforts to solve them," BPD said. "Operations like this are made possible by the Bakersfield Public Safety and Vital Services (PSVS) Measure, also known as Measure N." The operation was done with BPD's Impact Team; Unmanned Aircraft Systems Team and Mounted Unit in collaboration with the Bakersfield Fire Department Arson Division; Bakersfield Park Rangers; Bakersfield Code Enforcement, Bakersfield Animal Control and the Rapid Response Team. In addition to the arrests and citations, BPD said 22 people were offered services, with 12 declining assistance; seven people were provided guidance on how to access available assistance after being released from custody; and three people were placed into the Brundage Lane Navigation Center. Encampments can be reported to the city of Bakersfield through its free Bakersfield Mobile App — available on both Apple and Android devices — or via the online Service Request portal.
