Comments Written on Cards by Audience Members
2-3% pay cut all Chula Vista employees AND 1% tax
increase for all Chula Vista residents for one year.
No sales tax increase more than 1/4 %
Raise sales tax
TOT; Sales tax potential
Sunset within a short period of
time--hopefully only one year or max no more than 3 or 4 years sales tax
increase
Sales tax increase
Sales tax increase
A sales
tax of 1%, if it has a sunset clause, if an oversight committee or commission
is put into place with community stakeholder representation and invested with
real accountability oversight, and finally, with the condition that the tax
increase money cannot be used to pay employee salary or benefit raises or
COLAs. I am suggesting 1%, as the money raised by a lesser percent doesn’t
seem to be significant enough to ‘lift the boat’
over these tidal waves of economic losses.
If these workers would submit to pay cuts, then and
only then would I consider supporting a City Sales Tax. A City
Tax should be used to increase services or address infrastructure issues, not
to continue maintaining a level of degradation in services and infrastructure
that we are currently enduring.
I am opposed to increasing the sales
tax. I don't think it will work. Supporting the sales tax idea is merely
postponing dealing with harsh reality: we can't afford expensive
employees, regardless of what other, comparable cities pay. Other
'comparable sized' cities may have more industry, fewer homes in
foreclosure, etc. Just because they (comp cities) can afford it doesn't mean we
now can.
Other
Taxes/Revenue
Broaden the tax base--strengthening the
utility tax would be better than a sales tax increase
Assessment Districts for library and
recreation programs would be less regressive and not affect low- income people
negatively
Fees for false burglar alarms
Sliding scale for recreation and other
fees
Library Video fees for shorter time
i.e. $15/6 months
Traffic Cameras could result in tickets
The fire department employees should
staff ambulances for medical calls and provide ambulance service for the city
as soon as existing contract is up.
Donations
Donation program to donate specific
books, DVDs, software, w/ tax receipt & sticker in book that says
"donated by"
Library can host book signings and
provide refreshments for members who donate large amounts
Allow community volunteers to take up
responsibilities of employees such as park clean up, running programs, etc.
Pay
Cuts/Defer Raises
State employees face approx. 10% pay
cut effective Feb.2009; can do same for city employees earning above
$6,000/month—for short period
Delay COLA (scheduled salary increases
until economy improves); Long term: all employees must contribute to pension
system (CALPERS currently 0 contribution per employee)
2-3% pay cut all Chula Vista employees AND 1%
tax increase for all Chula Vista residents for one year.
City Council officials: Take pay cut or
give up raises
City Manger should give up his $1,000
per month car allowance
Eliminate all car allowances (3 comments)
Fire
& Police should agree that all COLAs should be
given up until a firm date – 2011
These employee's deserve whatever they
earn. However in these economic times and in light of the budget crisis our
City now faces, the reality is we cannot continue to afford these employee's at
their current rate of pay and benefits they currently earn.
I think Fire & Police should do more than delay pay
increases. I think they should be willing to “share
the pain” by giving up some salary. I
understand, and am deeply moved by, the fact that they risk their lives for
us. But it looks to me like they are very well paid for this heroic
career choice. They are part of our community, and benefit from our
libraries, rec centers, nature center, etc. They should give up a little,
not just delay pay increases or some other trade off that really just increases
their pay, so that we can all weather this financial storm in a fair and
equitable way.
Cuts
in Services
City Council/Mayor take a 10-15% cut in
their respective budgets
Restructure city departments to make
them run more efficiently; reduce overhead costs
A study should be done by the finance department
to verify the city saves money by having fire personnel on 56 hour weeks
instead of 40 hour weeks.
Close
Jail
All employees including city council and mayor should start paying their 8 or 9% of the pension expense. They should get raises promised for next two years to help defer cost. This would give the city over $8 million of increased income for every future year, reduce employee pay by much less if taken before taxes. The raise will only cost $6.5 million over a two-year period.
Improve Efficiency
Look at everything in the cit-copy machines, etc. Think of city as a business and become more efficient.