-The Mayor didn't mind cutting the minimum # of Officers funded by the General Fund, and back-filling it with the Measure Y money that was supposed to pay for additional officers.  Oh, she was an author of that Measure too?

-In reality Budget A is not the one that will be passed.  It is the one that will motivate people to vote for another Property Tax.  (Just like the threat of losing Measure Y funded social programs motivated people to amend Measure Y).

$8000 in Property Taxes for this middle income property owner, whose wife lost her job, and whose family income has been slashed in half.  

But our family doesn't matter to City Workers, the politicians they elected, or our elders who earned much more than we did and pay 10% of our taxes because of Proposition 13.  Unions explain, you see, that they should contribute minimally because of what the bankers did.  And all middle income home owners are bankers.

Instead middle income home owners who've lost significant amounts of income, who are struggling to hold onto their homes, should bear the burden.  That's only fair, you see, because union members are the only "working people".  Anybody else is a member of the Tea Party, or should join a union.

Maybe it's time to move.  Like most City Workers did already...

PS.  For explaining that we're struggling and can't pay higher taxes, union members minimize this reality for millions to accusations that we must be members of the Tea Party.  Synthesis of American politics today: the far-left calls anybody who disagrees with them a Tea Party member.  The far-right calls anybody who disagrees with them a Liberal.   And between these childlike  widely reported absurdities, reality based moderates get drowned out.  (Sorry for the insult, children).

With these two polarizing shining beacons of democracy does anybody believe the Chinese are going to change political systems anytime soon?

Measure Q  should  have  alerted the  tax payer sheep  of  how sneaky  the City  is .Measure Q took over as  the libraries  revenue  source , as  general fund  money  was  reduced . And then  the City  slapped a  huge administrative  fee on measure Q.

The  Oakland Library  system  does  allot  of  good  things ,but  still contains allot  of  wasteful fluff. A Senior Librarian  makes  as  much as a City Plumber . Cut  the Waste  Carmen

Wow - a Senior Librarian - who manages a complex hub library (eg 81st Ave, Rockridge, Dimond or all reference services at Main), supervises and trains about 15 staff members, manages a facility with all it's issues, a budget for staffing and materials, and still does all the things other librarians do such as collection development and maintenance (books, CDs, DVDs etc.), answers reference questions, deals with public computers (it you think maintaining your own computer is sometimes frustrating, think about dealing with many computers used by people who either don't know what they are doing or know a lot and want to circumvent the system), has a Masters degree, and at least 4 years experience (though at OPL each has many more years than that) - makes the same as a City plumber.

It's not that I think a plumber shouldn't make this much money - anyone who's had plumbing issues know's a good plumber is worth the money, and the City certainly has complex plumbing issues in our old buildings - but I am incensed that this writes thinks a Senior Librarian job is not worth paying for. Of the 215 FTEs at the library, 11 are Senior Librarian. Only 6 of the 15 branches have one.

And wasteful fluff - if there are things that the commentor thinks the library does is fluff, he or she should should mention them rather than just dismiss the service offhand.

That's not even to talk about the Measure Q issues...something for another mesage.

Hi,

Does anyone know when and where community meetings are being held by either the city or other groups to discuss this budget and organizing against it? Any info would be great. 

Go to

http://saveoaklandlibrary.org/5things.html

to get all the information you need to organize against the budget cuts--city council contacts, meeting schedules, petitions.

Budget A isn't a real budget. It's a political tool that the Mayor is using in an attempt to scare the public into voting for a tax, and to scare the unions into making concessions.

If you look at the details in Budget A, you will see that they're proposing cutting 90% of library staff, and leaving 4 large libraries open.  Look further into the details, and you'll see that they're proposing using 22 employees in the entire library system, 7 of them as management.

That leaves 15 to run 4 branches, which the Mayor promised would all be open 7 days a week?  Does that sound possible?  Consider that those 4 libraries make up 60% of the square footage of the entire library system's space. They're proposing running 60% of ths space with 10% of the staff, and keeping it open more days than it's open now.

In even further detail, they proposal calls for 4 full time employees serving the public at the Main Library.  The Main Library is a 6 story building.  Even if the employees were to work 7 days a week, there would only be 2/3rds of an employee per floor.

To put it bluntly: I think that Budget A was made up out of thin air, in an atempt to instil fear, but with no intent for it to actually be able to be implemented.  You know how easy it is to do a 90% cut in an Excell spreadsheet?  You just move the decimal point.

 

Hey everyone, thanks for your comments. Please keep checking Oakland Local for stories about the city's budget. And for additional information on basic budget facts, go to these sites:

1. http://www2.oaklandnet.com/oakca/groups/cityadministrator/documents/marketingmaterial/oak028945.pdf

2.http://www2.oaklandnet.com/oakca/groups/cityadministrator/documents/marketingmaterial/oak028949.pdf

Oh and city council meetings on the budget are scheduled for May 12 and May 19.

While I personally believe senior librarians should be paid as much as experieneced plumbers, my understanding of Measure Q is that it misled the voters into thinking that the additional taxes would go to providing a stable source of revenue for operating costs. Instead, a very large piece of it went to fund salary and benefit increases for librarians.

That same mentality of elected officials and unions that it's ok to mislead voters because it's  a worthy cause,  has come back to haunt them.  Now voters don't believe the same officials when they tell them there's a fiscal crisis and even higher parcel and sales taxes are required.

-len raphael, temescal

Instead of the average low-income homeowners who have lost significant amounts of income, struggling to keep their home, should bear the burden. Because, you know, because union members are the only "workers." Moreover, $8000 in Property Taxes for this middle income property owner is not so enough to live their life. Employee hiring and employee onboarding is just not enough for them. And as you told that maybe now it's time to move on. As with most city workers were already.