Last week, I attended the Valley Transportation Authority (VTA) Policy Advisory Committee at the VTA headquarters on North First Street.  This advisory committee is not the official VTA governing board you hear about, but a committee “underneath” the governing board which has a representative from each city in Santa Clara county.

At this meeting, Joseph T. Smith, the Chief Financial Officer (CFO) of VTA, spoke to the committee about the VTA budget.  As we knew, and he explained further, VTA derives much of its revenue from a sales tax. And because the recession has knocked consumer and corporate spending to the ground, less sales tax revenues are being generated for government bodies like VTA. He is forecasting decreased sales tax revenues in 2009—down 3 percent.

Smith predicted that sales taxes will increase by 5 percent in 2010.  I think the 2010 predictions may be a bit rosy so I will set a date in my BlackBerry two years out to see if he is correct on that forecast. Coincidentally I set another date in my BlackBerry for VTA’s GoLive date on their $3 million plus SAP ERP software upgrade. VTA already spent $30 million on this software, before even starting the current software upgrade.  I believe these type of multi-million dollar technology decisions are problematic, because I believe we should do a better job of managing budgets, and doing a better job of cost avoidance when it comes to technology.

The CFO continued on that 80 percent of the VTA budget is personnel costs. To do that, some people said that perhaps we should take money from the reserve fund. However we, are not sure how much worse the economy may become, so taking funds from reserves may be unwise.

VTA would like to keep its current personnel to maintain services instead of looking at ways to provide services differently. That means we are not going to cut costs, but just spend money.  As a result, Smith told the committee, the plan is to take money from capital funds to fund daily operations.  Capital funds pay for capital projects like the light rail extension to Eastridge or the electrification of Caltrain among many others.  To me, taking money away from the capital projects seems shortsighted.

I am not sure how you feel, but I am leery or taking money from capital funds to pay for operations. What are your thoughts?

The city of San Jose already had a structural budget deficit without the economy crashing. Our ongoing expenses are higher then revenue coming into the city. Throw on a recession, and the numbers just get worse and our options more drastic to manage a $65 million shortfall. Do we balance the budget by more service cuts to the neighborhoods? Postpone hiring police officers? Delay opening new libraries and community centers? Outsource non-core services? Work furloughs? Layoffs? Eliminate any program or service that overlaps with other government agencies?

The reality is clear and trying to hide from reality is not going to help. Decisions will most likely be ugly, politically unpopular and emotionally draining.

Last Friday, the council met for four hours to discuss the City Manger’s budget deficit overview. One option for cost savings was Competitive Sourcing. There were some on the council who wanted competitive sourcing to be eliminated altogether. I don’t think this is wise. We should look at all options with an open mind before jumping to conclusions. However, to be fair, I do support competition and outsourcing some services.

I first wrote about outsourcing park maintenance at the Historic Municipal Rose Garden on April 9, 2007. I wrote a memo that would have directed management to set up a pilot program for outsourcing park maintenance at the Municipal Rose Garden for one calendar year. (By outsourcing, the city could contract with the lowest bidder. Similar to the way a big union city like Chicago invites competition and outsources 25 percent of landscape maintenance). When the residents came to city hall to speak in favor of my memo and saw the council vote it down; the vote and the discussion stirred them to action. Many neighbors felt that council did not represent them and decided to take matters into their own hands.

Long time neighborhood residents led the way through action and not words. Volunteers teaming with city park staff, specifically Park Manager Mike Will, have produced the turnaround story of they year. Terry Reilly and Beverly Hopper, both long time residents, started Friends of the San Jose Rose Garden and now the Municipal Rose Garden is in pristine shape. It is a tourist attraction again and a source of pride for San Jose. In fact it was recently removed from probation by the All American Rose Society.

Another issue that I advocated for successfully was that the City change policy to allow volunteers from corporations to donate their time to our parks. Can you believe that the City once had a policy that banned help from Adobe, Cisco and eBay in our parks? Yep, it’s true. You want to volunteer and help? Nope, not in San Jose. The council agreed with me and we all voted to allow volunteers to work in our parks.

I am learning more and more that in city government, change happens in small steps and sooner or later we will benefit from the good things thoughtful change can bring.

More than 4,000 volunteer hours have been donated to maintenance of the Municipal Rose Garden. That amounts to approximately $100,000 of cost savings or cost avoidance, however you want to look at it.

Let the open dialogue continue at the council dais and not behind closed doors. The topic of outsourcing and defining core city services will be heard again at the Jan. 13 council meeting.

Your opinions matter but sitting behind a computer does not help unless you at minimum send an email of your views to the council.

We are a city of nearly one million people, yet we mostly hear from people who are getting paid to advocate a position. One of those paid advocates told the council that San Jose residents would be willing to accept increased taxes. Are you?

What about you, San Jose?

On Thanksgiving Day I participated in the Turkey Trot, a 5-10K run that takes place Downtown. That same day I attended the 63rd annual Big Bone Game between Lincoln High School and San Jose Academy.

The Turkey Trot is a great way to get people out of the house and into our Downtown for a good cause. I spoke to residents from Almaden Valley, Willow Glen, greater Downtown, Alum Rock, Cambrian, the Rose Garden and even Los Gatos, who were all among the approximately 8,000 participants at this year’s event.

The staging area for the race was the portion of Guadalupe River Park between the Arena and Highway 87 known as Arena Green. This stretch of the park includes the Children’s Carousel, which we spent a lot of Redevelopment (RDA) money to beautify. It makes sense that we have events like this to show off the area. Personally, I would have turned the Carousel on for the Turkey Trot, so people could see it running and tell their friends about the hand-made animals—including a couple of San Jose Sharks.

The Race/Trot itself was fun. We passed Henry’s Hi-Life going North through Downtown up the trail and back. Of course there were the serious runners, plus families running together and groups walking. What mattered most was that folks were having fun at a great event in Downtown.

The Big Bone game was held at San Jose City College. The historic rivalry between Lincoln and San Jose Academy always packs the stadium with alumni, students and families. Throw in some snow and this game would be like a Norman Rockwell holiday painting.

San Jose Academy (formerly San Jose High) has a long history, starting back in 1863. It is the second oldest public high school in California. San Jose Academy boasts an International Baccalaureate program, where students take demanding coursework and get college credit. Lincoln High is also a great high school with an outstanding academic program, including visual arts and performing arts programs.

Lincoln won the game by a big margin, and has now captured the Big Bone trophy 37 times in 63 games.

I also attended another athletic event last week—the Willow Glen High School water polo alumni game. Quite the scene, with out-of-practice 40-year-old men vs. the varsity team. Believe it or not, the old guys came through and won the game by a sliver.

The best part of that event was the presence of parents and grandparents who had gone to Willow Glen High, and were watching family members play while sitting alongside their children and grandchildren. Nice to see people near and far getting together and sharing stories about San Jose and the success of Willow Glen High.

Many of our athletic events are school-based and have little to do with city government. I believe that a strong sense of community comes from activities such as these non-professional athletic events. They bring residents together within our great city.

What are some of your favorite San Jose area athletic events that bring people together?