Antioch Council to hear Measure C tax report, study then discuss homeless programs at Tuesday meeting

Police staffing back down to 87 sworn officers

By Allen Payton

The Measure C Sales Tax Citizens’ Oversight Committee will provide their Annual Report to the Antioch City Council at their regular meeting, Tuesday night, March 24.

The half-cent sales tax passed by Antioch voters in 2013, was planned to be spent on hiring additional police, Community Service Officers and Code Enforcement Officers.

The report, which is included in the Council’s Agenda packet, states that a total of $2,927,251 from the additional half-cent sales tax, between (04/01/14 – 01/31/15) has been received by the City.”

The report also states, “At present Antioch has 87 Sworn Police Officers and one per diem Police Captain. This is 5 more officers than Antioch had in October of 2013 based on the information given to the committee. We were informed by the Chief of Police that hiring of qualified officers as quickly as needed is constrained by shortage of qualified officers and competitive demand by other cities. Attrition has been happening almost as fast as hiring.”

The report further states “If fifteen more officers are hired to bring the police Department to its goal of 102 officers, it would add about $2,400,000 more in annual salary or about $1,000,000 for this year’s budget assuming a March 1 hire date. This would still keep us below our initial Measure C Budget of $32,658,799 by about $2,000,000.”

Also, on Tuesday night, at 6:00 p.m., before the regular meeting at 7:00 p.m., the Council will “hold a Study Session to receive an update on the needs of Antioch’s lower income residents and areas,” for housing, homeless and community services, “and draft goals to address those needs in the 2015-20 Consolidated Plan period” according to the meeting agenda.

Then, during the regular agenda, under Item 4, City staff is recommending the Council “1. Adopt the Contra Costa County Homeless Strategic Plan, ‘Forging Ahead Towards Preventing and Ending Homelessness’ which was approved by the County Board of Supervisors on 11/4/14; and 2. Approve Priority Needs and Goals for funding during the 2015-20 Consolidated Plan period for Affordable Housing, Homeless Programs, Public Services, Economic Development, Infrastructure and Administration.”

To read the complete Measure C report and Council meeting agenda, click here.

City Council meetings are held in the Council Chambers at City Hall, 3rd and H Streets, at 7:00 p.m. or they can be viewed online via live streaming at www.ci.antioch.ca.us.


5 Comments to “Antioch Council to hear Measure C tax report, study then discuss homeless programs at Tuesday meeting”

  1. Marty says:

    I don’t find the “complete Measure C report attached to the council agenda. There is no staff report on that item.

  2. Rich says:

    Amazing . . . once again, let’s make up some numbers. Stating, “The report also states, “At present Antioch has 87 Sworn Police Officers and one per diem Police Captain. This is 5 more officers than Antioch had in October of 2013 based on the information given to the committee. We were informed by the Chief of Police that hiring of qualified officers as quickly as needed is constrained by shortage of qualified officers and competitive demand by other cities. Attrition has been happening almost as fast as hiring.” I realize they want the numbers to sound good, however, on 10/15/2013, the East County Times specifically stated the staffing to have been 85 – not 5 less than the current 87, meaning 82. That was an article on Measure C. In addition, the usual staffing numbers seem to be missing from the City Manager’s Monthly Report. I guess some people are still having issues getting the numbers correct.

  3. James conner says:

    The city has no money and it still wants the hard working citizens of this city to give more. How about kicking out all the useless people on section 8 in this city tired of antioch being referenced as baby richmond. Crime rate is at an all time high wonder why wasn’t this way before they opened the section 8 gates.

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