Council provided with annual report on use of Measure C sales tax funds
Police staffing is at 87 sworn officers
By John Crowder
At the March 24, 2015 meeting of the Antioch City Council a presentation was made by Hans Ho, Chairman of the Sales Tax Citizens’ Oversight Committee, regarding receipts and disbursements of tax revenue generated by Measure C.
Ho, with other members of the committee at his side, began his remarks by providing background information on the committee and on Measure C.
The seven person committee, he said, was created on December 10, 2013. Their duties include reviewing information collected from City management data in order to review receipts and disbursements of Measure C funds.
Measure C is a temporary half-cent sales tax that was approved by the voters in the November, 2013 election, and is to remain in place for seven years from April 1, 2014. The city council directed that income received from the measure be used to fund public safety and code enforcement.
In the report, the first provided to the city council by the committee, it states, “We requested and obtained from management reports of all receipts and payments relating to Measure C.” Ho said that City staff had provided his committee with all information requested.
In a statement of findings, the report reads, “Based on our review and representations given to us by the City’s staff, we are not aware of any instance, during the period covered by this report, where Measure C funds were used for any purpose other than public safety and code enforcement.”
Ho said that his presentation covered two reporting periods, one from April 1 through June 30, 2014, and the other from July 1, 2014 through January 31, 2015. Over the course of the two reporting periods, Ho said the city received a total of $2.9 million in Measure C revenue. In the report, it is also stated that another $2.3 million is expected to be collected over the remainder of the fiscal year.
Expenditures from Measure C funds over the first period reported totaled $50,903 for the purchase of two police patrol vehicles. During the second reporting period, “a total of $41,047.52 was encumbered by the City for Code Enforcement expenditure,” according to the report.
In further remarks, the report states, “At this point, it appears that very little of the 2014/2015 Measure C monies will be used, if any.” It also states, “This would suggest that we will end up with about $3,000,000 carryover into 2015/2016 Fiscal Year.”
With respect to police staffing, the report states that eight new police officers have recently been hired, and 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 went on to say that if fifteen more officers were hired to reach the Police Department goal of 102 officers, “it would add about $2.4 million more in annual salary,” and, assuming a March 1 hire date, “would still keep us below our initial Measure C Budget…by about $2 million.”
Following his presentation, council members thanked Ho and his team for their work, and for their thorough presentation.
The next regularly scheduled meeting of the City Council will be held Tuesday, April 14, 2015 at 7 p.m. in the City Council Chambers and can be viewed on the city’s website, www.ci.antioch.ca.us.
Interesting how they chose the 10/1/2013 staffing number of 82, when the 10/15/2013 staffing number was 85. Certainly no mention of the “boots on the street” numbers either.
Have you noticed the monthly City Manager report, which is inclusive of the HR recruiting efforts has disappeared. Up until I believe it was February of this year they had the same recruiting effort since 2012 statement. That has disappeared now.