Fiscal Year 2013-2015 Special Budget Meeting

HONORABLE CITY COUNCIL AND OAKLAND RESIDENTS Subject: FY 2013-2015 Proposed Policy Budget Date: April 17, 2013 Page 3  Bolster job-training services so that Oaklanders are a competitive and thriving workforce;  Build and restore our infrastructure and the physical environment of Oakland;  Achieve long-term fiscal stability for the City; and  Foster Oakland youth and care for our most vulnerable populations. All these priorities weave a cohesive whole, and by working together we will move Oakland forward. Our vision for Oakland is to dramatically bring down crime and strongly increase safety for our residents and businesses. This will encourage new businesses and investors, and bolster the businesses we already have, which in turn will produce new jobs, increase prosperity in our neighborhoods and create more revenue to support City services. With greater revenues, we can improve quality of life for everyone in our city, and better fund services for our most vulnerable residents, making stable, steady progress toward prosperity. Collective Stakeholder Contributions The City could not have achieved its state of relative health without three crucial factors: employee contributions, service reductions, and growing revenues. The first two factors were the result of incredible dedication, hard work, negotiation and leadership on the part of every City stakeholder, including the employees themselves and the City Council. Every City employee has faced the difficulty of losing approximately 9% of their compensation, a sacrifice that is never easy to make. Mayor Quan cut in her own salary by 25% upon taking office, and will continue to do so in the coming fiscal year. This was partly an effort to honor the hard work of all public servants and the sacrifices they were asked to make. In the current fiscal year alone, employee contributions equal approximately $37 million. These contributions have saved jobs and allowed the City to sustain vital services for residents. Weathering the Financial Storm In addition to employee contributions, we have made great strides over the past several years to stabilize the City’s finances, which has required significant and in many cases unsustainable service reductions and/or eliminations: • Reduced the workforce by 21% over the past 10 years, resulting in the elimination of about 720 positions; • Closed $318 million in cumulative budget shortfalls ; • Instituted rolling brown-outs of two fire engine companies; • Reduced sworn police staffing by 27% (from 837 to 611 officers) and civilian staff by 34% in the last 6 years (from 394 to 261 FTEs), with loss of services in patrol, level of investigations, delayed response to 911 calls for service, and elimination of the horse-mounted unit and traffic unit; • Significantly reduced paving and street repairs; • Reduced code enforcement, development, and planning staff; • Reduced Cultural Arts programs and grants, and Film Office staffing; • Significantly reduced various neighborhood improvement and beautification programs, such as: façade and tenant improvement grants, the Neighborhood Project Initiative Program, graffiti abatement (private property), blight removal, litter and illegal dumping response, tree trimming, sidewalk maintenance, and open space maintenance; • Reduced affordable housing programs and funding for homeless programs;