The Scotts Valley Times asked three questions of the Scotts Valley City Council candidates seeking two seats in the Nov. 8 election.
Here are the questions and their answers:
Dr. Rochelle Walensky, the head of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said she plans to overhaul the agency, saying it failed to meet expectations during the Covid-19 pandemic. She wants an action-oriented culture that emphasizes accountability, collaboration, communication, and timeliness. Are you satisfied with the safety measures the council took during the Covid pandemic? If yes, give examples. If not, what would you have done differently?
At a time when our city government is long overdue to get “back to basics” — starting with making sure our police are paid at least the average salary of officers within Santa Cruz County — the last thing we should be doing is spending scarce resources duplicating county functions, whether it’s about COVID decisions or human care spending.
Money raised from our taxpayers already goes to the county for this purpose, which makes the city’s current approach of needlessly duplicating this spending very hard to understand. I’m proud of the city’s efforts to use COVID-relief money to help area businesses, and for the city’s model partnership with our chamber of commerce during the pandemic and since to keep our small businesses afloat.
As Mayor, I was in weekly contact with our Health Director and other Mayors in the county on how to resource our community with information and vaccine distribution. When we had to shutter our Parks and Recreation programs and daycare due to inability to hold group classes- we partnered with the Boys & Girls Club to provide access to affordable daycare. We then worked with Congress to allocate grant funds to rebuild our Vine Hill childcare facilities. For a small City with limited resources, I think our reaction was the type of action-oriented culture that Dr. Rochelle Walensky describes.
However, I am concerned at the lack of adequate state funding to accomplish these mandated goals. I think everyone agrees that Scotts Valley will be better off if those that work here can afford to live here.
What was less good was the lack of funding for key initiatives and staff retention — I do believe, however, that the Council did a great job considering the state of the budget (declining sales taxes and occupancy taxes during the pandemic). With a more long-term, stable budgetary outlook, staff retention can be resilient – that is a key change I hope to enact in the near future — and gain enough stability to ride out future challenges.
New state laws are pressing communities to build more housing to meet the need. Scotts Valley is required to plan for 1,220 new residential units over the next eight years. Can these needs be met at the future town center next to Skypark, the former Aviza semiconductor property, and the former Valley Gardens Golf Course? How can city encourage more housing choices and maintain job-housing balance and quality of life?
Jim Reed: No, as currently conceived, those developments alone cannot accommodate such housing numbers. First, the state should better to reward jurisdictions like ours that have consistently built new housing instead of punishing us with their housing allocation formulas. Secondly, we should finally complete what we said we’d start years and years ago — finish our General Plan to plan thoughtfully for more housing and extend our affordable housing overlay to cover the entire city, not just portions as it currently does.
It’s unfortunate that during our recently completed Strategic Plan process, no other Councilmember joined me when I said it’s a failure on our part that not only haven’t these important updates been done, but we lack an exact timetable for finishing them. Especially since the cost of everything is skyrocketing, our government has to get smarter, more transparent, more accountable, and better; we need a government worthy of our people!
Derek Timm: The Regional Housing Needs Assessment process has placed a heavy burden on Scotts Valley to zone for 1,220 units (the State’s goal is to see those homes built within 8 years– and for approximately 75% of them to be affordable). Like other jurisdictions in our County, Scotts Valley will be undertaking an update to our Housing Element to accomplish these zoning changes.
This process will look at Scotts Valley as a whole and provide an opportunity for the community to provide feedback on where they think it is best to rezone to accomplish the State’s goals. I will be working with the community to encourage as much participation in this process as possible, so we are making changes consistent with the community’s desires.
Allan Timms: The requirement clearly presents challenges to our community. Building 1,200+ new homes is no easy feat and needs thoughtful partnership with the community. Of course, a significant portion of this number needs to be affordable housing, and Scotts Valley absolutely needs a plan that ensures that people who work here can afford to live here.
This many new homes come with a nearly 50% increase in population and associated traffic, service and retail needs. One certain outcome is that the city needs to ensure that appropriately aligned incentives are in place so that homes are built in conjunction with appropriate retail, restaurant and infrastructure.
We should look at the problem, and in coordination with local, existing, population determine which sites fit, what types of housing maintain the “feel” of Scotts Valley. I believe new community members enrich, not detract, so overall this is a positive step forward.
In June, Santa Cruz voters rejected a half-cent sales tax — now a tax on empty homes is on the November ballot. What’s the state of the City of Scotts Valley finances? Do you anticipate asking voters to raise taxes?
Jim Reed: Our finances are far worse than they appear today. Remember, it’s only because of the previous trust demonstrated by our community that Scotts Valley has one of the highest local sales tax rates in California, 1.25 cents on every dollar spent.
Especially because of our relatively weak tax base, if we take that generosity for granted and the voters abandon us, we will lose our ability to provide even basic services. That’s why our government must do better about prioritizing police pay and always conducting ourselves to be worthy of the public’s trust; without it, it’s not hyperbole to say that we may not have a city at some point before long.
Scotts Valley is moving backwards on accountability, transparency and seemingly making it harder for the public to engage in government processes is so dangerous for exactly this reason, and why especially during these challenging times, we must do better!
Derek Timm: Our community expects a certain level of service from its local government — and Scotts Valley citizens prioritize the safety of the community and enjoyment of our open spaces. Therefore, ensuring the service level meets expectations will always be a question of adequate funding. Scotts Valley has an underlying challenge in its funding because we receive only 6.5% of the property taxes our citizens pay (other jurisdictions in our County receive 2 to 3 times as much).
Our city sued to increase this allocation and won (it used to be 4.5%), but still, we must make up for that difference in other areas. Certainly, the opening of Target and having our hotels and the 1440 Multiversity functioning back at capacity will help. Unlike Santa Cruz, Scotts Valley voters approved a special sales tax in March of 2020 — which helped our City avert a financial crisis.
Passage of the measure speaks to the trust our community has in the City leadership. As costs of services, wages and goods rise, the City may be faced with financial challenges in the future. It is important for the City to maintain the trust of the community so they know their tax dollars are well spent. I believe that as long as that trust exists, if we need help in the future, our community will be there to support our City.
Allan Timms: The current budget is positive, but I believe lacks long-term stability. As your readers are likely aware, the city revenues come disproportionally from sales and occupancy taxes (as opposed to coming from majority property taxes in other cities). This presents long-term challenges for the city, and before Measure Z times out, we need to look for a way to better stabilize the budget for the long term.
A raise of occupancy taxes from 11% to 12% seems to align with other cities and would clearly help. Bringing more retail and restaurant trade to Scotts Valley would also be a huge boost — with Target and the new performing arts center, there is a real opportunity to have visitors come to Scotts Valley as a destination and providing them with more places to spend while they’re here is a huge opportunity for us.
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For more information:
Jim Reed: www.joinjimreed.com • mobile 831-707-4993
Derek Timm: www.Timm4SV.com • Email Derek@Timm4SV.com • call 831.239.9203.
Allan Timms: www.timms.tv. • Email allan@timms.tv.