10A Action 2008 0902 - Laserfiche WebLink

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Emergency Communication System Access Fee September 2, 2008 911 Services are Critical to Public Safety and Welfare The City's 911 communication system directs critical police, fire and medical resources to calls for emergency services. The City's 911 program provides equipment, software, facilities and personnel staffing to operate an important and needed public service. In order to ensure and provide for the continued improvement of this service the City enacted an Emergency Communications System Access Fee Ordinance in 2004. The funds raised by the fee are restricted to the 911 program and cannot be used for other government services. As noted above, this funding source is now ]ost. As a result the City may be forced to reduce or eliminate other services in order to continue funding for the 911 program. A Proactive Response Given the legal challenges to the 911 Fee and the need to modernize the current ordinance, Council took proactive steps, in July of this year, to place an updated ordinance before the voters. More specifically, Council directed that an Emergency Communication System Access Tax Ordinance be placed before the voters at the upcoming November 4, general election. Since the tax is restricted as to its use, the tax would be a special tax and would require a 2/3 favorable vote for adoption. This approach, if approved by the voters removes any legal threat to an important City revenue source, protects the City's ability to continue to deliver critical city services and imposes the tax fairly across al] communication technologies. It should be noted that if the measure fails in November, then this revenue source will be lost to the City unless approved by the voters at a subsequent election. Financial Impact As noted earlier, the City's 911 Fee raises approximately $2.5 million annually to operate the City's 911 program. The ultimate financial impact to the City will depend on whether or not voters approve the 911 ballot measure at the November 2008 election and the extent to which refunds are sought by telephone subscribers, both individual and business. Subscribers may apply for refunds for 911 fees paid for the period September 1, 2007 through September 1, 2008. If the tax measure is approved, staff estimates that the City could lose revenue for the months of September through December 2008 or approximately $800,000. If the measure is not approved, ten months of revenue or approximately $2.0 million will be lost for fiscal year 2008-09 and $2.5 million per year there after. During the budget process for 2008-09, Council considered several responses to the current economic slowdown. Council's final action was to use some of the City's reserves to balance the General Fund operating budget and thereby maintain current levels of service to San Leandro residents. The impact to the General Fund for 2008-09 and assuming no other budget actions are taken by Council is summarized below.