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CITY OF SAN LEANDRO <br />MEMORANDUM <br />DATE: March 2, 2012 <br />TO: Finance Committee <br />FROM: Chris Zapata, City Manager <br />BY: Jim O'Leary, Interim Finance Director <br />SUBJECT: Discussion Regarding Formation of Citizen Oversight Committee Required by the <br />Transaction and Use Tax (Measure Z) Ordinance <br />RECOMMENDATION <br />Staff recommends that the Finance Committee direct staff to prepare a resolution for City <br />Council approval establishing the composition of the Citizen Oversight Committee related to <br />Measure Z and defining the scope of responsibility of the committee. <br />BACKGROUND <br />At the Municipal election in November 2010, San Leandro voters approved the ordinance putting <br />in place a Transaction and Use Tax, the sales tax measure referred to a Measure Z, in San <br />Leandro. <br />The ordinance stated that at the time, local revenues were down $11.6 million over a 4 -year <br />period. As a result, the City had drastically reduced spending, including reducing staff by almost <br />20% over the prior two years (95 full -time positions), freezing most employee salaries, <br />implementing a two -tier retirement system, furloughing employees, closing City offices once a <br />month, and using a significant portion of the City's reserves. Without additional revenue, further <br />significant cuts would be necessary to address the budget shortfall. <br />Possible additional budget actions included eliminating 7 more police officers, a code <br />enforcement officer and an animal control officer, removing a Fire ladder truck and 9 <br />firefighters, dramatically reducing street repairs, libraries, senior programs, and youth recreation <br />programs. <br />Although approved by the voters in November 2010, the transaction and use tax ordinance <br />became operative on March 31, 2011. The tax first started to be collected on April 1, 2011. The <br />City received $869,000 during the initial quarter, April to June 2011. A complete, full -year of <br />the tax revenue, estimated at $3,600,000 will be collected during 2011 -12 and through November <br />2011, the City has recorded about $1,575,000. <br />