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Thousand Oaks may survey residents about revenue needs
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More from Conejo ValleyIn need of new revenue amid the current fiscal crunch, the city of Thousand Oaks, along with the school district and park district, is considering a survey of residents to see which money-generating ideas the public will support.
The Conejo Valley Unified School District's Board of Education has already given the OK to a survey, and the City Council will be asked to sign off on the plan at its meeting tonight.
The Conejo Recreation and Park District's Board of Directors will weigh in on Thursday.
The survey will query residents about revenue generators, such as a parcel tax, sales tax increase or business-license tax increase, that might be palatable to them.
"It makes sense to go to the public and see what they would want, because all of them would have to be voted on," said Candis Hong, city finance director.
The idea for the survey was born out of a coalition formed by the three entities in March as the financial forecast looked increasingly dim, with the state's budget crisis, a slowing local economy, declining revenues, and an aging population with fewer schoolchildren.
The same night in March that the council voted to move forward with the three-way partnership, the Board of Education voted to close two Conejo Valley schools because of declining enrollment.
The city, school district and park district will review ways to save money by collaborating on programs and services or eliminating and reducing them.
If the City Council and park district board of directors sign off, a request for proposals will go out for a firm to conduct the survey.
The cost of the survey is expected to be from $20,000 to $50,000.
The council will be asked to approve $20,000 to pay for the survey.
The school and park districts will also chip in, with the school district, like the city, likely covering 40 percent and the park district picking up 20 percent of the tab, according to a report prepared for the council.
The council will meet at 6 p.m. tonight in the Forum Theatre at the Civic Arts Plaza, 2100 Thousand Oaks Blvd.
Posted by JohnGC on April 22, 2008 at 12:29 p.m. (Suggest removal)
As an adjunct the survey should solicit remarks and suggestions re where tax dollars can be saved. For instance the yearly $100,000.00 of tax dollars spent on the casual labor pick-up site should definitely be cancelled.
Posted by sokol_kiev on April 22, 2008 at 1:44 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Good point, JohnGC. Not sure why the T.O. City Council feels the need to look for "revenue generators" when common sense would dictate that the first step would be to determine which existing expenditures can be / should be eliminated. And the unjustifiable $100,000 annual expenditure of our tax dollars to maintain their precious Day Laborer Site should be the first thing eliminated!
I encourage everyone to not wait for this survey. Share your thoughts & suggestions directly with our T.O. City Council now either in person at tonight's meeting, or via email or a phone call:
Dennis C. Gillette:
Email: dgillette@toaks.org
Tel: 805/449-2105
Andrew P. Fox:
Email: cnclmanfox@aol.com
Tel: 805/449-2101
Claudia Bill-de la Peña:
Email: claudia4slowgrowth@roadrunner.com
Tel: 805/449-2103
Jacqui V. Irwin:
Email: jacqi@earthlink.net
Tel: 805/449-2104
Thomas P. Glancy:
Email: tglancy@toaks.org
Tel: 805/449-2102
Posted by Face on April 22, 2008 at 2:33 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Make property owners pay property tax based on the value of their homes, not on the value 10 years ago. Mission Accomplished.
Posted by nplocal on April 22, 2008 at 2:48 p.m. (Suggest removal)
To be completely honest I am actually kind of suprised that teacher unions have not been making a bigger of these budget cuts to the media. I think the education budget cuts are a big problem for our children. Yes parents can do their part but the state politicians are more likely to listen to parents if they are backed by the unions.
If California were it's own country it would be one of the top 10 richest countries in the world, yet if these education budget cuts go through we will be 50th in the nation for educational spending.
Within the next month many of our children in grades 3-11 will be taking the S.T.A.R. test. In addition high school students need to take the high school exit exam. If there is a high school exit exam then why is the S.T.A.R test also given to high school students.....isn't that just redundant??? How much money is spent each year on these state given exams, that I sadly would say most students don't really try on anyway. How much does it cost to give this test to one student? Consider the printing of the test booklets, test answer sheets, shipping of the tests to the school and then back to be graded, and the actual grading of the tests. Now I am not claiming to know the exact figure but I would guess somewhere between $25 - $45 per student. Now lets take the lower number of that estimate and multiply it by howe many students take the test. Lets just say we have 5 million students who take the S.T.A.R. test annually. That would be $125million dollars each year budgeted towards, and lets be really honest, a test that most students do not take seriously.....not to mention that it is a redundant test since all students need to also take the California High School Exit Exam.
The State is not supporting our children so maybe we shouldn't support the state on S.T.A.R. testing. This can't be promoted by school employees but it can be promoted by parents. What if parents boycotted the S.T.A.R. testing and did not allow their children to take the test. I know this may seem like a radical idea to some, but things have to get done to show more of the public what is happening to our education system and children.
Posted by kelly13 on April 23, 2008 at 10:35 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Let's start with the obvious...eliminate funding illegal activity and save $100,000.00 per year. No day labor site needed or wanted
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