League of Women Voters of California
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Measure F City Services Improvements City of Albany Bond Issue - 2/3 vote 3639 / 69.4% Yes votes ...... 1607 / 30.6% No votes
See Also:
Index of all Measures |
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Results as of Nov 15 4:54pm, 100.0% of Precincts Reporting (11/11) |
Information shown below: Fiscal Impact | Impartial Analysis | Arguments | | ||||||||||||||||
In order to repair and improve recreational facilities; prepare Fire, Police and other City services and buildings for earthquakes and other disasters through retrofit or replacement; improve traffic safety for pedestrians, bicyclists, and motorists; create new parks and improve existing parks; and resurface city streets; shall the City of Albany issue $14.5 million of bonds at tax-exempt rates, subject to guaranteed annual audits?
The following information regarding tax rates is given to comply with Section 9400 to 9404 of the Elections Code. The best estimate of the tax rates which would be required to be levied to fund the bond issue and an estimate of the year in which such rates would apply, based on a projection of assessed valuation based on information presently available from official sources, upon experience within the City, and other demonstrable factors, expressed as a rate per $100 of assessed valuation, is as follows:
The actual tax rates and the years in which such rates are applicable may vary from those currently estimated, due to variations from the official projections and estimates in the timing of bond sales, the amount of bonds sold at any time, the interest rates on the bonds, and the assessed values in the several future years during which the bonds are to be repaid. The estimates are based upon projections and are not binding upon the City. The actual timing of the bond sales and the amount of the bonds sold at any time will be governed by the needs of the City and the then-applicable debt limit. The actual interest rates on the bonds will be based on the market tax-exempt interest rates at the time of the sale of the bonds. The actual assessed values during the several future years will depend upon the amount of taxable property within the City and the value of that property as determined in the assessment and equalization process.
Dated: August 8, 2002
The money raised would be used to finance: The bonds would be repaid by ad valorem taxes imposed on property within the City of Albany. Each bond would have a maturity not exceeding thirty years from the date of issuance. The estimated average annual tax to repay the bonds is $81.55 per $100,000.00 of assessed value of property. Property owners can determine the assessed value of their property from statements from the County Assessor's office or tax bills. s/ROBERT ZWEBEN
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Arguments For Measure F | Arguments Against Measure F | ||
Safe streets and buildings for the future. Improved parks and recreation space
for our children, seniors, and others. Traffic calming in our neighborhoods.
Repaving our streets. Disaster-safe fire, police and other city facilities that will
withstand earthquakes so that emergency personnel are available to help us in a
disaster.
Measure F brings these improvements to our city. Our Senior Center, Child Care Center, Teen Center, and Community Center are in continuous need of repairs and improvements. Our neighborhoods have said, "Slow down the traffic!" Our Fire and Police stations and City Hall are at risk in the event of a major earthquake # endangering our employees and trapping the fire engines in the station. Our roads are deteriorating at a rate greater than the available funding to maintain them # resulting in more costly reconstruction if we wait until later. We now have a unique opportunity to acquire a much needed park space from the old Caltrans freeway land adjacent to Pierce Street and to improve our existing parks. What helps make Albany an attractive place to live, a healthy place to raise our children, and a close-knit community is our commitment to a family-friendly city. Measure F is an opportunity to affirm this commitment with specific investments that will help ensure that we can more safely walk, bicycle, and drive in our city, enjoy safe and accessible parks and recreation space and have emergency personnel available to us in a time of disaster. The passage of Measure F makes Albany eligible for matching grant funds for projects that we otherwise cannot afford. We cannot pass up these grant monies and let them go to other cities. Keep Albany safe, improve it for our children, and invest in our future. Vote
"Yes" on Measure F.
We are sliding down a slippery slope of taxes, taxes and more taxes. Eventually
excessive taxation will depress our property values. You may recall that a
certain eastern state got the invidious nickname of "Tax-achusetts". We do not
want to become known as "Take-It-All-bany."
We owe it to ourselves and our descendants to thoroughly examine all the alternatives.
We can explore the idea of development along the freeway. Golden
Gate Fields has some ideas on the drawing boards we could take a look at. We
also might explore other sources of income with community brainstorming
meetings like we used in the early 90's. Vote "No" on all three tax measures.
| The Council has avoided spelling out exactly how you will be taxed to pay for
this bond issue, but their own staff report estimates a hefty property tax
increase of $93 per $100,000 valuation. A $400,000 property could see an
increase of $372. The ballot description fails to mention a tax increase. Even the
full Council resolution printed in your voter's booklet never mentions taxes.
Perhaps they hope voters won't realize what a large tax increase this is.
The world will not come to an end if some of these projects are delayed. Go take a look at the "improved" lower Solano Avenue and ask yourselves whether this is actually better than the green-canopied Solano of old. Take a look at the mess our library building is in after only nine years. What kind of quality control does Albany use on projects? Shouldn't they take a break to carefully re-examine their procedures? It is better to do it right the first time. The principle of how future City projects will be funded is crucial. We cannot afford to have our taxes escalated without restraint.
Albany has failed to follow through on income producing projects such as the
voter approved Golden Gate Fields cardroom which could have eliminated the
need for all three measures currently on this ballot. If the council had not
been dominated by an anti-cardroom majority, a replacement measure could
have long ago been placed before the voters to overcome the legal objections of
cardroom opponents. The Council must respect the expressed wishes of the voters
above its own ideologies and work harder at developing alternate sources of
income instead of always tapping our pockets whenever it needs money. Send
them a message by voting against all three Albany ballot measures.
The Community Center and Library building is a hugely popular and wise public
investment, built with contractor agreements and insurance protections to
cover current repairs.
Vote `YES" ON MEASURE F.
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