Survey about Lodi services
City wants to know what resources matter most
Do you think the Lodi police and fire departments need more resources? Do you visit the Lodi Public Library regularly? How about the city’s parks?
The City of Lodi sent a survey to Lodi residents last week in an attempt to gauge which services they value most.
“The city is committed to communicating with our citizens about what’s important to them, and we are looking at what services are most important and what people are prioritizing,” Lodi City Manager Steve Schwabauer said.
Everyone on the city’s mailing list should have received the survey via mail, Schwabauer said. In February, the city sent out a similar survey to a handful of citizens via text message.
This is an opportunity for residents who didn’t take part in that survey to give their input, Schwabauer said.
On the survey, residents are asked to prioritize a list of services, and were able to give unscripted feedback about the quality of service they would like to receive. City services on the survey include fire, public safety, parks and the library.
“We haven’t made any secret to the fact that, yes, our revenue is growing, but our expenses are growing faster,” Schwabauer said.
Within the next two years, expenses will grow past the city’s revenue, and Lodi may need to explore cutting services and reducing employees, he said.
“It’s an extraordinarily stressful thing to think about,” Schwabauer said. “I don’t relish the idea of cutting services to the members of the public who rely on the services the city provides for the quality of their life, and I certainly don’t relish the idea of sending anybody home without a job.”
Lodi does have some reserves, which can be used to address the shortfall for a time, but that will only delay the problem, he said.
Outreach to citizens will help the city determine which services to cut when the time comes. The survey can also gauge whether city residents would consider a tax measure to maintain the current services offered by the city.
Lodi’s pension costs are a major driver of the city’s increase in expenses, Schwabauer said.
As of June 30, 2016 — the city’s most recent actuarial — Lodi’s total unfunded pension liability was about $130 million, Schwabauer said.
Schwabauer expects a change in that number when the city’s new actuarial — effective as of June 2017 — is received in August. The market has done fairly well, he said, and CalPERS has adjusted its estimates for how much funding it needs to collect from each city.
This year, pension costs were about 16 percent of the city’s general fund budget; they were about 14.3 percent the previous year, he said.
Schwabauer made it clear that city has intentions of trying to get a tax measure on the November ballot.
“City staff are exploring a revenue measure so our citizens will have an opportunity to decide in November, assuming the council passes it, whether or not they would like to maintain services,” he said.