It is not a matter of money
In a recent opinion piece in The Californian, columnist Dan Walters wrote: “Being what it is, California has a mélange of complex public policy issues — some of them fully blown crises — that defy resolution year after year, decade after decade. Rather than recognize and deal with their complexities, the state’s politicians tend to condense responses into money.”
“When governments face challenges, money is only one factor, perhaps not the most important one. But unfortunately, when elected officials discuss these significant issues that affect their constituents’ quality of life, discussions begin and end with how much money is being spent, which provides a convenient excuse for failure.”
April 1 marks Measure N’s fourth anniversary. Back in 2018, the city of Bakersfield was in dire financial shape. When KernTax reviewed the city’s three previous years of financial records, we wondered how it even met its payroll. As Stockton demonstrated, municipal bankruptcies are not pretty. While city leaders bragged about being fiscally prudent and responsible, the city had no financial reserves; 12 percent of authorized employee positions were vacant, and public service levels were dramatically declining. Three options were on the table, all unacceptable: make service levels worse than they were, which was not sustainable; declare bankruptcy; or pass Measure N. Taxpayers held their noses and passed Measure N by 97 votes.
The city established 13 “investment priorities” for spending the new funds:
• Increasing police staffing to improve police response times, reduce crime, and increase neighborhood police patrols
• Improving rapid response to assaults and robberies
• Maintaining/improving response to gang violence
• Investigating and proactively preventing property crimes, burglaries, and vehicle thefts
• Keeping public areas safe and clean
• Strengthening the capacity of the Special Enforcement Unit
• Expanding the School Resource Officer Program
• Maintaining a fully staffed and equipped Class II Rated Fire Department
• Reducing homelessness through partnerships with service providers to increase outreach, sheltering, and construction of affordable housing.
• Addressing the fiscal stability of the city
• Creating jobs through economic development, business retention/attraction, and workforce development
• Enhancing amenities throughout the community to improve the quality of life and attract visitors.
• Enhancing neighborhoods through additional code enforcement and improved park maintenance.
Since 2019, the taxpayers have provided the city with an additional $350 million to address these goals. How would you, as a resident and a taxpayer, grade the city’s efforts to improve residents’ quality of life and make Bakersfield safer?
Well, honestly, the city has “successfully” addressed five of these “investment priorities” since 2019:
• The city has maintained and expanded its Class II-rated Fire Department, with its evaluation scores improving annually.
• The city now has fiscal reserves of more than $50 million.
• The city has created jobs by hiring hundreds of new employees.
• The city picked up 8,407,102 pounds of waste in 2020-2021. That is 20 pounds of garbage for each city resident.
• The city has enhanced amenities throughout the community, with the goal to improve the quality of life and attract visitors.
These were not the city’s top public priorities. By the city’s report, let’s talk about:
• Violent crime has increased by 40 percent.
• Priority 1 911 calls went up 8 percent, and police response times increased from six minutes to seven, a 17 percent increase. Heaven only knows what the response times are for other calls.
• Arson investigations increased from 464 to 765 in three years, a 65 percent increase.
• The city brags about four amenities: taxpayers must ask how many tens of millions of city and grant dollars have been invested in the Convention Center, Mesa Marin complex, the southwest sports complex, and the Brundage Lane Navigation Center. How many new visitors have been attracted?
Most importantly, the city must realize it is a service provider, no more, no less. In the real world, customer service is paramount. Bandages are not enough to solve Bakersfield’s critical issues.
Bill Gates said, “Your most unhappy customers are your greatest source of learning.”
The city must learn to be transparent and listen to its customers.