Danville's Budget is 'Very Strong' Says Mayor Andersen in State of Town Address

Danville Mayor Candace Andersen buzzed through the projects, services, and financials of the town of Danville on Thursday, giving a State of the Town address at the Crow Canyon Country Club. The Danville Area Chamber of Commerce hosted the event.

It was a presentation of positives while stating few challenges.

"We have a very strong budget," she said.

Everything seems to be trending upward, including property taxes. Property taxes peaked in 2008 at $11.2 million. Andersen said the budgeted revenue for 2012 is about $10.7 million. "We're back up, close to that number," she said.

Revenues for the town come in at about $29 million and expenditures are about $26.7 million. About $3.3 million was in surplus and transferred to the town's reserves.

The town's policy is to keep at least 20 percent equivalent of the budget in reserves in case of emergency. The town is exceeding its own policy tremendously with 41 percent in reserves, or about $11 million. "We're weathering this storm," Andersen said.

Two points that have helped Danville weather this story are its pension costs and staffing costs, Andersen said.

Danville participates in a , and not a defined benefit pension plan as many cities do. A defined-benefits pension plan guarantees specific payments to employees once they retire.

The other point is staffing. Danville has been able to contract and privatize its staffing levels, Andersen said. By doing this, during more leaner times, they can contract (or when the economy is good expand), fluidly.

Other key economic indicators she mentioned included:

The sales tax:

• Revenues peaked in 2007 at $3.5 million.
• Budgeted for 2012 exceeds that, however, at $3.53 million
• Building and planning charges for service are tracking slightly ahead of the 2011 budget.

Gas tax:

• Eighteen cents on the gallon go to the gas tax. Danville receives approximately 3.5 cents of that.
• For the first six months of 2012, revenues for that are down 9 percent.
• Budgeted revenues for 2012 is about 1 million.

Top seven sources of revenues include:

• Property Tax ($10.7 million)
• Salves Tax ($3.1 million)
• Local assessments ($3 million)
• Recreation fees ($2.2 million)
• Franchise Fees ($2 million)
• Development Fees ($1.5 million)
• Gas Tax ($1.2 million)

Top expenditures include:

• Police services ($7.9 million)
• Maintenance services $6.7 million)
• Development and Transpiration service ($4.5 million)
• General Government ($4.3 million)
• Recreation Services ($3.2 million)

Projects

Andersen also spent a lot of time talking about the many projects the town is involved in -- past, present, and future.

"Redevelopment is something that has really helped Danville," Andersen said.

However, as of Feb. 1, Danville's Redevelopment Agency was dissolved, a measure that was required by the state of California. Redevelopment Agencies helped the town identify areas of need and development. These projects included extending Railroad Avenue, the , redeveloping Front Street, as well as the and Community Center. In total, projects coming out of the redevelopment agency equaled about $53 million, Andersen said.

The elimination of the agency means that any projects the town wants to take on will have to be done so through the general fund. Town Manager Joe Calabrigo said that this means many more projects will be vying for a much smaller pot of money, meaning, most likely, less is going to be redeveloped.

Andersen said that with the dissolving of the redevelopment agency, the town is owed approximately $8 million in funds from the Community Redevelopment Agency, which the town paid into. The town is the successor agency, she said, and an oversight board will be working toward capturing that $8 million.

Beyond redevelopment projects, Andersen also spoke of new and old developments of the town.

The biggest announcement was that the project is coming to a close and open for business on April 28, when the town is set to have an unveiling. This was an $8.2 million renovation and addition project that pulled in $590,000 in donations.

There are also a few projects on the horizon. One is the often asked about Danville Hotel.

"This is always a number one question to council and its moving forward," Andersen said. Demolition could begin as early as fall and construction as early as spring, she said.

New housing develops she discussed included the Podva and SummerHill Homes projects. The Podva project is putting 20 lots on 9.2 acres of space, but keeping 100 acres of open space. The SummerHill project is much bigger with 400 acres of space with 80 homes. This particular project, she said, is still being studied, but added that the town encourages all developments to cluster on the valley floor and retain Danville's open space.

In all, Andersen said the town has 52 active projects out of the capital improvement project fund.

Download the attached PDF of Mayor Andersen's presentation.

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