The city’s top elected officials agree the best way to save
$100,000 is by adding a year to city council terms.
Gilroy – The city’s top elected officials agree the best way to save $100,000 is by adding a year to city council terms.
The proposal to hold council elections on even-numbered years, such as 2008, emerged from budget sessions earlier this year. The city is struggling to plug multi-million dollar shortfalls in yearly revenues and officials believe shifting elections to overlap with state and federal races will save tens of thousands of dollars every election cycle.
The potential savings appealed to all council members Friday, who gave the thumbs up to the idea during a day of informal policy talks at the new police headquarters. Less appealing was the prospect of losing time on their four-year terms.
“We have voters who supported us,” Councilman Dion Bracco said, “so I think it should be to add a year, not take a year away.”
Bracco ascended to council from the planning commission in 2005. If council had chosen to fast-track the savings and opted for three-year terms, he would have faced reelection in 2008 rather than 2009. Under the formula tentatively agreed upon Friday, he and fellow councilmen Peter Arellano and Craig Gartman would likely see their terms extended through 2010. The candidates elected in 2007, meanwhile, would also see a five-year term ending in 2012.
“You guys were voted in for four years and you should have four years,” said Councilman Roland Velasco.
Velasco, who is up for reelection in November, initially considered and then dismissed the idea of three-year terms for candidates running in the fall election. Instead, officials agreed to postpone debate until spring 2008, meaning the matter will likely go before voters in November of that year. If approved, the first year the city will see a savings would be after the 2009 election, which would be pushed back to November 2010.
The plan to shift election years holds a fair share of pros and cons, according to city officials. In addition to cost savings, studies show that state and federal elections draw greater voter turnout than “off-cycle” election years. At the same time, local elections can get drowned out in the clamor surrounding national races.
Such considerations outweighed potential savings 20 years ago, the last time council debated the option, according to city officials. In 1987, officials opted to pass up the estimated $20,000 they would have saved from switching election years. This time around, council has found it harder to ignore the savings.
The 2005 election for three council seats cost less than $91,000 due to financial support from the state, which placed a number of the governor’s propositions on the ballot, according to a recent memo to council members from City Clerk Shawna Freels. The city will have to spend nearly double that amount for the November 2007 election, which includes the mayor, three council seats and a county measure but no state or federal elections.
Switching council races from odd-numbered to even-numbered years requires a voter-approved charter amendment. Placing the issue on the November 2007 ballot would have required council to pass a resolution by Aug. 6.
All Safe Seats?
On Friday, Mayor Al Pinheiro took the opportunity to clarify a statement he made earlier last week. He stated at the summit that he believes all council members should have a “safe seat” when making a mayoral bid, contrary to previous comments suggesting that he believed no council members should have the safety net of running for mayor with time left on their council terms. Such a move would have required all seven council seats to come up for election at a single time. Pinheiro is currently facing a challenge from Councilman Craig Gartman, who will remain in his seat two years if he loses the November mayor’s race to Pinheiro.
Under the current system, three of six council members are elected in the same year as the mayor and the other three are elected in so-called “off years.”
To level the playing field for all council members, Pinheiro said Friday that he would like to see the mayoral race moved to its own year. He quickly dismissed the idea after City Administrator Jay Baksa pointed out that it would negate the savings from having council races coincide with state and federal elections.
During debate of the change to election years, Pinheiro repeatedly urged council members to vote for a three-year term – joking several times that his family is pulling for that option.
“My bottom line is, if the reason we’re doing this is because we’re trying to save money, why are we putting it off?” Pinheiro said in an interview Monday. “By putting it off until next year, it automatically guarantees a five-year term.”
Pinheiro said he supports the idea of letting voters decide on term lengths. That item could be placed on the same ballot as the election-year issue at no additional cost to the city, according to Freels.
Councilman Russ Valiquette, who is recovering from minor surgery and missed the council debate on election years, said Monday he would rather see a year added to council terms than a year subtracted.
“That last year before your term is up, you’re already gearing up for your reelection,” he said. “It takes a little bit of your energy and focus off the city. To put somebody in the position of three years, you’re giving them just two, two-and-a-half years. I just feel it’s better to add a year.”
But he said he might be willing to let voters make the final decision on term length.
“If there was no additional cost involved, yeah, let the people decide,” he said. “If it’s going to be an additional cost … I think it would be better for council to decide.”
How it would work
Council members say they prefer to add a year to council terms, now four years each, under a plan to shift council elections to even-numbered years. Here is how the plan, aimed at aligning council elections with state and national races, might play out if voters approve the shift in 2008.
3 council seats currently slated to expire in 2009 would end in 2010. This shift would affect the following councilmen:
n Peter Arellano n Dion Bracco n Craig Gartman
3 council seats and mayor’s position slated to expire in 2011 would end in 2012. Those seats, up for renewal this fall,
currently belong to:
– Mayor Al Pinheiro n Paul Correa*
– Russ Valiquette
– Roland Velasco
*Correa is the only councilman who does not plan to seek re-election
