The Atherton City Council has a packed schedule for its final meeting of the year when it meets tonight, Dec. 18. The agenda includes a vote on which council members will serve as mayor and vice mayor during 2020.
The council votes annually on who will fill the two roles, which are largely ceremonial. Bill Widmer served as mayor this year, while Rick DeGolia was vice mayor. Council members Elizabeth Lewis and Cary Wiest are up for re-election next November, according to the town's website.
The council will also provide direction to staff on awarding a contract for city attorney services, according to a staff report. A new city attorney is not named in the report, but the report states that the council interviewed four candidates.
City Attorney Bill Conners will retire on Dec. 31. The council will recognize Conners for his service to the town during the meeting.
The council will also discuss the town's fire services, according to a staff report. For years, the council has complained about the disparity between the fixed percentage of tax revenues the town's property owners hand over to the Menlo Park Fire Protection District in return for emergency response services, and how much it actually costs the district to provide those services to the town.
In October, the council directed a subcommittee to meet with representatives from the San Mateo County Local Agency Formation Commission (LAFCo) to explore possible steps the town might take to detach from the fire district or other solutions, according to the staff report.
The subcommittee met with LAFCo in November, and reported that the oversight agency made clear that it doesn't support the town’s breakaway from the fire district, and that the consolidation of services, even at the countywide level, is the best course.
"Overall, LAFCo advised that they did not have concerns about the fiscal equity issue(s) raised by the Town and felt that remaining in the District provided the best opportunity, not only for Atherton, but for other communities within the district’s boundaries," staff writes in the report. “At this time, the Town, Council, and Council Subcommittee have spent at least 5 years working with the District to identify and solve an equity issue between the cost to provide fire services to Atherton residents and the revenue provided to the District by Atherton residents."
Based on feedback and discussions with the district, the council will consider the following options:
• Further public education and engagement on the issue.
• Completion of a formal LAFCo application for detachment from the fire district.
• Further conversation with county and/or state legislators about possible legislative relief.
• Further conversation with the fire district to pursue equity.
• End further pursuit of the issue.
Staff will also introduce revisions to the town's heritage tree ordinance in light of a recent increase of dying heritage trees because of home construction and drought, according to the staff report.
The council will potentially vote on the changes, which include requiring residents to pay a security deposit to ensure town-approved heritage tree replacements are permanently established and maintained.
Other changes: Residents would be required to provide details about the surveyed location, size/trunk diameter and dripline — the outermost circumference of a tree's canopy, from which water drips onto the ground — of all heritage trees within 15 feet of a shared property line within their construction project site plan.
The council will review donations for, along with the naming rights, to specific buildings or elements of the town’s $31.6 million new civic center project, scheduled for completion in 2021, from a specified list of donors, according to the staff report.
Atherton Now, a nonprofit formed to raise private funding for the new center, told the town it received a donation from a donor in the amount of $50,000 in exchange for naming rights to the K9 Corner in the new civic center, staff reports. The donor is the same person or group that provides annual donations to the town in support of the K9 Program.
The full meeting agenda can be viewed here. Light refreshments will be served at the meeting.
The meeting will take place at 7 p.m. in Holbrook-Palmer Park’s Pavilion, 150 Watkins Ave. in Atherton.
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Comments
Registered user
Atherton: Lindenwood
on Dec 18, 2019 at 3:17 pm
Registered user
on Dec 18, 2019 at 3:17 pm
" For years, the council has complained about the disparity between the fixed percentage of tax revenues the town's property owners hand over to the Menlo Park Fire Protection District in return for emergency response services, and how much it actually costs the district to provide those services to the town."
And after costing taxpayers over $100k here is where the attempted shake down of the Fire District has ended up ( from Town's own Staff Report):
"Based on the results of the Study and subsequent conversations with the District and LAFCO, it
is unlikely that a tax agreement could be negotiated; unlikely that Special Legislation would be
supported; and a detachment application through LAFCO, although it could be pursued and
would be processed, would not be supported by LAFCO staff. "
All of these outcomes were known to the Council BEFORE they wasted a single penny of the taxpayers' dollars.
Given our well accepted progressive tax system there is not a single public service where wealthy Atherton residents do not pay far more than the cost of those services.
Nevertheless this tone deaf Council wants to steal from the poor to give to the wealthiest Town in the Nation.
And the Council's dirty little secret is that IF they got money from the Fire District that would not reduce the property taxes of Atherton residents by a single penny but it would reduce the level of fire services for everybody in the Fire District.
Stupid and selfish are words too mild for this behavior.
Note that 32% of the property taxes paid by Atherton residents go to elementary and high schools.
How many Atherton residents attend public elementary schools and public high schools?
What is the property tax contribution per Atherton student attending a public elementary or public high school?
Note that 24% (including ERAF) of the property taxes paid by Atherton residents go to San Mateo County.
Just what services does the County provide to Atherton residents?
What does it cost the County to provide those of the services to Atherton residents ?
Has the Town Council ever asked these questions?
Atherton residents pay over $100 million a year in Federal income taxes.
As the self proclaimed overseers of everything that their residents do has the Town Council determined:
- How much the Federal government spends to serve the residents of Atherton vs how much those residents pay the Federal government?
Atherton residents pay tens of millions a year in income taxes to the State of California.
As the self proclaimed overseers of everything that their residents do has the Town Council determined:
- How much the State government spends to serve the residents of Atherton vs how much those residents pay the State government?
Menlo Park: Downtown
on Dec 18, 2019 at 9:32 pm
on Dec 18, 2019 at 9:32 pm
The Town is not part of the Fire District in that the FD was not formed as the result of a merging or consolidations of fire departments; in the same way that neither are Cities Menlo Park or East Palo Alto. Therefore, the Town cannot withdraw from the Fire District. MPFD is a stand-alone agency. In fact the FD pre-dates all the cities and town it serves.
The Town has expended considerable time, energy and money and keeps getting told no -- seems to me this is more of an issue annoying the Town Council than the residents.
Time to move on.