Good job city council. Its nice to see you out there with our staff folowing up on study. Good to know our money being spent after first being looked at by you. good example for other city councils.

Stop spending my money, Parks, Libraries, Civic Centers, Ball Fields, Now what gold plated sewers. Just because you have money doesn't mean you have to spend it.

Vote no on Any new tax increases,

"Stop spending my money, Parks, Libraries, Civic Centers, Ball Fields, Now what gold plated sewers. Just because you have money doesn't mean you have to spend it."

So you want your beloved Atherton to end up looking like something in Appalachia???

To My Money: I too dislike government waste but at some point you need to spend money to keep the infrastructure operable. I am not sure where the town wasted money on parks,the library or drain systems. If you know of specifics please inform us. Otherwise, work needs to be done and that costs money. Better to do it now than when parts of the town are underwater. Emergency repairs tend to be more expensive than preventative work.

Can you please put links to the documents discussed in this stories? Would be a great service. Thanks.

Here you go:Web Link .
I also added the link to the story. All the referenced documents are in this drainage study update.

Gutter politics

I most definitely hope that no taxpayer money is spent on making any new civic center facilities "green" or "greener" when we have important core infrastructure that must be maintained.

Here is what My money is talking about: although the city council had promised to abate the parcel tax if it wasn't needed, they reneged on this promise earlier this year when the city had a surplus. The promise was part and parcel (no pun intended) of getting the voters to approve the parcel tax.

Where is the city council spending money? Well, here's one glaring example. Hundreds of thousands of dollars of taxpayer money is being put away for the NEXT town center. You heard that right. Even though the one on the drawing board now hasn't raised the monies needed through private donations, and even though the voters said taxpayer money can't be used for it, just private donations, the city council figures our taxpayer money now can be squirreled away to pay for town center n+1 fifty or 100 years from now.

Isn't that incredible? @Area Resident, your retort sounds reasonable in a vacuum, but when you look at how this city council has spent and wasted money, you need to put things into perspective.

My Money Too is referring to a reserve fund Atherton established this year to replace capital facilities, worn out municipal buildings. The fund is similar to the equipment replacement fund Atherton has had for many years, which allows money to be saved in advance for a major expenditure on replacement of large maintenance equipment or town and police vehicles. Right now the new capital facilities reserve fund has $505,000 in it, money that the town had set aside in case there were unexpected costs when the town moved to a contract, rather than in-house, building staff. The money was no longer going to be needed for that, so the council voted to put it into this new fund.

While I'm in general agreement with "My Money" and "My Money too" (and it's hard to refute that the parcel tax was suppose to be abated if it wasn't needed for the intended purpose of the tax, and it's proven to not be needed), I'm actually OK with the continuation of the tax...if it addresses critical infrastructure issues.

And that has NOT happened.

While I appreciate the council walking the channel, attention to the channel is LONG OVERDUE. It is a ticking timebomb and has been so for years. Expansion of the channel should have already occurred, and I fear that other less-important projects are getting more attention than the channel.

Those of us that live in proximity to the channel will hold the town, county and state responsible if it floods and puts us in danger. The town, county and state are inviting litigation with people that have the means to crush them in court.

"The main thing is the keep the main thing the main thing." The channel is the main thing. Everything else in comparison is noise.

Get it done.

Barbara, your message is a little bit confusing. Did the town council use taxpayer money, or set it aside, to maintain a building that hasn't been built yet or not? Yes or no?