Dear Editor,
As one of the City Council members of San Juan Bautista I want to urge everyone that the emphasis of conversations about the city needs to be on securing a long-term, vibrant future for the City of San Juan Bautista.
These are challenging times for all governments. San Juan Bautista’s challenges are no different than those of other governments in California – costs are exceeding revenues. Quite simply, there are increasing demands and stagnant revenues. Hollister has a multi-million dollar budget shortfall, which they are handling by using their reserves (reserves are the government term for the savings accounts). The County of San Benito is continuing to work within limited resources and tapping their reserves.
San Juan Bautista is taking a different approach; the city is working hard to live within the limits of our current income or revenue stream. The city is not using our limited reserves to continue spending more than our revenues. The city has made lots of change to accomplish this – budgets have been cut, processes have been streamlined, personnel has been changed, to name a few items. The city will continue to make the budget cuts required to keep the city spending only the money that comes in on a regular basis rather than spending our reserves.
In looking forward, I believe the city can have a bright future. The city is already working on:
1. The South San Juan Specific Plan: The key element of the economic future of San Juan Bautista in providing new jobs and tax revenues for both the city and the county);
2. An AIA (Association of America Architects) Design Charette designed to provide creative solutions to our historic building challenges
3. Two election items would bring the city additional dollars for both operations and capital expenses. Measure B would make the changes required to the city’s housing element to make the city eligible for Community Development Block Grants, and Measure C raises the sale tax.
4. Water/sewer project: Contrary to pubic belief, the city is aggressively moving forward on this project and is pursuing funding options.
5. A new reclaimed water plant grant of $94,005 from the Regional Water Quality Control Board
6. Moving ahead on downtown public bathrooms thanks to Earthbound Farms
7. Street, sidewalk and gutter improvements along Third Street that are currently underway
8. Further implementation of a new financial system to provide transparency in our city finances including financial reports posted monthly to the city’s Web site
9. A revitalized city Web site with information on operations, forms and attractions in the city
10. Sewer plant maintenance project to upgrade lining in Pond 2
11. An upgrade of the Lang Street lift station
12. A renovation project for the Community Center
13. Coordinating a noise mitigation study for the 156 with CalTrans
These are just few of the things that the city is working on. Reliance on rumor and misunderstanding does not help anyone, I urge people to talk to their City Council members and get the up-to-date facts, check out the progress that has been made, and check out the ideas and possibilities for a great future. If everyone works together, in cooperation with the county and other public entities servicing our area, we can pull together with a positive point of view and look to create a bright future. As business owners and residents, we can make that a bright future the future reality for San Juan Bautista.
George Dias, City Council member
