450. Budget in the East Bay, 1987; El Cerrito Had One Word Processor

No matter what financial problems plagued the East Bay in the late 1980s, you had baseball. Photo by Lloyd Francis.

450.

Published news story by Lurene Kathleen Helzer, El Cerrito Journal and/or Hills Publications, December 10, 1986, “1986-87 Budget Passed Finally By City Council”.

Email Lurene in 2014 at lurenexyz@gmail.com

Here is a section of the budget story. City budget stories are normally quite uninteresting, especially when more than two decades have passed; 2009 is closing as I post this little 1987 city budget story. But this story may be interesting for Californians today because it shows that those who run the state’s municipalities have been through financial crises before, and have found the paths through them. In the late 1980s, city managers and elected leaders were over and over and over again bashing California’s Proposition 13. It’s all we heard each night on local news shows as residents of the state – believe me!

But this small section gives some insight into attitudes and problems some Northern California local leaders adopted and faced through the difficulties:

“If we are going to continue the services we have with the city, we’re going to have to continue to revitalize” said El Cerrito council member and former mayor, Charles R. Lewis.

“I think most of the sophisticated developers in town will understand that the city is not an impediment to development…we’re not trying to come in with a bunch of restrictions like: ‘you can’t build this, you can build that,’” said Lewis.

“We are in the development business hand in hand with the developers.”

Cutbacks in city services were made in earlier years when, after the passage of Prop 13, the Council had to reduce allocations for street and park maintenance and eliminate some jobs. Now the Council is rebuilding what was lost or deferred during those years, Council members say.

A study initiated by the Council revealed that the City’s pension program was severely underfunded, Lewis said. Commenting on that study, he said the finding that the program was some two million dollars underfunded “shocked everyone.”

The results of a wage classification study found El Cerrito employees in some cases earning 28 percent less than their counterparts in other cities of comparable size, according to council member and mayor pro tempore, Anna G. Howe.

“The city’s limitations are still rather strong but were not laying off people,” said Howe. “We’re staying within the taxes that are allocated to us. We are adopting a very responsible and conservative fiscal line. We’re working for a government that has limits, but that works well within that limit.”

Another long-term project will be the purchase of computers, Howe indicated. She described it as a project that will enable the city to increase their services and process information more efficiently.

“It’s hard to believe in a city our size we have one word processor with two terminals,” said Lewis.


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