The Morro Bay City Council has simplified its goals for the next couple of years, abandoning the incredibly lengthy list that was set down about a decade ago.
City Manager Yvonne Kimball said in an April 3 news release, that the Council had settled on just three goals: economic vitality and fiscal health; infrastructure “resiliency;” and Morro Elementary School.
It’s the Economy
Under Economic Vitality, the stated goal reads: “A vibrant and active business community supported by coordinated strategies for economic vitality and fiscal health that create the conditions for individual business success and the long-term fiscal health of the City.”
Economic vitality has long been a goal of the City, as it’s seen its once thriving business sector tail off considerably, especially after the coronavirus pandemic of 2020-22 and sales taxes level off after significant gains over several years.
There were four basic areas included in the economic vitality goals: downtown revitalization; general fund reserve analysis; revenue enhancement; and, planning and building services.
As for the town’s lifeblood — tourism, probably the best indicator has always been Transient Occupancy Taxes, which are based on a 10% tax on the cost of a room stay in hotels, motels, B&Bs, RV parks and vacation rentals, and is collected by the lodging properties. TOT, which used to see healthy growth year-after-year, too has started to slow.
The town’s property taxes have always been slow to grow, as the combination of high housing prices and opposition to growth have had dampening effects.
These are the big line items in the City’s budget, and all in all, the City’s budget is being predicted to go bust in just a few years.
When that happens, the City will face its largest budget crisis since 2005, when it had to close a $2 million deficit.
Actions?
What’s a City to do? The Goals list four things: using existing plans, “identify and implement programs for beautification, way finding signage, and incentivizing private property improvements, including façade rehabilitation.”
“Perform a risk-based analysis of the City’s Reserve Policy to identify appropriate reserve levels for long-term financial planning.”
“Develop a comprehensive strategy for increasing revenues over time to support the provision of core services.”
“Perform outreach and engagement with customers of the City’s planning and building permit services to identify changes to improve satisfaction and increase economic activity in the City associated with building permits.”
Infrastructure
As for infrastructure, the official goal statement said: “An infrastructure program that includes regular maintenance to prolong the life of existing infrastructure (streets, buildings, structures, equipment) while implementing a Capital Improvement Plan that prioritizes new projects in alignment with available resources (funding and staff).”
Here there are just three divisions — develop a five-year Capital Improvement Plan or CIP; infrastructure maintenance; and, harbor maintenance.
That last one could be back breaker, as a recent analysis and inspection just of the City’s rock revetment along the Bay, estimated repairs to be as much as over $50 million, with no funding source in sight.
With the maintenance issue, the City would “Increase the City’s efficiency and awareness of infrastructure maintenance requirements by improving the City’s asset management and work order system, including the functionality of the public-facing Service Request form.”
As it works now, on the Public Works website is a button that links to what is essentially a complaint form wherein residents can notify the City crews of big potholes or other infrastructure issues they might come across.
When used, the system works well, as crews are often quick to respond and head off any trouble before it gets to be a problem.
Morro Elementary
Morro Elementary School is a new and interesting goal, as the City had a chance to buy it shortly after the circa-1936 school was first closed in the early 2000s, due to falling enrollment.
Now, facing a budget crunch of its own, the San Luis Coastal Unified School District has decided it should sell Morro and Sunnyside School in Los Osos. Efforts are underway in both communities to try and buy the sites for community uses.
The goal says, “Work with the San Luis Coastal Unified School District to acquire the Morro Elementary School site or assist in development for the purpose of preserving community access, historic preservation, and/or housing development consistent with the City’s General Plan.”
The City’s goals statement lists three areas to work on — an acquisition plan; community engagement; and grants.
The goals say the City would identify developers who do affordable housing to fund buying the old school. Ironically, the school district once proposed building affordable housing for its staffers on the school’s considerable grounds, and was met with an uproar of opposition in the community. Continuing to explore housing as an option — affordable or not — is not likely to get much support from the citizens. Thus far the main desire expressed has been for recreational uses.
The City would, “Continue to engage with the community regarding uses of the school site that take into consideration the current land use designation for the property and cost of acquisition.”
When in need of money, local governments can either ask voters to raise their taxes, or tap other government agencies for grants, which ironically, derive from taxes as well.
“Identify potential grant opportunities for historic preservation, public access, and other beneficial uses of the property that could be supported by one or more grants,” the City’s goals document said.
But readers shouldn’t get too hopeful that with such a short goals list, the City will get them done. Each of these is unique in its difficulties, and potentially very costly.
