SAN JOSE — Regardless of a projected $27.7 million surplus, Mayor Sam Liccardo warns the town is going through a “constrained finances,” because it continues to offer residents with additional companies because the coronavirus pandemic enters its third 12 months.
Liccardo delivered the sobering information in his annual March finances message forward of the San Jose Metropolis Council’s finances deliberations.
During the last fiscal 12 months, the town used one-time funds from the American Rescue Plan to assist ship a slew of companies to residents together with meals distribution and broadband web. The funds had been part of President Joe Biden’s $1.9 trillion stimulus bundle to assist cities, counties and states by the pandemic.
But when San Jose desires to proceed offering the identical degree of companies, Liccardo stated it might put the town in a virtually $100 million deficit. Over the subsequent a number of weeks, the mayor stated the town will determine which one-time funded companies — like COVID-19 vaccine outreach — to discontinue.
On account of the present monetary image, the mayor is looking on the town to concentrate on a “very outlined set of priorities,” which incorporates homelessness, public security, blight and resilience.
In an interview, Liccardo referred to as homelessness the town’s “best disaster.” Since assuming workplace as a council member in 2007, he’s discovered some options are “cheaper, extra impactful and extra nimble than the acquainted tried and true approaches to homelessness.”
Within the upcoming fiscal 12 months, he desires San Jose to “double down” on three explicit methods and erect 1,000 fast construct flats by the tip of 2022, convert motels into housing and supply rental help to these getting ready to homelessness.
“What all of them have in widespread is they permit us to maneuver a lot sooner to get individuals off the streets extra successfully and to spend much less cash per particular person,” Liccardo stated.
The town broke floor final month on its fourth neighborhood of pre-fabricated flats that function transitional housing for homeless people. San Jose has constructed or deliberate 597 quick-build flats for the reason that begin of the pandemic and has transformed three motels — one among which was by Gov. Gavin Newsom’s Mission Homekey initiative.
The mayor additionally desires to proceed funding and develop two packages that target paying unhoused residents to scrub up the town’s streets: the San Jose Bridge Program and Money for Trash.
For the second time in his tenure as mayor, Liccardo desires to extend San Jose Police Division employees by including 15 new sworn officers this 12 months — bringing the whole to 1,168 officers — to concentrate on neighborhood foot patrol and home violence and sexual assault investigations.
The town misplaced greater than 500 officers in the course of the nice recession and pension battles within the early 2000’s, in keeping with Liccardo.
“We’re not going to get there, clearly, again to the place we had been in 2005, but when we are able to get to 1,200 officers that might make a big impact in our skill to reply to essential 911 calls, significantly predatory crime,” he stated.
After being unable to fund a foot patrol in downtown and different high-crime areas the final seven years because of staffing shortfalls at SJPD, Liccardo is hoping the extra hires will make it doable to create a chosen beat of strolling and biking cops.
With California persevering with to really feel the specter of wildfires, drought, earthquakes and rising sea ranges, the mayor desires the town to create a devoted place to work on initiatives that make San Jose “extra resilient to the challenges of our future, primarily by local weather change.”
“The basic downside is that this work, even after we allocate just a little cash for it, the work falls to the identical division administrators who're overwhelmed and understaffed and we’ve had a problem getting traction on it,” he stated.
Liccardo’s resiliency initiatives this 12 months consists of San Jose’s continued push to develop microgrids as PG&E struggles with service reliability throughout public security energy shutoffs. The microgrids would guarantee San Jose has energy within the occasion of catastrophe.
The council will vote on the mayor’s finances message at its March 15 assembly. A proposed finances shall be launched in Could based mostly on the mayor’s suggestions.