This story originally appeared in the Oct. 16 edition of the Daily Post. To get all of the local news first, pick up the Post in the mornings. Our competition does — that’s where they get their story ideas.
BY AMELIA BISCARDI
Daily Post Staff Writer
Officials in Portola Valley — one of the wealthiest cities in the United States — need to make some quick decisions because the town’s spending is exceeding the government’s revenues.
A possible way to keep the town from going broke by 2028 could be by raiding the town’s open space fund, committee members suggested at a Finance Committee meeting Oct. 15.
The open space fund is a fund meant to maintain the town’s bucolic open space it’s known for and prevent over-development. It has about $8 million in the bank. In order to transfer the money to the city’s main bank account called the general fund, two-thirds of voters would have to approve it, according to Finance Director Anthony McFarlane.
The town is looking for cash because taxes and fees have not kept up with outside costs. The town has patched up its finances using one-time funds, according to McFarlane. The town has also missed years of audits.
Finance Committee chair George Savage said while the town has some money, most of it is restricted for a specific purpose such as housing or open space. Some of those funds, like government grants, can only be used for specific purposes but others can be transferred to the general fund by a two-thirds majority vote of residents.
Another option was the idea of taking out short-term loans by committee member Michele Takei, however, McFarlane said that that will not solve the problem.
McFarlane said the town was able to cut back on spending, but one of the town’s biggest expenditures, the contract with the San Mateo County Sheriff’s Office, has increased by $419,521 since 2020 and will continue to go up.
No options proposed could be voted on by residents until the earliest March, but McFarlane said the council will need to decide what to put on the ballot. The town will need to have election proposals submitted to the county by Dec. 6.
The town has 15 employees. However, some high-ranking positions are currently empty, such as town manager, city clerk and town engineer.
Savage said normally the town keeps its revenues at least 2.5% more than expenditures, but now the town is facing a huge hole because they didn’t follow that guideline.
The committee discussed how to balance the budget yesterday and whether or not they should keep money in the reserves. The committee will send the town council a summary of the options for their Oct. 23 meeting.
Councilman Craig Taylor said council is looking for short-term options with pros and cons for each option it will review.
Committee members and residents were split on whether or not they should continue to have reserves going forward. Member Mark Waissar said he believes that because the city had the reserves to fall back on, they were able to get into this hole.
“I get that people are whining about their taxes,” resident David Cardinal said. “But we are the second richest zip code in the country and maybe the world.”