Culver City Vice-Mayor: Why Budget Cuts Are Not Enough to Do Away with Measure Y

As I have spoken to people about supporting Measure Y, many of them ask me why City Hall is not doing more to trim the budget and make cuts instead of pushing a sales tax measure. Once I explain that the City Council has renegotiated contracts with all of the city unions that include a reduction in pension and medical benefits and that City Hall has reduced staff by 18 percent, people begin to get it.

I then explain this was all done prior to the state dissolving our Redevelopment Agency, a move that took $8 million a year out of our City coffers. Measure Y will fill this gap and allow us to maintain the great services our Fire, Police and Emergency services provide on a daily basis. These services and those provided by other City departments as well as many City-supported programs are endangered if Measure Y does not pass.

If Measure Y passes, a half-cent of every dollar you and any other resident and non-residents spend in our City will stay in our City and be spent to keep Culver City the way many of us want it to be: a safe, well kept gem.

Sincerely,

Jeffrey Cooper

Vice-mayor

Editor’s note: Letters may be edited for brevity and clarity.

Click here to read more on Measure Y.

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