Click this link to optimize Open Town Hall for screen readers Skip to Content
Open Town Hall
Opengov

2022 Palo Alto Budget Priorities

376 registered responses


Please prioritize the following Citywide Service Areas.

Average priorities over 376 responses
  1. This service area includes the Community Services Department and the Library Department.


     

    Community/Library Services
  2. This service area includes the Fire Department, the Police Department, and the Office of Emergency Services

    Public Safety
  3. This service area includes the Planning and Development Services Department, the Public Works Department, the Utilities Department, and the Office of Transportation. 

    Planning/Transportation
  4. This service area includes the Administrative Services Department (finance), the Human Resources Department, the Information Technology, and City Council and Appointed Offices (City Clerk, City Attorney, City Auditor, and City Manager).

    Strategic Support

From the list of FY 2021-22 Proposed Budget reductions listed below, please prioritize up to ten (10) items that are the most important to you to restore if funding becomes available. Ranking #1 means this item is your highest priority service to be restored, if additional funding is available.

Average priorities over 376 responses
  1. This action would restore funding and staffing to open the three neighborhood branches to the public limited days per week when safe to do so and maintain programming at FY 2021 levels.

    Neighborhood Libraries and Maintain Distribution Services
  2. This action would restore staffing at the Children's Theatre including costume design and customer-service front-desk support positions. 

    Children's Theatre Operations and Production Staffing
  3. This action would restore staffing for Police Officer positions in the Patrol Services division to maintain response times and ensure responses to various types of calls for service that would otherwise not receive a resource.

    Police Patrol Staffing
  4. This action would restore funding and staffing to increase operating hours and programming, including exhibitions, at the Palo Alto Art Center and hold fees at their current rate.

    Arts Center Operating Hours & Programming and Increase Fees
  5. This action restores funding to maintain the transfer from the General Fund to the Capital Improvement Fund for maintaining the City's infrastructure and capital project investments.

    Investment in the City's Infrastructure Catch-up and Keep-up
  6. This action would restore funding for City-provided crossing guards at all schools; the budget includes funding only for high-traffic intersections that are part of common routes to schools.

    Crossing Guard Services 50%
  7. This action would restore funding and staffing to provide summer camp bus transportation services, increase sports and recreation programming, and lessen the increases for athletic field rental rates.

    Sports and Recreation Programming and Increase Fees
  8. This action restores funding to provide services at Fire Station #2 on weekdays from 8 AM to 8 PM dependent on staffing.

    Emergency Incident Response Services Brown Out (Fire Station 2)
  9. This action would restore Teen Center operations from two days to five days per week with commensurate staffing and preserve funding in the Think Fund/Bryant Street garage fund.

    Teen Center Operations and Use the Think Fund/Bryant Street Garage Fund
  10. This action would augment funding for the City Council's "Climate Change Protection and Adaptation" priority.

    Funding for 2021 Council Priority: Climate Change Protection and Adaptation
  11. This action would augment funding for the City Council's "Housing for Social and Economic Balance" priority.

    Funding for 2021 Council Priority: Housing for Social and Economic Balance
  12. This action would restore 50% of the marketing budget for the Junior Museum and Zoo to better promote the newly constructed facility.

    Junior Museum and Zoo Marketing Resources
  13. This action restores staffing in the Police Department responsible for fabricating and maintaining traffic devices to improve response times for work orders and increase support for special events and operations.

    Traffic Control Staffing
  14. This action would restore funding and staffing to maintain public open hours at the Lucy Evans Baylands Nature Interpretative Center once it is safe to operate.

    Baylands Interpretive Center Public Hours
  15. This action would augment funding for the City Council's "Economic Recovery" priority.

    Funding for 2021 Council Priority: Economic Recovery
  16. This action would augment funding for the City Council's "Social Justice" priority.

    Funding for 2021 Council Priority: Social Justice
  17. This action would restore funding for annual maintenance of the IDS cameras along the Caltrain corridor; current maintenance needs are low since it is a relatively new system.

    Railroad/Train Crossing Intrusion Detection System (IDS) Maintenance
  18. This action would restore staffing and funding for administrative support in the Community Services Department including the production of the Enjoy! Catalog. 

    Community Services Enjoy! Catalog Production
  19. This action would restore staffing to manage the rental process, payment processing, event schedule, and other administrative tasks to support Cubberley theater operations.

    Cubberley Theater Operations Staffing
  20. This action would restore staffing in the Current Planning division to increase operational efficiency, decrease processing timelines for issuing permits, and increase customer service.

    Current Planning Staffing
  21. This action restores staffing in the Public Art Division that supports the Cubberley Artist Studio Program (CASP) which is a City-sponsored affordable studio space for artists.

    Cubberley Artist Studio Administration Staffing
  22. This action would restore funding for transcription and production of sense minutes for all City Council and standing committee meetings.

    Meeting and Public Hearing Support Services
  23. This action restores staffing responsible for managing the parking division and adjudicating hearings related to parking citations.

    Parking Enforcement Staffing
  24. This action restores funding for various administrative programming expenses including travel, supplies, and general expenditures to support programmings such as National Night out and the Parent Project.

    Police Related Administrative Programming
  25. This action restores funding for the City's planning and consulting services for on-call engineering and traffic data services as well as meeting transcription services for Pedestrian and Bicycle Advisory Committee meetings and the City/School Traffic Safety Committee meetings.

    Transportation and Parking Consultant Services
  26. This action restores funding for the City's federal advocacy work and maintains the frequency of the National Citizen's Survey on an annual basis.

    Federal Lobbyist and National Citizen's Survey

Please share any additional comments on the 2022 Proposed Budgets.

Answered
197
Skipped
179
Name not shown in Midtown/ Midtown West
May 21, 2021, 9:58 AM
  • Please prioritize the following Citywide Service Areas.
    1. This service area includes the Community Services Department and the Library Department.


       

      Community/Library Services
    2. This service area includes the Fire Department, the Police Department, and the Office of Emergency Services

      Public Safety
    3. This service area includes the Planning and Development Services Department, the Public Works Department, the Utilities Department, and the Office of Transportation. 

      Planning/Transportation
    4. This service area includes the Administrative Services Department (finance), the Human Resources Department, the Information Technology, and City Council and Appointed Offices (City Clerk, City Attorney, City Auditor, and City Manager).

      Strategic Support
  • From the list of FY 2021-22 Proposed Budget reductions listed below, please prioritize up to ten (10) items that are the most important to you to restore if funding becomes available. Ranking #1 means this item is your highest priority service to be restored, if additional funding is available.
    1. This action would restore funding and staffing to open the three neighborhood branches to the public limited days per week when safe to do so and maintain programming at FY 2021 levels.

      Neighborhood Libraries and Maintain Distribution Services
    2. This action would restore staffing at the Children's Theatre including costume design and customer-service front-desk support positions. 

      Children's Theatre Operations and Production Staffing
    3. This action would restore 50% of the marketing budget for the Junior Museum and Zoo to better promote the newly constructed facility.

      Junior Museum and Zoo Marketing Resources
    4. This action would restore funding and staffing to increase operating hours and programming, including exhibitions, at the Palo Alto Art Center and hold fees at their current rate.

      Arts Center Operating Hours & Programming and Increase Fees
    5. This action would augment funding for the City Council's "Housing for Social and Economic Balance" priority.

      Funding for 2021 Council Priority: Housing for Social and Economic Balance
    6. This action would restore funding for City-provided crossing guards at all schools; the budget includes funding only for high-traffic intersections that are part of common routes to schools.

      Crossing Guard Services 50%
    7. This action restores funding to provide services at Fire Station #2 on weekdays from 8 AM to 8 PM dependent on staffing.

      Emergency Incident Response Services Brown Out (Fire Station 2)
    8. This action would restore funding and staffing to provide summer camp bus transportation services, increase sports and recreation programming, and lessen the increases for athletic field rental rates.

      Sports and Recreation Programming and Increase Fees
    9. This action would restore funding for transcription and production of sense minutes for all City Council and standing committee meetings.

      Meeting and Public Hearing Support Services
    10. This action would restore staffing for Police Officer positions in the Patrol Services division to maintain response times and ensure responses to various types of calls for service that would otherwise not receive a resource.

      Police Patrol Staffing
  • Please share any additional comments on the 2022 Proposed Budgets.

    Happy to see that residents & Council committees see the value of services directly serving people, that is, libraries and community services dept programs. Having been a city employee when Prop 13 passed, this was the same message received from residents: keep open the services we use every day. This is often not seen as a priority by City hall employees. I did not see any park maintenance or swimming pool access reductions on the list of options to consider so I assume they are safe from significant budget cuts. Also, can I assume that the library materials (e.g. books) budget has not been reduced any more than the 2020/21 cut? This is an area where increase needs to occur....the reserve backlogs are very long for many new titles.

Open Town Hall is not a certified voting system or ballot box. As with any public comment process, participation in Open Town Hall is voluntary. The responses in this record are not necessarily representative of the whole population, nor do they reflect the opinions of any government agency or elected officials.

Your answers will NOT be saved

This is the form that was used to collect responses. It's here so you can try it and see how it worked when the topic was open.

The topic is now closed, and anything you enter into this form will not be saved.

Sign in and be yourself

Sign in and let others know who you are and what you think. You can sign in now or after you submit your response. You'll be able to read your response on this website and change it if you change your mind.

Read more about privacy >

Sign in and be someone

Sign in and let others know what you think. Only OpenGov will know who you are. You can sign in now or after you submit your response. You'll be able to read your response on this website and change it if you change your mind.

Read more about privacy >
* required

Be anonymous

Even though your response will be shared with staff, it won’t be shown on this public website so other community members won’t have the opportunity to see it.

Concerned about sharing your contact information with OpenGov?

Read more about privacy >

Read more about privacy >

Open Town Hall has two participation channels:

  • The Registered Channel: Sign in before or just after you submit your response. Either way, Community Feedback will show your response on this website.
  • The Unregistered Channel: Don't sign in and remain anonymous. Community Feedback will just share your response with Palo Alto staff.

Note: The first time you sign in, you'll need to register (establish an account on Open Town Hall). Registration is free.

The City of Palo Alto has contracted with Community Feedback to monitor responses shown on this website.

  • To prevent any single user from dominating the forum, the City of Palo Alto restricts the number of responses any one user can post on selected topics. Registration helps Community Feedback enforce this restriction.
  • Users, staff and government leaders often want to know the neighborhood from which a response is posted. Community Feedback uses registration to show the neighborhood next to each response (not the address).
  • If a user posts a response that does not meet the City of Palo Alto guidelines for civility, Community Feedback uses the user's email address to invite the user to resolve the issue.

Community Feedback will get your contact information. The company is under contract with the City of Palo Alto to hold it in strict confidence per their privacy policy.

  • Since you'll see your own response on Open Town Hall, you'll be able to confirm that your response was posted as you intended.
  • You'll be able to change and/or delete your response as long as the topic is open.

Yes. Sign out, then set your privacy preference to be "No - just show it without my name to staff". You won't need to register.

While no authentication procedure can perfectly detect every fraudulent registration, Community Feedback is able to secure the registered channel against systematic fraud: cases where users submit enough statements with fraudulent registrations to sway the overall interpretation of the feedback.

Community Feedback is unable to secure the unregistered channel against systematic fraud, because unregistered users are anonymous.

Neither the registered nor the unregistered channel represent a certified voting system or ballot box - and that caveat is footnoted on every page of feedback. Instead, both are additional channels for feedback to government.

Users can participate on the registered channel (by signing in) or on the unregistered channel (by remaining anonymous). The City of Palo Alto offers both channels in order to broaden participation and maximize decision makers' insights.

The registered channel enables users to assure decision makers that their feedback comes from a real person in a specific neighborhood. It also enables users to participate in a public discussion on the website, as well as manage their own response after posting it.

The unregistered channel is for users who want to provide quick feedback without registering, and/or whose privacy concerns would prevent them from participating if required to register. Because many users with valuable insights will only share them anonymously, this channel gives decision makers the option to consider those insights in their deliberations.

OpenGov is a non-partisan company whose mission is to broaden civic engagement and build public trust in government. The City of Palo Alto has contracted with OpenGov to administer Open Town Hall.

Item Up Down Remove
Item Up Down Remove

This service area includes the Community Services Department and the Library Department.


 

This service area includes the Fire Department, the Police Department, and the Office of Emergency Services

This service area includes the Planning and Development Services Department, the Public Works Department, the Utilities Department, and the Office of Transportation. 

This service area includes the Administrative Services Department (finance), the Human Resources Department, the Information Technology, and City Council and Appointed Offices (City Clerk, City Attorney, City Auditor, and City Manager).


* required
Item Up Down Remove
Item Up Down Remove

This action would augment funding for the City Council's "Social Justice" priority.

This action would restore funding and staffing to provide summer camp bus transportation services, increase sports and recreation programming, and lessen the increases for athletic field rental rates.

This action would augment funding for the City Council's "Housing for Social and Economic Balance" priority.

This action restores staffing in the Police Department responsible for fabricating and maintaining traffic devices to improve response times for work orders and increase support for special events and operations.

This action would restore staffing for Police Officer positions in the Patrol Services division to maintain response times and ensure responses to various types of calls for service that would otherwise not receive a resource.

This action would restore Teen Center operations from two days to five days per week with commensurate staffing and preserve funding in the Think Fund/Bryant Street garage fund.

This action would restore funding and staffing to increase operating hours and programming, including exhibitions, at the Palo Alto Art Center and hold fees at their current rate.

This action would restore staffing at the Children's Theatre including costume design and customer-service front-desk support positions. 

This action would restore funding and staffing to open the three neighborhood branches to the public limited days per week when safe to do so and maintain programming at FY 2021 levels.

This action restores funding for various administrative programming expenses including travel, supplies, and general expenditures to support programmings such as National Night out and the Parent Project.

This action would restore staffing in the Current Planning division to increase operational efficiency, decrease processing timelines for issuing permits, and increase customer service.

This action restores funding to provide services at Fire Station #2 on weekdays from 8 AM to 8 PM dependent on staffing.

This action would restore funding for transcription and production of sense minutes for all City Council and standing committee meetings.

This action would augment funding for the City Council's "Economic Recovery" priority.

This action would augment funding for the City Council's "Climate Change Protection and Adaptation" priority.

This action restores funding for the City's federal advocacy work and maintains the frequency of the National Citizen's Survey on an annual basis.

This action would restore staffing and funding for administrative support in the Community Services Department including the production of the Enjoy! Catalog. 

This action would restore staffing to manage the rental process, payment processing, event schedule, and other administrative tasks to support Cubberley theater operations.

This action would restore funding and staffing to maintain public open hours at the Lucy Evans Baylands Nature Interpretative Center once it is safe to operate.

This action restores funding to maintain the transfer from the General Fund to the Capital Improvement Fund for maintaining the City's infrastructure and capital project investments.

This action would restore funding for City-provided crossing guards at all schools; the budget includes funding only for high-traffic intersections that are part of common routes to schools.

This action would restore funding for annual maintenance of the IDS cameras along the Caltrain corridor; current maintenance needs are low since it is a relatively new system.

This action would restore 50% of the marketing budget for the Junior Museum and Zoo to better promote the newly constructed facility.

This action restores staffing in the Public Art Division that supports the Cubberley Artist Studio Program (CASP) which is a City-sponsored affordable studio space for artists.

This action restores staffing responsible for managing the parking division and adjudicating hearings related to parking citations.

This action restores funding for the City's planning and consulting services for on-call engineering and traffic data services as well as meeting transcription services for Pedestrian and Bicycle Advisory Committee meetings and the City/School Traffic Safety Committee meetings.


* required
Item Up Down Remove
Item Up Down Remove

The City Council could explore asking voters to consider increasing existing revenue sources such as the hotel tax, sales tax, utility user tax, and documentary transfer tax. 

The FY 2022 Proposed Budget anticipates a reserve (BSR) balance of $35.8 million, or 17.4% of General Fund expenses. This would use $23 million and reduce the reserve to ~6%; below the Council target range of 15% to 20% of General Fund expenses.

The FY 2022 Proposed Budget anticipates a reserve (BSR) balance of $35.8 million, or 17.4% of General Fund expenses. This would use $3.6 million and reduce the reserve to ~15.7%; within the Council target range of 15% to 20% of General Fund expenses.

The FY 2022 Proposed Budget anticipates a reserve (BSR) balance of $35.8 million, or 17.4% of General Fund expenses. This would use $17.9 million and reduce the reserve to ~8.7%; below the Council target range of 15% to 20% of General Fund expenses.

The City Council could explore asking voters to consider a new revenue source such as a business tax or charge on customer utility bills such as gas and/or electric.

The City expects to receive $12.5 million of Federal funding from the American Rescue Program Act (ARPA) over two years. The first allocation of $6.25 million, is recognized in the FY 2022 budget allowing the City to abate additional budget reductions as outlined in General Fund Tier 2.  The second allocation is currently expected to assist in addressing an expected gap in revenues and expenses in FY 2023 for the City to maintain the current lowered service levels as it manages through the recovery.  This action would advance the use of this second allocation for use in FY 2022 instead of in FY 2023.

The FY 2022 Proposed Budget anticipates a reserve (BSR) balance of $35.8 million, or 17.4% of General Fund expenses. This would use $9 million and reduce the reserve to ~13%; below the Council target range of 15% to 20% of General Fund expenses.


* required
Check out our guidelines for civility

Fields marked with * are required

Back to Intro