Orinda Budget 2020/2021

Below are excerpts from the Orinda budget for 2020/21 adopted July 21, 2020.  Note that the budget allocates only $50,000 for fire prevention activities ("efforts to undertake fire fuel reduction and clearing on City owned properties") because "the City is constrained on additional funding available for this purpose." 

 

However, the budget shows that at the end of fiscal year 2019/2020 (June 30, 2020) the City had $10.5 million in reserves including $3.5 million in unspent money from the general sales tax which the City Council has full discretion on spending.  Further, the 2020/2021 budget shows that the City expects further revenue from the sales tax of $1.2 million during the year; that it expects to spend $2.3 million of sales tax revenues on something else other than fire prevention; and at the end of 2021 it will still have $2.3 million of unspent sales tax proceeds.

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The Add-on Sales Tax Measure L does not expire until March 2023.  For the City to claim that it cannot fund fire prevention efforts without doubling the sales tax and extending it for 20 years is a false statement.