Rohnert Park council candidates agree finances are key

Three incumbents and four challengers are running for three City Council seats in Rohnert Park, where the ballot includes a controversial measure to roll back sewer rates and there is still some lingering resentment over a planned Indian casino.

Mayor Jake Mackenzie and council members Vicki Vidak-Martinez and Tim Smith are running for re-election to the five-seat council.

They are being challenged by former council member Dawna Gallagher, businesswoman Gina Belforte, attorney John Borba and construction company owner Joe Callinan.

The overriding theme for the incumbents and challengers centers on finances. The City Council this year cut 10 percent from the proposed budget and will likely face cuts again next year.

The city also restructured health care benefits for city employees in its three unions and for retirees, cutting annual costs by about $3 million.

And city staff members are preparing to move into a new City Hall, an office building not far from the current City Hall that has been renovated at a cost of $6.5 million. City officials said renovating the building is half the cost of a new building, which was the original plan.

The three incumbents point to those measures as evidence they have been successfully running the city in a fiscally responsible manner.

"We have come a long way toward digging the city out of the hole prior councils dug for us," said Smith, who is finishing his first four-year term.

"The city has had to struggle the last four years to attain fiscal stability. We restructured to focus on efficiencies," said Vidak-Martinez, who has been on the council 12 years.

The council Tuesday approved a $34.2 million budget, which City Manager Steve Donley said includes a 10 percent cut in operations and compensates for declining sales and real estate tax revenues with the $5.8 million sale of surplus city property west of Highway 101.

Facing the city now is Measure L, a citizens' initiative to roll back the sewer rates in Rohnert Park to January 2006.

Initiative proponents say the city is subsidizing new development on the backs of ratepayers and contend that the rates produce a surplus that goes into the city's general fund.

City officials said there is no surplus, that the rates cover the cost of infrastructure upgrades needed to keep the system from failing and for needed extensions, and that it pays for the city's share of the Santa Rosa regional sewage system.

They say a rollback would cause a financial crisis, creating a $2.1 million deficit next year, growing to $16.4 million by 2012.

Measure L is opposed by the three incumbents and three of the challengers.

Gallagher, who worked on the initiative's signature-gathering campaign, is the only candidate supporting the measure.

"The main reason is the city is trying to build sewer for development that will never occur," said Gallagher. "They raised the rates without proper notice."

The city is also waiting for the final environmental impact report and state and federal actions on the controversial casino proposed by the Federated Indians of Graton Rancheria, which could provide the city with $200 million in revenue over 20 years.

Council meetings today lack the infighting of past years that was sparked by the casino, an unsuccessful recall attempt of two council members and an acrimonious split with a former city manager.

"We have formed a council that works well together, we have a city manager who has been extremely influential, we let people know what we are doing, we are open about what we are doing," said Mayor Mackenzie. "I make a deliberate effort to have council meetings that are businesslike and constructive."

Challenger Belforte said, however, that harmony is not necessarily the true measure of City Hall.

"The thing that has to be asked is how the city is functioning and how it is running," said Belforte, who is critical of the city finances. "You can't continue to run the city in a deficit."

Borba, a 40-year resident, said he believes it is time to get new blood on the council.

"We have term limits in state legislature; we let our governor serve eight years. Why should we have council members who want to serve their lifetimes? Change is going to happen, and it is good for the community," Borba said.

Callinan is the son of Pete Callinan, who was Rohnert Park's city manager for 28 years and considered one of the most influential people in shaping the city.

Joe Callinan is critical of what he said is a city that is deteriorating, with weeds on the streets and a golf course that hasn't been maintained.

"It's sad to see how it's gone downhill the past 20 years," Callinan said. "My dad was one of the main developers of Rohnert Park, and I'd hate to see what he built go downhill without doing something about it."

You can reach Staff Writer Bob Norberg at 521-5206 or bob.norberg@pressdemocrat.com.