New Cloverdale mayor optimistic with bump in revenue

After years of belt-tightening, Cloverdale officials are looking forward to breathing a little easier with increased revenue from property taxes and a voter-approved utility tax.

But Bob Cox, Cloverdale’s newly appointed mayor, said the money is basically going to avert cutbacks in the fiscally challenged city and preserve the current level of services.

“Will there be any extra money? I don’t think so. It will go toward maintaining services and the police force,” he said last week.

Cloverdale voters in November narrowly approved a tax on their utility bills, Measure O, that is projected to raise approximately $375,000 annually for the city. The 3 percent tax, estimated to cost the average household around $122 a year, applies to electric, gas, cable TV bills and telephones, including cellphones.

City officials said before the election that unless the measure passed, a number of budget cuts would be required, including losing two police officer positions and a dispatcher, as well as a public works maintenance position.

“Fortunately, property values are going back up, which means the tax base will inch up a little bit. Combined with Measure O, it will give us some money to keep going,” Cox said.

The mayor noted that the city’s budget, which has virtually no reserves, has been “bare bone a number of years.”

Despite reducing its workforce by 20 percent, freezing salaries for the past six years and taking other economizing measures, Cloverdale has been unable to get out of its financial rut.

But revenue from the utility users’ tax is expected to allow the city to re-fill a police officer position, modernize the police fleet and build some budget reserves.

The city of 8,600 at the north end of Sonoma County has little sales tax and hotel tax revenues compared to other cities in the county.

The top priority continues to be a familiar refrain that Cloverdale officials have voiced for a while:

“For sure economic development is primary on Cloverdale’s radar,” Cox said.

The mayor foresees better days ahead with some new businesses coming to town, including new restaurants and an auto/truck service center.

“The future looks bright if it continues on this course,” he said.

In the meantime, another of his priorities is getting sidewalks built along South Cloverdale Boulevard because there are unsafe gaps that force workers to walk in the street on their way to the Furber Ranch shopping center.

And he said the reliability of the city’s water delivery and supply system is also paramount. A new, 750,000 gallon storage tank is expected to be in place by the spring.

City Engineer Craig Scott said Wednesday the new tank will add to the system’s current 4 million gallon storage capacity. He said storage enables the city to meet demand during peak hours and provides an emergency fire fighting supply.

Overall, Scott said the recent development of two new wells and refurbishing another won’t provide enough supply for build-out of the city, “but it gets us out 10 to 15 years, depending on growth.”

“The well field is actually doing pretty good,” he said.

You can reach Staff Writer Clark Mason at 521-5214 or clark.mason@?pressdemo?crat.com. On Twitter@clarkmas.