As I have spoken to people about supporting Measure Y, many ask me why City Hall is not doing more to trim the budget and make cuts instead of pushing a half-cent sales tax measure.
Once I explain that the City Council has renegotiated contracts with all of the city unions that includes a reduction in pension and medical benefits, and that City Hall has reduced staff by 18 percent, people begin to get it.
I 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-resident spend in our city will stay in our city. It will be spent to keep Culver City the way many of us want it to be, a safe, well-kept gem.
Mr. Cooper, Vice Mayor of Culver City, may be contacted at jeffrcooper.com
