Corte Madera council largely dismissive of scathing Marin grand jury report

By Jessica Bernstein-Wax
Marin Independent Journal
Posted: 08/17/2011 03:56:45 PM PDT

The Corte Madera Town Council was mostly dismissive in its response to a scathing Marin County Civil Grand Jury report on the town's finances, with one councilman even making scornful remarks about the grand jury itself.

While discussing Corte Madera's official response to the June report on Tuesday night, council members asked Town Manager David Bracken and Assistant Town Attorney John Abaci to emphasize that despite low reserve levels, Corte Madera has invested heavily in critical infrastructure, including street repairs and flood preparedness.

"We have made huge investments in this town," Councilwoman Diane Furst said. "Our investment ... in a huge flood control project is exactly where our reserves should go."

In a letter to the grand jury that will go out later this month, town officials say they disagree with the grand jury's finding that Corte Madera failed to set aside adequate reserves for two decades.

"The town was experiencing general fund reserves meeting levels considered prudent by the report until the fall of 2008," the letter states. "Beginning at that time and continuing until today, the town's revenues sharply declined due to the severe downturn in the economy."

The letter notes that in June the Town Council set a reserves goal of 10 percent of general fund expenditures, or about $1.3 million. In addition, Corte Madera designates its reserves in multiple funds, and therefore the grand jury may have underestimated the money it has on hand in case of a disaster, the letter said.

Bracken told the council Tuesday that town officials made an effort "to be careful of the (letter's) tone.

"We didn't want to be overly critical of the grand jury, but we did want to state that we didn't agree with everything that was in that report," he said.

However, Councilman Michael Lappert was less restrained in his assessment of the report, calling the document "just a hit piece."

"The vehicle that was used to do this was so suspect and so cheap that I don't want to give it another five seconds of our time," Lappert said.

"A grand jury — is this populated like by housewives and hardware store owners?" Lappert asked Abaci. "One day they're mowing their lawn and they go to work at PG&E and the next day they're on the grand jury?"

"I tip my hat — that's just great work they did," he added with a laugh later in the meeting.

The grand jury report found that despite high per-capita revenue from sales taxes generated at major shopping centers and car dealerships, Corte Madera has the lowest reserves of any Marin municipality both in total dollars and as a percentage of its budget. The report recommended Corte Madera adhere to "best practice" financial policies, take a longer view of its budget and maintain higher reserves, among other suggestions for improving the town's money woes.

Corte Madera officials say they don't plan to generate reams of documents outlining the town's financial goals, something they feel would be necessary under the grand jury's recommendations.

"We're a small town — we have fewer than 10,000 residents," Furst said. "Do we really need to generate budget paperwork along the lines of what San Francisco has?"

Officials noted that a concise budget summary was available to the public for the first time this year.

Councilwoman Carla Condon added that she doesn't believe the grand jury considered information she provided on the town's finances prior to publishing its report.

"Every year we prioritize ... how the budget is going to be spent," Condon said. "Either public safety services or infrastructure have always gone first. I don't see any need to redo what we've already done."

However, Councilman Bob Ravasio said Corte Madera would do well to follow the grand jury recommendation about creating a budget template that outlines long-term goals.

"We need to work on our budgeting process in the way we set goals, set priorities," Ravasio said. "I would really like to see us move more toward some of the models that are mentioned in the grand jury report."

Ravasio's comments didn't make it into the final letter employees are crafting.

The one grand jury finding town officials fully agreed with was the assessment that the 2006 purchase of the Park Madera Center on Tamalpais Drive for $10 million has exacerbated Corte Madera's financial problems. Officials say they expect revenues from the center to increase this year.

Contact Jessica Bernstein-Wax at jbernstein-wax@marinij.com

http://www.marinij.com/marinnews/ci_18701639