Sign this petition to tell the Mayor, City Councilors, and the City manager that enough is enough. Stop spending our taxpayer money.

Focus on essential services during this crisis.

According to the City, it is already dealing with “a possible deficit of up to $500,000 for the fiscal year ending June 30th" and there have already been drastic changes to the City’s operations. (See more info linked at the bottom of this page).

According to the City’s latest project plans (released April 8), the revised garage project will now decrease the number of parking spaces currently available to downtown shoppers by nearly 70 spaces while guaranteeing Capitol Plaza access to 200 spaces for 30 years – all at taxpayer expense – adding up to 17 million in additional debt payments.

Sign this petition to tell the Mayor, City Councilors, and the City manager that enough is enough. Stop the garage project!

Quoted from the City's Facebook Page:

• Concerning the “… possible deficit of up to $500,000 for the fiscal year ending June 30th....The budget deficit projection was due primarily to a downgraded revenue forecast caused by the Coronavirus shut down. These include foregone parking fees/fines, lost recreation and senior center program fees, reductions in local options tax collections, drops in ambulance revenues because of an immediate decline in call volume, and other permit and license fees. Higher than expected health insurance costs, legal fees and winter salt costs added to the overall budget stress."
• “The City Council approved a plan recommended by the City Manager and the Leadership Team."
• "Most significantly, the plan includes furloughing up to 30 City employees until at least June 30th. This resulted in a net cut of $152,000 in the general fund and $40,000 in the water/sewer funds. The proposal also cut $245,416 from budget operating lines. This includes some equipment purchase and project delays, including postponement of a community wide social equity initiative.”
• “These steps [still] leave a projected $113,000 year end deficit for which staff will continue to seek solutions. The result of these actions means that residents can expect much more basic services from the city for the next two and ½ months.”

“Operational impacts are as follows:

• Committees – On hold, possible work suspension through June 30.
• Public Works Streets and Water/Sewer Divisions – limited to street sweeping, patching, basic maintenance, line striping and emergency response.
• Recreation & Senior Center – FEAST Meals program continued. ALL other programs cancelled until June 30th. No Rec/Sr. Center facility maintenance will occur. Program planning for summer, fall and winter severely limited.
• Parks – Reduced maintenance staff. Parks will remain open for now.
• Planning & Development –Limited functioning except for basic permit requirements.
• Clerk & Finance – Limited services, basic functions only.
• Manager, Assessor, Justice Center, Cemetery – Mostly functional with delays. City Hall closed.”

The City's original financial assumptions were flawed at the time of the vote and they are patently unreasonable now.