City Beat
Engage
Morgan Hill…
Be Part of the
Conversation
By Maureen Tobin,
Communications & Engagement Manager
T
* Includes property tax revenues for Santa Clara County Central Fire District
he City of Morgan Hill has recently initiated an
extensive outreach and engagement process with the
Morgan Hill community. Named simply and appropriately,
“Engage Morgan Hill” is a conversation about services,
funding and priorities. The focus of this process is both
educating and engaging the community regarding what
services the city provides, how City services are provided,
and the funding sources/options for services as we look
toward the future. Additionally, Engage Morgan Hill
will provide a deeper understanding of the City budget,
finances, revenue sources and expenses. While educating
the community, the intent is also to listen to and provide an
opportunity for the community to be part of the decision-
making progress to ensure the City’s fiscal sustainability in
the future.
The City of Morgan Hill provides high quality service for
a low cost. In fact, comparing Morgan Hill to other cities in
the County the City of Morgan Hill collects the lowest taxes
per capita of any other city. The City has been very thought-
ful in the way we deliver services so that we have been able
to provide our residents more with less. We have been able
to do this in a variety of ways, including:
•
Keeping our staffing lean (The City of Morgan Hill
currently has lower per capita staffing than we did
10 years ago).
•
Innovative partnerships with organizations like the
YMCA to provide recreation services, Cal Fire to
provide fire safety, and Silicon Valley Clean Energy
to provide energy resources alternatives.
•
Attracting the best and the brightest to work for
Morgan Hill not because we pay the most, but
because we have a reputation of being innovative
and team oriented.
•
City employees share in paying for pension cost
increases and new employees having reduced
pension benefits.
• Actively and successfully pursuing grants.
•
Smart economic development guided by the
Economic Blueprint.
Despite the City’s efforts, just like all California cities, we
have challenges ahead:
•
After deferring maintenance of City facilities and
roads during the recession the City has a lot of
catching up to do.
• Despite reductions to pension benefits, the City
won’t see the savings for many years while
minimum wage, health insurance, and legacy
pension costs keep increasing.
•
New legislation and regulations are taking away
local control.
•
Over 82% of the City’s Discretionary General Fund
Expenses are dedicated to police, fire, and street
maintenance services.
In order to meet the challenges ahead we need to come
together as a community, share ideas, educate ourselves, and
make informed decisions about how to move forward for a
sustainable future. The City of Morgan Hill invites you to be
engaged, learn the facts, share accurate information, and be
part of the solution. Engage and be part of the conversation.
For more information visit EngageMorganHill.org
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GILROY • MORGAN HILL • SAN MARTIN
june/july 2019
gmhtoday.com