Poplar Beach Parking Fees, Budget Follow-Up Headline Tonight's Council Meeting

Poplar Beach is well-known around the Bay Area for its free parking, but those days are numbered. The city council is expected to approve a parking fee requirement at its lot during the council's regular meeting tonight.

Proposed parking costs at Poplar Beach include a $50 permit (good for one year) for owners of vehicles registered within the city limits; $2 per hour (or $10/day) for cars less than 20-feet long; and $3 per hour or $15/day for a horse trailer or vehicle.

If approved, no dates have been given as to the day the fees would be implemented. The draft resolution that would establish the parking program states that the fees will go into effect once signs are posted.

Councilmembers will discuss City Finance Manager Jan Cooke's recommendations on how to move forward based (at the end of January) on how to raise revenue and/or decrease expenditures. Cooke reported to the council that implementing her recommendations would save a total net amount of $201,900.

Taking all of the many ideas into consideration, Cooke categorized them into four groups based on the factors of the extent of potential revenue gain and ease of implementation. The only item that was deemed to be of high revenue gain (>$100,000) and easy to implement, according to Cooke, was for the city to tweak the way they contribute to their "internal service funds" reserved for vehicles, equipment, and risk management.

"By reducing Fiscal Year 11-12 contributions to the vehicle replacement and risk management funds, there could be a one-time General Fund savings of $176,000. We would need to identify how that additional $176,000 would be reduced from the General Fund in the following fiscal year."

To see how the other ideas broached by the council and staff fared in Cooke's ranking system, view the PDF document attached to this article.

Another agenda item is seeking approval to formally request that CalPERS (the state of California's public employees retirement system) extend the number of hours a CalPERS retiree may work in one fiscal year without needing to be reinstated from retirement, or losing retirement benefits. The current limit is 960 hours.

The city is seeking this action for Interim Police Chief Lee Violett. Violett, a retiree, is anticipated to exceed the 960-hour threshold in April, according to the city. Without Violett's services, the city is "severely compromised" in its "ability to recruit a permanent replacement for the position," according to a report submitted to the council by City Manager Laura Snideman.

If approved by the council, the city will request that CalPERS grant Violett an extension to this limitation. The extension would only be valid for one year.

Violett has been serving as Half Moon Bay's Interim Police Chief since September. At the end of January, the city issued a (prepared by Violett) which invited local law enforcement agencies to bid on providing the city's police services.

To view the entire City Council agenda, click here.