The solution for Manteca’s fiscal problems and the lack of services over the decades, according to Mayor Ben Cantu, is a relatively simple one.
It’s time to raise taxes.
That message was at the core of a response to a question about the city’s finances during a sprawling 90-minute online session on Facebook on Thursday night – a conversation that ranged from the current state of the city’s finances to the homeless to what the city plans on doing about speeders throughout town.
After opening with a comment about the shocking findings about the state of some of the city’s most important enterprise funds – the water and sewer funds with solid waste not being far behind, at the current rate, will be running in the red by the end of the year – Cantu was again asked a question about what can be done to ensure that growth “pays its own way in the city.”
Cantu said that it’s not a secret that new development has not been paying enough to offset the impact to infrastructure and essential city services and noted that while he plans on working over the course of the next year to revisit the city’s development fee structure with the council to see about rectifying that, the immediate answer is the “bitter pill” that nobody wants to face.
“That’s why the library is as old as it is – that’s why it took 30 years to build the animal shelter, why the roads aren’t paved, why downtown deteriorating,” Cantu said of the lack of development fees to offset the impacts that new residents generate. “I am working to turn that around and while people don’t like paying taxes – I certainly don’t – the reality is that the city and the government provide a service and that service is public service, safety, and general welfare and the only way the city and agencies can pay for those things is in revenue through taxes that are paid.
“The only solution to all of those problems – the potholes, the library – downtown – is to pay taxes. I hate saying that – I don’t want to do it, and I don’t want to pay them – but there is no magic bullet or magic pill here. This is the only solution that is available to the city.”
Cantu opened the session by explaining the process behind the city hiring a forensic accountant to go through the city’s books and dive into the full extent of the city’s financial position.
The results, as was learned this week, were not promising.
The city’s enterprise funds – the water, sewer, and garbage funds that are paid for by the rates set by the users of the service – are projected to run into deficit territory this year. Rate hikes are inevitable to ensure that the city doesn’t have to dip into the coveted general fund to cover that shortfall.
The shortfalls projected at the end of the fiscal year on June 30 are pegged at $16.2 million for the sewer account and $4.7 million for the water fund. The doesn’t include an estimated $30 million of inter-fund loans — including $20 million borrowed from growth fees collected exclusively for road-related projects that were used for sewer-related projects that need to be paid back with interest.
By going through that process, Cantu said, the council was at least able to have an accurate picture of the city’s finances and know exactly how much money is in the bank, how much is coming in, and how much is going out.
And while he affirmed that he didn’t enjoy the idea of suggesting a tax hike in any way and realizes that he’ll likely be blamed for it, Cantu said that there likely isn’t any other way to ensure that residents get the amenities that they deserve and have deserved for a long time.
“It will be a hard pill to swallow, and people are not going to be happy, and I’m probably going to be the devil in the whole thing – I’m prepared for that – but if you want better service and better infrastructure the only way to do that is to pay for it,” Cantu said. “There’s an old saying – you get what you pay for – and, frankly, I’m sorry to say that we have today what we did not pay for over the decades.”
To contact reporter Jason Campbell email jcampbell@mantecabulletin.com or call 209.249.3544.