Q. Can an incorporated Alamo fulfill the promise of Local Control? As a "contract city," most City services would continue to be provided by Contra Costa County using the same model as is found throughout the Lamorinda Cities. Incorporation would not change the "face" of service providers.
Q. Will the quality and quantity of police services improve, maintain, or deteriorate in the event of incorporation? Currently, police services are provided by the County and regulated by the P-5 Special Assessment District. Upon incorporation, all special district revenues and functions would be subsumed by the new City. The same providers would actually police with some direction from a City Council. There can be no guaranty that the special assessments paid for increased police protection within the P-5 District would continue to be allocated to that District. Best Case: The same police services; More Likely case: Less police services for the same tax dollars.
Q. Will local control over Planning make a difference to the Alamo Community? After police services, the largest single consumption of revenue by a new city is projected to be Planning Services. Yet, the projections and assumptions upon which incorporation is based contemplate that Alamo is virtually built out. A new City would be required to enact a general plan with a housing element. A housing element would certainly require affordable housing and housing to meet senior needs. It is difficult to determine how a new city might deal with such issues. In the meantime, one can only assume that planning micromanagement as found in the Lamorinda cities would become the norm in a new city of Alamo. Design review and minor approvals in these other cities typically cost thousands of dollars and take months – and sometimes years – for resolution. Is this "local control" welcomed?
Q. Will there really be a surplus in a city budget as projected? Somehow, a governmental surplus is hard to imagine. The County pension problems will continue to be a problem for services for a new City simply because Alamo would have to contract with the County for its services – and those services will not be provided at a loss. The Lamorinda cities have proven incapable of repairing roads and have (unsuccessfully) sought to increase local sales taxes. Alamo roads are in overall better condition – thanks to the County. The budget figures in the incorporation study do not take into account capital improvements – only routine maintenance. It is the capital improvement portion of expenditures that has dogged the Lamorinda cities. Given the need for a city manager, employees, space from which to operate, and contract costs (and some administrative mark-up) as well as reserves for capital improvements, a surplus seems more possible than likely.
Q. Will a new City result in increased taxation? Thanks to Proposition 13, a vote to increase taxes would be required. Quite possibly, there would be no new taxes – although mustering a super-majority from a smaller number of voters in a city is probably more likely than a successful vote at the County level. Nonetheless, as costs outstrip revenues, pressure on taxes is likely to grow. Alamo has a very limited sales tax base with little likelihood of any substantial increase.
Q. Why incorporate? It is fundamentally true that nothing is "broke" – so why fix it. The approval of a couple of homes near the freeway at Stone Valley Road is hardly cause for incorporation. Since legal parcels were involved, development would have occurred as a matter of right. The most that would have happened if Alamo was incorporated during consideration of those projects would have been a slightly different architectural treatment. Given the prominence of the sites, this would have hardly made a difference.
Q. It is important to think carefully about incorporation. Does Alamo want to function like the Lamorinda Cities? There appears to be little to be gained through incorporation. The Lamorinda planning model – in particular – would suggest that there is indeed a downside if such action is taken.
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