City Manager Blair King’s
Weekly Update
Friday, March 12, 2010

Police survey: The Police Department conducts an annual survey to assess the quality of service it provides the community, and the latest results are excellent. The department recently contacted 125 citizens who received service in 2009, making 25 random contacts in each of the five beats. Citizens were asked about the professionalism of the person answering the phone, the accuracy of the anticipated response time, whether or not the responding officer was interested, etc. Quality of service was ranked as excellent (52 percent) or good (43 percent) by 95 percent of citizens, with the department’s overall performance ranked excellent or good by 92 percent. Citizens agreed 94 percent of the time that responding officers were professional and helpful. The lowest-rated area was on follow-up with 26 percent of citizens saying appropriate follow-up wasn’t conducted.

Customer service assessment: We are working on a customer feedback form for the development services division of the Community Development Department and Public Works. The cards will be distributed randomly to customers, allowing them to rank the quality and speed of service they received at the public counters.

All Veterans Plaza Fund: With the assistance of the Lodi Community Foundation, an endowment was established for the All Veterans Plaza.  This endowment was established for the purpose of providing a future source of funding to maintain the Veterans Memorial.  This week we received the year-end report showing the endowment’s earnings.  I’m pleased to report that the fund is slowly growing and the endowment is increasing. The balance at the end of the calendar year was $12,859.80.  This is an increase of $4,016.70 over the previous year.  Twenty gifts were received this last year for a total of $1,715.59 in donations.  The gifts range in size from $21.00 to $500.00. Although a small amount of funds could be withdrawn from the fund this year, it is my intention to roll-over all gifts and interest and allow the endowment to continue to grow.

Sales tax dispute: We have received word from our sales tax consultants that a major sales tax dispute is brewing.  This dispute involves the distribution of sales tax collected on internet and/or transactions that involve merchandise that is shipped from out of state with a value under $500,000.  Currently, when merchandise valued under $500,000 is shipped from out of state to the customer, the local share of the use tax is credited to the county-wide sales and use pool.  The pool is distributed among the agencies within the county as a percentage of taxable sales.  Lodi accounts for approximately 6 percent of county-wide sales in San Joaquin County and receives approximately $1 million in revenue via the county-wide pool. In 1995, a few cities with call centers challenged the State Board of Equalization and said the sales tax should apply to the location of the in-state order desks if there were any.  They asked the rules to be changed and applied retroactively.   This case was knocked back and forth and, in 2007, the challenge went to the elected Board and was unanimously rejected.  The Board felt that there would be the potential of “concentrating” sales tax in the hands of a few jurisdictions and the issue of retroactive claims would be unmanageable.  The League of Cities and State Association of Counties (CSAC) agreed with the Board’s decision.

Now, the elected Board of Equalization is going to again hear an appeal of the 2007 decision.  A related legal case has been filed in San Francisco. Due to the retroactive nature of the claims, this issue could be a huge mess.  It is estimated that 47 cities and one county would be a potential winner and 422 cities and 57 counties losers.  In 1995, it was estimated that $10,190,115 was tied up in this issue for that year alone.  In other words, just from 1995 to present, this case involves a minimum of $152,851,500 in sales taxes to local agencies. No one knows what the Board of Equalization will do.  They recently acted on a 16 year-old case that similarly involved re-interpretation of long standing policy and reversed themselves.  That case is in court and if the results stand, millions of dollars will retroactively be deducted from Los Angeles County agencies.

The Board has asked for agencies to provide comments by March 16.  Lodi will be listed as an agency that opposes the change in the current practice.

Why not? Staff is scheduled to hold a conference call with the state Resources Agency on March 30 to learn the shortcomings of the City’s application for grant funds to shore up the Mokelumne River riverbank near Pigs Lake. The Resources Agency has denied the City's grant application for funds to repair the eroding riverbank.

Emergency training: We’re making a push to bring employees up to speed on training needed to conform with the State Emergency Management System and National Incident Management System. City employees are required to be trained to serve as emergency workers in a number of levels, from field work to administration.  Documentation of this training is particularly important in the event we seek reimbursement from FEMA.

Fast trains: Staff will be attending a scoping meeting for the California High Speed Rail Authority’s newest project, the Altamont Rail Corridor Project. This project, while not a part of the state’s future high-speed rail system, would create a new passenger rail system between San Joaquin County and the Bay Area that would tie into the high-speed rail system. The Altamont line would be dedicated for passenger use, separate from cargo rail lines, resulting in an expanded and improved ACE service.

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