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On Tuesday night, Alamo residents voted to keep some of the taxes they’ve paid to the state closer to home.
Measure F, which would raise the spending appropriations limit in Alamo to $1.65 million, passed with 81 percent of the 2,552 total votes. The new limit would apply to the current fiscal year through 2013-14 with adjustments for cost-of-living and population changes.
While it will not raise taxes, the measure would allow the County Service Area R-7A – better known to local residents as Alamo Parks and Recreation – to use the money itself. Over the past 30 years, similar money has been used to build or improve Livorna Park, Alamo School Sports Park and Batting Cages, Rancho Romero Sports Park, and the Hap Magee Ranch Park.
The Alamo Municipal Advisory Council and parks and recreation are now looking at ways to renovate buildings at the Hap Magee Ranch Park, explore improvements to Alamo School Sports Park, and Rancho Romero Sports Field and are considering building a new park in Alamo.
“We’re looking at various options and alternatives about recreation facilities,” said MAC Chair David Bowlby, adding that the MAC sent a survey to residents asking for opinions earlier this year. “We had a preliminary meeting and we’re still in talks of exactly where and how we’ll begin to use our money to improve and augment the parks here in Alamo.”
The argument in favor of Measure F also notes that with an increase in the number of parks, the cost to upgrade and maintain them. Without an increase in the appropriations limit, park expansion and park maintenance would suffer, according to Bowlby and Nancy Dommes, the two who wrote the opinion in favor of the measure.
While the results are semi-official — the county has 28 days to certify the election — Elections Technician Will Alaf said officials will most likely finish counting ballots by Friday.
Dear Editor,
A message to Danville Town Council is now planned to ensure R-7A appropriations support Alamo’s majority.
The message will ask for removal of Hap Magee Ranch Park and the SRV YMCA properties from Alamo and R-7A boundaries. The purpose is to end R-7A support for a park that is unused by Alamo residents and is specifically an exceptional cost to R-7A parcel taxes without any accountability until after-the-fact of billing privately approved by county and Danville personnel. Discovered county documents illustrate that the Town of Danville has specifically withheld information about costs from Alamo residents whose R-7A parcel taxes are used without regard.
Clearly, Alamo Improvement Association community affairs committee needs to take an in-depth look at closed-door R-7A cost approvals that have little or nothing resulting in services to Alamo residents. It seems CCC-PW and the Town of Danville have assumed full rights to R-7A appropriations without any audit by and for R-7A tax payers. More clearly, the intention to amplify requests for study and audit by Contra Costa County Civil Grand Jury has become part of a sequence of steps Alamo neighborhoods will take along with requests for R-7A audits to State legislative committees and Governor’s committees that oversee local governments.