The main topic of conversation at Monday night’s town council meeting was money. The raising of fees and the allocation of funds for grants and scholarships were the two most debated agenda items.
Under one proposal, fees would be raised to cover costs, or raised a general 3 percent, which is tagged to the U.S. Consumer Price Index. There are about 350 total fees for the town of Los Gatos. Two new fees were added this year—a $75 firearm storage fee and an alarm registration fee.
Vice Mayor Dianne McNutt said a proposal to raise park reservation fees from $75 to $95 for residents was too steep. This caused some discussion, with most of the councilmembers noting that they didn’t want to cherry-pick the different fees.
Mayor Mike Wasserman felt that the fee to register a residential alarm wasn’t fair to residents that may never use their alarm. Instead, he suggested that residents should be fined $50 for the second false alarm coming from their property.
The overall fee upgrades were passed, along with park reservation fees. The residential alarm registration fee failed. Instead, a fee of $50 will be imposed on anyone who has a second false alarm in a twelve-month period.
Before this time residents were not charged until the third offense. The new fees will take effect on July 1.
There was also some discussion regarding the allotting of funds to different grants and scholarships for human services and arts. A total of $123,920 for human services was accepted, as was $8,160 for arts, down from last year’s $129,090 and $8,500 respectively.
In other business, the National Arbor Day Foundation presented the town of Los Gatos with a Tree City USA award for the 29th year in a row. The town was also presented with the Distinguished Budget Presentation Award, which was given by the Government Finance Officers Association.
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